At the time of "Operation Barbarossa" most of the medium and heavy trucks of the German Wehrmacht were produced under the "Schnell-Program". These vehicles had sufficient roadgoing capabilities for Central European roads, but were not suited for the cold and muddy conditions in Russia. Even the all-wheel driven L-4500A 4,5t truck was inadequate. Therefore the L-4500R-Maultier (Mule)- halftrack was developed, which had the track mechanism of Panzer II. A total of 1486 such halftrack-lorries were manufactured.
