At the beginning of World War II, a new type of military equipment developed and became widespread, reflecting radical changes in offensive tactics - an armored personnel carrier (armored personnel carrier). As you know, any military equipment is created by order. In this case, the army required a massive and inexpensive armored vehicle of high cross-country ability, with good maneuverability on the battlefield, capable of delivering one or two infantry squads with weapons to the front edge of the enemy, both independently and after the attacking tanks, with minimal losses in fire countermeasures, and cover them with the fire of their machine guns.