40M Turán I is a Hungarian Tank unit in Steel Division II.
Background[ | ]
The Turán was a Hungarian tank born out of Czechoslovak experimental designs developed from 1937 onwards, as S-II-c. After the annexation and partitioning of Czechoslovakia, Škoda was put under German control and work continued on the prototypes, redesignated T-21 (original) and T-22 (new type). Two examples of the latter were transferred to Hungary.
Hungarian engineers overhauled the design, replacing the Škoda A9 47mm gun with a Škoda A17 40mm gun with much greater muzzle velocity, 66% thicker armor plating for a total of 50mm of thickness on the front, and a total weight of eighteen tons. Although respectable on paper, the Turán proved to be a poor match for the Eastern Front and only 424 were manufactured in total, by the time production petered out in 1944.
With a total of 285 produced, the 40M was the most numerous version of the Turán tanks, armed with a high velocity 40mm tank gun and a max speed of just 47 km/h, weighed down by the additional armor. Unfortunately for Hungarian tankers, the armor relied on flat, thick plates, rather than angling, reducing effective protection. When they went up against Soviet T-34 and KV-1 tanks, the Turán I proved to be completely ineffective, highlighting the need for an upgrade.
1. Lovas's 1st Cavalry Tank Battalion was planned to have two companies of 15 Turán I along with two more command tanks each in 1943 Cavalry Division organization while in the 1944 Cavalry Division organization only had three companies of 25 along with two command tanks.
2. Páncélos was planned to have its tank battalion equipped with two Medium tank companies each with 16 Turán in the line platoons along with 2 command tanks. Before the battle of Turda, the Second battalion of the 3. Tank Regiment was equipped with Hungarian tanks.