Book Review of
The 38M Toldi Light Tank
Author: Peter Mujzer
Kagero Photosniper Series
ISBN: 978-83-66673-04-5
By Ray Mehlberger
Copyright 2020
MSRP: $34.95
ISBN: 978-83-66673-04-5
By Ray Mehlberger
Copyright 2020
MSRP: $34.95
HISTORY:
The 38M Toldi was a Hungarian light tank, based on the Swedish Landsverk L-60 tank, but developed independently. It was named after the 14th century Hungarian knight Miklós Toldi.
SPECIFICATIONS:
Type: Light tank
Place of origin: Kingdom of Hungary
Used by: Kingdom of Hungary, Kingdom of Romania
Wars: World War II
Produced: 1939–1942
No. built: 202
Variants: Toldi I, Toldi II, Toldi IIa, Toldi III
Mass: Toldi I: 8.5 t, Toldi IIa: 9.3 t
Length: 4.75 m (15 ft. 7 in)
Width: 2.14 m (7 ft. 0 in)
Height: 1.87 m (6 ft. 2 in)
Crew: 3
Armor: Toldi I: 20 mm maximum, Toldi II: 35 mm
Main armament: 20 mm gun (Toldi I and Toldi II), 40 mm gun (Toldi IIa and Toldi III)
Secondary armament: 1x 8 mm machine gun
Engine: Büssing-NAG V8 7.9 liters of 155 bhp
Suspension: torsion bar
Operational range: 200 km (120 mi)
Maximum speed: 47 km/h (29 mph) on road
Steering system: clutch braking (all variants)
THE BOOK:
Kagaro Books is located in Lublin, Poland.
This book is soft-cover of 120 pages in 8” x 11 ¾” page format.
The cover art shows 2 photos that have been colorized. They appear in the book in their original black and white.
The one at the top has been colorized in a wave-pattern camouflage of sand, dark-green and red brown. It has a large skeletal German cross and a white square with H-434 on it on its front. It is a 38M Toldi light tank built with a 40mm gun, parked in the yard of the MAVAG Factory. This was an experimental vehicle.
The 38M Toldi I light tank at the bottom, number plate H-361, is painted in dark olive-green camouflage and late style white cross on black square on the sides of the hull and the Mechanized Branch insignia on the sides of the turret. Shown at the Automobile Depot at Matyasfold in 1943.
The book contains 202 black and white wartime photos, blue print line-drawings, 5 data lists, 4 maps, the bibliography and an order of battle chart.
The black and white photos include:
165 photos of various versions of the Toldi (often with Hungarian troops around them), a Polish 7TP, a German Pz. II light tank crossing a bridge with troops sitting atop the turret, 15 photos of Hungarian soldiers and civilians, a 37M 105mm light field howitzer, a 35M Fiat Ansaldo tankette, a 38M Botond all--terrain Carrier truck, a Polish Fiat 608 light utility truck, the Ganz factory, the Toldi factory assembly line, the Hungarian Army Automotive Depot at Monlyasfield in 1944, 2 photos of men in the Automotive Depot working on engines, a WWI German LK. 11 light tank, 6 photos of the inside of the Toldi, a belt-fed 23/40 AM 8mm machine gun, 13 photos of Toldi’s inside the factory, 2 photos of Toldi engines, a Praga truck, a forest, a line of trucks, a man on a motorcycle.
Illustrations include:
A technical cut-away drawing of the Stridsvagn M38, L-60 light tank, a 4-view of the 38M Toldi I, a 4-view of the 38M Todli IIA, a side view of the 28M Toldi III, a 2-view of the 38M Toldi III with experimental side skirt armor, a side sectional cut-away of a 38M Toldi I, a upper sectional cut-away of a 38M Toldi, weapons of the 38M Toldi I light tank (the 20mm anti-tank rifle with and without scope and the 34/37M 8mm Grehauer machine gun, modification of the turret of the 38M Toldi IIA, a 20mm ammo round, the driver position inside a Toldi, the left and right instrument panels in a Toldi, the steering and chain drive in a Toldi, the 8 liter Bussing-NAG L8V/36TR 155 hp engine, the rear wall of the inside of the fighting compartment, inside view of position of 60 litters of fuel, inside view of the position of the Bussing-NAG engine, the track links, side view of the 38M Toldi experimental tank-hunter, side sectional view of the Toldi’s with the borrowed German PAK 40 gun, upper view of the Toldi’s with the 76mm PAK anti-tank gun, side view of this gun also, position of this gun in the box-shaped turret of the Toldi tank-hunter and illustrations of 40mm ammo.
There are color illustrations of 44 military insignias.
Color profiles include:
A 5-view of a camouflaged Toldi with a white bird carrying a sword on its side. It was with the 1st Light Tank Company of te 1st Armored Cavalry Battalion, September 1940, occupation of Transylvania.
Side-view of a camouflaged Toldi with the 9th Brigade Tank Battalion with a white skeletal German cross and Mechanized Branch insignia on sides of the turret.
Side-view of a camouflaged Toldi that has been up-gunned with a 40mm gun. It was with the 2nd Armored Division. It was captured by Soviet forces in the summer of 1944 at Galicia.
Side-view of a solid green Toldi II with the 1st Cavalry Tank Battalion, summer 1944.
Two side-views of camouflaged Toldi II’s with the 2nd Armored Division, 3rd Tank Regiment, Regiment Staff Reconnaissance Platoon. Captured by Soviet troops in Galacia, summer 1944.
Side-view of a Toldi without a turret in overall olive-green, during the siege of Budapest 1944-45.
There are 4 data lists in the book, a bibliography and an order of battle chart.
The bottom of the last page of the book shows color box arts of 3 other AFV books by Kagero: “Hungarian Armored Forces in WWII”, “Operational History of the Hungarian Armored Troops” and “The Turan Medium & Heavy Tanks”.
The back cover has another side profile of a camouflaged Toldi I during a summer exercise of the Ludovika Military Academy in 1942, with a white skeletal German cross and white L25 on the sides of its turret.
A side view of a camouflaged Toldi III with experimental skirt armor plates, developed by MAVAG Factory in 1943.
Hunor Product brand makes a model kit No. 72003 in 1/72nd scale that is available at one location overseas on the web.
Hobby Boss brand makes a 1/35th scale kit no. 82477 that is $42.62 one place on E-bay and at 10 locations overseas on the web.
Dnepro Model brand makes a large 1/16th scale resin kit no. DM1608 that is a whopping $332.99 on E-bay.
Minigeneral brand has a kit (scale probably 1/72nd) on E-bay for $6.34.
There are 2 of 1/56th scale Toldi’s shown for sale on E-bay for S20.00 each. No brand names given.
This is a neat book. It will be of great interest to modelers and military historians alike.
I wish to sincerely thank Casemate Publishers for this review sample. All Kagero book titles can be viewed on Casemate’s web site a
The 38M Toldi was a Hungarian light tank, based on the Swedish Landsverk L-60 tank, but developed independently. It was named after the 14th century Hungarian knight Miklós Toldi.
SPECIFICATIONS:
Type: Light tank
Place of origin: Kingdom of Hungary
Used by: Kingdom of Hungary, Kingdom of Romania
Wars: World War II
Produced: 1939–1942
No. built: 202
Variants: Toldi I, Toldi II, Toldi IIa, Toldi III
Mass: Toldi I: 8.5 t, Toldi IIa: 9.3 t
Length: 4.75 m (15 ft. 7 in)
Width: 2.14 m (7 ft. 0 in)
Height: 1.87 m (6 ft. 2 in)
Crew: 3
Armor: Toldi I: 20 mm maximum, Toldi II: 35 mm
Main armament: 20 mm gun (Toldi I and Toldi II), 40 mm gun (Toldi IIa and Toldi III)
Secondary armament: 1x 8 mm machine gun
Engine: Büssing-NAG V8 7.9 liters of 155 bhp
Suspension: torsion bar
Operational range: 200 km (120 mi)
Maximum speed: 47 km/h (29 mph) on road
Steering system: clutch braking (all variants)
THE BOOK:
Kagaro Books is located in Lublin, Poland.
This book is soft-cover of 120 pages in 8” x 11 ¾” page format.
The cover art shows 2 photos that have been colorized. They appear in the book in their original black and white.
The one at the top has been colorized in a wave-pattern camouflage of sand, dark-green and red brown. It has a large skeletal German cross and a white square with H-434 on it on its front. It is a 38M Toldi light tank built with a 40mm gun, parked in the yard of the MAVAG Factory. This was an experimental vehicle.
The 38M Toldi I light tank at the bottom, number plate H-361, is painted in dark olive-green camouflage and late style white cross on black square on the sides of the hull and the Mechanized Branch insignia on the sides of the turret. Shown at the Automobile Depot at Matyasfold in 1943.
The book contains 202 black and white wartime photos, blue print line-drawings, 5 data lists, 4 maps, the bibliography and an order of battle chart.
The black and white photos include:
165 photos of various versions of the Toldi (often with Hungarian troops around them), a Polish 7TP, a German Pz. II light tank crossing a bridge with troops sitting atop the turret, 15 photos of Hungarian soldiers and civilians, a 37M 105mm light field howitzer, a 35M Fiat Ansaldo tankette, a 38M Botond all--terrain Carrier truck, a Polish Fiat 608 light utility truck, the Ganz factory, the Toldi factory assembly line, the Hungarian Army Automotive Depot at Monlyasfield in 1944, 2 photos of men in the Automotive Depot working on engines, a WWI German LK. 11 light tank, 6 photos of the inside of the Toldi, a belt-fed 23/40 AM 8mm machine gun, 13 photos of Toldi’s inside the factory, 2 photos of Toldi engines, a Praga truck, a forest, a line of trucks, a man on a motorcycle.
Illustrations include:
A technical cut-away drawing of the Stridsvagn M38, L-60 light tank, a 4-view of the 38M Toldi I, a 4-view of the 38M Todli IIA, a side view of the 28M Toldi III, a 2-view of the 38M Toldi III with experimental side skirt armor, a side sectional cut-away of a 38M Toldi I, a upper sectional cut-away of a 38M Toldi, weapons of the 38M Toldi I light tank (the 20mm anti-tank rifle with and without scope and the 34/37M 8mm Grehauer machine gun, modification of the turret of the 38M Toldi IIA, a 20mm ammo round, the driver position inside a Toldi, the left and right instrument panels in a Toldi, the steering and chain drive in a Toldi, the 8 liter Bussing-NAG L8V/36TR 155 hp engine, the rear wall of the inside of the fighting compartment, inside view of position of 60 litters of fuel, inside view of the position of the Bussing-NAG engine, the track links, side view of the 38M Toldi experimental tank-hunter, side sectional view of the Toldi’s with the borrowed German PAK 40 gun, upper view of the Toldi’s with the 76mm PAK anti-tank gun, side view of this gun also, position of this gun in the box-shaped turret of the Toldi tank-hunter and illustrations of 40mm ammo.
There are color illustrations of 44 military insignias.
Color profiles include:
A 5-view of a camouflaged Toldi with a white bird carrying a sword on its side. It was with the 1st Light Tank Company of te 1st Armored Cavalry Battalion, September 1940, occupation of Transylvania.
Side-view of a camouflaged Toldi with the 9th Brigade Tank Battalion with a white skeletal German cross and Mechanized Branch insignia on sides of the turret.
Side-view of a camouflaged Toldi that has been up-gunned with a 40mm gun. It was with the 2nd Armored Division. It was captured by Soviet forces in the summer of 1944 at Galicia.
Side-view of a solid green Toldi II with the 1st Cavalry Tank Battalion, summer 1944.
Two side-views of camouflaged Toldi II’s with the 2nd Armored Division, 3rd Tank Regiment, Regiment Staff Reconnaissance Platoon. Captured by Soviet troops in Galacia, summer 1944.
Side-view of a Toldi without a turret in overall olive-green, during the siege of Budapest 1944-45.
There are 4 data lists in the book, a bibliography and an order of battle chart.
The bottom of the last page of the book shows color box arts of 3 other AFV books by Kagero: “Hungarian Armored Forces in WWII”, “Operational History of the Hungarian Armored Troops” and “The Turan Medium & Heavy Tanks”.
The back cover has another side profile of a camouflaged Toldi I during a summer exercise of the Ludovika Military Academy in 1942, with a white skeletal German cross and white L25 on the sides of its turret.
A side view of a camouflaged Toldi III with experimental skirt armor plates, developed by MAVAG Factory in 1943.
Hunor Product brand makes a model kit No. 72003 in 1/72nd scale that is available at one location overseas on the web.
Hobby Boss brand makes a 1/35th scale kit no. 82477 that is $42.62 one place on E-bay and at 10 locations overseas on the web.
Dnepro Model brand makes a large 1/16th scale resin kit no. DM1608 that is a whopping $332.99 on E-bay.
Minigeneral brand has a kit (scale probably 1/72nd) on E-bay for $6.34.
There are 2 of 1/56th scale Toldi’s shown for sale on E-bay for S20.00 each. No brand names given.
This is a neat book. It will be of great interest to modelers and military historians alike.
I wish to sincerely thank Casemate Publishers for this review sample. All Kagero book titles can be viewed on Casemate’s web site a
Highly recommended.