EARLY WWII AFVS
PzKpfw I ausf. B: Along with Condor Legion advisors, a good number of these German tanks were supplied to the Nationalist army where they formed some of the first Nationalist armoured battalions. Lightly armoured compared to the Russian T-26 B, the Pz. IB was still utilized on a number of fronts in Spain. However, the inability of Nationalist light tanks to stand up to Russian armour in the field led Nationalist officers to develop tactics based on artillery rather than tank striking force. The French doctrine of tanks as infantry support maintained its hold on Spanish tactics. Some later versions of this tank were actually supplied with a 20mm canon instead of the twin Dreyse 7.92 mm. machine guns. Though initially manned by German Condor Legion personnel, these vehicles were very quickly turned over to Spanish Nationalist troops. The Spanish designation for this tank was Carro Ligero Pz Kpfw I ausf. B. This tank had a crew of two.
kleiner Panzerbefehlwagen I ausf. B (SdKfz 265) command model: The Ausf B had a more powerful engine which meant that the hull had to be longer and an additional roadwheel added on each side. This model was a little heavier, but its more powerful engine gave it a maximum road speed of 40 km/h (25 mph). This entered service in 1935 under the designation of the PzKpfw 1(MG) (SdKfz 101) Ausf B. Most of the vehicles were built by Henschel but Wegmann also became involved in the programme. This is the command model which served till mid-war.
PzKpfw I ausf. A: This vehicle has temporary desert camouflage applied over its ‘panzer grey’ European camouflage. Serving with RHQ company 5th Panzer Regt. 5th Light Division, Tripoli March 1941.
M11/39: With a 47-mm sponson mounted main gun and twin 8-mm (0.315-in) machine-guns in the two-man-turret; the M11/39 was soon outclassed with the introduction of improved Allied tanks. Most of the other Italian AFV’s were bad but they weren’t much worse than many of their contemporaries. Some of the Italian vehicles, particularly the Autoblinda series of armoured cars and several of the Semovente self-propelled guns, were highly respected by enemy and ally alike. Even the Germans thought highly of some of the Semovente models.
True it was underpowered with an unreliable engine, its armour was a bit on the thin side, but no thinner than it’s contemporaries the A9, A13 MkI, Vickers light tanks, Pz1, Pz2, Pz3, Pz4, T26 or even the M2 Medium and the various American limited run Combat Cars and misc tanks. At least it had a gun capable of penetrating enemy armour at reasonable ranges.
It had even more troubles with mechanical reliability than most (which is saying a *lot*, in 1940!) British cruiser tanks during this period were also very mechanically unreliable. Nearly all the British tanks in Greece were lost to mechanical failure.
The 37mm gun was a decent weapon on its own, but in the M-11/39 was in a difficult mounting that made it particularly hard to aim and reload. At least in the M3 Lee and Grant tanks the 75mm sponson mounting gave the gun crew enough room to work the gun. Apparently this wasn’t the case in the M-11/39, which had a low cramped sponson. What the designers did was cram an anti-tank gun into the space normally taken up by a light machinegun.
The action at Mechilli in North Africa during 1940 and in East Africa in 1941 proved that in capable hands the tank was able to take on its contemporaries on an equal footing.
It must be remembered that it started life on a 1938 drawing board from a county with limited technical skills and a rather poor industrial capability.
Although a few years later the Italians were producing the Semovente 75/18, which as noted earlier, was considered a good weapon even by the Germans.
While a lot of Italian equipment was just horrible (the Breda Model 1930 machinegun comes to mind) some of it was very good. The FNAB-43 is still considered to be one of the finest submachine guns ever made, in fact it was *too* good. The weapon was machined so finely that it was difficult to manufacture in quantity and was really too expensive for a combat weapon.
Vickers Light Tanks: The Vickers Light Tanks had their origins in a series of tankettes designed and produced by Carden-Loyd during the 1920s. One of them, the Carden-Loyd Mk VIII, acted as the prototype for the Vickers Light Tank Mk I. Only a few of these innovative vehicles were produced and issued, but they provided a great deal of insight into what would be required for later models, The Mk I had a two-man crew and had a small turret for a 7.7-mm (0.303-m) machinegun.
The Mk I led via the Light Tank Mk IA (better armour) to the Light Tank Mk II (improved turret and modified suspension) which appeared in 1930, and this formed the basis for later versions up to the Light Tank Mk VI. All these light tanks used a simple hull with riveted armour which was of the order of 10 to 15 mm (0.39 to 0.59 in) thick, From the Light Tank Mk V onwards the turret was enlarged to take two men, making a three-man crew in all, and the same mark also saw the introduction of a 12.7-mm (0.5-in) machine-gun alongside the original 7.7-mm (0.303-in) weapon. Of course there were changes between all the various marks: for instance the Light Tank Mk IV was the first to use the armour as supporting plates for the chassis, rather than the other way round, and changes were made to the suspension to improve cross-country performance, With the Mk VI the light tanks came to the peak of their development and were agile vehicles capable of a nifty cross-country speed, and were up-armed to the point where the Light Tank Mk Vic had a 15-mm (0.59-m) heavy machine-gun in the turret. All manner of changes to items such as engine cooling and vision devices were also introduced on this late mark, and even the machine-gun was changed to the new Besa 7.92-mm (0. 312-in) machine-gun of Czech origins.
The Vickers Light Tanks were widely used throughout the 1930s and the early war years. Many of the early marks were used in India and for imperial policing duties, in which they proved ideal, but in action during the early campaigns of World War II they soon revealed themselves as being virtually useless. Their main drawback was their thin armour, which could be penetrated even by small-calibre armour-piercing projectiles, and their lack of a weapon heavier than a machine-gun. In France in 1940 they were frequently incorrectly deployed as combat tanks and suffered accordingly, for they were only reconnaissance vehicles. Their light armour and lack of an offensive weapon made them of little use for anything else, but in 1940 the lack of numbers of tanks on the ground often meant that they were rushed into action against the German Panzers with disastrous results. The Light Tanks remained in use in the North African desert campaigns for some time until replacements came along.
Italian Light Tanks: Italy was not really a fully industrialised country. It therefore couldn’t keep pace with all military, naval and air force developments elsewhere. It seems that tank development suffered most. Italy entered the war with less than 100 true tanks. Most AFVs were obsolete L3 tankettes.
An illustration of how weak the L3 was: During the Italian attack on Ethiopia in the mid 1930s Ethiopian tribesman armed largely with spears managed to lever the tracks off several L3s and disabled them completely.
This being said, British tanks were often not a great deal better and there are incidences in the Western Desert of Italian armour in hull down positions soundly repulsing ill advised British tank charges.
Production numbers are in quotes but vary widely by source.
Through 1940
Light tanks
Carro Veloce CV33 tankette (twin 8mm MGs, 300 Series I built plus? Series II)
Leggero L3/33-35 tankette (~2500 built (including 200 w/ 37mm) for Italian Army and export)
Medium tanks
M11/39 (100 built)
M13/40 (710 to 799 built)
M14/41 (752 to 1103 built)
Other
Autoblinda AB40 AC (twin 8mm MG)
