44M Tas Rohamlöveg


The 44M Tas Rohamlöveg is a Hungarian tank destroyer design of World War II, based on the chassis of the 44M Tas heavy tank which was made up by mistake by the Hungarian historian Pál Korbuly. During his research in the 1980s on the 44M Tas heavy tank he found sources mentioning that components for two chassis of the 44M Tas were made and he jumped to the conclusion that the second hull was for a tank destroyer based on the hull of the 44M Tas design. Due to the very limited information on the 44M Tas project at the time this spread as fact fairly quickly. It was first later in the 2000s that more information was found which explained that the components made where for a second 44M Tas prototype and not for some tank destroyer variant. There is no direct evidence of the project. The assumption was made by the son of the lead developer for of the manufacturer in the late 80's. The base of the theory was the 2 prototype suspensions of the Tas, jumping to the conclusion that the second one was for a TD. This was later debunked, as army officials actually ordered two full prototypes of the Tas Pál Korbuly in his research seems to have hinted that there was there was at least some idea based around making a tank destroyer on the 44M Tas chassis but no surviving documentation of this exists and if the idea actually existed it most likely stayed just as an idea and never went anywhere.
Hungary had experimented and made self propelled guns and tank destroyers previously so it's not too unlikely that something like the 44M Tas Rohamlöveg would have been made eventually if the 44M Tas project got to a more advanced stage.

Speculated design

Basically all design features of the Tas Rohamlöveg in the sources about it are 100% made up and based around theories. It has been speculated that it would have been a Hungarian version of the German Jagdpanther as the base vehicle, the 44M Tas, was supposed to be the Hungarian version of the German Panther tank.

Armament

Sources about the Tas Rohamlöveg mentions that it would be armed with either a 7.5 cm Kw.K. 42 L/70 or an 8.8 cm Kw.K. 43 L/71, two German guns which the Hungarians did not have access too. The base vehicle, the 44M Tas, was to feature an anti tank gun based on the 80 mm 29/44M. Bofors/DIMÁVAG L/58 anti-aircraft gun which was the most powerful anti tank gun the Hungarians had access too. So if the Tas Rohamlöveg would have been constructed it would most likely have featured this 80 mm anti tank gun which would have made the entire vehicle just a budget 44M Tas.
As for secondary armament such as machine guns there is nothing to base it on. Previous self propelled guns such as the 43M Zrínyi didn't have any machine guns but seeing as times had changed and basically all tank destroyers of the time had secondary armament such as machine guns it's not too unlikely that a Tas Rohamlöveg design would have featured machine guns.

Armor

The armor of the Tas Rohamlöveg would most likely have been the same as the 44M Tas as this would have made the production easier.
The front, if based on the Jagdpanther concept, would have featured the 3 frontal plates of the 44M Tas but with the upper one being elongated to protect the casemate. As for the sides they would too have been elongated where the casemate should be with the back of the casemate being fairly thinly armored as it would most likely have featured doors for entering and loading the vehicle.
Considering that if it was based on the Jagdpanther concept and featured the above-mentioned armor and equipment it would most likely weigh about as much as the 44M Tas as the Jagdpanther weighed about as much as the Panther. This would put it at around 36 tons. Its power pack would most defiantly have been the same as the 44M Tas which had two Weiss Manfréd V-8H water cooled V8 petrol 260 hp engines which would crank out 520 hp together giving the vehicle a power to weight ratio of around 14 hp per ton. This would have given it basically the same speed as the 44M Tas which was projected at around 45 km/h.