44M Tas Rohamloveg

The 44M Tas Rohamlöveg was a Hungarian tank destroyer design of World War II, based on the chassis of the 44M Tas heavy tank.

Design
Development of this heavy tank destroyer started in 1944, influenced by the successes of similar vehicles in use by the German army and the advantages associated with them: cheaper to build than a tank, lower profile, and more suitable for the defensive warfare that the Axis powers were now fighting.

The project was named Tas Rohamlöveg, which can be translated from Magyar as “Tas assault gun”; and it resembled the German Jagdpanther which itself derived from the Panther tank. The chassis from the 44M Tas tank had the body and turret replaced by a fixed casemate with sloped front and sides. Fontal armour was 120mm, thicker that its German counterpart (80mm).

Planned armament was a German 88mm KwK 43 L/71 anti-tank gun (same as in the Jagdpanther) in a central mantlet which gave it a limited traverse to each side, plus two machine guns for self-defense.

As the Germans were unwilling to offer their Hungarian allies the powerful (700hp) Maybach HL230 engine which powered the Jagdpanther, the 44M Tas Rohamlöveg tank destroyer was to be powered by two 260 hp gasoline-powered "Manfred Weiss-Z" engines, which were already in production for the 40M Turán I tank. This was the same power pack as in the 44M Tas tank.

Production
The 44M Tas Rohamlöveg was to be built by Weiss Manfréd; two prototypes were ordered, but none were built. The Manfred Weiss Works factory was bombed on 27 June 1944, and both the factory and the materials related to this vehicle and the related 44M Tas tank were destroyed. This meant the end of the project.