Armoured Vehicle Museum >>
 
Designation:

41.M Turan II

Info
Country: HUNGARY  
Vehicle type: Medium tank  
Year of manufacture: 1943  
 
 

Turán II was a variant of the Turán I medium tank. It had a modified turret with a long bevel on the cupola and the armament was changed to a short caliber 75 mm.

Turán II was issued to Hungarian armored formations in 1943.

A tank based on a design from the Czech Skoda factory. The Skoda design, T22, became the 40mm Turan. The Hungarians produced 2 forms, the Turan 1 which had a 40mm gun and the Turan 2 with a 75mm gun in a larger turret. These tanks equiped Hungary's only armored division (1st Pancelos Hadosztaly). Turans proved to be much too light to use against Soviet armor and armor clashes were avoided if possible. A prototype of Turan III (see below) armed with 75mm long barreled was ready in 1944. The proposed heavier Turan 3 never reached production stage before the ending of the war in 1945. Any surviving Turans were lost in 1944 when Hungary attempted to break it's Axis alliance.

After the Hungarian debacle of the 2nd Magyar Honved (2nd Hungarian Army), it became evident to the Hungarians that the 40mm gun mounted in the Turan I, would be inadequate (even though no Turans had participated in the battle on the Don River in January of 1943). As a result, MAVAG Dios-Gyor developed the 75mm 41M tank gun from the Austro-hungarian Bohler 75mm 18M field gun. The Turans armed with this short-barelled tank gun were designated 41M Turan II nehez harckocsi (heavy tank). they were later renamed 41M Turan 75 rovid nehez harckocsi (short heavy tank). the first 3 Turan IIs were delivered to the troops on May 13-15, 1943.

In April of 1943, a better, more modern design was submitted. This tank was armed with the 43M (L/43) tank gun which was a hungarian development of the German 7.5cm PaK 40. The Hungarian version differed considerably to its German counterpart, and could fire either German PaK ammunition, or special Hungarian ammo. This model was designated 43M Turan II hasszu nehez harckocsi (long heavy tank). It mounted the 75mm gun in a modified turret and had thicker armor, but was otherwise similar to previous Turans.


41.M Turan II
41.M Turan II
41.M Turan II
41.M Turan II
 
   
Share...
Printable Version Send by email rss favorite Facebook Vkontakte Twitter Google+