Book Review of
History of the Turan Medium
& Heavy Tanks of WWII
Author: Peter Mujzer
Kagero in Combat Series no. 88003
ISBN: 9788366148956
By Ray Mehlberger
MSRP: $24.95
ISBN: 9788366148956
By Ray Mehlberger
MSRP: $24.95
HISTORY:
The Turán was a Hungarian medium tank of World War II. It was inspired and used the technology-based solutions found on the design of the Czechoslovak Škoda T-21 medium tank prototype. It was produced in two main variants: the 40M Turán (or Turán I) with a 40 mm gun and the 41M Turán (or Turán II) with a 75 mm gun. A total of 424 were made.
A prototype variant, the 43M Turán (or Turán III) was also turned out but did not go into production. Prototypes were manufactured, but work on the project stopped in 1944 when the mass-producing terminated in the country.
SPECIFICATIONS:
Type: Medium tank
Place of origin: Kingdom of Hungary
Wars: World War II
Designer: Škoda Works,Institute of Military Technology of the Hungarian Army (HTI),DIMÁVAG factory
Designed: 1938
Produced: 1940–1944
No. built: 424
Variants: 40M Turán, 41M Turán, 43.M Turán
Mass: 18.2 tonnes
Length: 5.55 m
Width: 2.44 m
Height: 2.39 m
Crew: 5
Armor: max. 50 mm
Main armament: 40 mm 41M L/51 (40M Turán), 75 mm 41M L/31 (41M Turán)
Secondary armament: 2× 8 mm Gebauer 34/40.M machine guns
Engine: gasoline Weiss Manfréd Z-V8H-4 of 260 hp (195 kW)
Power/weight: 14 hp/tonne
Suspension: leaf-spring bogie
Operational range: 165 km
Maximum speed: 47 km/h
THE BOOK:
Kagero is based in Lublin, Poland.
It is in Polish & English.
This book is soft-cover wrapped in a self-sealing clear envelope.
It contains 80 pages in 8 ¼” x 11 ½” page format.
The cover art shows a Turan Tank throwing up dust off a dirt road at night. It is firing its turret gun.
It is in a wave pattern of sand and green with white spots on it. It has a black square with the Hungarian white cross on it on the sides of the hull.
The book has 94 black and white photos in it and 6 color ones, 5 maps, 12 unit markings.
There are line drawings of: four 1/48th scale 4-views of the 40M. four 1/35th scale side views of the Turan M40.
A cutaway of a Turan in 1/48th scale as a 5-view.
There are 2 photos of the Turan’s engine.
Tech manual illustrations show: the engine, periscope, head light, bogies & wheels, transmission, 2 photos of the inside of the driver’s compartment and the dash board.
The are 8 color profiles (including the 2 on the back cover). Three are of the 40-M, four are of the 41M and one of the 43M.
There are 12 photos of the interior of a Turan, a photo of the tracks, 9 front views, 22 photos of troops, a photo of a Turan on a flat-bed rail car and one of a Turan on a barge crossing a river.
A 3 page bibliography is at the end of the book.
Inserted into the book is a small die-cut sheet of maskings. These are of squares that go around the Hungarian national white cross.
This is a neat book about this Hungarian tank. It will be of great interest to modelers that want to do a Turan model. There are several different companies that make kits of it.
The book will also interest armor historians.
I want to sincerely thank Casemate Publishers, the N. American distributor of Kagero books for this review sample.
All Kagero book titles can be viewed on Casemate’s website at:
The Turán was a Hungarian medium tank of World War II. It was inspired and used the technology-based solutions found on the design of the Czechoslovak Škoda T-21 medium tank prototype. It was produced in two main variants: the 40M Turán (or Turán I) with a 40 mm gun and the 41M Turán (or Turán II) with a 75 mm gun. A total of 424 were made.
A prototype variant, the 43M Turán (or Turán III) was also turned out but did not go into production. Prototypes were manufactured, but work on the project stopped in 1944 when the mass-producing terminated in the country.
SPECIFICATIONS:
Type: Medium tank
Place of origin: Kingdom of Hungary
Wars: World War II
Designer: Škoda Works,Institute of Military Technology of the Hungarian Army (HTI),DIMÁVAG factory
Designed: 1938
Produced: 1940–1944
No. built: 424
Variants: 40M Turán, 41M Turán, 43.M Turán
Mass: 18.2 tonnes
Length: 5.55 m
Width: 2.44 m
Height: 2.39 m
Crew: 5
Armor: max. 50 mm
Main armament: 40 mm 41M L/51 (40M Turán), 75 mm 41M L/31 (41M Turán)
Secondary armament: 2× 8 mm Gebauer 34/40.M machine guns
Engine: gasoline Weiss Manfréd Z-V8H-4 of 260 hp (195 kW)
Power/weight: 14 hp/tonne
Suspension: leaf-spring bogie
Operational range: 165 km
Maximum speed: 47 km/h
THE BOOK:
Kagero is based in Lublin, Poland.
It is in Polish & English.
This book is soft-cover wrapped in a self-sealing clear envelope.
It contains 80 pages in 8 ¼” x 11 ½” page format.
The cover art shows a Turan Tank throwing up dust off a dirt road at night. It is firing its turret gun.
It is in a wave pattern of sand and green with white spots on it. It has a black square with the Hungarian white cross on it on the sides of the hull.
The book has 94 black and white photos in it and 6 color ones, 5 maps, 12 unit markings.
There are line drawings of: four 1/48th scale 4-views of the 40M. four 1/35th scale side views of the Turan M40.
A cutaway of a Turan in 1/48th scale as a 5-view.
There are 2 photos of the Turan’s engine.
Tech manual illustrations show: the engine, periscope, head light, bogies & wheels, transmission, 2 photos of the inside of the driver’s compartment and the dash board.
The are 8 color profiles (including the 2 on the back cover). Three are of the 40-M, four are of the 41M and one of the 43M.
There are 12 photos of the interior of a Turan, a photo of the tracks, 9 front views, 22 photos of troops, a photo of a Turan on a flat-bed rail car and one of a Turan on a barge crossing a river.
A 3 page bibliography is at the end of the book.
Inserted into the book is a small die-cut sheet of maskings. These are of squares that go around the Hungarian national white cross.
This is a neat book about this Hungarian tank. It will be of great interest to modelers that want to do a Turan model. There are several different companies that make kits of it.
The book will also interest armor historians.
I want to sincerely thank Casemate Publishers, the N. American distributor of Kagero books for this review sample.
All Kagero book titles can be viewed on Casemate’s website at:
Highly recommended.