The RDG Mod 2 (Rotella della Guerra, model 2) is a wheelform vehicle created by eccentric Italian tinkerer Enrique Baldelli. Only twenty exist, having been hand-built and entered service only days before the Allied invasion of Sicily. The vehicle is designed for recon duty, even carrying two scouts as passengers who can be dismounted to take closer looks. It is rather large for this purpose, though it has excellent performance. The relatively narrow body is also useful in the mountainous regions of Italy.
Three have been sent back to Berlin for study as a possible replacement for current scout vehicles. There is already a planned armament increase, with one 20mm MG FF and one 7.92mm MG 42 per side.
The armament is in casemate mounts, one 13.2mm and 8mm MG in each mount. The right mount can fire from directly forward to directly right, while the left mount fires from directly to the rear to directly left. Ammo capacity is very low, but this was deemed acceptable in a vehicle that should flee as soon as contact with the enemy is made.
The RDG Mod 2 has a crew of four: a driver, commander and two gunners. It burned 4.5 gallons of fuel per hour at routine usage.
Subassemblies: Medium Wheelform chassis +3
P&P: 100-kW gasoline engine with 100-kW wheelform
drivetrain,
4000 kWs lead-acid battery and 45 gallon self-sealing fuel tank
Occ: 4 CS, 2 PS Cargo:
3.2
| Armor | F | R/L | B | T | U |
| Body | 4/20 | 4/50 | 4/20 | 4/20 | 4/20 |
Armament
Very Long Ground HMG/13.2mm Breda-SAFAT Mod 31 [Body:R, L] (200 each).
Ground LMG/8mm Breda-SAFAT Mod 38 [Body:R, L] (500 each).
Link fires both MGs in each mount.
Equipment
Body: Medium range radio receiver and transmitter, casemate
mounts for MGs.
Statistics
| Size: 20'x5'x20' | Payload: 0.8 tons | Lwt: 5.96 tons |
| Volume: 50 | Maint.: 77 hours | Price: $6,690 |
HT: 12.
HP: 700 [body], 140 [wheel]
| gSpeed: 66 | gAccel: 3 | gDecel: 20 | gMR: 0.5 | gSR: 1 |
Design Notes
Chassis weight, cost and HPs were divided by two to represent a lighter
than normal design.