The Hungarian Army in WW2 was the only one from the minor Axis nations to produce their own tanks. An example is the Turán: Hungary’s mass-produced medium tank, made by MÁVAG (Magyar Királyi Állami Vas-, Acél- és Gépgyárak). It was named after the historical and “mythical” Turan region in Asia.
Historical Background
Hungary didn’t have its own tank production until the late 1930s. It had obtained a few Renault FTs and L3/35s refitted with Hungarian MGs (35M Ansaldo, as it was called by the army), but they didn’t make any of their own tanks yet.
He also designed prototype tanks for Hungary in the early 1930s, such as the Straussler V-4, and later went on to create the Duplex Drive for the Americans, which made landing Allied tanks in Normandy via water possible.
But the army knew lightly armoured tanks wouldn’t be enough, as they saw how other nations progressed. They tried purchasing some Panzers from Germany, but they refused (something they would repeat until 1944), so they had to look around to find the perfect tank to license…
“The Backbone of the Hungarian Army”
The first version, the 40M Turán I was introduced in 1940. It was mainly inspired by the Czechoslovak T-21 (based on the LT vz 35) prototype tank, with some major changes including a shining new 40mm cannon (instead of the 47mm Škoda A9 cannon found on the original prototype, so it could fire rounds from the 40mm Bofors AA Gun), a new engine and transmission, a new 6-sided turret (which could fit 3 men at once) and 2× 8mm machine guns. The army also thought the Škoda T-21 armour to be too weak, so it got upgraded as well to a thickness of 50mm in the front.
Another version was the 41M Turán II, now featuring a new mantlet and a short 75mm cannon. Both of these vehicles served on the Eastern Front in Operation Barbarossa and participated in the catastrophic (at least for the 2nd Hungarian Army) Battle of the Don, but they mostly saw combat in the Defense of Hungary (September 1944–April 1945). Sadly, they were proved to be highly outdated against the Soviet war machines.
In 1944, another concept was put forward. The Turáns were highly outdated and as such couldn’t stand up against the flood of Soviet T-34s. So the engineers wondered: What would happen if we squeezed in a long 75mm gun into the turret? And that’s exactly what they did. Only a handful of prototypes were made of the new 44M Turán III, as Hungary wasn’t in the state to produce any more tanks frequently.
Fun fact: it was actually categorised as a heavy tank by the army.
A total of 460+ Turán tanks were produced.
The Zrínyi
On a related note is the Hungarian StuG: the Zrínyi, which was also based on the Turán’s chassis. It was a tank destroyer/assault gun that served Hungarian armies in Galicia and in the defense of their homeland. It was named after a military leader (“végvári vitéz”) fighting against the Turks in the 1500s: Miklós Zrínyi.
In 1942, the Hungarian army — seeing the StuG’s success, and not being able to buy any of the rights to build it from Germany — ordered the first prototypes to be made.
The first version was supposed to be a tank destroyer. The 44M Zrínyi I was equipped with the long 75 mm cannon (also used on the Turán III), and had quite thick armour. It was supposed to engage heavily armoured tanks, that earlier Turán variants couldn’t deal with (IS, T-34, etc.). The tank destroyer sadly got rejected.
The second version however, the 43M Zrínyi II was greenlit by the army, as it performed extremely well on field tests. It was armed with a 10.5 cm howitzer, which could pack quite a punch. The first few Zrínyi IIs produced were sent to Galicia, where they successfully destroyed 18 T-34s (even though they were classified as assault guns, not as tank destroyers). It also came in handy in 1944, at the Defense of Budapest.
A total of 1 Zrínyi I and 60 Zrínyi IIs were produced.
It is truly fascinating, how a small nation like the Kingdom of Hungary could make their very own tank industry, isn’t it?
Thanks for reading!