 The defence was supported by a strong artillery component that included 41 Breda Model 35 20 mm antiaircraft guns; 85 47 mm antitank guns; 26 Solothurn S-18 / 1000 anti-tank rifles; 41 Cannone da 65 / 17 modello 13 65 mm infantry support guns; 147 Cannone da 75 / 32 modello 37 75 mm and 77 mm field guns; 76 Skoda 100 mm Model 1916 and Canon de 105 mle 1913 Schneider 105 mm guns; and 27 120 mm and Obice da 149 / 12 modello 14 149 mm medium howitzers. The large number of different gun models, many of them quite old, created difficulties with the supply of spare parts. The older guns often had worn barrels, which caused problems with accuracy. Ammunition stocks were similarly old and perhaps as many as two-thirds of the fuses were out of date, resulting in excessive numbers of dud rounds. There were also multiple models of machine guns, with seven different types of ammunition in use. The Breda 30, the principal light machine gun, had a low rate of fire and a reputation for jamming. The Fiat-Revelli Modello 1914 was a bulky and complicated weapon that was also prone to stoppages. Some of these had been rebuilt as Fiat-Revelli Modello 1935s which, while an improvement, were still unreliable. The principal medium machine gun, the Breda M37, had its shortcomings, the main one being that it used 20-round strips of cartridges, which gave it a reduced rate of fire. Shortages of raw materials, coupled with the increased technological sophistication of modern weapons, led to production problems that frustrated efforts to supply the entire Italian Army with the best available equipment. The result was that the firepower of the Italian defenders was neither as great nor as effective as it should have been.
