The 44M Zrínyi I was a Hungarian

assault gun An assault gun (from , , meaning "assault gun") is a type of armored infantry support vehicle and self-propelled artillery, mounting an infantry support gun on a protected self-propelled chassis, intended for providing infantry with heavy di ...

tank destroyer A tank destroyer, tank hunter or tank killer is a type of armoured fighting vehicle, predominantly intended for anti-tank duties. They are typically armed with a direct fire anti-tank gun, artillery gun, also known as a self-propelled anti-ta ...

of the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. Developed from the successful 43M Zrínyi II, it was armed with a long 75 mm gun that was more suited to

anti-tank warfare Anti-tank warfare refers to the military strategies, tactics, and weapon systems designed to counter and destroy enemy armored vehicles, particularly tanks. It originated during World War I following the first deployment of tanks in 1916, and ...

. This was the same 75 mm 43.M gun that was used on the 43M Turán III

medium tank A medium tank is a classification of tanks, particularly prevalent during World War II, which represented a compromise between the mobility oriented light tanks and the armour and armament oriented heavy tanks. A medium tank's classification ...

. The Zrínyi series of military vehicles was named after

Nikola IV Zrinski Nikola IV Zrinski or Miklós IV Zrínyi (, ; 1507/1508 – 7 September 1566), also commonly known as Nikola Šubić Zrinski (), was a Croatian- Hungarian nobleman and general, Ban of Croatia from 1542 until 1556, royal master of the treasury f ...

, a Hungarian national hero who died in 1566.

Development

The Hungarian army saw the value in assault guns as early as 1940, and by 1942 the ministry of defence had started to look into acquiring some. Initially the Hungarians wished to either purchase German assault guns outright, or to acquire the production licenses. A Hungarian delegation may have gone to Italy in 1942 to look at the Semovente assault gun. The Hungarian military leadership commissioned Manfréd Weiss to design and manufacture an assault gun. The hull of the Turán tank was used for this production. It was widened by 40cm and a superstructure was developed to replace the turret. The sides of the superstructure were angled at 80 degrees. To combat the heavier armoured

Soviet The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

tanks it was decided to produce the Zrínyi with a 75mm gun. The Hungarian General Staff decided in May 1943 to phase out the production of Turán tanks by spring 1944 and switch the production to assault guns as part of the Szabolcs Plan. The Szabolcs Plan called for the production of 168 44M Zrínyi assault guns. However, due to allied bombing no more than four 44M Zrínyi assault guns could have been produced; with only one known to have been fully completed. In late 1943 the Military Technology Institute of the Hungarian Army considered mounting the German 15 cm Nebelwerfer 41 on the Zrínyi hull. The rockets had a practical range of seven kilometers, and the idea was for them to be used to destroy Soviet anti-tank gun positions before the Zrínyi would be in danger. The rockets were mounted to the 44M Zrínyi prototype for testing.

References

World War II assault guns World War II military equipment of Hungary Armoured fighting vehicles of Hungary {{artillery-stub

Development

See also

References