16 http://www.militaryvehiclesmagazine.com
by John Norris
W
hen the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO)
was created in 1949, one of the European nations to
sign the agreement to the Alliance was the Nether-
lands. In doing so, it broke with a tradition of neutrality which
stretched back to the early 19th century. During the early post-
war years, the Dutch Army continued to use a mixture of British
and American equipment, including armored vehicles, much of
which was surplus from WWII.
By 1956, the Dutch Army approached the vehicle manufac-
turer Van Doorne’s Automobielfabrieken (DAF) to come up with
a modern design for an armored personnel carrier. The company
produced a mock-up which was approved and led to the fi rst pro-
totype in 1958. Following fi eld trials, the Dutch Army proposed
a series of changes. DAF’s design team knew they could incor-
porate these changes into the new vehicle. Eventually, the Dutch
Army awarded DAF a contract in 1964 for the new vehicle —
now known as the YP-408. The YP-408 entered service in 1965.
When DAF completed production in 1968, it had built around
750 vehicles.
The YP-408 APC version was the basic design in a series
of variants known as the Panzer Wagen Infanterie-Standard
(Group) (PWI-S(GR)). These included a platoon commander’s
vehicle, the PWI-S(PC) fi tted with extra radios and could carry
nine men. Four other variants were originally developed in the
series including a company or battalion commander’s vehicle,
The Dutch YP-408 APC
A Cold War armored personnel carrier