Opel history Blitz begins in the autumn of 1930, when a competition was announced for the name of a new Opel truck, acquired in 1929 by General Motors Corporation. The results of the competition were announced November 25, 1930 at a meeting of Opel dealers in Frankfurt am Main. First owners Vehicle were private carriers.
Initially, the army did not consider this model as a regular vehicle, since the car belonged to an American company. On February 28, 1935, provisions regulating the amount of tax for vehicle owners came into force as an incentive for truck manufacturers.
In order to receive tax benefits, a vehicle owned by a person had to meet the following conditions:– appropriate ratio of weight to load - high engine– at least 5 forward gears – high ground clearance – long wheelbase. Fulfilling these conditions in the second half of 1936, starts production of a 3-ton truck Blitz S models (the designation S comes from the word Standart, that is, the basic version).
Initially, the 3-ton Opel Blitz was equipped with a 3.5-liter 65 hp, but already in 1937 received a new power plant Buick with a volume of 3.6 liters and a power of 75l.s. (It is worth noting that competing companies in their projects planned to fulfill these conditions only by next year). During the construction of the West Wall (the so-called Siegfried Line), the head of the project, Fritz Todt, turned to companies and government agencies with the requirement to provide 11 thousand trucks for production needs.
A significant part of the vehicles were Opel Blitz, thanks to their good handling, reliability and simple design. Thanks to the good reputation that the Blitz-3600 modification has earned during the construction of the Western Wall, the Wehrmacht decides to purchase these vehicles for military purposes as well.
Blitz The first batch of cars in the amount of 1200 units entered the troops already at the beginning of 1937. The vehicle has passed all tests excellent results. He could climb a slope of up to 34%, overcome a water barrier up to 0.5 m deep.
In March 1939, Reichsmarschall Hermann Goering signed documents indicating the number of military trucks needed. Unmatched in Class 3 ton trucks, Opel Blitz became the main truck of the German army. Opel Blitz 3.6-3600S was produced in many modifications, depending on the tasks for which it was intended.
Namely: standard airborne - for the transport of troops or materials, a fire truck, a tank, a huge limousine for VIPs. A car with a metal body could be used as a headquarters or radio center, technical assistance for car repairs, a car for transporting prisoners, ambulance, mail car much more.
The design of the vehicle has evolved throughout the production period. Initially increased carrying capacity and power gasoline engine, which turned out to be the best option than a less reliable and more difficult to use diesel.
It was highly regarded by armored units, as tanks and armored vehicles used the same type of fuel as the Opel Blitz. Throughout the war, Opel produced spare parts for its trucks, allowing many types of repairs to be carried out in field workshops.
Starting in 1942, the springs are equipped with an additional leaf to avoid frequent breakdowns due to constant overload. In 1940, Opel introduced another innovation for its truck - a drive on both axles. This Opel modification Blitz receives the index 3.6-6700A (the letter A is from the German word Allrad for all-wheel drive).
Blitz could climb a mountain with a slope of up to 70%. The drive to the front axle was carried out thanks to the gearbox, which was under the control of the driver in the cab. next innovative solution was the implementation caterpillar drive- this version was called Opel Blitz Maultier.
In 1940, Opel was only able to produce 1,000 Blitz trucks a month, and with each subsequent month of the war, the demand for trucks only increased. Production could not keep up with demand, which led to the confiscation of trucks from civilians for mobilization into the army. The lack of fuel has led to the search for new types of power vehicles.
Most of the truck manufacturers (including Opel) have started to install gas generators in their vehicles. Between 1943 and 1944, through the use of forced labor, Opel production Blitz managed to increase to 2500 units per month. The production of Blitz trucks at the then most modern plant in Brandenburg ended on August 6, 1944, when the production facilities were destroyed by American Liberator bombers from a height of 8000m.
Between July 1937 and August 1944, 82,356 Opel Blitz S 3.6-3600 cars were produced, and about 25,000 all-wheel drive versions. However, in 1944, the production of Opel trucks was resumed by the rival corporation Daimler-Benz AG, which stopped the production of Blitz's main rival in the three-ton truck class, Mercedes. Opel Blitz was produced for some time on production facilities Daimler-Benz AG under name Mercedes L 701.
Story Opel Blitz
begins in the early autumn of 1930, when a competition was announced for the name of a new Opel truck, acquired in 1929 by General Motors Corporation. The results of the competition were announced on November 25, 1930 at a meeting of Opel dealers in Frankfurt am Main. The first owners of vehicles were private carriers. Initially, the army did not consider this model as a regular vehicle, since the car belonged to an American company. On February 28, 1935, provisions regulating the amount of tax for vehicle owners came into force as an incentive for truck manufacturers.
In order to receive tax benefits, a vehicle owned by a person had to meet the following conditions:
- appropriate weight-to-load ratio
- high engine power
- at least 5 forward gears
- high ground clearance
- long wheelbase.
Fulfilling these conditions in the second half of 1936, Opel begins production of a 3-ton truck model Blitz S (the designation S comes from the word Standart, that is
base version). Initially, 3-ton Opel Blitz it was equipped with a 3.5-liter engine with a capacity of 65 hp, but already in 1937 it received a new Buick power plant with a volume of 3.6 liters and a power of 75 hp. (It is worth noting that competing companies in their projects planned to fulfill these conditions only by next year).
During the construction of the West Wall (the so-called Siegfried Line), Fritz Todt, who led the project, approached companies and government agencies with a demand to provide 11,000 trucks for production needs. The majority of vehicles were Opel Blitz, thanks to their good handling, reliability and simple design. Thanks to the good reputation that the Blitz-3600 modification has earned during the construction of the Western Wall, the Wehrmacht decides to purchase these vehicles for military purposes as well. The first batch of cars in the amount of 1200 units entered the troops already at the beginning of 1937. The car passed all tests with excellent results. He could climb a slope of up to 34%, overcome a water barrier up to 0.5 m deep. In March 1939, Reich Marshal Hermann Goering signed documents indicating the number of military trucks needed. Unmatched in the 3 ton truck class, Opel Blitz became the main truck of the German army.
Opel Blitz 3.6-3600S was produced in many modifications, depending on the tasks for which it was intended. Namely: a standard airborne one for transporting troops or materials, a fire truck, a tanker, a huge limousine for VIPs. A car with a metal body could be used as a headquarters or radio center, technical assistance for car repairs, a car for transporting prisoners, an ambulance, a mail car, and much more. The design of the vehicle has evolved throughout the production period. Initially, the payload and power of the gasoline engine increased, which proved to be a better option than the less reliable and more difficult to use diesel. The car was highly praised by the armored units, since the tanks and armored vehicles used the same type of fuel as the Opel Blitz. Throughout the war, Opel produced spare parts for its trucks, allowing many types of repairs to be carried out in field workshops. Since 1942, the springs have been equipped with an additional leaf to avoid frequent breakdowns due to constant overloads.
In 1940, Opel introduced another innovation for its truck - a drive on both axles. This modification Opel Blitz receives the index 3.6-6700A (the letter A is from the German word Allrad, which means all-wheel drive). The all-wheel drive Blitz could climb a mountain with a slope of up to 70%. The drive to the front axle was carried out thanks to the gearbox, which was under the control of the driver in the cab. The next innovative solution was the implementation of a caterpillar drive - this version was called Opel Blitz Maultier. In 1940, Opel was only able to produce 1,000 Blitz trucks a month, and with each subsequent month of the war, demand for trucks only 
increased. Production could not keep up with demand, which led to the confiscation of trucks from civilians for mobilization into the army. The lack of fuel has led to the search for new types of power vehicles. Most of the truck manufacturers (including Opel) have started to install gas generators in their vehicles. In the period from 1943 to 1944, through the use of forced labor, the production of the Opel Blitz was able to increase to 2,500 units per month. The production of Blitz trucks at the then most modern plant in Brandenburg ended on August 6, 1944, when the production facilities were destroyed by American Liberator bombers from a height of 8000m. Between July 1937 and August 1944, 82,356 Opel Blitz S 3.6-3600 cars were produced, and about 25,000 all-wheel drive versions. However, in 1944, the production of Opel trucks was resumed by the rival corporation Daimler-Benz AG, which stopped the production of Blitz's main rival in the three-ton truck class, Mercedes. Opel Blitz was produced for some time at the production facilities of Daimler-Benz AG under the name Mercedes L 701.
The main truck of the main enemy
Sergey Shumakov
On the pages of our we have already told about the portal and the Soviet military truck , and about the American front-line road worker. However, the main truck of the main enemy was left without attention, and our readers were not slow to notice, who since then have been asking us to talk about the main truck of the Wehrmacht. Fulfilling these numerous requests, today we will talk about the car Opel Blitz.
And we will start the story about this car with one interesting and instructive story. In 1944, during Operation Bagration, a German battalion retreating from the Soviet troops stopped in a Belarusian village. By that time, 16 serviceable vehicles remained in the battalion. And at night, when the Germans settled in the village for the night, local boys stole the cranks from each of the cars. At dawn, the rumble of the advancing "" woke the Germans. They rushed to the cars to immediately rush to their heels, but they could not start. Half an hour later, Russian tanks surrounded the village from three sides, and the Germans had to retreat on foot. Sixteen pieces of equipment went to the advancing Soviet troops. This could only happen because the car Opel Blitz was not equipped with an electric starter and had magneto ignition.
The value of a truck in the war can hardly be overestimated. Tanks and armored personnel carriers are helpless without them. This was already shown in the first days of the war. Few people know that the troops of the Southwestern Front launched a counteroffensive on July 23, 1941, which successfully continued until the 28-30th. And the Germans ran. Moreover, the 8th mechanized corps, having connected with the 15th in the Dubno region, and our tankers encircled the 11th and 16th German tank divisions. However, in the midst of the operation, our tanks ran out of fuel and shells, because of which the crews had to abandon their tanks and retreat to Kyiv on foot through the forests. All this happened due to the fact that the business executives made a mistake in the calculations, providing each tank division with only 160 and one and a half. But even these cars did not have time to mobilize from the national economy by the beginning of the war.
The Germans, on the other hand, provided only an infantry division with about 500 trucks, while tank and motorized divisions were provided with 1600-1800 vehicles. That is why the Germans almost never ran out of fuel and ammunition, while ours, until 1943, constantly had supply shortages.
Automobile Opel Blitz is considered the best three-ton truck of the Wehrmacht and, at the same time, it is the only truck that was produced throughout the war until the defeat of Germany. Production was carried out at Opel's purpose-built car factory in Brandenburg, a "model National Socialist enterprise". Since 1944, Daimler-Benz has also joined in the production of this car. Of the 129,795 three-ton Opel Blitz trucks produced, about one hundred thousand were delivered to the Wehrmacht and the SS troops, the rest were used in the defense sectors of the German national economy.
One of the Blitz captured in
On Opel Blitz a six-cylinder carburetor Reihenmotor was installed (Reihenmotor - inline engine) from passenger car
Opel Admiral displacement 3626 cubic centimeters. The diameter of its cylinder was 90 mm, the piston stroke was 95 mm. At 3120 rpm, the engine produced 73.5 Horse power s power, which coincided with that of , but with a working volume smaller by 1.41 times. The crankcase was aluminum, and the block and head were made of gray cast iron. For 100 kilometers, the car consumed 26 liters on an asphalt highway and 35 liters on a dirt road. An 84-liter fuel tank provided a 320-kilometer range. The transmission used a dry single-plate semi-centrifugal clutch and five step box gears.
The main advantage of the car was high speed - on a good road
Opel Blitz walking at a speed of 90 km/h while developed everything 50 . The reason for this advantage was the use of main gear the same gear ratio, equal to 43/10, as in the Admiral. However, this decision led to the fact that it sharply limited the weight of the towed trailer, and generally excluded the possibility of using the trailer off-road.The compression ratio also had a passenger car value - six units, which required the use of first-class gasoline and therefore practically excluded the use of captured gasoline on the Eastern Front. Therefore, in January 1942, the production of a modification began with a reduced compression ratio in the engine, thus adapting it to use the 56th gasoline, and an increased gear ratio in the final drive. Power was reduced to just 68 hp, but speed dropped to 80 km/h. And in order to maintain the previous power reserve, the volume of the fuel tank was increased to 92 liters, since the consumption increased to 30 liters on asphalt and up to 40 on the primer.
Since the leadership
GM , which then owned Opel opposed the release of military products, by the beginning of the war Opel Blitz late - until 1940, only civil version. But in 1940, the enterprise was nationalized, and the military Blitz began to enter the army.
In the front units of the Wehrmacht and the SS troops, trucks Opel Blitz were used not only to transport personnel and cargo, but also as a chassis for installing 20- and 30-mm anti-aircraft automatic guns. On the basis of the same chassis, many special machines– mobile radio stations, ambulances, various workshops, buses, etc. In addition to the Opel-Blitz truck with a carrying capacity of 3 tons, cars unified with it were produced with a lower carrying capacity and with a less powerful 55-horsepower engine from a 2.5-liter passenger car Opel-Captain. This was done in order to reduce fuel consumption. For the same purpose, the Blitz was also installed diesel engine from
In total, there were 16 sizes of this truck. To improve the cross-country ability of a standard three-ton Opel Blitz
S was developed and mass-produced its half-track version of Maultier - mule. At the end of the war, in order to reduce labor costs and save metal in the production of trucks, the design of some parts was simplified, cars were produced with an ersatz cab, made, like that of wood.
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The main truck of the main enemy
Sergey Shumakov
On the pages of our we have already told about the portal and the Soviet military truck , and about the American front-line road worker. However, the main truck of the main enemy was left without attention, and our readers were not slow to notice, who since then have been asking us to talk about the main truck of the Wehrmacht. Fulfilling these numerous requests, today we will talk about the car Opel Blitz.
And we will start the story about this car with one interesting and instructive story. In December 1941, during the Klin-Solnechnogorsk operation of the Soviet troops, the German regiment retreating from the Soviet troops stopped in Klin. By that time, 16 serviceable vehicles remained in the regiment.
Opel Blitz and 80 half-track all-terrain vehicles . And at night, when the Germans settled in the city for the night, local boys stole the cranks from each of the cars.On the morning of December 15, the column of retreating troops was to set off again. However, upon waking up, the Germans found that all the cranks of their trucks and eighty half-tracked transporters disappeared somewhere. There was nothing even to start a headquarters. Meanwhile, parts of the Red Army were advancing and the Klin mousetrap was slamming shut. The Germans had to scrabble out of the city on foot, now and then getting ambushed by skiers. This could only happen because the car Opel Blitz was not equipped with an electric starter and had magneto ignition.
The value of a truck in the war can hardly be overestimated. Tanks and armored personnel carriers are helpless without them. This was already shown in the first days of the war. Few people know that the troops of the Southwestern Front launched a counteroffensive on July 23, 1941, which successfully continued until the 28-30th. And the Germans ran. Moreover, the 8th mechanized corps, having connected with the 15th in the Dubno region, and our tankers encircled the 11th and 16th German tank divisions. However, in the midst of the operation, our tanks ran out of fuel and shells, because of which the crews had to abandon their tanks and retreat to Kyiv on foot through the forests. All this happened due to the fact that the business executives made a mistake in the calculations, providing each tank division with only 160 and one and a half. But even these cars did not have time to mobilize from the national economy by the beginning of the war.
The Germans, on the other hand, provided only an infantry division with about 500 trucks, while tank and motorized divisions were provided with 1600-1800 vehicles. That is why the Germans almost never ran out of fuel and ammunition, while ours, until 1943, constantly had supply shortages.
Automobile Opel Blitz is considered the best three-ton truck of the Wehrmacht and, at the same time, it is the only truck that was produced throughout the war until the defeat of Germany. Production was carried out at Opel's purpose-built car factory in Brandenburg, a "model National Socialist enterprise". Since 1944, Daimler-Benz has also joined in the production of this car. Of the 129,795 three-ton Opel Blitz trucks produced, about one hundred thousand were delivered to the Wehrmacht and the SS troops, the rest were used in the defense sectors of the German national economy.
One of the Blitz captured in
On Opel Blitz a six-cylinder carburetor Reihenmotor (Reihenmotor - in-line engine) from an Opel Admiral passenger car with a working volume of 3626 cubic centimeters was installed. The diameter of its cylinder was 90 mm, the piston stroke was 95 mm. At 3120 rpm, the motor produced 73.5 horsepower, which coincided with that of y, but with a 1.41 times smaller working volume. The crankcase was aluminum, and the block and head were made of gray cast iron. For 100 kilometers, the car consumed 26 liters on an asphalt highway and 35 liters on a dirt road. An 84-liter fuel tank provided a 320-kilometer range. The transmission used a dry single-plate semi-centrifugal clutch and five speed box gears. 
The main advantage of the car was high speed - on a good road
Opel Blitz walked at a speed of 90 km / h, while developing only 50. The reason for this advantage was the use in the main gear of the same gear ratio, equal to 43/10, as in the Admiral. However, this decision led to the fact that it sharply limited the weight of the towed trailer, and generally excluded the possibility of using the trailer off-road.The compression ratio also had a passenger car value - six units, which required the use of first-class gasoline and therefore practically excluded the use of captured gasoline on the Eastern Front. Therefore, in January 1942, the production of a modification began with a reduced compression ratio in the engine, thus adapting it to use the 56th gasoline, and an increased gear ratio in the final drive. Power was reduced to just 68 hp, but speed dropped to 80 km/h. And in order to maintain the previous power reserve, the volume of the fuel tank was increased to 92 liters, since the consumption increased to 30 liters on asphalt and up to 40 on the primer.
Since the leadership GM , which then owned Opel opposed the release of military products, by the beginning of the war Opel Blitz late - until 1940, only a civilian version was produced. But in 1940, the enterprise was nationalized, and the military Blitz began to enter the army.
In the front units of the Wehrmacht and the SS troops, trucks Opel Blitz were used not only to transport personnel and cargo, but also as a chassis for installing 20- and 30-mm anti-aircraft automatic guns. On the basis of the same chassis, many special vehicles were created - mobile radio stations, ambulances, various workshops, buses, etc. In addition to the Opel-Blitz truck with a carrying capacity of 3 tons, cars unified with it were produced with a lower carrying capacity and with a less powerful 55-horsepower engine from a 2.5-liter passenger car Opel-Captain. This was done in order to reduce fuel consumption. For the same purpose, a diesel engine from
Mercedes-Benz 260D
(about him
–
). This engine, with a cylinder diameter of 95 mm and a piston stroke of 100 mm 100 mm, had a displacement of 2545 cubic meters. cm. The compression ratio was 20.5 units. At 3000 rpm, he gave out only 45 hp. s., which was clearly not enough for a three-ton truck. One of the options was equipped with a gas generator. Another worked on methyl alcohol - the longer the war went on, the less gasoline was enough.
In total, there were 16 sizes of this truck. To improve the cross-country ability of a standard three-ton Opel Blitz S was developed and mass-produced by its half-track version of the Maultier - mule. At the end of the war, in order to reduce labor costs and save metal in the production of trucks, the design of some parts was simplified, cars were produced with an ersatz cab, made, like that of wood.
Opel Blitz is considered the best three-ton truck of the Wehrmacht, at the same time it is the only truck that was produced from the pre-war years until the defeat of Germany. Production was carried out at Opel's purpose-built car plant in Brandenburg, a "model National Socialist enterprise". Since 1944, Daimler-Benz has also joined the production of this car. Of the 129,795 three-ton Opel Blitz trucks manufactured, approximately 100,000 were delivered to the Wehrmacht and the SS troops, the rest were used in the defense sectors of the German national economy.
"Opel Blitz" was a two-axle freight car with a three-seater metal cabin and a body made in the form of an onboard platform with an awning. Some cars of this type were also equipped with box bodies, cars without a cab were produced for the African Corps. Installed in front of the cab 6-cylinder carbureted engine liquid cooling developed maximum power 68 horsepower. The transmission used a dry single-plate semi-centrifugal clutch and a 5-speed gearbox.
Trucks were produced from undercarriage two types: 3.6 - 36S - standard version with a 4x2 wheel arrangement; 3.6 - 6700A - four wheel drive truck with wheel formula 4x4. Permeability of the first truck country roads was rated as low, the second - as satisfactory (the disadvantage of this version of the truck was the twin rear wheels, significantly increasing the resistance to movement of the car).
Of the trucks supplied to the armed forces, one in four was all-wheel drive. On the highway, trucks of both types developed quite high speed- 90 km / h. Fuel tank contained 92 liters of gasoline, the cruising range on the highway was 400 kilometers. In the front-line units of the Wehrmacht and the SS troops, Opel-Blitz trucks were used not only to transport personnel and cargo, but also as a chassis for installing 20 and 30 mm automatic anti-aircraft guns.
On the basis of the same chassis, many special machines were created - mobile radio stations, ambulances, various workshops, buses, and so on. In addition to the Opel-Blitz truck with a carrying capacity of 3 tons, cars unified with it with a lower carrying capacity and with less powerful engine. In total, there were 16 sizes of this truck.
