Fiat L6 / 40 The Fiat L6 / 40 was a light tank used by the Italian army from 1940 and on through World War II . The official Italian designation was Carro Armato ( " armored tank " ) L 6 / 40 . This designation is understood as follows : " L " for " Leggero " ( Italian : " light " ) , followed by the weight in tons ( 6 ) and the year of adoption ( 1940 ) . Description and history . The L6 / 40 was a conventional light tank design of riveted construction . A one - man turret in the center mounted a single Breda Modello 35 20 mm main gun and a Breda Modello 38 8 mm coaxial machine gun . The driver sat in the front right of the hull . Armor was 6 to 30 mm in thickness , which was roughly equivalent to existing Allied light tanks . Interestingly , the vehicle was designed by Fiat - Ansaldo as an export product , and was only adopted by the Italian Army when military officials learned of the design and expressed interest . The L6 / 40 was the main tank employed by the Italian forces fighting on the Eastern Front alongside the L6 / 40 - based Semovente 47 / 32 . L6 / 40s were also used in the North African campaign . Development . A further development of the Fiat L3 light tank , the L6 went through a number of prototypes during the late 1930s . The first was armed with a sponson - mounted 37 mm main gun and a machine - gun armed turret . A later version featured a turret mounted 37 mm gun and yet another version had only twin 8 mm machine guns . Ultimately , the production configuration , named Carro Armato L6 / 40 , was put into production in 1939 , with 283 finally produced . The L6 Lf flame tank variant was developed in which the main gun was replaced by a flamethrower with 200 litres of fuel . A command - tank variant carried extra radio gear and had an open - topped turret . Most successful of the variants was the Semovente 47 / 32 , which eliminated the turret and substituted a 47 mm antitank gun in the open - topped hull . A final version late in the war was armed only with a single 8 mm Breda machine gun . It was used alongside the Semovente 90 / 53 in order to carry extra ammunition , as the Semovente itself only carried 6 rounds of ammunition . Deployment . L6 / 40 light tanks were used by the Italians in the Balkans Campaign , in the war against the Soviet Union , in the latter stages of the North African campaign , and in the defense of Sicily and Italy . The L6 / 40 was the main tank employed by the Italian forces fighting on the Eastern Front . The L6 fought alongside the L6 / 40 - based Semovente 47 / 32 . Although a good light tank for its size and an improvement over the tankette s that were common within the Italian army , it was already obsolete by the time of its introduction . 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 may encounter . However , due to lack of suitable medium tank s , it was often employed in a combat role , for which it was unsuited . Surviving examples . Three L6 / 40s survive to this day ; one is kept in Legnano near the " Cadorna " barracks , one is in the inventory of the Kubinka Tank Museum , and another is preserved in a museum at Argirokastron in Albania .