| Armoured Scout Car, 39M Csaba | |
|---|---|
| Type | Armored car |
| Place of origin | Kingdom of Hungary |
| Service history | |
| In service | 1939 - |
| Used by | Hungarian Army |
| Wars | Second World War |
| Production history | |
| Designer | Nicholas Straussler |
| Designed | 1930s |
| Manufacturer | Weiss Manfred, Csepel |
| Produced | 1939 - 1944 |
| Specifications | |
| Mass | 5.95 tonnes |
| Length | 14 ft 8 in (4.52 m) |
| Width | 6 ft 10 in (2.1 m) |
| Height | 7 ft 4 in (2.27 m) |
| Crew | 3 |
|
| |
| Armour | 9 mm |
Main armament | 20 mm cannon |
Secondary armament | 2 x 8 mm MG |
| Engine |
Ford, 8-cylinder 90hp |
Operational range | 93 mi (150 km) |
| Maximum speed | 40 mph (65 km/h) |
The 39M Csaba was an armoured scout car produced for the Royal Hungarian Army during World War II.
Hungarian expatriate Nicholas Straussler designed several armoured cars for Britain while living there between the two world wars. Straussler came to an agreement with the Weiss Manfred factory of Csepel, Budapest to produce vehicles from his designs for use in his home country - the most prominent was the Csaba (named after the son of Attila the Hun) which was designed based on his experience of the Alvis AC2 armoured car.
After successful trials in 1939, the Hungarian Army placed an order for 61, and a further order for an additional 40 vehicles was placed in 1940. Of these, twenty were used as actual fighting vehicles, with the remainder serving as armoured command cars and reconnaissance vehicles.
The Csaba had a 20 mm cannon and an 8 mm machine gun fixed on a centrally mounted turret, with 9 mm armoured plating. The vehicle was also equipped with a detachable 8 mm light machine gun fired through the rear hatch in the anti-aircraft role. The crew could dismount and carry this MG when conducting reconnaissance on foot. It also had two driving positions - one at the front as normal, and an additional one at the rear.
The 40M Csaba was a command version armed only with the turret-mounted 8 mm machine gun. This vehicle was fitted with a second R-4T radio, which had a large lattice radio mast.
References[]
- "Hungarian Tanks". Archived from the original on 24 August 2007. http://web.archive.org/web/20070824235651/http://mailer.fsu.edu/~akirk/tanks/hun/Hungary.html. Retrieved 2007-08-02.
- "Hungarian Army in Russia". http://www.ordersofbattle.darkscape.net/site/sturmvogel/Hung2Army.html. Retrieved 2007-08-02.
- "WW2 in Color". http://www.ww2incolor.com/forum/showthread.php?t=3523. Retrieved 2007-08-02.
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The original article can be found at 39M Csaba and the edit history here.