Hungarian light tank Toldi was a construction based on Swedish Landsverk L-60 light tank. Its production started in 1939, first versions entered service in 1940. There were four main variants of the Toldi tank:
– Toldi I – armed with 20mm gun
– Toldi II – armoured with a thicker frontal plate
– Toldi IIa – armed with a 40mm gun
– Toldi III – improved, thicker armor, only 12 produced.
Toldi tanks entered combat in 1941 in Yugoslavia and thought on in the Soviet Union. Hungarian commanders quickly noticed that Toldi I was inadequately armored and armed while facing Soviet tanks, and decided that some upgrades are necessary. Toldi II was introduced in 1942 still armed with the ineffective 20mm gun. The armament was soon replaced with a much better 40mm anti-tank gun – Toldi IIa variant. 80 out of 110 Toldi IIs received the upgrade. Toldi III received even thicker, improved armor, but it’s production started too late. Because of the material shortages and Allied bombings only 12 were produced.
