Why were Italian Tanks so bad? (World War II)

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was that the italians would run away at the first sign of a fight the truth was that while their tank crews were undoubtedly brave in combat they lacked decent modern day equipment and were hampered by extremely poor leadership the italians were early to utilize the concept of the tank introducing it into their armed forces as far back as 1921 in the form of the six-ton fiat 3000 which was based on the french world war one were no ft-17 design though it had proved popular with the italian army they realized that the tank was too lightly armed having just two 6.5 millimeter light machine guns so in 1930 they upgraded it with a 37 millimeter cannon along with a more powerful engine and better suspension the fiat 3000 had a top speed of only 13 miles per hour which was still better than the renault ft-17 that was based on which could only manage a mere 4.3 miles per hour or seven kilometers an hour its armor didn't offer much protection only varying between 6 and 16 millimeters thick so it could just about stop a bullet going through it but didn't stand a chance against an anti-tank round and with a range of just 65 miles this tank was more suited to the slow world war one type of fighting across the muddy stretches of no man's land than it was with the fast-moving tactics of world war ii even if the fiat 3000 did try to get away an enemy soldier could easily just sprint after it and simply knock it out with a hand grenade incredibly despite these tanks being so inferior to all other tanks and over 20 years old it was still in limited service when the allies invaded the italian island of sicily in 1943. the italian infantry support tank at the time of world war ii was the cv-33 tank at that first entered service in 1933 it was mostly based on the british design that dated back to 1927. it was inexpensive built in large numbers and exported to many other countries nevertheless with its range and armor being similar to that of the fiat 3000 it was woefully outdated by the time world war ii came along though to its credit it was quite fast and nimble with a top speed of 26 miles per hour or 42 kilometers an hour which is comparable to the famous sprinter usain bolt running at full speed but its two-man crew were housed in a ridiculously small crew compartment for the tank had a height of just three feet 11 inches or 1.2 meters and was only 4 feet 7 inches wide or 1.4 meters this meant it was far smaller than your average modern day compactor economy class car this made it very uncomfortable for its crew members so much so that the commander would whenever possible sit on top of the tank in order to give drivers some much-needed elbow room when he was driving the cd-33 it was so ineffective that during the north african campaign that ran from 1940 to 1943 it was not deployed on the front line instead being used in non-combatant roles like towing light artillery around and guarding bases in the rear but the italian army knew it desperately needed to modernize its armored units and in 1940 started to introduce a new medium tank the m1340 it was based on the design of the british vicar's 6-ton tank this tank was of a good design if it had been introduced 10 years earlier but by 1942 it was already starting to become hopelessly outdated and with its small 12-ton frame and underpowered engine it meant that unlike the us sherman or german panzer iv there wasn't much scope for any modifications it was also hampered by its very small turret which meant that the commander and gunner found it hard to work effectively alongside each other the m1340 had numerous drawbacks yet over 700 were built as it was the only main battle tank available to the italian army at the time its armor was also relatively thin and not sloped and worse still it was not welded together but the old-fashioned riveted construction this meant there was always a danger that when hit the impact might dislodge a rivet and send it at high speed ricocheting around the interior of the tank like shrapnel and either hitting a crew member or damaging equipment and instruments a further complication was that the steel used to construct the armor plate was of such poor quality that even if it was not actually penetrated by an incoming round it was so brittle that it would start to crack and become warped on impact this would weaken that part of the armor considerably even the u.s made stop gap tank the m3 lee or the british equivalent the m3 grant was more than a match for it though the m1340 did have one important advantage in that it was one of the first tanks to use a diesel engine this offered a far longer range and extended engine light than the petrol equivalent and was less likely to burst into flames when hit like most italian fighting vehicles at the time it was unreliable and this was not helped by the harsh desert environment it found itself in during the north african campaign and the fact that the italians had no formal system of recovering battle damage or broken down tanks meant many were simply abandoned on the battlefield when they broke down or were damaged if they had been recovered they could have been repaired and returned into service so in the long north african campaign it was totally outclassed and consistently defeated by the allied tanks in combat this was not helped by the fact that early on in the campaign the m1340s were deployed with crews who had only minimal training and there was no communication between the tanks as they didn't have radio sets fitted in their vehicles the italian army soon realized how inadequate the firepower of the m1340 series was but had yet to develop anything better to replace it so in 1942 the newly introduced samovente 7518 which was a turretless mobile artillery self-propelled gun was often used as a tank destroyer in order to give some much-needed support to the outclassed m1340s these tanks with their 75 millimeter gun proved highly effective and it is said it was the only italian tank of the war that the allies actually feared as it was more than capable of taking out an m3 grant or m4 sherman at a range of 500 yards or about 500 meters but with only 262 ever being built they were never deployed in sufficient numbers to be any kind of serious threat to the allied forces another tank that the italians had that could have made a real difference was the semovente 9053 mobile artillery piece it was hastily designed and built in 1942 to counter the threat of the formidable russian t-34 the semoventi 9053 had an open top and rear crew compartment which meant the crew was vulnerable to small arms fire shrapnel from artillery fire and adverse weather conditions and the major design setback was that it used a petrol engine that was prone to bursting into flames when hit and freezing up when the temperatures got too cold also it had very little armored protection its armament was a 90 millimeter or 3.5 inch anti-aircraft gun mounted onto the enlarged chassis of an m1441 tank and this proved to be extremely effective being able to knock out the very latest allied tanks at long range but its gun capacity was severely hampered by the fact that it could only carry six to eight rounds of ammunition therefore each gun had to be followed around by a specially converted fiat l6 40 tank ammunition carrier which could carry 26 rounds with a further 40 rounds in a towed trailer only 45 of these combat vehicles were ever built and it ended up being used in very small numbers in the north african campaign the rest being used to defend the italian homeland so none of them would ever reach the eastern front where no doubt if they had their crews would have frozen to death in their exposed crew compartments there was even an attempt by the italian government to set up a production line in italy to produce the deadly german panzer v panther tank but this came to nothing as the fascist government there was overthrown in september 1943. the italians ended up producing a mere 3368 tanks throughout the war this made up just over four percent of the overall axis tank production this is even less than the number produced by the imperial japanese empire who had focused most of their resources on their navy and air force at the expense of their army in the post-war era the italians finally produced a world-class tank in the form of the ariat main battle tank and is often rated as one of the best tanks in the world you

Channel: Simple History

Views: 1,412,861

Rating: 4.9240084 out of 5

Keywords: simple history, animated history, educational, education, italian tanks, ww2, tech, armor, Why were Italian Tanks so bad?, Western Desert Campaign, North Africa, Fiat 3000, Renault FT-17, Italian army, Sicily, CV 33, tankette, Vickers 6, German Panzer IV, US Sherman, M13/40, M3 Lee, M3 Grant, Semovente 75/18, e Semovente 90/53 mobile artillery, Fiat L6/40 tank, Ariete main battle tank

Id: ZmAy2_Irx4A

Length: 9min 57sec (597 seconds)

Published: Sat Aug 21 2021

Reddit Comments

[u/TheLogame]

And I thought french tanks sucked