Panzer-Lehr-Division SdKfz 251 markings December 15 ... - PALA 130

A Hummel photographed on the banks of the Seine at Rouen.
Given the relative rarity of these vehicles in Normandy, I decided to undertake an effort to do what I could to
at least whittle down the field of candidate owners. With only one Battery of six Hummels per Panzer Division
(minus 21. Panzer and with the possible exception of (9. Panzer and 116. Panzer) plus replacements or other
odds and ends (of which I could find no evidence), that means that only 54 Hummels served in Normandy
and that is only if all batteries were at full strength upon arriving. Added to that would be 20 munitionsträger
(2 per division except for 9. Panzer who had 4, though it is not know if all four were sent to Normandy).
As with most other German AFVs, the Hummel went through several noticeable changes throughout its
production life. Unlike other vehicles, though, the design changes were not granted any sort of official
designation. When discussing the Hummel, therefore, one must resort to an informal terminology to describe
the different production types. For a more detailed discussion of this refer to Nuts & Bolts. For my purposes, I
will use the term "early" to describe Hummels with a driver only pod and a centrally-mounted muffler on the
rear of the vehicle, the term "mid" for those Hummels that still have the driver only pod but which have
exhaust pipes which no longer connect to the rear-mounted muffler (the muffler having been deleted) and
the term "late" for those Hummels which have the driver and co-driver compartment. All of the "late"
Hummels that were photographed in Normandy still lack the armored cover for the air intake louvers so at
times I refer to these as "early late".
Most Normandy Hummels appear to be the mid-type Hummel with the driver only pod (and simple hatch for
co-driver), but with the rear-mounted muffler deleted. There are a few (three, possibly four, that I have seen
and one munitionsträger) Hummels with the later version driver & co-driver compartment. Since 1.SS and
116 Panzer and Panzer Lehr were equipped with Hummels immediately before or during the beginning of the
Normandy invasion, it is probable that these three were issued the "Late" version. None of the late Hummels
of which I have seen photos have armored covers for the air intakes (see the example under "Unidentified
Hummels".
Since Hummels were considered artillery pieces, the allocations of them were the responsibility of the Gen. d.
Artillerie and not many records from that department survived, so exact allocations would require combing
through Divisional, Corps and Army records.
Many sources categorically state that the I. Abteilung of each Panzer-Artillerie-Regiment was the self-