40M Nimród

Design

The 40M Nimród was a modified, license-built variant of the Landsverk L-62 Anti I SPAAG. The L-62 Anti I was based on the chassis of the Landsverk L-60 tank – the same tank that the Hungarian Toldi light tanks were also based on.

The L-62 did differ though from the original L-60 chassis. It was longer and wider and had one more roadwheel per side. The 40M Nimród also differed from the original L-62 Anti I design. While the chassis was basically the same as the L-62 Anti I, although utilizing parts from the 38M Toldi, the turret was modified to house one more crew member from the original 5 of the L-62 Anti I. The crew of the 40M Nimród consisted of six men: commander, driver, two loaders and two gunners.

The vehicle's armament consisted of a Hungarian license-built Bofors 40 mm L/60 gun, in Hungarian service designated as 40 mm 36M (model of 1936), a gravity fed gun which had a rate of fire of 120 to 140 rounds per minute depending on the firing angle, which fired conventional ammunition at a muzzle velocity of almost 900 m/s. Ammunition for the gun consisted primarily of conventional high-explosive fragmentation and armor-piercing rounds, but also a specialized anti-tank round developed indigenously in Hungary. Hungarian armor-piercing ammunition for the gun

In the face of culpable vagueness, I reworded slightly by replacing “it” with repetition of the probably intended antecedent, to wit, ‘’the gun’’, and not just the last independently mentioned noun: (the a-t) ‘’round’’ (which presumably will fire the light casing backwards at prodigious speed, and the much more massive warhead a piddling distance — probably killing the gun crew — if the round’s propellant is triggered, outside a suitable delivering mechanism. Rule of thumb: few explosives are weapons; they are merely relatively impotent components of generally much more sophisticated and more deadly weapon systems -- even if they’ll succeed in killing you when you mishandle them. (Writing about weapon systems without grammatical skill is not usually fatal, yet not a vice to be lightly indulged. Larn yer gram’r ‘n’ lodge-ick good!!)

-- could penetrate 46 mm of rolled homogeneous armor at a range of 100 m, and 30 mm at 1000 m. The Nimrod carried 640 rounds, split into 4 stowages of 160 rounds each.

Late in the war, the vehicle was issued with a 150 mm muzzle loaded rifle grenade (or "shaft grenade" when referring to cannon calibers, ) designated 42M. This was a German Stielgranate 41 which had been modified to mount the 40 mm 36M gun instead of the German 3.7 cm Pak 36. It consisted of a German 15 cm hollow charge artillery shell (I.Gr. 39 Hl/A, ) mounted on a fin-stabilized tube meant to fit over the muzzle of the gun, and was launched by the use of a specialized blank cartridge loaded in the main gun. The 42M is often found under the name "Kerngranate", which is German for Core Shell.

Service history

The 40M Nimród was manufactured by the Manfréd Weiss Works. A first batch of 46 vehicles powered by a German Büssing-NAG L8V/36TR engine was followed by another batch of 89 vehicles powered by a Hungarian Ganz IP VGT 107 Type II (built under license from Büssing-NAG).

Although it was originally intended for anti-tank use, and it did see some success in destroying Soviet tanks, in 1943 the 40M Nimród was reclassified for anti-aircraft use as it was unable to penetrate the thick armor of the tanks in use by the Red Army by that point.

A total of 135 Nimrods were built, most of which were deployed by the 51st and 52nd Armored Autocannon Battalions of the 1st and 2nd Hungarian Armoured Divisions, respectively. Nimrod batteries attached to armored and motorized battalions were allocated six vehicles each. A platoon consisted of two vehicles.

The following units used the 40M Nimród:

• 51st Battalion, 1st Hungarian Armored Division
• 52nd Heavy Armor Battalion, 2nd Hungarian Armored Division
• 1st Hungarian Cavalry Division

During the fighting south of the Battle of Voronezh, in Korotoyak, Nimróds of the 51st Battalion shot down between 38 and 40 Soviet aircraft. The Battalion's Nimróds painted white kill rings on the barrel to represent each destroyed aircraft, and red rings for destroyed tanks.

Four Nimróds took part in the counter-attack from the Baracska-Pettend line on 7 December 1944 as part of the Horváth Battle Group. By 10 December 1944 none of the Nimróds were still in operational condition.

43M Lehel

In 1942 the Hungarian Ministry of Defence requested the domestic production of an Armoured personnel carrier. The 40M Nimród was used as the basis for the new APC, named the 43M Lehel. Two prototypes were developed; the Lehel A (a troop transport with space for eight infantry), and the Lehel S (a medical transport with capacity for four stretchers). Neither prototype went into full scale production.

Survivors

There exist at least two surviving 40M Nimróds. The Nimród with the registraion numner 1H-631 was stored in the in Budapest. It was put on display in 2018. The other survivor, registration number H-094, is on display in the Kubinka Tank Museum in Russia.

Gallery

Mátyásföld, Újszász utca 41-43. Magyar Királyi Honvéd gépkocsiszertár díszudvara, haditechnikai bemutató. Fortepan 72120.jpg|Nimróds at military demonstration, Mátyásföld, Budapest, 1943 File:40M Nimród in Zsámbék (1940) Fortepan 44001.jpg|A 40M Nimród. In the background is Zsámbék, Nicholas Zichy. File:Nimróds in column.jpg|40M Nimróds anti-aircraft machine guns in marching column near Zsámbék. In the background is the Premonstratensian Monastery. File:Nimród Battery 02.jpg|A Nimród anti-aircraft gun battery in firing position along the Zsámbék Páty road.

Comparable vehicles

References

Citations

Footnotes

Bibliography

• The Royal Hungarian Army, 1920-1945, Volume II, Hungarian Mobile Forces, by Dr. Peter Mujzer
• A Magyar Királyi Honvédség Fegyverzete, by Attila Bonhardt, Gyula Sárhidai and László Winkler
• Becze, Csaba. Magyar Steel. Mushroom Model Publications. Sandomierz 2006

References

3. Martínez, Eduardo Manuel Gil. (2019). "Hungarian Armoured Fighting Vehicles in the Second World War". Pen & Sword Books Limited.
4. Becze, Csaba. (2006). "Magyar Steel". Stratus.
5. Martínez, Eduardo Manuel Gil. (2023). "Hungarian Armoured Units During the Second World War - Vol. 2 1944-1945". Soldiershop.
6. Martínez, Eduardo Manuel Gil. (2023). "Hungarian Armoured Units During the Second World War - Vol. 2 1944-1945". Soldiershop.
7. Antal, Ferenc. (13 January 2018). "Nyílt napok a Hadtörténeti Intézet és Múzeumban". HM Zrínyi Nonprofit Ltd. 2019.
8. . ["Kubinka Niibt Research Collection - Foreign Vehicles, Kubinka, Moscow Oblast, Russia"](https://preservedtanks.com/Locations.aspx?LocationCategoryId=2130&Select=4).