List of Italian Army equipment in World War II

List of Italian Army equipment in World War II
The following is a list of equipment used by the Royal Italian Army (Regio Esercito), Italian Air Force (Regia Aeronautica), and Royal Italian Navy (Regia Marina) during World War II.
Bayonets
Small arms
Handguns
Rifles
Submachine guns
Grenades
Flamethrowers
Lanciafiamme Modello 35
Lanciafiamme Modello 41
Lanciafiamme Modello 41 d'assalto
Machine guns
Breda Mod. 5C 6.5 mm heavy machine gun
Breda Mod. 5G 6.5 mm light machine gun
Breda 30 6.5 mm light machine gun
Breda M31 (licensed copy of the 13.2 mm Hotchkiss machine gun)
Breda 37 8 mm heavy machine gun
Breda 38 8 mm tank machine gun
FM 24/29 (ex-French)
Fiat–Revelli Modello 1914 6.5 mm machine gun
Fiat–Revelli Modello 1935 8 mm Breda machine gun
SIA Mod. 1918 6.5 mm heavy machine gun
Breda-SAFAT 7.7 mm machine gun
Breda-SAFAT 12.7 mm machine gun
Scotti–Isotta Fraschini Modello 1933 12.7 mm machine gun
Artillery
Infantry mortars
Field artillery
Italian artillery was usually designated using the calibre and length of the barrel in number of calibre lengths, so "90/53" would mean a weapon with a 90 mm diameter barrel where the length of the barrel was approximately 53 calibre lengths (i.e. 53x90 mm, that is 4.77 m).
See also:
203 mm /53 Italian naval gun - main gun on Italian cruisers
Anti-tank guns
Before and during World War II, Italy designed most of their anti-aircraft guns and some its infantry guns to also serve in the anti-tank role. No dedicated anti-tank gun was produced. Listed below is just the guns used in anti-tank role most commonly.
Infantry anti-tank weapons
fucile controcarro 35(P) - Wz. 35 anti-tank rifle captured from Poland
Solothurn S-18/100 anti-tank rifle
Solothurn S-18/1000 anti-tank rifle
Solothurn S-18/1100 anti-tank rifle
Panzerfaust - one-shot disposable recoilless shaped charge launcher imported from Germany
Lanciabombe Controcarro 60 mm - HEAT rifle grenade capable of penetrating 70 mm RHA at 80 m
Anti-aircraft weapons
All calibers of AA guns were also mounted in portee trucks in dual roles (ground attack and AA).
Vehicles
The Italian designation system for tanks consisted of a letter (L, M or P; designating light, medium and heavy tanks respectively) followed by two numbers: one giving the approximate weight in tons, the other giving the year it was accepted for service. Thus "M11/39" means the 11 ton medium tank of 1939. The Italian definitions of light, medium and heavy tank differ from other nations at the time. For instance the Italian "medium" tanks are often described as "light" in other sources.
Tankettes
The L3 tankette was also a basis for several engineering vehicles.
Tanks
Self-propelled guns
Tank-based
Others
During World War II, Italy regularly mounted cannons on portee trucks. Also, permanent installation of guns on trucks and armored cars were done on ad-hoc basis, therefore many self-propelled guns had no official name besides descriptive type of truck plus type of cannon. Below is the grossly incomplete list of these self-propelled weapons.
- cannon installed on truck TL 37
102/35 su Fiat 634N
Autocannoni da 75
Breda Autocannone Blindato Tipo 102
- Lancia 3 RO Chassis
AT - SP ATG armed with 37mm cannon
L.3/Solothurn or L.3/cc (antitank) - changes made on several specimens directly from the operational departments in Italian North Africa in 1941. In place of the twin machine guns an S-18/1000 Solothurn 20 mm anti-tank rifle was mounted, which could penetrate the armor of British armored cars and light tanks.
Trubia - experimental version of the Spanish armed with a gun Breda 20/65 Mod 1935 20mm.
Chariot anti-tank gun or self-propelled L3 47/32 - prototype self-propelled gun armed with a 47/32 mm; trying "desperately" to adapt to the new demands of war the L3 Chariot had a very similar design to the Panzerjäger I (which was also derived from the most common light tank in the army of adoption, the Panzer I). The hull, superstructure private, had a front antitank gun 47/32 cowl, which was to protect the crew and the rest of the half was equal to the chassis of L .3, although the photo of the prototype seems that the suspensions were a mainspring. Probably would not be successful, since the recoil while content of 47/32 could, in the long run detrimental to the operation of the medium.
Armoured cars
Engineering and command
L.3/r - command tank with radio inside, deployed in all tankette units
L.3 carro recupero - experimental version for the recovery of damaged vehicles.
L.3 da demolizione - radio-controlled prototype for the destruction of the minefields.
L6/40 ammunition carrier
L6/40 command tank
Trucks
Light trucks
SPA TL.37
Medium trucks
Alfa Romeo 430RE
Alfa Romeo 800RE
FIAT-626 NM
Isotta Fraschini D65
Isotta Fraschini D80
SPA Dovunque-35
SPA AS.37
Heavy trucks
FIAT-634N
FIAT-666
Fiat 661
Lancia Ro
Lancia 3Ro
Lancia EsaRo
ОМ Titano
Passenger cars
Alfa Romeo 6С2500 Coloniale
Fiat 508CM
Fiat 1100 (1937) (Balilla-1100 Coloniale)
Fiat 2800 CMC
Motorcycles
Benelli 500 M36
Benelli 500 VLM
Bianchi Supermil 500
Gilera 500 LTE
Moto Guzzi Alce
Moto Guzzi Trialce
Volugrafo Aermoto 125
Tractors and prime movers
L.3 trattore leggero - hypothetical version for towing the gun da. 47/32
- wheeled artillery tractor
- half-track artillery tractor
- wheeled artillery tractor
- half-track artillery tractor, a licensed copy of the German Sd.Kfz. 7
Miscellaneous vehicles
Carro Veloce 29 (armored car) - may be misspelled or fictitious (most likely this is the CV-29 tankette by the same name)
Navy ships and war vessels
Aircraft
Radars
Italy was late on the radar development;
At the date of the armistice in 1943, 84 of 85 radars in operation were German-built.
Italian Army and Navy have deployed a network of radar detectors and jammers though.
ARGO - domestically developed air warning radar in Pratica di Mare Air Base
FREYA - sold by Germans 1 July 1942, later transported to Sicily
RTD Arghetto or Vespa - prototype of airborne 300 MHz radar
See also: Armi avanzate della Seconda Guerra Mondiale/Appendix 4 (wikibook)
Cartridges and shells
6.5×52mm Mannlicher–Carcano
7.35×51mm Carcano
8×59mm Rb Breda
9mm Glisenti
See also
Military history of Italy during World War II
Military equipment of Germany's allies on the Balkan and Russian fronts (1941–45)
Regio Esercito
List of Regia Aeronautica aircraft used in World War II
References
Further reading
External links
https://web.archive.org/web/20121006163934/http://mailer.fsu.edu/~akirk/tanks/Italy/ItalianHalfTrack-SupportVehicles.html
https://web.archive.org/web/20100630113058/http://ww2drawings.jexiste.fr/Files/1-Vehicles/Axis/2-Italy/07-Halftracks/Breda-Typo61/Breda-Typo61.htm
http://www.kfzderwehrmacht.de/Homepage_english/Motor_Vehicles/Italy/Breda/Breda_Type_61/breda_type_61.html
Military history of Italy during World War II
equipment in World War II
Italian
Lists of vehicles