The Mareșal (Marshal) tank destroyer was a Romanian armored fighting vehicle produced in limited numbers during the Second World War.
History[]
Romania, a member of the Axis powers during World War II, had few modern fighting vehicles when the war began. Most were captured obsolete Allied vehicles, which were quickly destroyed by superior Soviet armor. After the German army provided armor replacement and modernization assistance to Romania, Romania began to receive 38t, Stug III, and Panzer IV tanks.
The Romanian military began development of a modern armored fighting vehicle at the end of 1942. The new design was of a contemporary appearance, having an enclosed fighting compartment, and it was armed with a captured Soviet 122 mm Putilov-Obluchov M1904/30 howitzer on a modified captured Soviet T-60 undercarriage with special 4-piece turtle-shaped armor similar to the Hetzer. Later prototypes incorporated the 76 mm divisional gun M1942 (ZiS-3) on a modified Czech TNHP undercarriage using German technical support, and Romanian built 75 mm anti-tank gun DT-UDR M1943 Resita on a widened T-60 (captured) Soviet light tank chassis. Orders were placed for 1,000 vehicles (from November 1944), but development stopped when a coup d'état led by King Michael of Romania overthrew Marshal Ion Antonescu, the Romanian leader, and the country switched sides. All prototypes were later confiscated by the Soviets which stopped any further work on the project.
Specifications
- M-05 Prototype
- Crew-2
- Weight-10t
- Dimensions
- Length-5.8m
- Width-2.44m
- Height-1.54m
- Engine
- Type-Hotchkiss H-39
- Power-120 hp
- Fuel-petrol
- Performance
- Max road speed-45 km/h
- Max cross-country speed-25 km/h
- Armament
- Main - 1 x 75mm DT-UDR gun
- Secondary - 1 x 7.92mm ZB-53 mg
- Armor
- Armor - 10-20mm
(Taken from http://www.worldwar2.ro/arme/?article=244)
External links[]
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The original article can be found at Mareșal tank destroyer and the edit history here.