The 43M Zrínyi II was a Hungarian assault gun of the

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

period based on the Turán chassis. While the Turán in itself wasn't particularly successful, it did give birth to a rather good self-propelled-gun: the Zrínyi

assault gun Assault gun (from german: Sturmgeschütz - "storm gun", as in "storming/assaulting") is a type of self-propelled artillery which uses an infantry support gun mounted on a motorized chassis, normally an armored fighting vehicle, which are designed ...

Development

The Zrínyi's development process started in 1942; after the Hungarian delegation had the chance to witness the success of the StuG III Ausf. F armed with a long 75 mm anti-tank gun or short 105 mm howitzer. Hungary attempted to negotiate with Germany to try and acquire StuG IIIs. However, they could only receive a fraction of what they needed, and started to design a similar vehicle of their own. Following the success of

s on the Eastern Front, the situation required the fastest way possible to start the production of a vehicle of the same role. The engineers at the Manfréd Weiss Works decided to use the base of the Turán tank as it was a proven, solid chassis already in use in the

Hungarian army The Hungarian Ground Forces ( hu, Magyar Szárazföldi Haderő) is the land branch of the Hungarian Defence Forces, and is responsible for ground activities and troops including artillery, tanks, APCs, IFVs and ground support. Hungary's ground f ...

. As for the armament, both a first variant mounting the long-barrelled 43M 75 mm anti-tank gun (which was still in development), and another version equipped with the 40M 105 mm MÁVAG howitzer which was compatible with the leFH 18's ammunition was considered.

Design

The hull of the Turán was made wider and higher to make space to house the large caliber cannon, with the front armor being reinforced to a total thickness of 75 mm. The first variant would become the 44M Zrínyi I armed with the 43M 75 mm gun and 100 mm frontal armor, being accepted for service in 1944, and the latter one resulted in the 43M Zrínyi II. The Zrínyi II was armed with a short barrel (14 or 20.5 calibers) 105 mm MÁVAG 40/43M howitzer. The Zrínyi II's design was a traditional infantry support vehicle, while the Zrínyi I was hoped to fulfill an anti-tank role.

Production

After the successful army trials in December 1942, the

military leadership A military, also known collectively as armed forces, is a heavily armed, highly organized force primarily intended for warfare. It is typically authorized and maintained by a sovereign state, with its members identifiable by their distinct ...

ordered 40 Zrínyi IIs. These were finished until the end of 1943. In January 1944, 50 more vehicles were ordered, 20 of these rolled out of the factories between March and July. Zrinyi II in Romanian service

On July 27, after 6 new Zrínyis were finished in the morning, an aircraft raided and bombed the

factory A factory, manufacturing plant or a production plant is an industrial facility, often a complex consisting of several buildings filled with machinery, where workers manufacture items or operate machines which process each item into another. T ...

which crashed. Around 20 semi-finished Zrínyi 105s were saved and at least 6 of them were rebuilt by

Ganz The Ganz Works or Ganz ( or , ''Ganz companies'', formerly ''Ganz and Partner Iron Mill and Machine Factory'') was a group of companies operating between 1845 and 1949 in Budapest, Hungary. It was named after Ábrahám Ganz, the founder and the ...

. A total number of 72 43M Zrínyi IIs were delivered to the armored units leastwise.

Service

The 43M Zrínyis were sent to the 1st, 2nd and 3rd assault battalions, and mainly fought in Galicia in the summer of 1944 against the massive Soviet offensive. Several Zrínyi IIs were captured by the USSR during the Soviet occupation of Hungary, one was also captured by

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern, and Southeast Europe, Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, S ...

during October 1944, but it was later confiscated by the

Red Army The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army (Russian: Рабо́че-крестья́нская Кра́сная армия),) often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic and, after ...

.Axworthy, page 221 There is only one surviving Zrínyi II in the Kubinka tank museum near Moscow.

References

Sources

* Bíró Ádám: ''A 40/43. M Zrínyi–II rohamtarack fejlesztése és alkalmazása''. Haditechnika, I. rész: 1996/1, 66–71., II. rész: 1996/2, 43–45.; III. rész: 1996/4, 66–69. (In Hungarian) * Mark Axworthy, Cornel Scafeș, Cristian Crãciunoiu, ''Third Axis. Fourth Ally. Romanian Armed Forces in the European War, 1941-1945,'' Arms and Armour, London, 1995.

External links

* * https://web.archive.org/web/20080310083509/http://www.freedom.hu/IIvh/Fegyverek/Magyar/zrinyi.htm * http://www.haborumuveszete.hu/rovatok/fegyverek/pancelosok/zrinyik/ {{DEFAULTSORT:43m Zrinyi Armoured fighting vehicles of Hungary World War II assault guns Military vehicles introduced from 1940 to 1944