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Ansaldo Tankette and the Toldi tank family

Tankette

 

Hungarian 35.M Ansaldo tankett

In 1934 Hungary ordered one Carro Veloce CV-33 tankette from Italy for the purpose of making her own armored units. The ordered L3/33

tankette arrived in June, it was immediately tested by military experts. As the tankette proved itself worthy the Hungarian General Staff ordered 150 more tankettes from Italy. The vehicles arrived in 1935-1936. Out of the ordered 150 tankettes 149 were new L3/35s and one was a L3 Lf flame tank. The only CV-33 Hungary had was the sample tankette which arrived in 1934. The L3/33 tankette and the L3 Lf flame tank were not used in combat, they were put into storage.

From 1935 the armament of the 149 Carro Veloce CV-35 tankettes were changed to Hungarian Gebauer machine guns, those tankettes which arrived in 1936 were transported from Italy without weapons to make the armament change easier. In 1936 each tankette recieved a tiltable-turret for its machine guns to increase its vertical aim. Later 45 L3/35 tankettes were equipped with a 5-periscoped commander cupola for appropriate view.

The 35.M Ansaldo tankettes saw action in the Slovak-Hungarian War (also known as Little War) in March 1939, t

he First and Second Vienna Awards and in Operation Barbarossa. During the combat operations in the Soviet Union the Hungarian Mobile Corps lost all of its 35.M tankettes this made the General Staff realize - in fact they knew it for awhile now but didn't do anything - that the tankette was obsolote and had no combat value in this modern war. The remaining CV-35 tankettes were given to the Hungarian police and gendarmerie for law enforcement. In 1944-45 however some tankettes saw action again when the Red Army occupied Hungary.

Today only two modified Hungarian tankettes exist: one with a commander cupola at the Kubinka Tank Museum, Russia, and one "common" tankette at the Military Museum in Belgrade, Serbia.

Armor:

Armament:

Twin Gebauer Tank Machine Gun 34/37.M:

This gun was the same as the 34.M Gebauer Observer Motor-Machine Gun, but slightly modified for tank use. The 100-round drum magazine was retained, it used a 25-round detachable box magazine. It was later modified to use 100-round metal ammunition belts (for the Toldi tank). This gun was also called 34.AM. It was chambered for the 8x56 mmR 31.M ammo. This gun was utilized in the Fiat Ansaldo tankettes, Csaba armored cars and Toldi light tanks. After 1942 it was also used on gunboats and patrol boats. The 34/37.M's were also used for air defense on the boats, so these guns were equipped with large round anti-airplane sights.

penetration of the 31.M magvas töltény/ AP

  • 100 m - 10 mm - 90°

  • 600 m - 6 mm - 90°

  • 730 m/s

  • 1000 round/min rate of fire

  • 25-round detachable box magazine

  • twin-machine guns

Ansaldo tiltable turret horizontal aiming: +15°/-10°

Ansaldo tiltable turret vertical aiming: 12-12°

Optic: 41M. mg optic

 

Toldi tank family

 

Hungarian 38.M Toldi I A-20

The Toldi light tank was the first mass-produced tank of Hungary in World War II. The design was based on the Swedish Landsverk L-60 tank which was seen on a display by Hungarian military and engineer representatives on October 25, 1936. The design was perfect for an armored vehicle for reconnaissance, cruise security and courier duties, because the Ansaldo CV-35 tankettes Hungary had at that time were obsolote, and the Straussler V-4 medium tank was too expensive for such roles. After a series of tests the licence and a sample vehicle with modified turret was bought by the Hungarian factory MÁVAG at the end of 1937. Between June 23 and 28, 1938 a series of group trials were made and further modification advices were asked from Landsverk, for example to build a commander cupola on top of the turret. Hungary tried to replace the driving wheel of the steering gear for steering levers too but Landsverk refused and because of this the Toldi had a large turning radius - the driving wheel did not allow to fully stop the track on the turning side. However it was the Swedish factory which convinced the Hungarian engineers that welded armor has it’s benefits over rivets so the Toldi was built with welded armor which became one of it’s strong points. Hungary refused to use Swedish weapons from the start because of two things: cartridges for the weapons were not made in Hungary and it was more econimical to use Hungarian weapons. Thus the Swedish 20mm gun was replaced with the Hungarian made 36.M heavy gun of the same calibre but there were some problems; the turret’s interior was too cramped for the weapon to be used with it’s standard 5-round magazine so the engineers made a 4-round magazine for the Toldi. There were more problems with the machine gun tho. The 8mm 34/37.M Gebauer machine gun was equipped with 25-round magazines at that time and the turret was too low to use the gun’s minimum depression, the magazine bumped into the roof and made further depression impossible. To avoid this the engineers cut a hole into the roof and covered it with a dome made of armor plates. However the machine gun was modified after some time and started to use 100-round belts making the dome on the turret unnecessary. Because of this, the Toldi has two variants: the Toldi I a.k.a. Toldi A-20, which was armed with 25-round magazine machine guns, and the Toldi II a.k.a. Toldi B-20, picture No.2 armed with 100-round belt fed machine guns. The other difference between the A-20 and B-20 Toldis are the radio antennas. The Toldi I used an oval radio antenna which could be mechanically layed down on the turret, while the Toldi II used a stick radio antenna. However there were still some Toldi IIs which were equipped with a stick radio antenna and still had the dome on the turret for the machine gun's magazine, this indicates that the stick radio antenna was used eariler than the 100-round belt fed machine gun was put into service. The light tank was put into service in 1938 as 38.M Toldi, but the first tanks were given to the troops in 1940 because production progressed slowly. The Toldi saw action during the Occupation of Yugoslavia and Operation Barbarossa in 1941 as the main battle tank of the Hungarian Army. It was quite effective against living targets and light armored vehicles, but completly ineffective against T-34s and KV-1s which ruled the battlefields at that time. In 1942 Hungary realized that the 38.M Toldi became obsolote and was uncapable to fight in serious combats bacause of it’s thin armor and weak armament, production was canceled.

However the Toldi still had an excellent off-road capability and because of this it was used untill the end of the war as a reconnaissance and courier vehicle. Some of them were also used as command vehicles in Nimród tank destroyer companies. A total of 190 Toldis were made, 80 of them were converted to Toldi IIAs.

Specifications:

Weight: 8.5 t (EU tonne)

Length: 4.75 m

Width: 2.14 m

Height: 1.87 m

Engine: Büssing NAG 8-cylinder

Power: 155 HP

Speed: 50 km/h

Travelling Range: 200 km

Armor:

  • Turret armor: 13/13/13

  • Hull armor:13-23/13/7

Armament:

  • 20 mm (0.79 in) QF 36M Solothurn AT gun

  • Ammo types: 36.M 20 mm APHE-T(black paint), 36.M 20 mm HE-T(green paint)

  • Ammo capacity: 208

  • Shells in magazin: 4

Penetration with APHE-T(velocity: 762 m/s):

  • 35 mm - 100 m - 90°

  • 27 mm -300 m - 90°

  • 17 mm - 1000 m - 90°

36.M 20 mm APHE-T(black paint)

Gun depression, elevation: -10° +30°

Crew: 3

Optic of the Solothurn 20mm Tank gun, and 8mm turret mg

34/37.M Gebauer machine gun :

  • -5,+10,when the mg cover is open:it gains 10°-10° horizontaly and vertically

  • This mg was used for anti air purposes too,than it was moved to the roof

  • 8x56mmR cal.

  • 25 round magazines,3200 rounds in total

  • penetration of the 31.M magvas töltény/ AP

100 m - 10 mm - 90°

600 m - 6 mm - 90°

Optic of the Gauber turret mg

 

Hungarian Toldi II B-20

The Toldi has two variants: the Toldi I a.k.a. Toldi A-20, which was armed with 25-round magazine machine guns, and the Toldi II a.k.a. Toldi B-20, armed with 100-round belt fed machine guns.

The other difference between the A-20 and B-20 Toldis are the radio antennas. The Toldi I used an oval radio antenna which could be mechanically layed down on the turret, while the Toldi II used a stick radio antenna.

However there were still some Toldi IIs which were equipped with a stick radio antenna and still had the dome on the turret for the machine gun's magazine, this indicates that the stick radio antenna was used eariler than the 100-round belt fed machine gun was put into service. The light tank was put into service in 1938 as 38.M Toldi, but the first tanks were given to the troops in 1940 because production progressed slowly. The Toldi saw action during the Occupation of Yugoslavia and Operation Barbarossa in 1941 as the main battle tank of the Hungarian Army. It was quite effective against living targets and light armored vehicles, but completly ineffective against T-34s and KV-1s which ruled the battlefields at that time. In 1942 Hungary realized that the 38.M Toldi became obsolote and was uncapable to fight in serious combats bacause of it’s thin armor and weak armament, production was canceled.

However the Toldi still had an excellent off-road capability and because of this it was used untill the end of the war as a reconnaissance and courier vehicle.

....

"The turret electric engine was also always on, because it had a tendency to turn itself off.

Considerable attention was paid to speed and agility, with the goal of having an 8 m turning radius. This was allowed by a revised five-speed gearbox and advanced steering. Each cranked axle control arm consisted of double running wheels connected to a common hub. The first and fourth swing arms were fitted with spring shock absorbers. The return rollers pulled the tracks up, and they each had a separate cranked swing arm."

About the main armament:

-it had a 4 round magazin

-""effective range of the weapon was 1500 meters but could fire up to 5500 meters. It was relatively accurate with 25x25 cm spread at 500 meters, 100x100 cm at 1000 meters.""

-""rate of fire of the weapon was 22-26 rounds/min depending on the experience of the operators, some of them were capable to shoot 30 rounds in a minute but slower ones shot only 10 or so""

Steering

  • The Toldi I, Told II, Toldi IIA, Toldi IIAK light tanks, the Nimród SPAAG and the Lehel APC all shared the same driving mechanism. Driving these tracked vehicles was similar to driving a car becuse all of them had steering wheels instead of levers. This however resulted in one of the design's most unliked feature: the track couldn't be fully stopped.

  • When the steering wheel was turned the brake slowed down the driving wheels on the desired side but not stopped it, because of that the aforementioned vehicles all had a big, 4.5m radius inner turn. Because of this the vehicles couldn't turn around in tight places which was a huge problem for example on tight mountain roads.

  • The vehicles had 5 forward and 1 reverse gears. To select a gear the driver had to the clutch and fix the gear stick into the desired gear with the locking handle. The hand-brake stopped both driving wheels.

Specifications:

Weight: 8.5 t (EU tonne)

Length: 4.75 m

Width: 2.14 m

Height: 1.87 m

Engine: Büssing NAG 8-cylinder

Power: 155 HP

Speed: 50 km/h

Travelling Range: 200 km

Armor:

  • Turret armor: 13/13/13

  • Hull armor:13-23/13/7

Armament:

  • 20 mm (0.79 in) QF 36M Solothurn AT gun

  • Ammo types: 36.M 20 mm APHE-T(black paint), 36.M 20 mm HE-T(green paint)

  • Ammo capacity: 208

  • Shells in magazin: 4

Penetration with APHE-T(velocity: 762 m/s):

  • 35 mm - 100 m - 90°

  • 27 mm -300 m - 90°

  • 17 mm - 1000 m - 90°

36.M 20 mm APHE-T(black paint)

Gun depression, elevation: -10° +30°

Crew: 3

Optic of the Solothurn 20mm Tank gun, and 8mm turret mg

34.AM Gebauer machinegun:

  • -5,+10,when the mg cover is open:it gains 10°-10° horizontaly and vertically

  • This mg was used for anti air purposes too,than it was moved to the roof

  • 8x56mmR cal.

  • 100 round belt,3200 rounds in total

  • penetration of the 31.M magvas töltény/ AP

100 m - 10 mm - 90°

600 m - 6 mm - 90°

Optic of the Gauber turret mg

 

Hungarian 38/42.M Toldi IIA light tank

After the first battle experiences with the Toldi the Institute of Military Technology of the Hungarian Army (HTI) started to analyze the light tank to find ways to raise the combat value of it. They found out that the chassis could only bear 700kg extra load so changing the armament and strenghten all the armor plates was impossible because it would cause more than 1 ton extra weight. Thus the engineers at HTI decided to change the obsolote 20mm heavy gun to a 40mm tank gun and strenghten the armor only at vital places. They selected a Toldi I chassis for the prototype. They riveted additional armor plates on the upper glacis and the front of the driver's cupola. They also covered the lamp's and engineering holes' place with 20mm thick armor plates on the front as well as the transmission's ventillation bars'. At the same time a new, thicker gun matlet was made for the new gun. As for the armament the developers chose the 40mm 37.M tank gun of the Straussler V-4 prototype. They modified the original gun by reborig and shorten it and adding a new muzzle break. The new gun was named 37/42.M and later it was called just 42.M. After a number of test the engineers found out that the extra weight of the new gun caused some problems in the turret rotating mechanism - it made the turret stuck in times. To counter that a ration box was attached to the rear of the turret which solved the problem. At the end of 1942 the Ministry of Defence ordered the convertion of 80 Toldi tanks (both Toldi I and Toldi II). The new tank was named as 38/42.M Toldi (a.k.a. 42.M Toldi, Toldi IIA or Toldi B-40) which was carried out by Ganz factory. Hovewer the new construction still not had enough combat value to counter the Soviet medium and heavy tanks so the Toldi IIAs were still used as recon and courier vehicles throughout the war.

Engine Power:155 hp

Speed:45Km/h

Armor:

Armament:

-Gun: 40mm 37/42 M.L/43

  • Ammo capacity: 87

  • Historical ROF: 16 shots/min

  • Gun depression, elevation: -10° +25°

ammo types:

  • 36.M páncélgránátot (APHEBC-T),

  • 39.M repeszgránátot (HE)

  • 43.M magvas páncélgránátot (APBC-T)

-36.M páncélgránát (APHEBC-T) (800m/s)

  • 100 m /60°/46 mm

  • 300 m /60°/42 mm

  • 600 m /60°/36 mm

  • 1000 m /60°/30 mm

-43.M magvas páncélgránát APBC-T :

this round had 10% beter penetration than the 36M.APHEBC-T

  • (800m/s)

  • 100m - 53 mm - 60°

  • 300m - 48 mm - 60°

  • 600m - 41 mm - 60°

  • 1000m - 35 mm - 60°

Optic of the 40mm 37/42 M.L/43 tank gun and 8mm turret mg.

34.AM Gebauer turret machinegun:

  • 8x56mmR cal

  • 100 round belt,3200 rounds in total

  • it has lost its +10 degrees with the additional armor so it could only be moved with the turret

  • but it still could be moved to the top for AA purposes

  • penetration of the 31.M magvas töltény/ AP

100 m - 10 mm - 90°

600 m - 6 mm - 90°

 

Hungarian Toldi IIAK prototype light tank

After the development of the Toldi IIA the Institute of Military Technology of the Hungarian Army still not gave up on the idea to raise the armor protection of the vehicle. As the front armors were all strenghtened they tried to do something about the weak side armors. In 1943 the Toldi IIA with registration number H-423 recieved side skirts and got analyzed. Engineers of the HTI realized that with the help of the additional armor the side protection equaled with the strength of the frontal plates but the cost was the vehicle's mobility. In the end the developers did not want to renounce the agility of the tank as it was one of it's strong points and gave up on the idea of side skirts instead.

Base Armor,without the Aditional plates

Armament

  • has the same gun as theToldi IIA, Toldi III, thus has the same penetration values, and same shells

  • 40mm 37/42 M.L/43

  • 34.AM Gebauer

 

Hungarian Toldi III light tank

The last modification of the Toldi light tank seria was the Toldi III. This tank had even thicker armour (the gun mantlet and driver's cockpit were 35 mm thick), the turret bustle was widened, and the ammunition capacity was increased to 87 shells. No more than 12 tanks of this type were built.

Steering

  • The Toldi III was a unique vehicle in this matter. The Ganz factory managed to make its own driving mechanism and built it inside the Toldi III. The tank now had levers instead of a steering wheel and the driving wheels of the suspension could be fully stopped on each side.

  • The tank kept its large turning radius too(4.5m) but with one track fully stopped it had a much smaller, 2m radius now. Sadly there are no photos of this type of steering-gear, but judging how narrow the driver's place was it wasn't too large and probably had only 2 levers in front of the driver.

Engine Power:155 hp

Speed:45Km/h

Gun: 40mm 42 M.L/43

  • Ammo capacity: 87

  • Historical ROF: 16 shots/min

  • Gun depression, elevation: -10° +25°

ammo types:

  • 36.M páncélgránátot (APHEBC-T),

  • 39.M repeszgránátot (HE)

  • 43.M magvas páncélgránátot (APBC-T)

-36.M páncélgránát (APHEBC-T) (800m/s)

  • 100 m /60°/46 mm

  • 300 m /60°/42 mm

  • 600 m /60°/36 mm

  • 1000 m /60°/30 mm

-43.M magvas páncélgránát APBC-T :

this round had 10% beter penetration than the 36M.APHEBC-T

  • (800m/s)

  • 100m - 53 mm - 60°

  • 300m - 48 mm - 60°

  • 600m - 41 mm - 60°

  • 1000m - 35 mm - 60°

Optic of the 40mm 37/42 M.L/43 tank gun and 8mm turret mg.

34.AM Gebauer turret machinegun:

  • 8x56mmR cal

  • 100 round belt,3200 rounds in total

  • it has lost its +10 degrees with the additional armor so it could only be moved with the turret

  • but it still could be moved to the top for AA purposes

  • penetration of the 31.M magvas töltény/ AP

100 m - 10 mm - 90°

600 m - 6 mm - 90°

Armor:

Turret:

  • armour thickness and slope:

  • gun mantlet: 35mm at 90°

  • front: 13mm

  • sides: 13mm at 75°

  • rear: 13mm at ?°

  • roof: 10mm at 8° and 0°

  • rotation: ? degrees per second (electric drive)

Hull:

  • armour thickness and slope:

  • upper front: 20mm at 30° and 7° (the headlight’s, maintanance opening’s and the ventage’s places are covered with two 20mm plates)

  • front: 35mm at 70° (the "vertical armor on which the driver's cupola is attached to, this is the only Toldi which has this armor upgrade others had 13mm armor there)

  • driver’s cupola front: 35mm

  • lower front: 13mm at 45°

  • upper sides: 13mm at 72°

  • lower sides: 13mm at 70° and 90° (90° at driving wheels)

  • rear: 10mm at 60° and 85°

  • roof: 6mm at 8°

 

Hungarian Toldi tank destroyer

In 1942 the Germans gave 7 Marder IIs to the Hungarian 2nd Army at the Don river and one of those tank destroyers made it back to Hungary in 1943. Based on the battle experiences of 1940-41 the Institute of Military Technology of the Hungarian Army (HTI) constantly tried to ameliorate the combat value of the Toldi light tank. When the Marder II arrived it opened new gates. Following the German tank destroyer's shape the Hungarian engineers took off the turret and the radiator bars below it to make a fighting compartment. Other modifications included the vertical raise of the side and frontal armor with 120mm, and the removal of the side ventillation bars because being open topped there were no need for those to vent out the gunpowder gases from the vehicle. The developers then took off the PaK 40 gun of the Marder II and placed it on the modified chassis, then surrounded it with armor plates from 3 sides. Based on previous battle experiences the engineers raised the armor protection of the vehicle by riveting additional armor plates on the upper glacis and the front of the driver's cupola. They also covered the lamp's and engineering holes' place with 20mm thick armor plates on the front as well as the transmission's ventillation bars'. The prototype was finished in 1944 and did not enterred mass-production for numerous reasons including the weak armor and some basic flaws of the chassis itself, but there were problems with Hungary's production capabilities too, not to mention the fact that in 1944 Germany took complete control over Hungarian factories and forbid further tank, aircraft and gun productions aside from those which are completly necessary to maintain the combat effectiveness of Hungarian and German units. The prototype vehicle was scrapped in the end.

Armor

Armament:

  • PaK 40 and one Solothurn LMG for defense

 

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