Lancia 90mm
The Lancia 90mm represents the innovations of the Italian army to strap 90mm aa guns to their heavy duty R3o trucks in WWII, and is a unit available in Flames of War.
IRL
There are two stories to tell here. See, when people think "Heavy anti-tank cannon" and "WWII", two thoughts usually pop into mind: the British 17lb Gun, and the German Flak 88mm. What many people don't realize is that the Italians themselves also innovated a 90mm aa gun of their own through the Ansaldo company. Originally intended as a weapon to protect warships from aircraft while also telling Destroyers "no", they proved to be somewhat too advanced for the ships. Couple this with Italy's focus on Battleships, which delayed their widespread deployment to the rest of the fleet, and any that did exist getting sunk at Taranto meant their seafaring days were pretty limited.
The 3Ro was a heavy duty truck in service with the Italian army. It was a mainstay vehicle and overall did its job well, and even accepted crazy innovations like having a howitzer strapped to the back of it, mobile workshops, and even had the ability to carry Italian light tanks. While this was fantastic, sometimes you couldn't help but wish you had something that shot a little more directly.
Suddenly, someone got the bright idea to strap these 90mm cannons onto the Lancias. That way they could have mobile dakka to use against aircraft and against tanks. The idea caught on, and the Ansaldo cannons were being strapped to Lancias and thrown into the battlefield.
While the Lancia was certainly no Sherman or STUG III, it is one of those things that filled its niche well enough to make a note of it. The Germans, ever the dakka loving bastards they were, certainly made use of them during their occupation of Northern Italy. The Lancia itself was a good truck and served with Italy until the 60s, though by that time they were almost certainly not using AA cannons strapped to trucks.
| Italian Forces in Flames of War | |
|---|---|
| Tanks: | Renault R-35 - P-26/40 - L6/40 - M14/41 |
| Transports: | |
| Infantry: | Italian Parachutist Platoon - Italian Assault Engineer Platoon - Bersaglieri Platoon - Parachutist MG Platoon - Bersaglieri MG Platoon |
| Artillery: | Parachutist Mortar Platoon - Bersaglieri Mortar Platoon - 47mm Anti-tank - 100mm Howitzer - 88mm Anti-tank |
| Tank Destroyers and Assault guns: | Semovente 90mm Assault Gun - Semovente 75mm Assault Gun - Semovente Assault Gun |
| Armored Cars: | AB41 Platoon |
| Aircraft: | CR.42 |
| Anti-Aircraft: | Lancia 90mm |