Editing Fascist Italian Equipment (section)

====Tanks====
Now, the previous entries might give the impression that while Italian weaponry was full of issues, there were some excellent pieces of equipment that would stand the test of time. That is NOT the case with Italian armour. Saying that every Italian tank was rusty old garbage wouldn’t even be much of a stretch. Of course, this was thanks to a number of factors that the designers and manufacturers of these vehicles couldn’t control, not just a lack of resources. See back in the interwar period, Italy never really showed much interest in tanks (the opposite was true in WWI, but France couldn’t afford to send them any at the time and their local models were sub-par). After all, Italy was, and is, not good tank country. Its heartland is rugged and mountainous, as opposed to the wide open fields of central Europe, and so Italy was inclined to specialize in mountain warfare, not armored warfare. Any armoured warfare would have to fit into the overall idea of mountain warfare, which is why the AB40, L6/40, and the M11/39 were built so lightly: they were intended to be armored support to mountain infantry. 

Another important aspect was that prior to WWII, tanks were a relatively unproven concept. They were slow, easy targets for artillery, and the rise of antitank rifles made many nations, not just Italy, cautious about investing too much into them. The land battleship concepts and the like would largely reinforce these beliefs. This also explains the Italian armored car program: they would be too speedy to get hit by artillery except in direct fire, could relay recon to friendly troops, and provide fire support when needed to infantry forces, with the enemy infantry hopefully not equipped with anti-tank weapons.  

When Mussolini took over, his obsession with military dominance caused him to push armoured vehicles hard, resulting in Italian designers dismantling imported designs to see how they worked. Ultimately, Italy simply did not have the time or resources to play catch-up with the rest of the world. Every time the Italian tank development teams put together something ‘modern’ it had already been made outdated by recent Allied tanks. Resource shortages also forced designs to stay in the ‘light tank’ range with only one exception, which we’ll get to below. The most infamous aspect of Italian armour was that most vehicles were either riveted or bolted. This meant that if and when the armour was dented, these connecting pieces tended to break off and turn into splinters, injuring or even killing the crew. This meant high casualties and very few veteran crews. 

[[File:L3-33--35--38.jpg|200px|thumb|right|Behold! The armoured workhorse of the mighty Italian Army!]]

*'''''L3/33-35''''':  Essentially an armoured go-kart. The primary armoured vehicle of the Italian Army, this little thing was produced in such massive quantities that many were sold to other countries including Spain and Finland. An overall reliable and speedy little bugger, it was also surprisingly adaptable, with variants produced that mounted flamethrowers and Solothurn antitank rifles, along with another version modified to serve as an artillery tractor. Unfortunately, it had about as much armour as a wet paper bag and was so cramped that the gunner would often sit on top of the tank to give the driver some elbow room. Has gained a bit of a following amongst Italian wargamers (that is to say those that play Italians, not Italian players) in the same way as the [[UrbanMech|Urbanmech]] of [[BattleTech|Battletech]] fame. That is to say, it's a small, short underdog of a vehicle that excels in the niche conditions it was designed for but lacklustre in the situations it finds itself in by the nature of the game. I mean, look at this thing! It’s adorable!

[[File:L6-40.gif|200px|thumb|left|]]

*'''''L6/40''''': An attempt to replace the old FIAT 3000 used by Italy since 1921, it was stupidly outdated by the time it entered service, but was used up to the battle of Sicily. To make matters even worse the tank was originally designed with reconnaissance in mind (in fact it was quite short to help with this) but due to a lack of vehicles it was instead pushed into [[FAIL|the role of primary battle tank on the Eastern Front against T-34s.]] This went about as well as you'd expect.

[[File:M11-39 tank.jpeg|200px|thumb|right|Diet M3 Lee]]

*'''''M11/39''''': Italy’s first attempt at a modern tank design, this model did not last long, as one might expect from just looking at it. Just like the similarly shaped M3 Lee it was tall, bulky and had its primary cannon mounted in the hull, giving it a limited firing arc compared to turreted tanks. When you consider it was primarily designed for a breakthrough role, this is kinda nuts. Unlike the Lee, however, its turret was equipped with machine guns instead of a smaller cannon, had bolted armour and oh! It wasn’t a medium tank at all! Yeah, despite the M standing for medium Italy decided to base their tank sizes on roles, not weight. This means that all tanks with the M moniker produced in Italy during WWII were actually all light tanks. Thankfully, they weren’t around for long. Unfortunately, they were replaced with…

[[File:M14-40--41--42.jpg|200px|thumb|left|]]

*'''''M13/40-41-42''''': Considered the ‘primary’ Italian tank of the war, the 40 was the first actual modern tank design from the Italians. Not that it was any good, of course. Basically, take the main gun of the M11/39 and put it IN THE TURRET and put the machine guns in the hull! Beyond the armour and firepower issue mentioned above, the tank was also one of the first to use diesel engines. This allowed the tank to run for longer periods of time and meant it was less likely to explode when hit, but in the earliest models it would fill the vehicle with smoke [[Fail|forcing its crew to open up all the doors in the middle of combat in order to even see what was happening.]] This was quickly fixed though, and following models were more akin to Germany’s variants then full-on new vehicles. 

[[File:P26-40.jpg|250px|thumb|right|The Italian Panther]]

*'''''P26/40''''': Believe it or not this tank actually entered the initial stages of development back in 1940, but design issues pushed its debut all the way back to late 1943. Most of this revolved around the designers wanting a traditional petrol engine while the Italian Army wanted a diesel, which granted was better but untested at the time. It didn’t help that Italy didn’t have any ground-based engines powerful enough to drive this 26-ton tank, and unlike the Allies they refused to use repurposed aircraft engines. Requested by Mussolini himself, the P26/40 was inspired by Germany's heavier tanks, but the whole thing had to be redesigned in 1941 by encounters with the T-34 and then its later variants. What resulted from all this was Italy’s only medium tank, which in regards to its performance was surprisingly effective. While not exactly a ‘good’ tank, the P26 had a pretty decent gun, slow but very reliable mechanics and an interesting dual armour system that combined wielded and riveted structures to make it the most durable of the Italian armoured vehicles. Despite this it still couldn’t stand up to late war heavy gun,  but could take a hit or two from a Sherman. Despite being without a doubt the best Italian tank of the war, the design was in the final stage of prototyping before the Armistice of 1943, though five of these prototypes were actually in Rome when this all went down and were used by the defending Italians during the fall of the city. It would see production by the RSI under German watch, with the Nazis receiving and using so many that it's falsely believed to have been used by the German forces exclusively! Turns out it was somewhat popular as it was much more reliable than the heavier late-war German tanks like the Tiger and the Panther, though there was a lot of criticism at its cramped two-person turret.