44M Tas

44M Tas
Type	Medium / Heavy tank
Place of origin	Kingdom of Hungary
Service history
Used by	Kingdom of Hungary
Wars	World War II
Production history
Designer	Manfred Weiss Works
Designed	1943
Manufacturer	Manfred Weiss Works
Produced	1943–1944
Number built	1 prototype
Specifications
Weight	38 tonnes (37 long tons; 42 short tons) ^[1]
Length	9.2 metres (30 ft 2 in) gun forward^[1]
Width	3.5 metres (11 ft 6 in)^[1]
Height	3 metres (9 ft 10 in)^[1]
Crew	5^[1]

Armor	50–120 mm (2.0–4.7 in)
Main armament	1 × 7.5 cm KwK 42 L/70 ^[1]
Secondary armament	2 × 34/40A M 8 mm machine gun
Engine	2 x gasoline Manfred Weiss-Z^[1] 520 hp (390 kW) 2 x 260 hp (2 x 195 kW)^[1]
Power/weight	13.68 hp/ton
Operational range	200 km (120 mi)
Speed	45 km/h (28 mph)

World War II tanks

List Category

Light	7TP Fiat L6/40 M3/M5 Stuart M22 Locust M24 Chaffee Marmon-Herrington CTLS Renault R40 Schofield T-26 T-40 T-60 T-70 Tetrarch Toldi Type 98 Ke-Ni Type 2 Ke-To Type 2 Ka-Mi Type 3 Ka-Chi Type 4 Ke-Nu Type 5 Ke-Ho Type 5 To-Ku

Medium	Carro Armato P 40 40 M Turan I Fiat M11/39 Fiat M13/40 Fiat M14/41 Fiat M15/42 M2 Medium M3 Lee/Grant M4 Sherman Panzer III Panzer IV Panzer V Panther T-34 T-43 Type 97 ShinHoTo Chi-Ha Type 1 Chi-He Type 3 Chi-Nu Type 4 Chi-To Type 5 Chi-Ri Sherman Firefly

Cruiser	Cruiser Mk IV Mk V Covenanter Mk VI Crusader Mk VII Cavalier Mk VIII Cromwell Mk VIII Challenger Comet Grizzly Ram Sentinel

Infantry	Black Prince Churchill Matilda I Matilda II T-26 T-50 Valentine Valiant Type 2 Ho-I

Heavy	IS tank KV tank M26 Pershing Tiger I Tiger II

Assault	Excelsior T14 Sherman Jumbo Tortoise

Super-heavy	T28 TOG1 TOG2 T-35 O-I Panzer VII Löwe Panzer VIII Maus Panzerkampfwagen E-100 Landkreuzer P. 1000 Ratte Landkreuzer P. 1500 Monster

Tank history classification WWI Interwar WWII Cold War Post–Cold War

The 44M Tas was a Hungarian medium/heavy tank design of World War II. The only prototype built was destroyed when the Manfred Weiss factory was bombed in 1944.

Design

Designed as a cheaper and home-made alternative to German-built Panthers in 1943, a sole mild steel prototype was built by the Manfred Weiss factory. When the factory was bombed by American aircraft on 27 July 1944, both the factory and the prototype were destroyed and no further production followed.

Like its German counterpart, the 44M Tas was to be armed with the powerful and modern 7.5 cm KwK 42 anti-tank gun. It also shared a similar layout and suspension, with six road wheels on semi-elliptical springs. As the Germans were unwilling to offer their Hungarian allies the powerful Maybach HL230 engine, the 44M Tas was powered by two 260 hp gasoline-powered "Manfred Weiss-Z" engines, identical to those already in production for the 40M Turán I tank.

Related development

In parallel to the 44M tank, development of the 44M Tas Rohamlöveg tank destroyer was started; this vehicle shared most of the new tank's elements.

References

Notes

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 For The Record website.

Bibliography

J C M Probst. "Hungarian armour during WW2". Airfix Magazine (September 1976).

External links

For The Record website - History & Specifications

Hungarian armored fighting vehicles of World War II

Tanks	35M Tankette 38M Toldi 40M Turán Panzer 38(t) Panzer III Panzer IV Tiger I

Assault guns	43M Zrínyi Sturmgeschütz III Hetzer

Half-tracks	37M

Armored cars	39M Csaba

Self-propelling anti-aircraft	40M Nimród

Prototypes	Light Tank V4 44M Tas

Weapons and military equipment designed or licence-manufactured in Hungary

Firearms

Service rifles	M88 rifle M95 rifle 35M rifle 48M inf. rifle and carbine AK-63 assault rifle AKM-63 and AMD-65 assault rifles

Pistols	Frommer Stop 37M pistol FEG PA-63 P9RC Tokarev 48M VD-01

Submachine guns	Danuvia 43M submachine gun 48M Kucher Model K1 KGP-9

Machine guns	Schwarzlose 07/31M heavy machinegun Solothurn 31M light machinegun RPK PK

Artillery pieces	40mm 40M anti-tank gun 80mm 5/8M 100mm 14M 149mm 14/31M Bofors 80 mm Bofors 40 mm

Other	20 mm Solothurn 36M anti-tank rifle Gepard anti-materiel rifle

Armour and other
land based vehicles

Tanks and SP guns	Light Tank V3 Light Tank V4 38M Toldi 40M Turán 40M Nimród 43M Zrínyi 44M Tas

APCs	D-442 FÚG armoured scout car

Other	38M Botond truck 39M Csaba armoured car

Aircraft

Other

Stahlhelm
Hungarian hand grenades
Schießbecher as 43M rifle-grenade launcher

Notable foreign-
made weapons
used by Hungary

List of equipment used in the WWII era

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