Part 1: Tas 44M
Part 2: Introduction and Straussler tanks
Part 3: Toldi
Last time we left the Toldi tank when first 80 pieces of Toldi I were manufactured. Toldi I was basically the original Toldi design, based on the Landsverk light tank, armed with a modified 20mm AT rifle. These 80 Toldi vehicles had serial numbers H301 to H380. After that, the type was redesigned to Toldi II.
Toldi II tanks were practically identical to the late Toldi I series. The main difference however was the fact that unlike Toldi I, Toldi II tanks were built from parts, manufactured exclusively in Hungary. That finally solved the issues with German supply chain to Hungarian army’s satisfaction. Another change was the upgrade of the radio from type R-5 to R-5a. These vehicles were manufactured partially in parallel to the older Toldi I model (using German parts) roughly from March 1941 to the end of 1941. 110 Toldi II tanks were manufactured, 68 of which were made by Ganz (H423-H490) and 42 by MÁVAG (H381-H422). By the end of 1941, the Hungarian army owned 190 Toldi I and Toldi II tanks in total – because of the continuous upgrades with locally-built parts, later on these tanks were practically identical (the only way how to distinguish them was the old frame antenna of the Toldi I tank and the new straight antenna of Toldi II, but both models were soon upgraded to the R-5a standard and this feature disappeared).
Here, a Toldi II (possibly in Russia):
