The Kübelwagen was the counterpart of the Jeep. The small all-rounder was based on the predecessor of the Volkswagen Beetle and was built in the Volkswagen factory in KdF-Stadt, now Wolfsburg. About 55.000 units have been built. That was about 600.000 fewer than Jeeps were made. Because the Volkswagen Kübelwagen only had rear-wheel drive, its rough terrain performance was marginally worse than that of the four-wheel drive Jeep. But the Kübelwagen scored on its reduced weight and superior suspension.
We don't do much to veterans
In Auto Motor Klassiek we do not usually do much about classic military transport. Somehow, that green stuff doesn't bother us. But we are now in the year that we are 75 years after the liberation. And we would never have got this far without military transport. On the other hand, without all that mechanized transport, the entire Second World War would not have happened.
Military vehicles are not made by and for car enthusiasts. In fact, even far after the war, Dutch Defense geniuses completely ruined the healthy concepts of, for example, the DKW Mungas and the Laros. But essentially, military vehicles were and are tools intended to effectively contribute to the war effort. That the most subtle and technically advanced solutions were not chosen? That was self-evident.
Soil finds
During the war, people and equipment were treated with disconcerting negligence. And examples of this are still being found. Because there is a lot of fighting here in the Netherlands. And by no means all evidence of this has been neatly buried, salvaged or reborn in new steel.
Because don't underestimate it: all those broken down and abandoned vehicles, ships and aircraft were an almost inexhaustible source of raw materials for reconstruction and the economic miracle in the time after the war. But not everything could be salvaged and reused. And sometimes such pieces of impermanence reappear. For example, at an IJsselhaven near Arnhem, where it remained restless for a long time. We quote:
Just outside the harbor
“From an early age I have always been interested in unknown things that can lie beneath our feet and are just waiting to be pulled out of oblivion by me.
I have been able to take a lot of things home with me over the years, not always to the delight of parents, police or wife.
Until now, this research drive was limited to the mainland, because a diving certificate never came about.
However, the historically low water level of 2018 (!) Made searches possible in places that until then seemed out of reach.
From Romans to the last world war and everything in between literally surfaced, sometimes even without the help of a detector or shovel.
I will not tire you with a summary of the finds. But as far as two are concerned, I would like to make an exception. Also because they were almost found on the site of the port.
Searching along the dry banks of the dead IJsselarm, I fell about 100 meters before the exit, embedded in clay and sand and a little under water, a quantity of metal with shapes that seemed familiar to me. It was not possible to walk there because it was too muddy there, but a few days later the water had subsided so far that I could come next to it with a rowboat to take some pictures.
It was clear from a steering wheel that clearly surfaced that it was a car, but which one was not immediately clear, let alone from what time it was.
With the oar I have removed some sludge in strategic places to get more details visible, but I have to say that my knowledge in that area is not sufficient. Because I still can't bring the brand home. Perhaps when you see the accompanying photos, one of you has the redeeming answer to the pressing question of what kind of car it is.
It is not a Volkswagen (beetle), but it could be a military variant (Kübelwagen, Schwimmwagen?).
Sailing back, I encountered an obstacle that on closer inspection looked like a heavy metal container with walls about 2 cm thick. It looks like the shovel of an excavator, but not because of the 'excesses' on both side walls.
Again, one of you may have a brilliant idea that solves that riddle. I keep myself recommended".
Gerald van Essen.
