41M Turan II

Hungarian medium tank Turan I and II.
History, development, service, specifications, statistics, pictures and 3D-model of 41M Turan II.

Hungarian tanks of WW2

41M Turan II
Type: Hungarian medium tank

During World War II, Hungary was initially a non-belligerent nation but later joined the Axis powers in 1941. The Hungarian Army had a mix of domestically produced and foreign-sourced tanks, primarily from Germany and Italy.

Some of the main Hungarian tanks and armored vehicles used during the war include:

Toldi light tank: A Hungarian-designed light tank based on the Swedish Landsverk L-60. It had a 20mm main gun and was produced in three main variants (Toldi I, II, and III).

Turán medium tank: A Hungarian-designed medium tank inspired by the Czechoslovak Škoda T-21. It had a 40mm main gun and was produced in two main variants (Turán I and II).

Zrínyi assault gun: A self-propelled gun based on the Turán tank chassis, armed with a 105mm howitzer.

Csaba armored car: A series of Hungarian-designed armored cars used for reconnaissance duties.

Nimród self-propelled anti-aircraft gun: An armored vehicle based on the Luftvärnskanonvagn L-62 anti II, a licensed version of the Swedish Landsverk L-62 anti-aircraft tank, armed with a 40mm Bofors anti-aircraft gun.

German and Italian tanks: Hungary also received tanks from Germany and Italy, such as the Panzer 38(t), Panzer IV, Sturmgeschütz 40, and Fiat L3/35 tankette.

Despite having a relatively advanced domestic tank industry, Hungary struggled to produce enough tanks to meet the demands of the war, and their armored forces were often outmatched by the larger and more advanced tanks of the Allied nations, particularly the Soviet T-34 and KV-1 tanks encountered on the Eastern Front.

History Turan tank

Prior to WW2, Hungary had equipped its armored forces with AFV’s from abroad (mainly Italian CV-33 tankettes) which they then modified to suit their own purposes. In 1940, Hungary gained permission to manufacture a medium tank which appeared in 1941 and was based on a Czech Skoda design (now the German Panzer 38(t) ).
Named Turan I, it was a 16-ton medium tank with a five-man crew and mounted a 40 mm Skoda gun in a large refitted turret (with square cupola). Turan was built by the Weiss&Cspel Steelworks of Budapest and was powered by 260hp Hungarian made engine. Production of this tank was beginning in October 1941.

After the disastrous Stalingrad battles, the Hungarian army realized that it needed a more powerful weapon to counter the Russian T-34 tanks. In 1943 the Turan II appeared with a modified turret with long bevel on the cupola and the gun changed to a short-barreled 75 mm. The vehicle’s combat debut was not before April 1944 in Galicia, because the Hungarians were held back from the front line for refitting during 1943.

The type was still outclassed by most Russian armor and so the long barreled German 75 mm gun L/43 was installed. It was called Turan III, but it was only in the prototype stage when the Germans occupied Hungary and exchanged the current government.
There after the Fascist Hungarian Army was supplied with German armored vehicles and plans were made for the license production of the famous Panther tank (but the Russian encirclement and fall of Budapest ended this project).

Users: Hungary (for all variants).

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Animated 3d model of 40M Turan I tank

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Specifications for 41M Turan II

Specifications:

41M Turan II	Specification
Type	medium tank
Engine	260hp gasoline Manfred-Weiss Z
Gearbox	?
Crew total	5
Turret crew	?
Length	5.68 m
Width	2.54 m
Height	2.33 m
Weight	18.2 tons
Maximum speed	47 km/h
Cross-country speed	?
Petrol consumption per 100 km	?
Petrol	?
Road radius	165 km
Cross-country radius	?
Vertical obstacle	approx. 0.79 m
Trench crossing	approx. 1.98 m
Fording depth	?
Turning circle	?
Gradient	approx. 60 °

Armour:

41M Turan II	mm
Maximum	50 mm
Minimum	14 mm
Angles	unknown

Armament:

41M Turan II	specification
Main armament	75mm short barreled (should be nearly equal to German 7.5cm Kwk37 L/24. Following are the data for this gun)
Traverse	360°
Elevation	?
Muzzle velocity	Pzgr: 385 m/s; HE (high-explosive): 450 m/s
Shell weight Pzgr	6.8 kg
Shell weight HE A	4.40 kg
Shell weight HE B	4.57 kg
Shell weight HE C	4.80 kg
Secondary armament	two 8 mm MG's

Penetration mm at 30° armor of the German 7.5cm Kwk37 L/24:

range	Pzgr	Gr38A	Gr38B	Gr38C
100 meters	41	70	75	100
500 meters	39	70	75	100
1,000 meters 35	70	75	100
1,500 meters 33	70	75	100
2,000 meters 30	-	-	-

Production:

41M Turan	figures
Turan I	October 1941
Turan II	1943
Turan III	prototype April 1944
Combat delivery	1943
Price per tank	?
Total production figure	300 Turan I, 322 Turan II, 1 Turan III

Service statistics of all Turan variants:

Year	Available	Production	Losses
before 1939	-	-	-
1939	-	-	-
1940	-	-	-
1941	-	c. 300 (1941-42) ?
1942	?	?	?
1943	?	c. 323 (1943-44)	?
1944	?	?	?
1945	?	-	?
TOTAL	-	623	?

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Animated 3d model of 41M Turan II tank

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References and literature

World War Two Tanks (George Forty)
Panzer und andere Kampffahrzeuge von 1916 bis heute (Christopher F. Foss, John F. Milsom, Colonel John Stafford Weeks, Captain Georffrey Tillotson, Richard M. Ogorkiewicz)
Kraftfahrzeuge und Panzer der Reichswehr, Wehrmacht und Bundeswehr (Werner Oswald)
Germany’s Eastern Front Allies 1941-45 (Peter Abbott, Nigel Thomas)
Krieg der Panzer (Piekalkiewicz)