Italian Tanks - WWII

There are over 20 tanks served to Italians during the World War II. In this post, we will be examining the most important ones.

Italian Soldiers

Fiat 3000: The Fiat 3000 was the first tank to be produced in series in Italy. It became the standard tank of the emerging Italian armored units after World War I. It was a light tank with 6 tones of weight. Its standard version had two 6.5 mm machine guns. The Fiat 3000 (Model 21) was first used in action in February 1926 in Libya.  With Italy's entry into World War II in June 1940, a limited number of Fiat 3000s were still in service 

Fiat 3000

L3/33: The Carro Veloce 33 (CV 33) or L3/33 was a tankette originally built in 1933 and used by the Italian Army before and during World War II. The original CV 33 carried two-man crew protected by 12 mm of welded armor and was armed with a single 6.5 mm machine gun. It was 2.7 tones and its length was 3.03 m.

L3/33

P26/40: The P 26/40 was an Italian World War II heavy tank. It was armed with a 75 mm gun and an 8 mm Breda machine gun, plus another optional machine gun in an anti-aircraft mount. Its weight was 26 tones. Design had started in 1940 but very few had been built by the time Italy signed the armistice with the Allies in September 1943 and the few produced afterwards were used by the Germans. Its length was 5.80 m.

P26/40

P43: It was a medium tank. The P43 or P 30/43 was developed by FIAT and Ansaldo simultaneously with P26/40, which was supposed to be a heavier version. It was about 29 tonnes.  The gun used in P43 was the 75/34 mm cannon. Its length was 8.16 m.

P43

Fiat M14/41: The Fiat M 14/41 was a four-person medium tank that served to the Italian Army. That 4 person medium tank with commander/gunner, radio operator/machine gunner, loader, driver, was very useful for Italians because of its speed. It was about 14 tones.

Fiat M14/41

Italians tanks were useful in fight because they were perfectly produced by well-known brands. Their max speed statistics were much better than the other countries' tanks. But we can't tell the same thing about their guns and armors. Hope to see you again in another post !