The Hungarian 44M "Buzogányvető" (English: ''Macethrower'') was an unguided anti-tank

rocket A rocket (from it, rocchetto, , bobbin/spool) is a vehicle that uses jet propulsion to accelerate without using the surrounding air. A rocket engine produces thrust by reaction to exhaust expelled at high speed. Rocket engines work entirely fr ...

Hungary Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the ...

for use against

Soviet The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nation ...

armour and personnel in

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 opposing ...

. The rocket system consisted of a pair of solid fuel rockets with two types of

warhead A warhead is the forward section of a device that contains the explosive agent or toxic (biological, chemical, or nuclear) material that is delivered by a missile, rocket, torpedo, or bomb. Classification Types of warheads include: * Expl ...

s available. It was regarded as one of the most effective anti-tank platforms used in WWII. Production started in spring of 1944 and ended 20 December 1944 when Soviet troops captured the WM Factory.

Development and operation

In 1942 the Hungarian Institute of Military Science (HTI) began work to develop an easy to produce weapon capable of counteracting heavy Soviet tanks and armour. Germany had started work on a

wire-guided missile A wire-guided missile is a missile that is guided by signals sent to it via thin wires connected between the missile and its guidance mechanism, which is located somewhere near the launch site. As the missile flies, the wires are reeled out behi ...

but was unwilling to share the technology with Hungary. The 44M consisted of a launcher capable of holding two rockets with the gunner operating from weapon's left side. A tripod was developed for use by the three man crew on the ground, but this mount was difficult to maneuver and rocket crews often used captured Soviet wheel mounts from the

PM M1910 The Pulemyot Maxima PM1910 (PM M1910) (Russian: Пулемёт Максима образца 1910 года, ''Pulemyot Maxima obraztsa 1910 goda'' – "Maxim's machine gun Model 1910") is a Heavy machine gun that was used by the Imperial Russian ...

SG-43 Goryunov The SG-43 Goryunov (Russian: Станковый пулемёт системы Горюнова, ''Stankovyy pulyemyot sistyemy Goryunova'', meaning "Mounted machinegun, Goryunov design") was a Soviet medium machine gun that was introduced during t ...

machine guns. The system was also mounted in the bed of the 38M Botond all-terrain truck and on the rear of the 38M Toldi II light tank. The first of two types of rockets produced was a

High-explosive anti-tank warhead High-explosive anti-tank (HEAT) is the effect of a shaped charge explosive that uses the Munroe effect to penetrate heavy armor. The warhead functions by having an explosive charge collapse a metal liner inside the warhead into a high-velocity ...

(HEAT) round known as ’Buzogány’ (mace). With 4.2 kg of explosive, this

shaped charge A shaped charge is an explosive charge shaped to form an explosively formed penetrator (EFP) to focus the effect of the explosive's energy. Different types of shaped charges are used for various purposes such as cutting and forming metal, ini ...

was capable of penetrating 300 mm of armour or concrete and destroy any type of heavy tank from a maximum distance of 1200 m. A

high explosive An explosive (or explosive material) is a reactive substance that contains a great amount of potential energy that can produce an explosion if released suddenly, usually accompanied by the production of light, heat, sound, and pressure. An ...

(HE) projectile round was also available for use in an anti-personnel role referred to as ’Zápor’ (rainfall, shower). Both types were spin-stabilized. Of the 600-700 twin rocket launchers produced, the majority were used for the defense of

Budapest Budapest (, ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Hungary. It is the ninth-largest city in the European Union by population within city limits and the second-largest city on the Danube river; the city has an estimated population ...

in late December 1944, referred to as the

Siege of Budapest The Siege of Budapest or Battle of Budapest was the 50-day-long encirclement by Soviet and Romanian forces of the Hungarian capital of Budapest, near the end of World War II. Part of the broader Budapest Offensive, the siege began when Budape ...

References

{{Hungary-stub Weapons of Hungary Anti-tank rockets World War II infantry weapons

Development and operation

See also

References