A tank destroyer, tank hunter, tank killer, or self-propelled anti-tank gun is a type of armoured fighting vehicle, armed with a direct-fire artillery gun or missile launcher, designed specifically to engage and destroy enemy tanks, often with limited operational capacities.
The 38M Toldi was a Hungarian light tank, developed on the basis of the Swedish Landsverk L-60. It was named after the 14th century Hungarian knight Miklós Toldi.
The 76-mm divisional gun M1942 (ZiS-3) was a Soviet 76.2 mm divisional field gun used during World War II. ZiS was a factory designation and stood for Zavod imeni Stalina, the honorific title of Artillery Factory No. 92, which first constructed this gun.
The T-60 scout tank was a light tank produced by the Soviet Union from 1941 to 1942. During this period, 6,292 units were built. The tank was designed to replace the obsolete T-38 amphibious scout tank and saw action during World War II. The Kingdom of Romania had used the T-60 chassis to build some locally-designed tank destroyers.
T-20 armored tractor Komsomolets(Bronirovannyy gusenichnyy tyagach Komsomolets T-20), an armored continuous track tractor, the T-20 was a prime mover vehicle used by the Soviet Union during the Winter War and World War II.
The NI tank, was an improvised Soviet armoured fighting vehicle, based on an STZ-3 agricultural tractor, manufactured in Odessa during the Siege of Odessa in World War II.
The Laffly S15 was a family of all-terrain military vehicles from French manufacturer Laffly that shared the same six-wheel drive chassis. They were used by French forces during World War II.
The Mareșal, also known as the M-tank, was a Romanian-produced light tank destroyer from World War II. Romania was a member of the Axis powers and created the vehicle in response to the Soviet T-34 and KV-1 tanks. It is credited for having inspired the German Hetzer's design, according to multiple German military staff.
The 43M Zrínyi II was a Hungarian assault gun of the World War II period based on the Turán chassis. While the Turán in itself wasn't particularly successful, it did give birth to a rather good self-propelled-gun: the Zrínyi assault gun.
The Orița is a 9×19mm Parabellum submachine gun that was manufactured in Romania during World War II and for several years afterwards. It was named for Captain Marin Orița, who is credited in Romania with its design. The mass production was made by CMC Uzinele Metallurgice Copșa Mică together with Cugir Arms Factory. The first version, Model 1941, entered operational service with the Romanian Army in 1943. Two later improved models were the Model 1948, with a fixed wooden stock, and the rare paratrooper Model 1949, with a folding metal stock. It remained in service with the Romanian Army until it was replaced in the 1960s by the more powerful Pistol Mitralieră model 1963/1965, a Romanian version of the AK-47 assault rifle. The Orița remained in service with the Romanian paramilitaries until the 1970s.
Before 1989, Romania was among the top ten arms exporters in the world, however its arms industry declined considerably during the 1990s. Exports fell from roughly $1 billion before 1989 to about $43 million in 2006, and the number of employees also fell from 220,000 in 1990 to 20,000 in 2009. Sales to the Romanian Armed Forces have plunged after Romania's accession to NATO in 2004, as factories continue to produce Warsaw Pact-caliber weapons and ammunition, which are incompatible with their Western counterparts.
The TACAM R-2 was a Romanian tank destroyer used during World War II. It was built by removing the turret of the R-2 light tank and building a pedestal to mount an ex-Soviet 76.2 mm (3.00 in) ZiS-3 field gun in its place. A three-sided fighting compartment was built to protect the gun and its crew. Twenty were built in 1944, but only one is known to exist today. It participated in the Budapest Offensive and the Prague Offensive.
The TACAM T-60 was a Romanian tank destroyer used during World War II. It was built by removing the turret of captured Soviet T-60 light tanks and building a pedestal to mount a captured Soviet 76.2 mm (3.00 in) M-1936 F-22 field gun in its place. A three-sided fighting compartment was built to protect the gun and its crew. Thirty-four were built in 1943, and they served in the Jassy-Kishniev Offensive, and the Budapest Offensive.
The TACAM R-1 was a small tank destroyer for use by Romania during World War II. It was designed on 22 November 1943 at the request of the Romanian General Staff. Fourteen R-1 vehicles were to be rearmed with 45 mm 20-K guns. Although this vehicle was designed to be used only for security duties, the project was cancelled because it was eventually regarded as a waste of badly needed industrial capacity, the 45 mm gun having been obsolete against most Soviet tanks by then.
The TACAM T-38 was a tank destroyer design proposed to be built in Romania during World War II. It was supposed to be a successor of the similar TACAM R-2, but because of different reasons never entered production.
The T-1 tractor was a project developed by the Romanian Army during World War II. A total of 1,000 were ordered. It was designed to tow a Romanian 75 mm gun. After five prototypes were produced, the project was canceled due to the lack of priority.
R-3 was a proposed Romanian tank design for use in World War II. It was basically a variant of the Czechoslovak S-II-c tank prototype which was going to be built in Romania because of the repeated acquisition failures. Because of political reasons and the limited industrial capacities of both Škoda Works and the Romanian industry, the design never entered production.
Southern Transylvania was a region of the Kingdom of Romania between 1940 and 1944, during World War II. The region of Transylvania, belonging entirely to Romania when the war started in 1939, was split in 1940 between Romania and Hungary, with the latter taking Northern Transylvania in the aftermath of the Second Vienna Award.
In 1942, a medium tank was proposed to be produced by the Axis-aligned Kingdom of Romania. The reason behind the proposal was the lack of a Romanian-produced armored fighting vehicle capable of challenging enemy Soviet tanks on the Eastern Front, as well as the allied Nazi Germany not being capable of supplying Romania with considerable amounts of tanks. The vehicle never saw production.
