German LRDG

[tigercat]

What would have equipped the German equivalent of our LRDG . Presumably halftracks would have been too maintenance intensive out in the desert  so what would they have used?

Lancia's, Opel's Protze's , Kubelwagen's?

[rickshaw]

The German equivalent of the LRDG, the Brandenbergers often utilised captured Allied vehicles on their extremely long range missions deep into sub-Saharan Africa and to the Upper-Nile valley in Egypt.

[ChernayaAkula]

It's "Brandenburger". With a "u" and without the s for the plural as the word Brandenburger is used for both singular and plural forms.

[tigercat]

I understand the Germans in General made plenty of use of captured Allied Vehicles in The Desert War

[pyro-manic]

I would imagine Opel trucks, and the 6- and/or 8-wheeled armoured cars would be good candidates. Maybe lighten the ACs by removing some of the armour (roof perhaps) and replacing it with simple tarps to keep the sun off? No armament heavier than some MG34/42s, or perhaps some MG81s robbed from damaged bombers?

[GeorgeC]

They could borrow these beasties from their Italian allies

http://comandosupremo.com/sahariana.html

Better for raiding than 'lying-up' patrols, perhaps

[Geoff]

Sidehacks were used for recce and allegedly got to the Suez canal.

[rickshaw]

Sidehacks were used for recce and allegedly got to the Suez canal.

The Brandenburgers reached deep down into East Africa and not only reached the Upper Nile valley they actually went through the Suez Canal onboard a German merchant ship to Singapore, carrying a group of Indians who were to fight for Chandra Bose's Indian National Army.

in the Far East the Japanese Army in Burma stood at the gates of India. Through the their ambassador in Berlin, General Oshima, Bose was named as leader of a Japanese sponsored Indian Government-in-exile and on 9th February 1943 Bose, his adjutant Dr. Habib Hassan and two officers of the Indian Legion left Kiel on the long-range (Type IX D1) submarine U-180 under the command of Fregattenkapitän Musenberg[38] (which also contained blueprints of jet engines and various other German secret projects to help the Japanese war effort). They transferred in rough seas to the Japanese submarine I-29 at a rendezvous near Madagascar[39] and arrived at Sabang harbor on We Island off the northernmost tip of Japanese occupied Sumatra on 6th May 1943.[40] Subsequently Bose traveled via Singapore to Tokyo for talks with the Japanese Government. In the wake of these successful negotiations he returned to his Japanese provided residence in Singapore where his aides had assembled other like-minded Indians to form the "Provisional Government of Free India".[41] Ultimately Bose came to lead a much larger Japanese sponsored "Indian National Army" (eventually of three divisions) which fought alongside the Japanese against the British 14th Army in Burma and in the extreme north-east of India.

Following Bose's departure for Singapore, discussions between the German Foreign Ministry and the Abwehr resulted in a plan to transfer the leadership of the Legion Fries Indien to the Far East. Department II of the Abwehr organized the operation in conjunction with the operations staff of the Division Brandenburg and the Oberkommando der Marine (German Naval High Command). The plan called for the use of four blockade runners to take the officer corps and best men of the Indian Legion to Singapore.[42]

Given the war situation and Allied domination of the Atlantic and Indian oceans the proposed operation was extremely audacious and called for careful planning. One blockade runner was converted to resemble a iron ore carrier from neutral Sweden. Named the Brand III, it was crewed by Brandenburgers with a knowledge of Swedish and some Indians with experience as seamen. The majority of the Indians were, however, concealed in specially constructed space at the bottom of the hold which was covered over with Iron ore so that inspection from above would give the impression of a normal hold full of ore. the Brand III then proceeded from Germany to Malmö in Sweden where it refueled, in the knowledge that British agents there would report its departure to London. The "neutral" vessel was allowed to make passage through the English channel but was stopped in Gibraltar where its cargo manifest was examined but its cover story held good. A German agent in Capetown, South Africa had sent the order for the iron ore which was ostensibly for a real iron foundry in South Africa to Sweden so that verification checks by the British authorities showed everything to be in order. the Brand III carried on through the Suez Canal into the Indian ocean and survived another inspection, this time by U.S. warships in the Bay of Bengal. finally just west of the Sunda Strait the Brand III rendezvoused with a Japanese cruiser which escorted it to Singapore.[43]

[Source]

The Brandenurgers were if nothing audacious.

[Geoff]