| Carro Armato L6/40 | |
|---|---|
 Restored L6/40 ofKubinka Tank Museum | |
| Type | Light tank |
| Place of origin | Italy |
| Service history | |
| In service | 1940–1944, postwar to the early 1950s |
| Used by | Italy Nazi Germany Italian Social Republic Independent State of Croatia |
| Wars | World War II |
| Production history | |
| Designer | Ansaldo |
| Designed | 1939 |
| Manufacturer | Fiat |
| Produced | 1939–1944? |
| No. built | 419 (402 before the armistice and 17 afterwards)[1] |
| Variants | Command tank, flame tank, ammunition carrier, Semovente 47/32 |
| Specifications | |
| Mass | 6.8 tonnes (7.5short tons; 6.7long tons) |
| Length | 3.78 m (12 ft 5 in) |
| Width | 1.92 m (6 ft 4 in) |
| Height | 2.03 m (6 ft 8 in) |
| Crew | Two (commander/gunner and driver) |
| Armour | 6–40 mm (0.24–1.57 in) |
Main armament | 20 mmBreda 35 with 296 rounds |
Secondary armament | 8 mmBreda 38 machine gun with 1,560 rounds |
| Engine | SPA 180 4,053 cc four-cylinder 70 hp (52 kW) |
| Suspension | Bogie |
Operational range | 200 km (120 mi) |
| Maximum speed | 42 km/h (26 mph) road |
TheL6/40 was alight tank used by the Italian army from 1940 throughWorld War II.[2][3] It was designed byAnsaldo as an export product, and was adopted by the Italian Army when officials learned of the design and expressed interest.[3] It was the main tank employed by the Italian forces fighting on theEastern Front alongside the L6/40-basedSemovente 47/32 self-propelled gun. L6/40s were also used in theNorth African campaign.[3]
The official Italian designation wasCarro Armato ("armored vehicle", i.e. "tank") L6/40. This designation means: "L" forLeggero ("light"), followed by the weight in tons (6) and the year of adoption (1940).
The L6/40 was a conventional light tank design of riveted construction.[2] A one-man turret in the centre mounted a singleBreda Modello 35 20 mm main gun and aBreda 38 8 mmcoaxial machine gun.[3] The driver sat in the front right of the hull. The riveted armour was six to 40 mm in thickness, which was roughly equivalent to existing Allied light tanks.[2][3]
Compared to early 1930s Italian attempts at light tanks, the Carro D'Assalto 1936 and Carro Cannone Modello 1936 which were derived from theL3/33 tankettes, the L6/40 was a completely new design,[4] the L6 went through a number of prototypes during the late 1930s. The first version had only twin 8 mm machine guns.[5] Ultimately, the production configuration, namedCarro Armato L6/40, was put into production in 1939, with 419 finally produced.[2]
The L6 Lf (Lancia fiamme)flame tank variant was developed in which the main gun was replaced by aflamethrower with 200 litres of fuel. A command-tank variant carried extra radio gear and had an open-topped turret.[5][2]
The most successful of the L6 variants was theSemovente 47/32, which eliminated the turret and substituted a 47 mm antitank gun in the open-topped hull.[5][2]
A final version late in the war was an ammunition carrier armed only with a single 8 mm Breda machine gun. It was used alongside theSemovente 90/53, carrying 26 extra 90 mm rounds, as the Semovente 90/53 itself could only carry eight rounds.[2]
L6/40 light tanks were used by the Italians in theBalkans Campaign, inthe war against the Soviet Union, in the latter stages of theNorth African campaign, and in the defence ofSicily andItaly.[3]
The L6/40 was the main tank employed by the Italian forces fighting on theEastern Front. The L6 fought alongside the L6/40-basedSemovente 47/32 self-propelled gun.[2]
Although a good light tank for its size and an improvement over thetankettes that were common within the Italian army, it was already obsolete by the time of its introduction.[5] The low silhouette of the vehicle (somewhat taller than the average man) made it useful for reconnaissance, and its armament was effective against any light vehicles it might encounter. However, due to a lack of a suitablemedium tank, it was often employed in a combat role for which it was unsuited.
The L6 was also used by the German Army.[6] In 1943, 26 Italian L6s were captured and used by theHrvatsko domobranstvo of theIndependent State of Croatia.[7]The L6/40 was used postwar by thePolizia di Stato until it was phased out during the early 1950s.[8]
Three L6/40s survive: one is kept inLegnano near the "Cadorna" barracks, one is in the inventory of theKubinka Tank Museum, and another is preserved in the Arms Museum in the castle ofGjirokastër inAlbania.[9][10]
The hull of an L/40 used inOperation Rösselsprung, is displayed as a war memorial inDrvar Bosnia Herzegovina.[citation needed]
