SdKfz 251/1 in US Army Service

Captured SdKfz 251's in US Army service. The 83rd infantry division used a lot of captured equipment to supplement its own.

One unit, the illustrious 83rd Infantry Division, which was moving as fast as an armored task force, had recently been nicknamed "The Rag-Tag Circus" by the correspondents. Its resourceful commander, Major General Robert C. Macon, had given orders to supplement the division's transport with anything that moved; "no questions asked." Now the Rag-Tag Circus was going flat out in a weird assortment of hurriedly repainted captured German vehicles: Wehrmacht jeeps, staff cars, ammunition trucks, Mark IV and Tiger panzers, motor bikes, buses and two cherished fire engines. Out in front, with infantrymen hanging all over it, was one of the fire trucks. On its rear bumper was a large, flapping banner. It read, Next Stop: Berlin. " "On its right flank, tenaciously pacing the 2nd mile for mile and fighting all the way, was a wildly assorted collection of vehicles crammed with troops. From the air it bore no resemblance to either an armored or an infantry division. In fact, but for a number of U.s. Army trucks interspersed among its columns, it might easily have been mistaken for a German convoy. Major General Robert C. Macon's highly individualistic 83rd Infantry Division, the "Rag-Tag Circus," was going hell-for-leather toward the Elbe in its captured booty. Every enemy unit or town that surrendered or was captured subscribed its quota of rolling stock for the division, usually at gunpoint. Every newly acquired vehicle got a quick coat of olive-green paint and a U.S. star slapped on its side; then it joined the 83rd. The men of the Rag-Tag Circus had even managed to liberate a German airplane and, harder, had found someone to fly it, and it was spreading consternation all over the front. First Sergeant William G. Presnell of the 30th Infantry Division, who had fought all the way from Omaha Beach, knew the silhouette of every Luftwaffe fighter. So when he saw what was obviously a German plane heading in his direction, he yelled "ME-109!" and dived for cover. Puzzled when there was no burst of machine gun fire, he raised his head and stared as the fighter sped away. The plane was painted a blotchy olive-green. On the undersides of the wings were the words "83rd Inf. Div."

From "The Last Battle". By Cornealius Ryan