Romanian armored fighting vehicle production during World War II

During the Second World War, the Kingdom of Romania produced, converted or significantly improved a variety of armored fighting vehicles, ranging from licence-built unarmed artillery tractors to tank destroyers of an original design which ended up - according to some accounts - as inspiration for some German AFV.

Romania took its first step in developing an indigenous AFV industry in 1937, when a licence was acquired from France for the local production of 300 Renault UE armored tractors.

[2] The Romanian industry adapted to maintain complex AFVs after the 1941 campaign, when it managed to repair 50 of its Panzer 35(t) light tanks at Ploiești.

For the future rearming of 30 R35s as tank destroyers, new gun mounts containing recoil mechanisms were cast at the Concordia Works and fitted as extension to the R35's turret.

To support the added weight this would entail, new road wheels and stronger torsion bars were cast and finished by the Industria Sirmei at Turda, IAR at Brașov and Concordia at Ploiești.

Romanian factories also refurbished 34 captured Komsomolets armored tractors in 1943, and in early 1944 these were fitted with hooks which enabled them to tow the German Pak 38 anti-tank gun.

[6] Proposed design featuring the mounting of a captured Soviet 45 mm anti-tank gun to the AH-IV tankette, 14 of which were still on hand as of late 1943.

Instead, it was decided to keep the thickly-armored French turret by fitting it with an extension which contained the mount for the vehicle's new weapon: a Soviet 45 mm tank gun.

Because of this larger weapon, however, there was no longer room to also carry a coaxial machine gun, and thus the new vehicle had no secondary armament.