“Trucks from Zwickau, Werdau, and Ludwigsfelde”

A new book in German by Günther Wappler with a wealth of content

There are many book lovers among commercial vehicle enthusiasts, otherwise new publications on this topic would not be appearing so frequently. From now on, we will be presenting new books that we think will be of interest to our target audience. We start with the book “Trucks from Zwickau, Werdau, and Ludwigsfelde” by Günther Wappler, published by Podszun-Motorbücher. The 173-page book is approximately A4 size and contains 555 illustrations. Anyone who still has gaps in their knowledge of truck production in the GDR will undoubtedly need this book.

Although we ourselves have already archived hundreds of commercial vehicle books and are well versed in this area, we were quite amazed when leafing through this book. The enormous number of illustrations includes not only countless old and newer photographs, but also reproductions of brochures, type sheets, factory documents, posters, and much more. Since the author, Günther Wappler, is himself a model collector, he has added the corresponding photos of model cars to all the vehicles featured in the book, where available. All in all, this book contains a wealth of information in words and pictures that is rarely found elsewhere. Praise is also due to the Podszun publishing house, whose layout department has arranged the multitude of different templates and text in a clear and concise manner. We are convinced that anyone interested in the history of East German commercial vehicles will get their money's worth with this work (namely €39.90).

Four sample pages from Günther Wappler's book on truck manufacturing in East Germany: In addition to the extensively researched texts, countless photos of vehicles, reproductions of documents and advertising material, and even illustrations of model cars fill the 173 pages of this documentation on trucks from Zwickau, Werdau, and Ludwigsfelde.

Günther Wappler, born in 1950, provided us with all kinds of information for this book review. First, he told us a little about himself: he grew up in Königswalde near Werdau, learned about agricultural technology of the 1960s and 70s during his training as an agricultural engineer, and served in the National People's Army as a driver. As a bus driver for the Zwickau municipal transport company, he became familiar with almost all types of buses manufactured by the Hungarian company Ikarus. He then worked as a driver for the Zwickau municipal construction company. In early retirement, he worked as a plant operator in a chemical company, i.e., as a skilled worker who operates, monitors, and maintains production facilities. In retirement, he was finally able to devote himself fully to the history of commercial vehicles in the GDR, publishing several books on the subject and also writing about collecting model cars.

Günther Wappler has spent his life with commercial vehicles – both professionally and in retirement as an author. It all started with two books in the 2000s, in which truck manufacturing in the GDR was described in detail for the first time.

The book presented here, “Trucks from Zwickau, Werdau, and Ludwigsfelde,” has two predecessors on similar topics, which Günther Wappler wrote about 20 years ago. Based on many new findings and countless new documents and photos, he has since delved deeper into the subject and completed this book, also using previously published material. It offers a comprehensive overview of truck manufacturing in the GDR.

Günther Wappler has written a summary of the creation of his books especially for this book review and added a series of photos to whet the appetite for his new book. We don't want to miss the opportunity to reproduce his text here and publish a selection of the photos. It starts here:

There were three locations in East Germany where trucks were produced: Zwickau, Werdau, and Ludwigsfelde. In 1965, a complete restructuring took place, as a result of which only the automobile factory in Ludwigsfelde continued to build trucks.

The factory facilities of the Sächsische Waggonfabrik (Saxon Wagon Factory) from 1898 were used in the years before World War II by the company Fahrzeugbau Schumann GmbH, which manufactured truck and bus bodies there. Among the products of the then renowned Werdau vehicle manufacturing company was this double-decker articulated bus. Pulled by an Opel Blitz-based tractor unit, the vehicle went to the Dresden transport company in 1938.
From 1934 onwards, a large number of truck and bus bodies were built in the Werdau factory halls under the name Fahrzeugbau Schumann GmbH on the chassis of all manufacturers of the time. Schumann Werdau was one of the industry giants of the pre-war period.
Schumann also built bodies for the electric trolleybuses used in many German cities at the time. The photo shows trolleybuses on MAN chassis in Salzburg, Austria. During the Second World War, the headlights had to be fitted with camouflage caps. Only a small amount of light penetrated through a narrow slit so as not to provide a target for air raids.
From 1948, the Werdau plant briefly belonged to locomotive and railcar manufacturing Wildau near Berlin (LOWA). During this time, another interesting vehicle was built in Werdau in 1951 alongside trams and trolleybuses: a steam tractor. The eight-ton vehicle had an output of 65 hp. Presumably, only two examples ever saw the light of day. After test runs with two trailers, it became apparent that the project had little chance of success, and it was soon abandoned.
Brochure for the H6 from 1958
The H6 was successfully exported. Exactly 2,579 units went to China and 300 to Argentina, where this model was used in agriculture.
Werdau perspective in the mid-1950s: New H6 vehicles parked on the grounds of the IFA factory. The buildings in the background no longer exist today.
There was also a version of the H6 as a semi-trailer truck with the type designation Z6. The model shown here was exhibited at the Leipzig Trade Fair in 1952. The double-decker semi-trailer for passenger transport was a new edition of the vehicle from 1938.
At first glance, the S 4000-1 and H6 models look similar because they have some of the same body parts. However, the height of the headlight housings makes it easy to tell the vehicles apart from almost any angle. In the photo, the distance between the upper edge of the headlight and the upper edge of the housing is clearly visible on the larger H6, while this distance is missing on the S 4000-1.
The W 501 bus went into series production in 1952. The photo shows it in front of the King Albert Museum (now the Municipal Art Collection) in Zwickau. It had many components from the H 6, such as the six-cylinder engine with 120 hp.
The chassis and two body variants are sketched on the back of a 1956 brochure for the G5.
G5 from the first series with hinged cab roof and wooden flatbed
The G5 was produced with a variety of different bodies for the National People's Army of the GDR. The photo shows completed vehicles that still had to be fitted with bodies.

Truck production in the GDR began in 1947 with the H3 model at Horch in Zwickau. This truck was an assembly of remaining pre-war parts, including the Maybach engine. In 1950, the H 3 A, the first truck developed in the GDR, was built in Zwickau. It was further developed into the S 4000-1 by 1959. In favor of car production, truck production was then relocated to the neighboring plant in Werdau. But why Werdau? These and other questions aroused my curiosity, because the entire history of East German truck production was initially quite opaque. This was not only due to various production relocations, but also because much of it had not been made public. For example, it only came to light after 1990 that, in addition to the series-production vehicles, there was a whole series of experimental vehicles that disappeared into obscurity after testing. Over the years, a rigid planned economy and backward-looking thinking prevented many technical advances. To find out exactly what happened, I first had to conduct thorough research in various archives, then piece together the details and uncover the connections.

In 1953, the then new H 3 A truck was advertised in the typical rhetoric of GDR propaganda. It was initially built in the former Horch factories in Zwickau until it was decided to move production to Werdau.
Brochure cover of the S 4000-1 truck model, which was developed from the H 3 A, here still equipped with waving turn signals and a trailer triangle. In the background of the picture is an airport scene with an aircraft belonging to Deutsche Lufthansa GmbH of the GDR. This airline existed from 1955 to 1963, when it was continued under the name of Interflug, which had already been founded in 1958.
After production of the S 4000-1 was moved to Werdau, this photo was taken in front of the old Schumann halls. In 1962, the vehicles were equipped with modern turn signals to indicate a change of direction. This made the old-fashioned waving turn signals obsolete. The trailer triangle had already been abolished a year earlier.

Under the motto “100 years of industrial vehicle manufacturing in Werdau,” a large vehicle meeting took place in 1998 on the former premises of the “Ernst Grube” motor vehicle factory. At that time, there was hardly any literature on trucks from Zwickau and Werdau, and there was no documentation at all on vehicle construction in Ludwigsfelde. So at the vehicle meeting, there was a great deal of uncertainty about when and where the vehicles were built and in what quantities. The first step was therefore to compile documentation on the Werdau vehicles. I began intensive research in various archives. I should note that all documents from the former Werdau motor vehicle factory were distributed among the Dresden Transport Museum, the Chemnitz State Archives, the Werdau District Archives, and the Werdau Steam and City Museum. This fragmentation made the search for information considerably more difficult.

The first result of my research was the book “Geschichte des Zwickauer und Werdauer Nutzfahrzeugbaus” (History of Commercial Vehicle Manufacturing in Zwickau and Werdau), published in 2002. It was the first book to describe the entire history of the Werdau truck manufacturer, which was founded in 1898 as the Saxon Wagon Factory. In the 1920s and 30s, the Schumann vehicle body builder plant was located there, and from 1952 onwards, it was home to the VEB IFA Kraftfahrzeugwerk “Ernst Grube” Werdau. The plant became very important due to its production of trucks and buses, as it was the only company in the GDR that manufactured vehicles with a payload of more than three tons. The H6 truck, the G5 off-road truck, and the H 6 B bus were important for freight and passenger transport in East Germany. From 1960, production of the S 4000-1 conventional truck from Zwickau was added. During this time, the W 50 cabover was also developed in Werdau until it was ready for series production. After truck production was discontinued in 1967, the plant made a name for itself with the production of trailers and semi-trailers. In 1990, this production also came to an end and the plant was divided into various companies.

As early as the 1950s, there were further developments of trucks in Werdau, but these were not taken into series production. One example is the AZ 57 shown here: Several vehicle variants were planned, but the front-wheel drive vehicle developed in 1957 with components from the H 6 did not make it past the testing phase. Today, it is completely incomprehensible why the development of this concept, which was quite successful in terms of its exterior design, was not pursued further.
Another prototype developed in Werdau was the W 45 from 1962, which was originally designed as a conventional truck. Shortly thereafter, however, a decision was made to use a cabover with the same model designation. Neither of the two went into series production.
When tested as an all-wheel-drive tipper, the W 50 was already very similar to the production model. The stylish radiator grille with the Werdau emblem and frame (presumably made of aluminum) fell victim to cost-cutting measures during mass production.
After the production of motor vehicles in Werdau was discontinued, the plant had to produce trailers and semi-trailers. The photo shows HW 80 trailers with automatic side walls opening ready for delivery.
The invitation to the meeting in Hall 142 of the Ludwigsfelder Automobilwerke on the occasion of the start of production of the W 50 in July 1965 shows on the left the development of their motor scooter production in the previous years from 1955 to 1964.

However, the W 50 truck, which was developed in Werdau to series production readiness, was not to be built there. It was decided that the W 50 would be produced in Ludwigsfelde. How did this come about? Initially, there was no documentation on this either. After researching the local archives in Ludwigsfelde and consulting with a number of private individuals, my book “Der gebremste Lastkraftwagen – Die Lkw W 50 und L 60 aus Ludwigsfelde” (The Braked Truck – The W 50 and L 60 Trucks from Ludwigsfelde) was published in 2003. In it, I described in detail for the first time the truck construction in Ludwigsfelde and the curious birth of the successor model, the L 60. There were also setbacks in the development of this new vehicle, which was supposed to meet international standards: many prototypes were created, all of which were rejected. Finally, production of the successor model L 60 began in 1987. However, this production also came to an end after three years, as all truck production in the GDR ceased in 1990.

In the 1970s, various semi-trailers and trailers produced in the GDR were presented in front of the “Ernst Grube” motor vehicle factory in Werdau. The W 50 tractor units came from Ludwigsfelde.
The visually distinctive F 300 functional model with a 200 hp engine also remained a prototype in the 1970s.
When series production of the W 50 began in 1965, the research and development department in Ludwigsfelde had already developed a prototype for the next generation, designated 515. The photo was taken in 2000, when the vehicle had long been “shelved.”
In 1988, the L 60 went into series production as a 4x2 flatbed truck, and a year later as a panel truck.
A bus chassis based on the L 60 was also planned, but it was never implemented.

If you would like to purchase Günther Wappler's book “Trucks from Zwickau, Werdau, and Ludwigsfelde,” you can order it from the Podszun publishing house. Simply click on this link!