Today we’ll be taking a look at the American-made M44 self-propelled howitzer, making its way to several nations in the "Storm Warning" major update!
M44: A Tank Destroyer for the USA, Germany, Great Britain, Japan, Italy and France at Rank III
At a glance:
155 mm howitzer with powerful HE shells!
Excellent gun traverse speed, can react to new threats quickly.
Limited horizontal aiming angles.
Weakly armored and open topped.
Vehicle History
The American M44 self-propelled howitzer emerged in the early 1950s as part of a program to develop a new 155 mm self-propelled gun to replace the outdated M41 howitzer platform. During production, the initial vehicle designated as the T99E1 revealed several shortcomings that required a redesign. The updated model featured a new open top fighting compartment with a modified howitzer. By 1954, the U.S. Army decided to focus on exporting the M44 to other countries. The M44 later ended up in service with Germany, the UK, Italy, Turkey, Belgium and Japan.
The M44 self-propelled howitzer will be coming to a handful of nations in the Storm Warning major update! This surprisingly fast vehicle equipped with a hefty 155 mm gun will be a great addition to rank III lineups. Despite its drawbacks, it will always be able to effectively combat the toughest vehicles in the bracket. Let’s take a closer look at this new beast!
Mounted on the chassis of the Walker Bulldog light tank, the M44 is quite fast for a vehicle of this type. It’s able to reach speeds up to 56 km/h on roads, and can maneuver and cruise effectively off-road as well. The 155 mm howitzer is placed in an open mount and can traverse a max of 30 degrees horizontally each side, with 5 degrees of gun depression. The primary round available is the classic M107 HE shell, familiar to many of you who may play howitzer type vehicles. It can also fire a large smoke shell as well, but won’t have access to proximity HE.
Fun Fact: The M44 uses an inverted version of the chassis found on the M41 Walker Bulldog. The rear road wheels became idlers, while the drive wheels were relocated near the engine compartment.
One primary drawback of course is the thin armor and open crew compartment, making the M44 highly vulnerable to ground vehicles and aircraft. Plus, the reload speed is a bit of a limiting factor. Try to stick close to some form of vertical cover like buildings or large rocks — this will provide protection when retreating to reload, and make you harder to spot from the air. Thanks to the high mobility, an aggressive close-range play-style is definitely possible, but significantly riskier due to the reload and limited traverse angles. Despite the fragility however, the M44 is still a powerful and versatile howitzer platform, giving it a unique play-style at the lower ranks!
That’s it for this one! The M44 will be arriving to War Thunder in the Storm Warning major update at rank III, becoming available for the USA, Germany, Great Britain, Japan, Italy and France. Make sure to stay tuned for more news on upcoming vehicles and features. We’ll see you soon!
Please note that this vehicle’s characteristics may be changed before it is added to the game.
Kick-start your research towards the M44 with one of these starter packs!
And wouldn’t it have been more interesting, for example, to add the Brummbar late model to Germany? It’s been in the suggestions section for years, and the only version in the game is the early and premium versions. The late version of the Brummbar would be a much more interesting addition to the game than the copy and paste for five nations, which at first glance doesn’t seem bad to me. If a vehicle was used by several different nations, it’s not a big deal to include it, but it would be nice if there were similar vehicles that are native to each nation, that an effort was made to add them. Another issue with copy and paste is that it would also be nice if some aesthetic changes were made to the different nations, so that one nation would have some bags, another nation would have other bags in another area, or some boxes, which would be based on real photos to make them minimally different.
I’m disappointed no Turkish M44 is added to Italy XD
But seriously I don’t think it’s very needed to some nations, Italy for example can get few more ingenious SPGs around these brs, like these:
or Romanian Mareşal since vehicles of this country are located in the Italian TT.
Despite I don’t care much about copypaste usually, Italy is seeking for unique additions, more in the air, but for the ground as well.
Although I don’t think M44 will stay at 4.0, should go to 5.0 at least, very good mobility, great firepower, 7 crew members.
looking forward to it @Stona_WT , btw is the bulldog chassis backwards for this? after all, the engines are in the back of the m41, and on this, they appear to be in the front (EDIT). NVM. It is backward XD, but still, does it still get the Walker bulldog’s speed?
Shure, i just wish it wouldnt replace the Sturer Emil at rank III and put Sturer Emil at Rank II where it will be absolutly useless for daily tasks and events…
I imagine their reasoning for the drop is the same as the Sturmpanzer. Which is super disappointing because the Emil has a great gun, some players just don’t know how to use it.
As if ground SIM wasn’t bad enough with M4s everywhere.
Why can’t the devs just add the ww2 SPHs that people have been asking for? We could have vehicles such as the Priest for America and france, The Sexton or Bishop for Britain, and the Hummel and Wespe for Germany.
Gaijin is really finding reasons to not add WW2 tanks and aircraft at this point. Its disgraceful amd insulting.
and unlike almost everyone else, I am looking forward to it. looks fun even if I can’t make my way around arty vehicles normally. I just know I’m going for the UK one right away when the update drops.
Im looking forward to it filling out the Japanese tree and Italian tree some. This os the kind of vehicle that makes great filler when unique domestic models aren’t available.
Its the German, British, US, and maybe even French versions that could’ve been something more unique.
