Written by Károly Németh a.k.a. Karika on Tanks Encyclopedia.

Introduction

By early 1943, due to the heavy casualties and overall bad experiences gained on the Eastern Front against the Soviet Union, it became clear to the leaders of the Royal Hungarian Army that their armored units had become almost hopelessly obsolete. The Hungarian forces were in dire need for better equipment, especially medium/heavy tanks which would be able to compete against the Soviet T-34 and KV series of tanks.

To resolve this issue as soon as possible, the Hungarians first turned to their ally, Germany. They asked if they could buy the manufacturing rights for one of Germany’s more advanced tanks, for example a late Panzer IV variant with the long 75 mm (2.95 in) gun or the Panzer V Panther. The Germans turned down this wish in a short time, firstly because these variants were in an immature state at the time and secondly, they were fully aware – unlike the over-optimistic Hungarian military leaders – that the Hungarian heavy industry would not have been able to manufacture such sophisticated designs in the foreseeable future anyway.

Soon after the failed negotiations, the Hungarian Ministry of Defense (Hadügyminisztérium, HM) decided to solve the problem domestically. In April 1943, as a temporary solution, the HM started a modernization program for the Turán tanks. This program would add bolt on armor plates to increase its frontal protection and would mount the long barrel 43M. 75 mm tank gun in a new enlarged turret. This project become the 43M. Turán III.

However, as a long-term solution in the same month the HM commissioned the Weiss Manfréd corporation (WM) to lay out and assemble a new type of tank as a replacement for the obsolescent Turán series. The new vehicle should have been able to carry a high velocity tank gun and have similar protection and mobility characteristics as the Soviet T-34 or the German Panther. This new project has become the 44M. Tas.



Illustration of the TAS 44M in what-if camouflage by David Bocquelet

It was named after chieftain Tas, a historical figure who – according to tradition – was one of the leaders of the seven Hungarian tribes in the 9th century.

The preliminary blueprints for the Tas prototypes were ready in record time, by the end of August 1943.

The Tas ‘heavy’ tank

According to the Hungarian tank classification system during WWII, any tank mounting a 75 mm or larger caliber gun was classified as a ‘heavy tank’, regardless of its weight or size. Therefore, the 44M. Tas would also have been a heavy tank according to the Hungarian terminology much like how even the 41M. Turán II with its short barreled 75mm gun was often referred to as the ‘Heavy Turán’. However, its size, weight and basic combat role would have been much closer to what is considered as a ‘medium tank’ in the Western Allied, German or Soviet terminology.



The Tas factory mockup next to a 41M. Turán II mockup.

Hull and turret

The overall design of the 44M. Tas was heavily influenced by the Panther. This can be traced back to the fact that a few officers from the Institute of Military Technology (Haditechnikai Intézet, HTI) had had the opportunity to examine the exterior of the new Panther and Tiger tanks in early 1943 in Kummersdorf. They were later deeply involved in the design process of the new Hungarian vehicle.

The shape of the welded hull mostly followed the general shape of the Panther, except on the front, where a thick near vertical middle front plate had been designed along with two ‘cheeks’ angled backwards on the sides of the upper front plate. The armor thickness ranged from 120 to 75 mm (4.72-2.95 in) on the front and around 50 mm (1.97 in) on the sides and the rear. The overall armor protection of the Tas would have been on par with the Panther’s.



The hull of the Tas.

Unfortunately though, very little documentation about the turret of the Tas survived the war other than a few photographs of its 1:10 scale factory mockup and several other written descriptions. What is known is that it was octagonal, it closely resembled the Panther’s turret with its wide gun mantlet, and it had 100 mm (3.94 in) all around armor thickness. There was a cupola with a hatch for the commander and another hatch for the gunner on top of the turret. Two other hatches were added to the sides sometime after the above-mentioned mockup was made.

Dimension wise – according to the most recent studies – the 44M. Tas would have been somewhat smaller than the Panther, although because of the sometimes contradictory values in the still existing documentations (or the lack of such sources), some of the values are unclear or just estimates and should be treated with caution.

The Tas would have been manned by a crew of five, also resembling the Panther.

Armament

The selected main armament for the Tas was the 29/44M. 80 mm (3.15 in) L/58 gun. It was a heavily modified, license produced version of the Swedish Bofors 80 mm anti-aircraft gun, developed by DIMÁVAG as a replacement for the obsolescent 29/38M. 80 mm L/48 anti-air guns of the Hungarian air defense at that time. The above-mentioned 1:10 scale mid-development Tas mockup – which most likely was made sometime around the end of 1943 – was armed with this gun.



The original 1:10 scale mockup photographed from different angles. These photos have surfaced in the early 1990’s from a Czechoslovak archive.



The 29/44M. 80 mm L/58 anti-aircraft gun in firing position.

The first prototype of the 29/44M. gun was ready in October 1943 but its first firing trials pointed out some serious flaws. This delayed its development significantly and its developer estimated that the mass production could not start earlier than the summer of 1944. Whereas the Tas development could not wait for that long, its designers had to make a compromise, and use what was at least available for the Tas prototypes in order to progress until the 80 mm gun would have been ready.

The chosen temporary armament was the 43M. 75 mm L/43 tank gun, which was also only in a prototype form at that time. Only two pieces had been produced until then and both of them were already used in the prototypes of the 43M. Turán III medium tank and the 44M. Zrínyi I assault gun. Thus, the Tas project still had to wait precious weeks until a third one could be manufactured and mounted.



The Tas prototype drawing with the 43M. 75mm tank gun, in transport position.

As secondary armament, the Tas received a coaxial 34/40AM. 8 mm (7.92 mm to be exact or 0.31 in) Gebauer machine gun in the turret. A second 8 mm machine gun to be placed in the hull and operated by the radioman was also considered although it is not present on the factory mockup.