A light prime mover on steroids
The Raupenschlepper Ost came in many different variation, one of them was with the 7,5 cm PaK 40 embedded on the cargo bed.
While the Raupenslchlepper Ost was made for warfare in the east and tow equipment like the PaK 40 anti-tank gun the idea came to embed the gun on the Prime mover in a 360 degrees setup. It was a heavy gun compared to the light Raupenschlepper slowing it down to a high speed of 11 km/h instead of the usual 17 km/h. But the idea was picked up and several, 50 to 60, Raupenschleppers were outfitted with this 7,5 cm anti-tank gun. The Steyr company even planned to outfit an RSO with a bigger anti-tank gun, the 8.8 cm PaK 43. It is the same gun used on the Tiger II (Kingtiger), the Elefant tank destroyer, the Nashorn tank destroyer and the Jagdpanther tank destroyer. This type was planned but never built.
There is only one Steyr RSO/Pak 40 left today, converted from a type 02, Raupenschlepper Ost – RSO/02.
