Bolt Action - Hungarian Army - 44M 'mace thrower' rocket launcher

Roughly translated as the ‘mace-thrower’, the 44M Buzogányvető was a prototype rocket weapon designed towards the end of the war. The dual unguided rockets were mounted on either captured and converted Soviet Maxim MG wheeled carriages, or a custom tripod. Of the 600–700 rocket launchers produced by the VM factory, the majority were used for the defence of Budapest in late December 1944. The small gun carriage and short range anti-armour capabilities made it particularly suited to the urban warfare of the siege. A large blast shield protected the operator from the weapon’s own back blast. Tests on captured IS2 ‘Stalin’ tanks showed its HEAT anti-armour warhead was able to penetrate up to 300mm of armour at 1200m. An antipersonnel HE warhead was also designed, named Zápor or ‘rainfall’.