The Royal Hungarian Army River Forces
The Royal Hungarian Army River Forces (Magyar Királyi Honvéd Folyami Erők) had two regiments in its order of battle; a Patrol Boat Regiment, and a River Security Regiment.
This type of motorboat was used by the later to deploy and defuse mines in the rivers of Hungary. AM is the abbreviation of Aknász Motorcsónak ("Miner Motorboat"). The first 4 vessels were ready in March, 1941, and these participated in the Occupation of Yugoslavia in April.
A total number of 11 vessels were made but 12 were planned to be manufactured but Hungary didn't had enough time to finish the last one. The AM vessels were built in three series, each series differed a little from each other.
AM 1-2-3-4
AM 1 and AM 2 had 2x75hp engines while AM 3 and AM 4 were equipped with 2x90hp engines. They were all armed with 34/37.M twin-Gebauer machine guns and 8 river mines (4-4 in two lines).
AM 5-6-7-8-9-10
Based on the experiences of the previous series, these vessels became slightly longer. They had 2x90hp engines and were armed with 34/37.M twin-Gebauer machine guns, 6 river mines (3-3) and one 20mm 36.M antimaterial rifle.
AM 11
The vessel was longer and wider than the prevoius series, the armament changed to one 34/37.M twin-Gebauer machine guns and only 6 river mines (3-3)
The AM vessels always operated in pairs. During the fights in Hungary 1944-45, these vessels fought against the Soviet forces, some managed to escape to Austria where they capitulated to the Allies. These vessels later operated in West Germany during the Cold Wars. AM 2 and AM 3 were used by the Army Warship Flottila in Hungary from 1947 until the 60s.
According to archive documents the AM vessels were planned to be re-armed with a 40mm gun in a tank turret during WW 2 but that didn't happened in the end.
Hungarian PAM vessels
PAM is the abbreviation of Páncélozott Aknász Motorcsónak (Armored Miner Motorboat). The RHARF had 2 of these vessels which were used for mine deploying and mine sweeping.
These vessels were not named but numbered as PAM-21 and PAM-22.
The PAM vessels had 8-35mm armor, 2x90hp engines and were armed with a 20mm 36.M anti material rifle and one 34/37.M Gebauer machine gun in a Csaba armored car turret and 2x07/31.M Schwarzlose machine guns. They also had 8 river mines (4-4 in two lines) but later in Germany, they received 2cm Flak autocannons which was placed on their platform (can be seen in the picture) therefore they could no longer deploy mines since there was not enough space.
The PAM 21 in Germany, 1945, with an American flag. She withdrew to Germany from the advancing Soviet troops and fell to the hands of the Allied forces.
Hungarian PM vessels
PM is the abbreviation of Páncélos Motorcsónak ("Armored Motorboat"). Hungary wanted to build 5 vessels and 1 as a prototype. The prototype motorboat was finished in 1940 and participated in the Occupation of Yugoslavia in April, 1941, it was named PM 1.
PM-1
The armament of the PM 1 was two 40mm 42.M L/43 guns - the same which was used by the Toldi IIA and Toldi III tanks - and two 34/37.M twin-gebauer machine guns in each turret. The co-axial machine guns were built into a tiltable turret which was similar to the ones which were used in the 35.M Ansaldo tankettes of the Hungarian Army. The PM 1 also had 2x07/31.M Schwarzlose machine guns, two 20mm 36.M anti-material rifles and two other 34/37.M Gebauer machine guns. The PM 1 had 13-40mm armor.
During the fights in Hungary, 1944-45, the PM 1 fought against the Soviet forces. On November 25, 1944, it encountered Russian forces at Tököl and was hit 2 times by a T-34 medium tank which killed 6 men of the crew and wounded 3 more. Despite the damage the PM 1 managed to return to the friendly zone, one of its three 160hp engines were removed, the other two were changed to 2x210hp engines. In 1945 it capitulated to the Allies. Currently its superstructure can be seen near Passau, serving as a docking or pontoon ship.
Two other PM vessels were finished by autumn, 1944. These were the PM 2 and PM 3 vessels which differed from the prototype PM 1. Both ships had 2x210hp engines, their superstructure changed slightly compared to the PM 1 and their armament flared with a Csaba armored car turret with a 20mm 36.M anti-material rifle and a 34/37.M gebauer machine gun (as seen in picture No.2). However PM 2 was sunk during its test run when it was hit by an American bomb on September 20, 1944, at 13:00. The PM 3 sunk thanks to unknown reasons in January, 1945, but it was recovered in 1948, got fixed, re-armed and served in the Army Warship Flottila in Hungary as PN 11 from 1949 to 1973.
During the war PM 4 and PM 5 were 35-40% ready when they were taken to Germany in 1945, the PM 6 was not even started.
Below, Pic 1 and 2 are the PM-1 vessel, pic 3 blueprint is the PM-3 pic.
Hungarian armored river gunboats
At the end of WW1 the Danube Flottila of Austro-Hungary had 8 gunboats, out of them 4 were given to Hungary unarmed and with non-operational engines. During the interwar period, Hungary bought 3 more gunboats from Austria and bartered another. Therefore Hungary had 7 out of 8 gunboats of former Austro-Hungary. Before WW2 numerous experiments and attempts were made to modernize these vessels for the upcoming war.
Győr monitor
Wels-class gunboat, the armament was changed to 2x 80mm 29.M L/50 Bofors guns, 3x07/31.M Schwarzlose machine guns - one of them was placed in the crow's-nest which was nicknamed as "stork nest" by the Hungarian sailors -, one 20mm 36.M anti-material rifle in a separate tower with 34/37.M twin-Gebauer machine guns. Its engine remained the same old 1100hp boiler engine. Armor was 6-10mm. In 1944 it received a 2cm Flak autocannon in the place of the separate tower. The crow's-nest received a 5 cm 39.M grenade launcher. At the end of 1944, it managed to shot down an American B-24 bomber. It capitulated to the Allies and was stationed in Passau, Germany until 1949 when it was scrapped.
Debrecen river monitor
Stör-class gunboat, the armament was changed to 2x8 cm 18.M L/30 guns, 3x07/31.M Schwarzlose machine guns - one of them was placed in the crow's-nest which was nicknamed as "stork nest" by the Hungarian sailors -, one 20mm 36.M anti-material rifle in a separate tower with 34/37.M twin-Gebauer machine guns. Its engine remained the same old 1100hp boiler engine. Armor was 6-10mm. In 1944 it received a 2cm Flak autocannon in the place of the separate tower. It was the only gunboat which was destroyed in combat. It sunk on November 25, 1944, near Tököl where it encountered Russian forces and was shot by T-34 medium tanks numerous times. One shell hit its fuel tank another one hit its stokehole and the gunboat burned out.
Sopron river monitor
Stör-class gunboat, the armament was changed to 2x8 cm 18.M L/30 guns, 5x07/31.M Schwarzlose machine guns - one of them was placed in the crow's-nest which was nicknamed as "stork nest" by the Hungarian sailors -, one 20mm 36.M anti-material rifle in a separate tower with 34/37.M twin-Gebauer machine guns. Armor was 7.5-20mm. In 1944 it received two 2cm Flak autocannons and a Nimród turret with a 40mm 36.M Bofors AA autocannon in the place of the separate tower. It was the only gunboat with two modern 800hp diesel engines which increased its speed and weighed less than the original boiler engine. Thanks to this it managed to carry more armaments and armor than any other gunboats. Some sources consider the Sopron being the fastest ship on the Danube in WW2. It capitulated to the Allies in 1945, it was renamed numerous times and was used until 1966 when it was finally scrapped.
Szeged river monitor
Wels-class gunboat, the armament was changed to 2x8 cm 18.M L/30 guns, 3x07/31.M Schwarzlose machine guns - one of them was placed in the crow's-nest which was nicknamed as "stork nest" by the Hungarian sailors -, one 20mm 36.M anti-material rifle in a separate tower with 34/37.M twin-Gebauer machine guns. Its engine remained the same old 1100hp boiler engine. Armor was 6-10mm. In 1944 it received a Nimród turret with a 40mm 36.M Bofors AA autocannon in the place of the separate tower, a Csaba armored car turret with a 20mm 36.M anti-material rifle and one 34/37.M Gebauer machine gun. The crow's-nest received a 5 cm 39.M grenade launcher. It capitulated to the Allies in 1945 and was scrapped in 1949
Kecskemét river monitor
Wels-class gunboat, armament was changed to 2x8 cm 18.M L/30 guns, 3x07/31.M Schwarzlose machine guns - one of them was placed in the crow's-nest which was nicknamed as "stork nest" by the Hungarian sailors -, one 20mm 36.M anti-material rifle in a separate tower with 34/37.M twin-Gebauer machine guns. Its engine remained the same old 1100hp boiler engine. Armor was 6-10mm. In 1944 it recieved two 2cm Flak autocannons one of them was placed to the separate tower's place. The crow's-nest recieved a 5 cm 39.M grenade launcher. It was the last Hungarian gunboat which managed to shoot one moe time before WW2 ended, it capitulated to the Allies on May 8, 1945, near Melk, Austria. It was scrapped in 1949.
Baja river monitor
Wels-class gunboat, kept its original armament, attempts were made to change its obsolote boiler engine with a modern diesel engine. The vessel was not finished, it was taken to Germany in 1944, and was scrapped in 1949. It didn't participated in combats.
Gödöllő river monitor
I-type gunboat, kept its original armament, attempts were made to change its obsolote boiler engine with a modern diesel engine. The vessel was still not finished when it was hit by an American bomb on September 20, 1944, and got destroyed. It didn't participated in combats.
Except Baja and Gödöllő all gunboats participated in combat operations in Yugoslavia, either during the occupation in 1941 or in the anti-partisan operations in 1942.
During the war Hungary planned to change all gunboats' engines to modern diesel engines and their armaments to 8 cm 29.M L/50 Bofors guns but there weren't enough time and money to do that.