Description
The Zrinyi I M.44 was a Hungarian prototype tank destroyer, also classified as a self-propelled gun, from the Second World War. The finished prototypes were ready by the end of 1943. The car never entered mass production. Most likely, the serial version of the Zrinyi I would be powered by a single engine Manfred Weiss V-8 H with 260 HP . It was armed with a 75 mm cannon and one 8 mm machine gun.
The Hungarian army, after the experience of fighting on the Eastern Front in 1941-1942, realized the need to put into production a tank destroyer that would be able to fight the Soviet T-34. To save time needed for design and analytical work, a slightly modified chassis of the 40. M Turan I tank was used for this task, while the armament was a redesigned 75 mm PAK40 anti-tank gun. It was assumed that the new car would play a similar role as the StuG III Ausf cars. G in German troops. Unfortunately, the design work on the new car took a long time, and was finally abandoned in favor of the development of the Zrinyi II self-propelled howitzer. It is assumed that only prototypes of the Zrinyi I vehicle were built, but were not used in combat.