Turan
The 40M Turan was the main medium tank of the Royal Hungarian army in WWII and a unit available in Flames of War. The Turan exemplifies all of the shortcomings and strengths of Hugary during the Second World War.
IRL
The development of the Turan starts when Hungary looks at Germany and decides that they really really like their medum tanks. The Germans aren't keen on sharing their toys, so when the Hungarians asked for a couple for their military, the Germans basically told them to bankrupt themselves instead. There were no adequate designs that existed in the country, so they kept looking internationally.
Skoda works (the same Czechs who developed the Panzer 38(T)) approached the Hungarian government offering one of their older designs. The Hungarians were thrilled with it overall but made several changes to the base design, most notable of these being a larger turret to accomadate the commander with the gunner and loader. They also downsized the gun caliber from 47mm to locally produced 40mm to prevent logistics problems. In addition, it had two 8mm MG's to shoo away pesky riflemen.
The Turan went through substantial testing, where it had 40 changes before being approved for mass production. Observations indicated that the 40mm gun would be inadequate, so a variant with a 75mm gun was created to attempt to address this shortcoming. Both variants were capable of using the "Kerngranate", a rocket propelled grenade that attached to the front of the tank cannon.
The Turan was by no means a great tank, but it performed "better than expected" on the Eastern front according to German observers. While the Turan was woefully inadequete to participate in the tank arms race between Germany and Russia, the simple fact that a country as utterly screwed and impoverished as Hungary being able to field them is a testament to their determination to build up their military. While it was far too slow and too poorly armored, a Shurzen system was introduced to add protection from AT-rifles.
Turan production was lowered in the latter part of the War to make way for the Turan II heavy tank and the Zrinyi II Assault Gun, variants of the Turan that were considered more useful on the battlefield.
| Hungarian Forces in Flames of War | |
|---|---|
| Tanks: | Toldi II - Panzer 38(t) - Turan - Panther |
| Infantry: | Hungarian Rifle Platoon - Hungarian Mortar Platoon - 7/M31 MG Platoon |
| Artillery: | Nebelwerfer - Hungarian 105mm - Hungarian 100mm |
| Tank Destroyer: | Zrinyi Assault Gun - Stug III - Hetzer |
| Recon: | Csaba Armored Car |
| Aircraft: | |
| Anti-Aircraft: | Nimrod SPAA |