41M Turan II

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

Hungarian Turan II tank
Turan II tank full loaded with Hungarian soldiers during the retreating fighting.

41M Turan II
Type:
Hungarian medium tank

History:

Hungarian Turan I tank
Hungarian Turan I tank crosses a damaged bridge at the Russian front.
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).


Animated 3d model of 40M Turan I tank


Data for 41M Turan II

Specifications:

41M Turan IISpecification
Typemedium tank
Engine260hp gasoline Manfred-Weiss Z
Gearbox?
Crew total5
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 radius165 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 IImm
Maximum50 mm
Minimum14 mm
Anglesunknown

Armament:

41M Turan IIspecification
Main armament 75mm short barreled (should be nearly equal to German 7.5cm Kwk37 L/24. Following are the data for this gun)
Traverse360°
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:

rangePzgrGr38AGr38BGr38C
100 meters417075100
500 meters397075100
1,000 meters 357075100
1,500 meters 337075100
2,000 meters 30---


Production:

41M Turanfigures
Turan IOctober 1941
Turan II1943
Turan IIIprototype April 1944
Combat delivery1943
Price per tank?
Total production figure 300 Turan I, 322 Turan II, 1 Turan III

Service statistics of all Turan variants:

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


Animated 3d model of 41M Turan II tank


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)


Oval@3x 2

Don’t miss the newest posts on Sunday!

We don’t spam! Read our privacy policy for more info.

for sharing:

Leave a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Scroll to Top