Based on the 3-ton half-track, this vehicle (Mittlerer Entgiftungswagen, SdKfz 11/2) was designed to decontaminate areas where persistent chemical agents had been used. However, since none of the countries involved in World War II used chemical agents, the SdKfz 11/2 served as a prime mover for the Light Field Howitzer 18 and various anti-tank guns.

This vehicle is representative of the half-tracks developed during the 1930s, and which came in five classes: 1-ton, 3-ton, 5-ton, 12-ton, and 18-ton, rated by the maximum load they could pull.

All of them had a conventional wheeled front-end, but then (in the case of the SdKfz 11/2) had seven pairs of interleaved steel road wheels supporting the track. The vehicle was powered by a 100hp Mayback HL 42 6-cylinder water-cooled gasoline engine.

Roughly 25,000 3-ton half-tracks were built, starting in 1937, and about 16,000 of them were SdKfz 251 models.