Carro Armato L3 (Series)

1935 SPANISH CIVIL WAR WORLD WAR 2

• 1 History of Carro Armato L3 (Series)
• 2 Carro Armato L3 (Series) Specification
  • 2.1 Basic
  • 2.2 Roles
  • 2.3 Dimensions
  • 2.4 Performance
  • 2.5 Performance
  • 2.6 Armor
  • 2.7 Changes

History of Carro Armato L3 (Series)

The L3 series of tanks were mainly in service with the Italian army in the years leading up to World War II. At this point in history, the system was of little value to war planners as larger, more heavily armed and armored battle tanks began to reign supreme. Regardless, this small tank was mass-produced to force its use by multiple factions in global wars.

In this way, despite the increasing casualties and low quality of combat, the L3 has left a historic mark in the field of armored warfare.

The L3/35 is classified as a "tank" and is a special tracked armored vehicle developed after the First World War. Tankettes are small and even more like machine gun transporters than "light" tanks. There were no movable turrets (weapons were fixed in the superstructure), they were armed with various light machine guns and were very light.

The dimensions of the L3/35 ensure that there is enough space inside for the engine, drivetrain, ammunition supply and two people - a driver and a gunner/commander. Tankettes are valuable because of their high operating speed, when they can be used to scout the area ahead and provide some degree of crew protection.

This feature could also make them useful in supporting infantry operations dominated by man-portable machine gun fire.

The L3/35 stems from technical research accumulated in 1929 when Italy purchased and studied four British Caden Lloyd tanks. The Carden Loyd is a successful tank that has proven to be a multi-faceted budget exec. Of all the brands in the Carden Loyd tank line, the Mark VI proved to be the most successful and led the way in the availability of tanks around the world during the interwar period. Thus, the British Mark VI became the origin of many similar systems developed during this period by global parties seeking more domestic products.

Production of the British system spanned from 1927 to 1935, with approximately 450 samples delivered to interested parties. Armament is single. 303 Vickers machine gun for two people.

The Italian Tankette Research Project produced the first Carro Veloce CV-29 "Fast Tank" in 1929. It turned out to be such a novel endeavor that around 21 production examples followed. The CV-33 appeared in 1933 as a design sponsored by the FIAT and Ansaldo companies, and about 300 examples followed.

The CV-33 features riveted and welded armor and a 1 x 6.5mm machine gun configuration. The rivet armor works so that if hit directly by enemy shells, the rivets are likely to turn into missiles - a definite danger to the occupants inside.

The design was therefore revised, and in 1935 the improved CV-35 appeared. Its advantages (bolt armor, 2 x 8mm machine guns) forced the previous CV-33 system to be upgraded to the new standard.

The CV-35 became the defining icon of the series, even though it was largely indistinguishable from the CV-33 that preceded it.

Serial production began in 1933, the series of vehicles officially entered service in 1935, and the Italian Army became the first significant operator of this type. Production continued until 1936, with approximately 2,000 to 2,500 prototypes delivered in total.

In 1938, the series was renamed the more traditional "L" designation (L for "Light") in "L3/33" (CV-33) and "L3/35" (CV-35). The series was also further developed in the 1938 L3/38 design??.

One of the main additions to this variant is the installation of a torsion bar based suspension system (higher than the original bogie system) and a heavy 13 caliber 2mm Madsen machine gun. Despite the upgrades, few such models existed in the Italian army, and by then, thanks to the arrival of light and medium tanks - and their inherent value - the tank had become a forgotten battlefield tool.

Overall, the L3/35 weighed 3.52 tons and had a barrel length of about 10 feet 5 inches. It is 4 feet 8 inches wide and 4 feet 3 inches tall. Armor protection ranges from 6mm to 14mm thick. Power is provided by a 43-horsepower FIAT-SPA CV3 water-cooled engine, with a top speed of 26 mph (on the road) and a maximum distance of 78 miles from the hull, with a pronounced "nose-up" stance. The drive sprockets are fixed forward on each side of the fuselage, and the chain idlers are at the rear.

The suspension is bogie type, with a pair of three-wheel leaf spring bogie attachments and a non-sprung wheel attachment on each side of the track. In profile, the L3/35 has an acutely angled front hull structure - favorable for ballistic protection - plate side armor and a slightly sloping upper side of the hull structure. The body is square along the tail cowl, as is the engine bay. The armament of 2 x 8 mm machine guns is mounted on the front of the superstructure, sufficient for defensive and anti-infantry attacks if required.

Also, the L3/35 system cannot compete with heavier tanks, regardless of crew training. The crew seats see the driver on the right side of the fuselage and the commander/gunner on the left.

The L3 series quickly found combat action during its relatively short lifespan. Despite its strong British ancestry and promising intrinsic qualities, the L3 is not a very good mount for combat.

The L3 did poorly in the Second Ethiopian-Italian War and were often defeated by large numbers of infantry. The L3 was also used in the Spanish Civil War and belonged to the Soviet T-26 light tank and BT-5 fast tank. Despite the L3's long history, the Italian army still has a large number of L3s available and is therefore intended to be used on all Italian fronts in the upcoming World War II.

Those systems that were not knocked down in combat were usually captured by their new owners and rebuilt for inventory construction or reserved for local guard duties. Other L3 tanks were lost or captured in the Anglo-Iraqi War, the Greek-Italian War, and the Yugoslav invasion. Therefore, this type was very rare in the late 1940s.

After Italy surrendered to the Allies in late 1943, the German army was able to use tanks to a limited extent.

The L3 series has proven to have limited success worldwide, especially for budget-conscious operators looking to modernize without investing time and money on lengthy and costly domestic tank programs. Austria and Hungary were the main exporters and ordered the model in large quantities (72 and 65 respectively). Other buyers were Albania, Bolivia, Brazil, Bulgaria, China, Croatia, Iraq and nationalist Spain.

Minor changes welcome every L3 tank into service with these foreign forces, with appropriate localized weapons and supplements as needed.

Some L3 tanks were eventually converted by the Italian army into makeshift 20mm anti-tank artillery vehicles (L3 cc) (limited numbers) and flamethrowers (L3 Lf) which were lost in the North African campaign Lost one of their machine guns.

Carro Armato L3 (Series) Specification

Basic

Roles

Dimensions

Performance

Performance

Armor

520 x liters of Fathrower fuel (if equipped).

Changes