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
Machine guns
- Breda M31 (licensed copy of the 13.2 mm Hotchkiss machine gun)
- Breda 38 8 mm tank 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
- ScottiâÂÂIsotta 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:
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
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 by 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
Trucks
Light trucks
Medium trucks
Heavy trucks
Passenger cars
Motorcycles
Tractors and prime movers
- L.3 trattore leggero - hypothetical version for towing the gun da. 47/32
- Pavesi P4 - 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
See also
References
Further reading
External links