40M Nimród

40M Nimród
Type Self-propelled anti-aircraft gun
Place of origin Kingdom of Hungary, Ganz, Budapest
Specifications
Weight 10.5 tonnes
Length 5.32 m (17 ft 5 in)
Width 2.31 m (7 ft 7 in)
Height 2.8 m (9 ft 2 in)
Crew 6

Armor 6–13 mm on the hull, 28 mm on the turret
Main
armament
40 mm Bofors/60 AA-gun
Engine VIII EST 107, 8-cylinder, gasoline, water-cooled
150 hp (110 kW)
Operational
range
300 km (180 mi)
Speed 50 km/h (31 mph)

The 40M Nimród was a World War II Hungarian self-propelled anti-aircraft gun based on a license-built copy of the Swedish Luftvärnskanonvagn L-62 Anti II tank. Originally, it was intended to be used both in the anti-aircraft and tank destroyer roles, but it proved to be ineffective against Soviet tanks like the KV-1 tank. Therefore, it was primarily utilized against lightly armored vehicles and for air defense.

Design

The 40M Nimród was based on the chassis of the Hungarian 38M Toldi tank, which was itself based the Swedish Landsverk L-60B tank; however the chassis of the Nimród was longer. The vehicle had a crew of six men: commander, driver, two loaders and two gunners.

The vehicle's only armament was a 36M 40 mm Bofors anti-aircraft gun also made in Hungary under license. The gun fired the usual anti-aircraft ammunition as well as a Hungarian anti-tank round. It had a rate of fire of 120 rounds per minute and a penetration of 46 mm at 100 m and 30 mm at 1000 m. The Nimrod carried 160 rounds.

Late in the war, the vehicle was issued with the 42M "Kerngranate" round. This was a rocket grenade fitted over the muzzle in the fashion of a rifle grenade.

Service history

The 40M Nimród was manufactured by the Manfred 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, in 1943 the 40M Nimród was reclassified for anti-aircraft use; as it was unable to penetrate the armor of the tanks in use by the Red Army.

The following units have employed this vehicle:

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

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    External links

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