Hungarian Anti-Tank Weapons

Shell Types and Armour Penetration Capabilities

Hungarian Anti-Tank Gunnery Data, Shell Types and Armour Penetration Capabilities.

The Swedish Landsverk L-60.B light tank, produced under license, and designated 38.M Toldi light tank in Hungarian service. The vehicle was armed with a 37 mm main gun and an 8 mm MG.

The table lists armour penetration values for Hungarian guns at 0 to 100 meters range and 0 degrees inclination of armour. Dates indicate the year when a particular shell type entered production, not necessarily the year of availability to combat units. New shell types would take several months to reach the troops at the front, some favoured units receiving the new shells more quickly than others. Andrew Mark Reid is the author of Panzergranate, a set of miniature wargame rules using carefully researched gunnery data to simulate armour penetration results.

Weapon Projectile Penetration
8 mm 34/40.M Danuvia Machine Gun (Brno Z830) “K” Bullet 13 mm
20 mm L.60 Madsen Tank Gun (Danish) A.P. 34 mm
The 20 mm Madsen was mounted on Landsverk 180 and 182 armoured cars sold to Holland, Hungary, Ireland, and other countries. Mr. Reid reports that the Irish Army decommissioned a Landsverk 182 as late as 1986. The weapon was also mounted in Landsverk L.60.A light tanks.
37 mm L.37 Bofors Tank Gun A.P. (Carbon Steel) 32 mm
37 mm L.37 Bofors Tank Gun A.P. (Manganese Steel) 54 mm
37 mm L.37 Bofors Tank Gun A.P.H.E. 34 mm
Main armament of the Landsverk L.60.B light tank, known as Toldi light tank in Hungarian service. It is unlikely that the A.P.H.E. shell would have been used, even though it was available for the 37 mm Bofors L.37 gun. Some A.P.H.E. shells are tracer detonated, but most are detonated by inertia and they are used as anti-aircraft shells. Their use against tanks may have been out of accident rather than design. Navies use A.P.H.E. shells against enemy ships, and their application to tank combat may have been a throwback to this naval method.
3.7 cm L.45 36.M Rheinmetall-Borsig AT Gun A.P. (Pz.Gr. 39) 65 mm
The German PaK 35/36 was designated 37 mm 36.M anti-tank gun in Hungarian service.
40 mm L.47 Skoda A.17 Tank Gun A.P.H.E. 36.M 44 mm
40 mm L.47 Skoda A.17 Tank Gun A.P. 76 mm
A licensed design based on the Czech A.7 tank gun mounted in the LT vz. 38 light tank.
40 mm L.51 40.M MAWAG Anti-Tank Gun
40 mm L.51 41.M MAWAG Tank Gun
A.P.H.E. 36.M 48 mm
40 mm L.51 40.M MAWAG Anti-Tank Gun
40 mm L.51 41.M MAWAG Tank Gun
A.P. 80 mm
The 40 mm 40.M was a standard towed anti-tank gun produced by the Hungarian company of Manfred Weisz AG (MAWAG), which was also used as a tank gun. The weapon was a derivative of the Rheinmetall-Borsig 3.7 cm PaK 35/36, but it fired the same ammunition as the 40 mm Bofors AA-Gun.
40 mm L.70 37.M Bofors/MAWAG Flak A.P.H.E. 36.M 66 mm
40 mm L.70 37.M Bofors/MAWAG Flak H.C. 42.M 206 mm
40 mm L.70 37.M Bofors/MAWAG Flak A.P. 43.M
Main armament of 40.M Nimrod self-propelled armoured autocannon. The vehicle was an Hungarian modification of the Swedish Landsverk L-62 (LVKV 40 Anti) which had many basic parts in common with the shorter L-60 light tank. The Nimrod was taken into the Honvedseg (Hungarian Army) as a tank-destroyer, but it proved inadequate against Soviet T-34 tanks. The situation improved when new 43.M ammunition was introduced or when 42.M Kerngranate hollow-charge rounds were fired from the vehicle. Kerngranate was a 15 cm Igr. 39 Hl/A artillery shell H.C. warhead mounted on a fin-stabilized tube. The round had to be inserted into the barrel manually, from the front, and it was fired with a blank cartridge very much like a rifle grenade. A total of 135 Nimrods were built, most of which were deployed by the 51st and 52nd Armoured Autocannon Battalion of the 1st and 2nd Hungarian Armoured Division, respectively. Nimrod batteries attached to armoured and motorized battalions were allocated four vehicles each.
75 mm L.25 41.M MAWAG Tank Gun A.P. 59 mm
A short support weapon mounted in 41.M Turan II support tanks. The gun was a derivative of the Austro-Hungarian Böhler 76.5 mm 18.M field gun.
75 mm L.43 43.M MAWAG Tank Gun A.P. 98 mm
An Hungarian version of the German 7.5 cm KwK 40. The gun was used to upgrade existing Turan tanks to 43.M Turan II heavy tanks, and it was mounted in 44.M Zrinyi I assault guns. The weapon fired standard German and Hungarian 75 mm shells.
105 mm L.20.5 40.M MAWAG Howitzer A.P. 55 mm
105 mm L.20.5 40.M MAWAG Howitzer H.E.A.C. (Gr. 39 Hl/A) 103 mm
105 mm L.20.5 40.M MAWAG Howitzer H.E.A.C. (Gr. 39 Hl/B) 116 mm
105 mm L.20.5 40.M MAWAG Howitzer H.E.A.C. (Gr. 39 Hl/C) 128 mm
A towed field howitzer which was also mounted in 43.M Zrinyi II assault howitzers.
10.5 cm L.28 le.FH 18 A.P.H.E. (Pz.Gr.) 78 mm
10.5 cm L.28 le.FH 18 A.P. (Pz.Gr. 39) 106 mm
10.5 cm L.28 le.FH 18 H.C. (Gr. 39 Hl/A) 103 mm
10.5 cm L.28 le.FH 18 H.C. (Gr. 39 Hl/B) 116 mm
10.5 cm L.28 le.FH 18 H.C. (Gr. 39 Hl/C) 128 mm
Standard light howitzer of the Wehrmacht.

The Hungarian arms industry was in better shape than that of its neighbours, primarily because of favorable licensing agreements with Czech, German, Swedish and Austrian manufacturers.

Andy Reid

Hungarian Miniatures of World War Two, 1939–1945