28M

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28M

later model

Preceded by	Succeeded by
27M	34M

Filter

27M Gy, 28M, 34M

Filter connection
40mm DIN

Made in

Hungary

Period

1929-1945

Issued to

Magyar Királyi Honvédség (Hungarian Royal Army)

Manufacturer

Mercur

The Hungarian 28M is a licensed variant of the German GM24. It was issued to the Magyar Királyi Honvédség (Hungarian Royal Army).

Mask overview[]

The facepiece is of is composed of 4 rubber-coated light brown canvas sheets and formed by 6 seams, one on the chin and between the eyepieces and two between each eyepieces and the forehead part. Later this was changed to only one single sheet and 3 seams, 2 on the forehead and one on the chin. It seals on the face via 4cm wide goat leather stitched to a rubber-coated canvas verge and folded out to the outside of the mask where the seam is sealed by a thin rubber layer. The shatterproof (it is composed of two glass layers and a thin sheet of cellulose between) glasses are placed between two brown painted brass parts, one of which is pressed to the facepiece permanently while the other can be screwed into this, securing the lenses and making their replacement easy. To the fixed assembly part an anti-fogging lens fixing ring can be fitted. The non-adjustable harness is composed of three pieces and sewn to the facepiece. The middle forehead straps is hooked over a metal roller frame and sewn to the outer forehead straps, so these can slide freely and automatically adjusts to the shape of the head. On the nape the temple straps and the strap of the roller frame are sewn together. There are secondary straps sewn to the base ones forming little loops, these were meant for permanent sizing by cutting the base strap. The third part near the bottom would be wrapped behind the neck of the user and hooked to the left side of the mask to provide a tight seal and to prevent accidentally taking off the mask. There is a carrying strap on the bottom back of the mask as well. The exhale valve is in one dark olive green egg-shaped painted aluminium alloy piece but the mask is lacking of an intake valve because it is placed in the filter. The "tulip" styled exhale valve is placed under the forward facing intake. The valve is connected to a black bakelite disc which is then screwed into the mask from the inside. The part which covers the exhale valve features markings, either M1B, M2B or M3B. The M stands for Mercur, the manufacturer. The B is for Budapest, the capitaly of Hungary where these masks were made, while the numbers are the sizes, 3 being the smalles and 1 being the largest. Size 1 is for 55 cm or bigger skull perimeter. Size 2 for between 55-53 cm, while 3 is for 53 cm or less skull perimeter.

Filters[]

27M szűrőbetét[]

Main article: 27M szűrőbetét

Mostly 27M Gy (gyakorló - training) filters were used with the mask because the 28M was too expensive.

28M légtisztító[]

Main article: 28M légtisztító

The 28M filter which is identical to the GM24 filter is a big flat canister filter connected by a hose to the mask.

34M and 41M szűrőbetét[]

Main article: 34M and 41M szűrőbetét

When the 34M mask and filter entered service in 1936 the production of the 28M filter ceased, the option was given that if there is no 28M filter avaliable a 34M filter can be used with the mask but in this case without hose. This wasn't comfortable because the filter connection wasn't meant to be used with directly mounted filters so it pulled the mask down too much.

Carriers[]

Early 28M bag[]

gm24 placeholder

Later 28M bag[]

The later 28M bag is a bit unusual. It looks like two tan-colored canvas bags sewn together with one strap for carrying, of which one side ends in a rotating spring loaded hook connected to a D ring on the bag. The smaller flat part is for the filter, the bottom of this part features holed rivets to allow better airflow and the lid is fixed with with a stud or more commonly by a buckle. The other, slightly bigger part is for the mask, the lid on this part is closed with a normal buckle.

34M bag[]

For more information about the bag see the 34M article.

With the disappearance of the 28M filter the 28M bag was unnecessarily big so the much more compact 34M bag was isued with the mask sometimes.

42M canister[]

For more information about the canister see the 34M article.

Later during the War the mask was issued with the standard "42M horddoboz" (carrying canister).

Kit and service[]

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External information[]

Developement and manufacturing[]

In 1927 when the Allied Inspection Committee left Hungary the chance to modernise the chemical corps and the anti-gas equipment finally realised. The army sent Captain László Sodró to Germany to learn about the modern gas warfare in Dresden, Hamburg, Potsdam and Berlin. After the study tour he wrote a report for Lieutenant General Kamillo Kárpáti, commander-in-cheif of the army and for Lieutenant General Vilmos Röder, chief of staff. After the report was analysed the Hungarian state contracted with the German Auer company to license manufacture the GM24. The Hungarian state bought the license, tools and machines for the newly established Mercur Műszaki és Vegyipari Rt. Before putting it into production some changes were made to the original GM24 licese, namely:

The lenses are shatterproof glasses, not just celluloid.
The markings on the valve housing are extruded on the 28M not depressed like on the GM24.
Surprisingly the 28M lacks any securing around the chin (no chin strap), making the mask uncomfortable on the larynx.

Production started on September 1, 1927 but the maximum capacity wasn't reached till the end of 1928. Around 1932-33 the facepiece was updated to make it easier to produce, the original 4 sheets and 6 seams were abandoned in favour of the single sheet formed by 3 seams, these later ones are much more common but photos from the era don't feature them. The bag was also changed to a much simpler one, however this change may have been implemented in the 1920s. But even with these changes the mask remained too expensive to make so production ceased in 1934 with approximately 80000 pieces made because the modernised and optimized 34M was put in production.

Price[]

The kit originally costed 113 Pengő, later this changed to 50 Pengő in 1934 (the mask was 21 Pengő) but it was still double as expensive as the 34M (25 Pengő). In 1940 it worth just 39 Pengő, but despite the constant degrading in price it was always more expensive than any other mask. This is due to the fact that it was licensed so many parts weren't optimised for the Hungarian industry and many parts had to be imported, like the anti-fogging lenses and particle filtering layer in the filter.