Jesus, imagine being a young Italian man who enlists with the promise of glory and conquest and they stick you in a go-kart with sheet metal riveted on...
Imagine being a german tank commander in your shiny Panzer, then suddenly this office chair with tracks and styrofoam armour rolls up next to you like "Hey wassup, Nice tank ye?"
Italians could not produce compact enough engine with 300-500 hp . And that was a core of their problems - without strong enough engine you could not mount decent gun or good enough armor. They finally solved that problem in 1943, but at that time it was too late . Reliability of Italian tanks was actually good for WW2 standards. Ariete division was highly regarded by Rommel . But the industrial base was lacking in engine production.
@@aleksazunjic9672 Their industrial base was lacking in pretty much everything, the only part that had "some" success was their airplanes, which were pretty good, but they still didn't have enough industry to produce them in sufficient numbers.
Another factor that is not often mentioned, regarding how the Axis manufactured war goods is this: The Italians (and to a lesser extent the Germans) had a self-inflicted handicap that made itself apparent, as soon as the war dragged on after 1940. Italian manufacturing was good at making high-quality goods, using slow hand-crafted techniques - but they could only make a few of them. The Italians had a long tradition of making finely made products (one of the oldest companies is Beretta Firearms, that have been making guns since the 17th century, for instance). This craftsman tradition meant that while goods would be finely made, they could not make many of them, since they were slow to produce but the Italians suffered worse shortages of resources than even the Germans did. Naturally such methods were completely unsuited to a world war, where the numbers needed of guns and bullets alone were measured in the millions or billions. It also meant Italy was slow to modernize designs and, except for a few excellent aircraft types, the Italian army was stuck with too many obsolete small arms, machine guns, and tanks and too many ammo types, that had no commonality with their German allies.
and what about the British?? their weapons were useless and old, only as the US stepped in with massive supply you could make a few more or less usable tanks! Dünnkirchen humiliating defeat was the first sign of your useless weapons, but the Brits sold this retreat as success, Singapore was even more shameful, British outnumbered the Japanese 10 to 1, nevertheless the surrender without even try!!! yes you can be so proud of Brits, sorry i mean proud of the US and their help!!!
*The opposite story* Americans in 1940: What's a medium tank? Germans in 1940: This is a medium tank. Americans: O_O British: What in God's name is that? Americans: It's the M3 medium tank. Through the magic of COTS parts and extensive use of low risk technologies, we managed to move it from the start of the design process to mass production in a little over a year. British: Why does it look like that? Americans: We didn't have time to design a turret and the radial engine+front transmission means there is a a drive shaft that goes diagonally across nearly the entire length of the tank adding about a foot or so to its overall height, but I guess you don't want a reliable heavily armored vehicle with a big gun. British: We didn't say that.
@alapotamus5293That's hilarious. the M3 Sherman was a weird tank but it was very reliable mechanically. It was built off an obsolete but well tested battle platform, the M2 Medium, By the time it came off the production line the designs were quite old, but they worked. The Sherman by retaining its older technology became the most mechanically reliable tank in the war, and its boxy superstructure was partly to make it easy to open up the tank, yank its guts out and put in new parts. A desirable feature when the factories that made the things was on the other side of the world. Most European tanks of that time had no concept of ease of maintenance in their designs. The Amerricans backed by their Detroit knowhow knew how important that would be and so they put it in. As a result you could drive a Sherman all day, and go into the fight that night and expect everything to work. NO other nation can claim that in WWII
The thing is, when the Italians used these tanks against the Greeks to NO great capacity and abandoned them, the Greeks just hauled them on the road, fixed them, and used it against the Italians! Unbelievable.
@@michaeltelson9798 let's all be honest here, the Germans were never the allies Italy needed. Not only was Italy fighting Greece, but also the common wealth forces in the area. The Germans were forced to help, but it was not until the Italians took a beating. At the end of the day casualties on both sides are similar.
my grandfather drove the cv 33 in ww2, he told me that even when a small shot reached him the bolts that held the plates together jumped. he lost an eye for the splinters.
It is really interesting to look at the prototypes Italy had in the works during the war. The P40 and P43 were medium/heavy tanks which carried 75mm or 90mm guns respectively. They were designed to counter the Sherman and other similarly sized allied tanks, and would have been incredibly powerful had they come to fruition. Additionally, the Italian Panther would have been an interesting product, as the Italians only negotiated for the license to produce the tank, not the armament or propulsion. This means that it could have been an almost new vehicle with a 75 or even 90mm gun, local 7.7mm or 6.5mm machine guns, and a local engine, along with subtle design differences. Imagine a Panther armed with the 90/53 gun!
Panther’s gun was already insanely good for it’s calibre due to it’s huge barrel length which gave it a very high muzzle velocity of 935m/s.At distances between 0-2000m it had better armor penetration charasteristics than Tiger I’s 88mm KwK 36 and Pershing’s 90mm M3. There is absolutely no doubt it would still outperform anything Italians had at the time no matter what calibre.
There was a problem with this. Italy tried making powerful enough engines to move the P40s. But only made it in 1944, when Italy was already split up. So if the Italians make every model 10 years earlier, they would have delt a lot better. Also the Italian army needed much more preparation, Wich it didn't get thanks to Hitler's abitions
The P26/40 was adequate, but not outstanding. It had better speed, but worse protection and a worse gun than the most common medium tanks of the war. Its performance would likely have been about on par with later model cromwells or Panzer 3s, oress known, the Turan 2, which had an almost identical gun, and aimilar protection.
Not if the tank has adequate AC. Of course, it would be extremely difficult for the average WOT player to get the full sensation of shrapnel flying in their face.
"when i joined the corps, we didn't have any good tanks like the Ariete! we had sticks, two sticks and a rock for the whole platoon, and we preferred the rock over the tank!"
In fact I think most tankers would prefer not be in their tanks. During ww2 it was in most cases 1 shot 1 tank dead. And if the tank exploded, you died instantly, and you were lucky. If the tank cought fire and stuck you inside, you'd burn to death. I don't think you want it to happen tho
@@stealthcone You're kidding right? The Sherman was nicknamed the "Ronson" after the cigarette lighter brand because of how easily it caught fire when hit.
@@coreypatterson5827 no it wasn’t the tank was much better than any other at keeping it’s crew alive than even the German’s big fucking useless slabs they called king tigers
@@stealthcone You need to get away from the propaganda reels and learn some actual history. The Sherman was EXTREMELY fragile against anything bigger than a rifle. The only real protection it offered its crew was there being so damn many Shermans it reduced the odds of any given one getting hit. And yes, the "Ronson" reputation was very real, and very deserved. Look it up.
It would also be important to mention the mountainous terrain of the Italian country side as well and narrow roads for why they mostly produced light and medium tanks and almost no heavy tanks. decent versions were in the pipeline but surrender ended those projects.
The problem was that the Italians had we fought the war syndrome just like every Main land European nation had. The Italian battled in the mountains during the first war so they made their tanks accessible to fight in the Alps or Rocky terrain. It didn’t help the Italians one bit because the whole country wasn’t industrialize to fight a mobile war.
Add the fact it lacked any type of resources of industrial interest, unlike Germany which was rich in coal and iron ore for steel mills, and also the sabotage that the military was undergoing throughout the war from fascists dissidents (for example in one occasion tanks destined for the Africa campaign were shipped with sugar in their gas tank, making them de facto useless, unless towed and used as fixed artillery, like in the battle of Bir el Gobi) and British sympathisers (almost all navy high command received medals and rewards at the end of the war).
They had a pampered general from a wealthy family who practiced "decimation" on a battalion after losing a battle too. Would have sucked to be an Italian conscript during ww2
The M13/40 was an improved version of the M11/39 which oddly seems to have forshadowed how the M3 Lee would preceed the M4 Sherman, both having hull mounted guns while a larger turret was designed.
That can go for all axis members the axis members where all horrible allies italy performed really badly but the Germans gave them none of the equipment the needed which goes for basically every minor axis nation a notable example would be the Romanians outside of Stalingrad which fought hard but had non of the anti tank guns Germany promised which meant they had to defend against the horde of t34s with molitov cocktails but yeah the meme is pretty accurate
@Hunter6213 very little Chinese were trained by the Germans and by 1941 most of them were dead or out of supply’s but when the German trained units went against the Japanese with the proper equipment they preformed very well
One tank not mentioned here is the Carro Armato P 26/40 heavy tank. Armed with a 75mm cannon and with 50mm of slopped armor and 60mm for the turret, this tank could go toe to toe with allied armour. The only setback was the riveted construction. The tank was good enough that when the Germans took over italy, not only did the Germans continue to use these tanks (under the designation of Panzerkampfwagen P40 737(i)) but also ordered their production continue.
Look up the book “Iron Hulls, Iron Hearts” by Ian W. Walker. For one thing the Italian military units were smaller in comparison to those of other nations. The Ariete Armored Division of the the 3 armored divisions created served in North Africa. It was equivalent in size to a British armored brigade or a US Armored Command. The NCO’s were considered decent to good, but the officers primarily lacked training and experience getting positions mostly by feudal rank or political influence. The tank mechanics were marvelous being able to keep these terrors of construction in service. Many out dated weapons from WWI were still in service like Austria-Hungarian artillery pieces and machine guns prone to jamming easily. They were brave men in these vehicles hampered by a government not willing to improve equipment.
well their government did try to improve the equipement, but italy lacked tank experience and industry. Italy also hadn't as much steel as uk or germany. This resulted in italy prefering wooden planes for instance.
@@ahouais5620 Most of the military industrial complex was FIAT and its many subsidiaries. There was a great lack of knowledge in the design and manufacturing of engines for both aircraft and armored vehicles. Their air force also needed to to accede to the pilots still wanting open top cockpits when handed the original G.50 and Macchi C.200 designs. The smaller aircraft companies not affiliated with FIAT. Reggiane had engineers that had previously worked for Seversky (later became Republic) and were quite familiar with the P-35. If you look at the wing and tail surfaces of their aircraft (RE 2000 thru RE 2005) you will see a family resemblance to the P-35 and the P-47. Later they had to rely on licenses to build versions of the Daimler Benz water cooled aircraft. I would also include Macchi as aviation innovators from their seaplane racing experience. Yes, lack of ability to obtain metals did hinder production, but other smaller countries had good designs, like Czechoslovakia with both the 35 and 38 models that they were also selling abroad (Sweden). Why didn’t they try to adopt a Christie suspension? The Czechs and Soviets did. Many bomber aircraft had wooden wings like the CANT aircraft. If it wasn’t for Mussolini’s ego to rule the new Roman Empire and not do his attacks to gain lands that were marginally helpful at best, Italy would have survived better. A neutral Italy would have served the people better and actually help Hitler more with a more secure southern flank.
@@michaeltelson9798 i agree, and also the italian aircraft were very good, like the g56 which was better than the me109 and comparable to late fw190. The italian bomber sm79 was feared by the royal navy. The cr42 was arguiably the best biplane in WW2. I think the italian airforce did far better than the italian land army or the italian navy
@@ahouais5620 I do think that the RE 2005 might have outclassed both the G 55 and the M.C. 205. The SM79 was outdated as a level bomber as it fought in the Spanish Civil War, but as a torpedo bomber it served well. The Gloster Gladiator did some yeoman work in many theaters especially in the hands of pilots like “Pat” Pattle or against the Japanese by the Nationalist Chinese (2 America Chinese are accredited aces in it including the first Gladiator ace). The CR42 had a very limited speed ( the Gladiator as well) so at most it could only make a single pass on British bombers which sent it into night fighter and fighter bomber duty. It was past it time of efficacy.
@@michaeltelson9798 There are still some myths about the Italian military in WW2. The majority of the Italian officers gained their ranks through hard work on the frontlines, in fact field generals like Messe, Nasi, De Stefanis and others, were very capable as were the junior officers under them. The real problem were the high ranking officers, the ones appointed by Mussolini in the high commands. The "outdated WW1 era weapons" that everyone mentions, were in reality few and far between. Only some of the artillery pieces were really outdared, machine guns were mostly Breda Mod 37s while the modified Fiat-Revelli 14/35 were used as vehicle mounted weapons; the few remaining WW1 Fiat-Revelli 1914s were relegated to mainland duties as small AA guns, on coastal defence duties or placed inside the forts in the Alps. The Carcano Mod91 were instead mostly used by rear line units or in the mainland with not that many reaching the frontlines. Regarding Fiat, while they produced a big chunk of the Italian military land and air equipment it didn't have the overall monopoly of the industrial complex, with Macchi, Savoia-Marchetti, Caproni, CRDA CANT, Breda, Ansaldo and Acciaierie Terni being the rest of the major productors of vehicles and weapons used by the Army and Air Force. What hindered all these companies wasn't their own lack of inventive, but was more caused by Mussolini and the fascists' protectionist plans and lack of funding to the aviation research institutes (that can be expanded to the whole industrial complex). Onto tanks; the Czech tanks weren't that diffirent from the Italian ones, aside from their reliability of the engines, the tanks had similar weight (10-15 ton range), riveted armour, but with weaker guns. The suspensions that the LT vz 35 and LT vz 38 had, was based on the leaf spring system used by the Vickers 6-Ton, the same design adopted by the Italians for their M series, also no Czech tank used Christie suspensions. Christie suspension in fact wasn't adopted due to it being costly to produce and maintain/repair, plus taking too much space inside a tank. As for the CANT planes, being made of wood wasn't really a drawback, it made them lighter and faster and freed up metals needed for other vehicles/weapons.
I saw both FIAT 3000 and CV33 Tankette in the tank museum. They were both half size of my Ford Fusion sedan car. Unimaginable how brave you had to be to fight in one of these
The thing is these tanks would never be fighting Sherman’s or at least very rarely. The lees (grants) would not face the Italian tanks often either, the most common tanks fighting these tanks would most likely be the crusader 1 and 2 as well as the British cruiser series.
WW2 italian tanks are considered memes even in Italy, where italians people usually laughs at their flaws(at least those interested in history). Btw do you know the tankettes were nicknamed 'Tin Coffin' by the soldiers?
Indeed but we had potential to make better tanks than Britain, America and the Soviet Union. It's not like we have Lamborghini, Ferrari, Alfa Romeo, Fiat etc. We know how to make fuel-guzzlers, just needed the resources.
@@ghostplays2766 it would have been effective but they ran out of time, and it honestly would not have made much of a difference in the scope of the war.
@@ardie4 Well, yes. Only about a hundred were build, and only a few saw combat, so you are right. Still, it was probably the best tank Italy had developed (and manufactured) during the WWII.
Imagine advertising a game where the developers want nothing to do to improve the game but will constantly do stuff to make the game worse until Credit cards are flashed for things to be fixed
Yeah, it doesn't have the same feel anymore. "Historical battles," show me which army used a GI Joe themed tank to win rewards in a wrestling competition. I enjoyed it when it was unique, not trying to emulate other things.
@@thecombatwombat7652 I agree with you on that, or some sort of outlandish tank that was never even made and or tanks that never even had blue prints for due to them being scrapped
@@FelonE-k8x If the bullets aren't moving too fast (e.g someone is throwing them by hand), then yes, I'd say that armor stands a good chance of blocking the bullets.
You know I just realized that out of all the factions that participated in World War II, the Italians are the ones we always forget. We remember what the Germans and the Japanese did, but the Italians? They're like the member of a band that never gets any recognition.
Because of propaganda nobody know when the italian did well and only remember their failures. Like nobody remember the failures of USA or the other major nations
I don't argue on the poor quality of the italian tanks. But when I hear that italian tanks had one gear forward and four reverse I think that you should study the battle of El Alamain where the Ariete division was totally destroyed. They fought up to the end and sacrificed themselves, even if inferior in quality. Respect to them.
@@Commodore22345 I mean would you blame them? What glory or bravery is there to die in Afghanistan during a war sought by the Americans? We don’t have any beef with the Afghans. You can’t compare two different wars that hold two different stances of people and institutions. It’s like saying that the Americans were cowards because they didn’t want to go to Vietnam to die in a useless anti communist effort.
@@Commodore22345 also, that said, aren’t the US soldiers cowards in the eyes of all Middle Eastern combatants? Killing people with pilotless vehicles and other kind of drones? Fighting in enormous tin cans while their enemies ride horses at best? Frankly I don’t think Americans hold the best judgment in the regards of bravery in general.
@@Commodore22345 well they joined NATO, if they didn't like NATO they could opt out. Priviliges come with duties, if they had done their duties, they wouldn't be called coward
@@Commodore22345 I don't want to mention how quick the strongest super power of the world (i.e. Usa) run away from Afghanistan, leaving behind an impressive amount of materials and military vehicles. Many gifts kindly offered to the talibans. And an example of bravery for all of us. isn't?
@@Commodore22345 Evidently the information may change from the two sides of the ocean. The withdraw was planned by Mr. Trump and put in operation by Mr. Biden. And also very quickly. In a very confusing way, abandoning tons of weapons and vehicles. This is what has been reported by any media in the world.
Pretty much how it happened. They create a tank, they send it to fight, it loose, they design a new one, they built it, by the time it is fighting it's already obsolete and repeat the all cycle
Italians could not produce compact enough engine with 300-500 hp . And that was a core of their problems - without strong enough engine you could not mount decent gun or good enough armor. They finally solved that problem in 1943, but at that time it was too late . Reliability of Italian tanks was actually good for WW2 standards. Ariete division was highly regarded by Rommel . But the industrial base was lacking in engine production.
The Italians excelled in asymmetric warfare. The used mini subs and frogmen to attach mines to the hulls of ships. The had a plan to release the mini subs in New York harbor to sabotage shipping. At Gibraltar they used a partially sunk ship as the launching point to release their frogmen. They developed a low profile , shallow draft boat to attack ships at anchor. The boat could just make it over the torpedo nets and then the pilot would race to his target. He would lock the rudder and activate the ejection seat. There was a small explosive in front which was just enough to sink the craft. The main charge was set off when it had sunk to a specified depth. You want an explosive to detonate under the keel so you can almost crack the ship in half.
@@guppy719 exactly. 1 factor is just not enough to win anything meaningful. the italians were good despite having so little technology capabilities. They really did try to make the most of it but they were really just limited due to economic reasons. But I'm glad the italians really made up for it after the war in modern age.
@@jmgonzales7701 oto melara cannon is the main cannon for navy in the world. Beretta is the ferrari of guns and our helicopter and space compartment are very good now. The video talk about ariete C1 at the last but I prefer centauro.
"With a top speed of 26mph, or 42kph. Which is comparable to the famous sprinter Usain Bolt running at full speed." Now I need an animation of Usain Bolt chasing down a tankette and the crew being terrified of him catching up.
As usual, our deficits in WW2 came down to inefficient (and often inept) leadership at the top level, rushed decisions and a general disorganization, all at the detriment of brave soldiers who more often than not had to fight with their bare hands against either far larger numbers (Eastern Front) or far better equipped armies (everywhere else).
The Italians and Japanese had a contest on who could make the funniest tank and kill the enemy with laughter. Edit: it's amazing, how many people have taken this comment seriously. Cripes
Nope, Italy switched side becuase the governament was changed + the king never liked fascism and Mussolini( the king was weak, he decided to give Mussolini power to stop his nationaist wave)
@@pumpkin91ful The king FINALLY getting a spine and deposing Mussolini likely saved Italy from total destruction. His big mistake though was not ensuring Mussolini was swiftly executed, allowing Hitler to rescue him and set up a puppet state in the north under his leadership. It's not too surprising the Italians went to a republic not long after the war (though as many Italians said, they had often been more republic-type people since Rome fell).
"World of Tanks, where history meets action." Yes. History where Soviet imagination tanks fought against the French and the Americans. History where artillery had a satellite view. History where the wheels of a wheeled tank could stop 88mm shells. Nice meme.
Wow. Almost like it's a videogame. Can't believe you didn't bring up how tanks are controlled by a single person with a mouse and keyboard even though neither of those existed during ww2
@@clockworklemon9243 True, although I think people are just frustrated about companies having the main selling point of their games be "realism" when it's mostly just arcade action. Not to say you can't learn anything from a game.
The problem was that Mussolini made a fatal miscalculation when he threw his lot in with Hitler. He knew Italy wasn’t ready for another massive war, and he likely expected to simply be able to get some scraps from Germany’s conquests and then have it be over with. Unfortunately for everyone, including his fellow Axis powers, Hitler really just seemed to want to watch the world burn. Italy, Romania, Hungary, and Bulgaria all ended up getting roped into an Earth-shattering conflict by Germany.
Italy wasn't ready for war but could expect to be pulled into it anyway. So picking the winning side was critical. Note that Mussolini waited until days after the Dunkirk evacuation with the French Army in retreat to declare war. Italy was originally in an alliance with France and UK against Germany (1935). This ended when the UK led the League of Nations to impose sanctions against Italy over the invasion of Abyssinia. And in early 1939 Mussolini was approached by the British government wanting to revive this alliance. Makes it even more of a fatal miscalculation since they had offers to join the Allies.
Italy wasn't pulled into anything. Mussolini was off starting wars long before Hitler. Mussolini invaded Ethiopia in 1935, Hitler had only just taken over Germany in 1933 and wasn't nowhere near to doing anything. If anyone got pulled into needless wars it was Hitler, having to bail out the Italians after they botched their Balkan escapades. That diversion is believed to have caused Barbarossa to be delayed by several crucial weeks, possibly changing the outcome of the war.
The Italian Navy was no pushover though, they gave the British a pretty hard fight for at least several years, in no small part due to their three major battleships. There's a 1943 newsreel of the fleet surrendering at Malta, and it's quite impressive to say the least. I think they were one of the top ten navies in the world when the war broke out.
@@dominicdelgado1654 Italy actually attacked France in the South while Germany attacked in the north. Even while France was falling, the outnumbered French, who were getting no reinforcements, or regular supplies, because of what was happening up north, were successfully attacking into Italy, capturing considerable territory. Hitler actually had to make the French give the territory back after he conquered them. So in answer to your question, the Italians actually had a much worse military than France.
@@thunderbird1921 Yes, Italy was on it way to building a better fleet than Britain's. That was it's goal I believe. They wanted to defeat the British then push them out of North Africa. Germany is actually at fault there for declaring war on America, otherwise Britain wouldn't have won in North Africa and America would never have had a foothold in the Mediterranean.
@@Mangoeplanter OK, looking at all the Tier V French vehicles... 1) AMX 13 105 AM mle. 50 (1950) 2) Somua S35 CA (1945) 3) BDR G1 B (1938) 4) AMX ELC bis (1957) ...with no collectors' or premium vehicles of that tier. So you've either got your facts mixed up or something has changed since the last time you played WoT.
The only effective version of the tankette was that one upgraded with a flame thrower. If it made it to the enemy lines it almost always caused a small rout even if it was small and wasn't that effective it was scary as it was hard to hit and relatively quick.
It was limited by the lack of a rotating tower and hampered by the small trailer. Later they tried to replaced it with a L6/40 flam. But yes it could also be used against tanks, sneaking and fry them. the flames will get in the various openings similar to a molotov.
@@ls200076 the IF is the big question. On the flip side it was a very small target, with some luck and some fog of war it would reach destination. But the manovring and positioning would be deadly. No turret it means you had to move alot just to get a shot.
That would only happen if the Imperial Japanese Navy entered the Mediterranean or North Africa and decided to take some of the territory fascist Italy had. Unfortunately that was utterly impossible as long a the Royal Navy controlled the Suez and large parts of the Indian Ocean.
Based only on the "hard stats" for the best tanks each nation fielded and the ammunition for their guns, Japan would take the crown with the Chi-Ha Kai. It is faster with a high-velocity 47mm gun whose ammo could penetrate the Italians' M14/41s at well over one kilometer distance. That being said, both tanks were made of such low-quality steel that it would fail under sustained heavy machine gun fire such as that from a US M2 Browning or Soviet DShK.
@@aliminhas5981 i don't think you understand the antitank doctrine, so here it is: "Tank destroyer units are employed offensively in large numbers, by rapid maneuver, and by surprise . . . . Offensive action allows the entire strength of a tank destroyer unit to be engaged against the enemy. For individual tank destroyers, offensive action consists of vigorous reconnaissance to locate hostile tanks and movement to advantageous positions from which to attack the enemy by fire. Tank destroyers avoid “slugging matches” with tanks, but compensate for their light armor and difficulty of concealment by exploitation of their mobility and superior observation." Page 24 of Dr. Christopher R. Gabels' book: Seek, Strike, and Destroy.
@@putatankinamall7168 although not a tank, the Italian Army upgraded the Centauro while the Ariete remains in "as is, where is" state since its introduction.
Considering they used the german DB605 engine that the Bf109 used to create 1 equal and 2 better fighters than the Bf109, but if they were to use Italian engines the plane would be crap, you could say the Italian designers were really limited by the Italian industry
Very interesting video! My grandpa served in the Italian Army post war (50-52), he used to tell my brothers and I stories about commanding ex-American M4 Sherman’s and we have a few photos of him with a M36 Jackson tank destroyer too.
The Americans banned Italy from producing tanks at home for twenty years after the war, but when the Cold War began to heat up in the late 50’s the ban was lifted, leading to their involvement in the creation of the Leopard.
WW2 tankette: The literal definition of quantity over quality War Thunder tankette: Giga Chad tank that can pick apart modern tanks if shot at the right places.
Italians were still able to push the brits so far back, that they stretched the supply line to much! what if when the US would have PROVIDE TANKS TO ITALIAN INSTEAD THE BRIT'S??? they would have cross the channel with this tanks
To be fair. Italy would have lost in Greece and in North Africa pretty much instantly without the support of Germany. In Greece against an enemy that was way inferior in combat strength compared to what France faced against Germany. And in North Africa against the British Empire that feared for their homeland and couldn't really support their egyptian exclave. If one of the major players really underperformed in WW2 it was Italy and not France.
I'd like to remind everyone that the Imperial Japanese Army had at least 1 tank on the front lines that could theoretically penetrate a Sherman's side or rear armor. Yes. I'm saying Japanese WWII tanks were better than Italian tanks.
Balistically it was the same as powerful, the germans build a similar design near the end of the war, copying the vehicles they'd captured after Italy's surrender (I had ROCO's model)
The early Italian tank designs were meant for fighting in the mountains. As they had done a lot of mountain fighting in World War I. And they expected it to be much the same the next go around.
@@bearsausage8599 Have you ever seen a map of Italy? 35.2% of the territory is made up of mountains, 41.6% of hills and only 23.2% of plains, not to mention the rivers from the Po to the Tagliamento that break up the largest Italian plain. Even the Allied Command after 1943 had to accept that a different war was being fought in Italy from the one being fought in France or in the Desert.
People tend to forget that tanks are made for different purposes, for example, the shamans were designed to be used on all fronts, the Soviets designed their tanks to fight in fields and open areas,the Italians designed their tanks to fight in urban areas so the reason why they were ineffective was because they wrnt designed to fight in desert conditions
What? Tanks are supposed to be used everywhere. In open field and urban if unavoidable The idea of urban italian tank is ridiculous as it would mean they wanted to fight in their own CITIES. Also, You know that Italian had had colonies and fought in Africa for decades before WW2, right? They assuredly had to design their tanks with those requirement in mind. If not, that is their own fault.
@@huntermad5668 "Tanks are supposed to be used everywhere." That's true today, but not entirely true in World War II where pre-war doctrine divided tanks into different categories based on role that determined tonnage, armament, speed, crew, etc. Some were assault tanks meant to destroy fortifications (so heavily armored, high-caliber low-velocity guns), others were anti-tank tanks (so fast, low-caliber, high-velocity guns), and then you had scout tanks (fast, light armor and armaments), defensive tanks, assault guns, etc. Some were just weird hybrids like the KV2 or the assorted modifications the Germans made to the vehicles that were out of date or captured (The Marder, STUG, and Hetzer fall into this category) that were more or less stopgaps. A light, fast tank like what the Italians built was actually pretty good for the intended purpose of fighting lightly-armed tribesmen in North Africa who wouldn't be able to do much except pepper them with rifle fire and ride away. The main battle tank was something that emerged from this experience, but all of the combatants took a long time to develop it, all while to produce enough tanks to keep themselves in the fight. It didn't help, of course, that all crawling out of the Great Depression and no one was actually ready for a world war (even the Germans. Especially the Germans).
@@zenogias01 I was talking about the assessment that Italian urban tank which is BS as nobody really want to fight in urban combat if they could help it. The urban tanks if exist mean Italian wanted to bring the fight into their towns and cities which is historically false. The thing is that is classification based on role. Heavy, med, light still being used everywhere except in landing or island or other terrains unsuitable for heavy tanks. Med and light are pretty much used everywhere. Italian heavy is P40 which by that time considered med by everybody else. It was good to have light tank to fight those lightly armed fighters but the fact remain is that Italy would eventually fight a modern nation but tankette should be enough for that. The light tanks and tankettes were not the result of they didn't want heavier tanks but the italian economy couldn't support that. okay, tanks had been built from.the beginning to adapt to the environment the operator supposed to use them. Guess the environment Italian had to contend with in their northern africa colony, DESERT. So it is the fault of the engineers design the tank.
Actually most Italian tanks and tankettes before 1942 were meant for fighting in the mountains. But yeah, the main reason for not building heavier tanks is time and a basically none existent economy
Italy: Thank you Germany for accepting me into the Axis, what is my purpose ? Germany: you make pizza Italy: Oh My God Germany: Yeah, welcome to the club, pal
It should be noted part of the problem was that Italy's economy in WW2 was still primarily agricultural based, and limited industrial capacity hampered their ability to keep up with everyone else. For them, the war was far more a political stunt than a practical one.
Mussolini's economical advisors told him Italy was ill-prepared for war in 1940 and that 1943 was the earliest they could enter as an effective force. Mussolini scoffed that off and believed the entire war would be over by 1941 or 1942 which is why "Italy had to sacrifice a little to gain a lot by sitting at the winner's table". Here's the reality too. In the 1940's a significant percentage of the Italian population was still *illiterate* which meant that your average rural Italian was never going to understand any field manuals, tank/truck repair instructions or written orders. Forget about reading maps or the names of targets and objectives.
Italy's manufacturing was also relatively slow. A lot of their developed products were made by hand rather than machine, meaning it took time and effort. The products were great quality, but wars are centered around quantity over quality, which is sad for Italy.
I wonder if a US citizen like myself could own one of these Italian tanks because I honestly Wonder if it would be considered a fighting vehicle yes I know fighting vehicles and tanks are two different things but still
Interestingly they were quite aware of the sheer amount of problems they had and devised solutions. Problem was with their limited industry something that was needed right now didn't really enter service until 2 years too late at which point it was practically already obsolete. They had some interesting things they were working on like the Celere Sahariano M16/43 which was basically an Italian interpretation of the A15 Crusader (although far too late in 43 and thus cancelled) or the P40 which was heavily inspired by the Russian T-34, or various attempts at getting licence production deals that fell through due to various reasons.
@@TheAngelobarker uhhh I long for the days where we can pick up on sarcasm through text Sure he was only 'Marshal' Cavallero in the first place to stop Rommel from outranking him And sure Rommel was under Italo Garobaldi and in fact it was Rommel who disobeyed orders, "One cannot allow unique opportunities to pass for the sake of trifles" (I think that was the quote)
It's like saying Empire Japan Empire, Imperial is just another way of saying Empire. People normally refer to it as 'Imperial Japan' or 'Japanese Empire'
Ironically in the thumbnail The italian tank is so close and small that the sherman can't hit/see Meaning the the italians might be able to flank it (The l3/33 cannon can penetrate the side of the sherman)
This channel has the best voice actors. The other guy they always have is awesome, but this guy that they use sometimes is also phenomenal, I could listen to either of them talk all day 😂
The Italian actually designed a good tank called the Ansaldo M6 in 1938, a medium tank with 75mm gun in rotating turret and 20 to 40mm armor but Italians chose the Fiat M11/39 instead 🤦♂️🤦♀️
*British see German Tiger* "Right let's capture this and do some extensive research on this magnificent beast!" *British see Italian tank* "Sir! Shall we capture this tank?" *Sergeant Skipper* "Just smile and wave boys!"
@@dimitrypetrenko3470 Petrenko, you Russian or Ukranian? Ukranian, I'd say. Anyhow, the Italians were more than capable of making a tactical retreat during the Soviet campaign avoiding an all out encirclement by Soviet forces and killing tens of thousands of Soviets even in hand to hand combat. Us Italians are all mafiosi, you know that right? So, when it comes to killing we have few equals in the world.
Few small correction, the design of the M13 was adequate and ok modern for the time. It had 30mm frontal armor that more or less was the standard at the time, it had a two man turret and the main gun the 47/32 could fire but AP and HE charges. It became obsolete later during the war, but not at the beginning. The weak side of this tank was the suspension system, quite old for the time, but similar were still in use by several countries, including Russia, Czeck, Germany, France. The side armor was quite fragile, 24mm only, and the engine was generally unreliable till it got sand filters. Narrow tracks and lack of radio, at least the first few tanks.
final a normal and correct comment, at this stage of war all had similar tanks, only the French had a better one, still don0t know how the Germans managed to fool them, nevertheless, the Brit's used the tankette too, at this time, no one says something, and last point, if the Italian could manage to push the Brit's back near Cairo with this tank's, then they performed a incredible achievement! btw, no more British propaganda or Hollywood myth's! watch here ruclips.net/video/4fcFkEo7NA8/видео.html or two Austrian students, which are not interested in myth's but reality ruclips.net/video/JhhsMuCPCbo/видео.html or another great channel Drachinifel and his view on Italian ruclips.net/video/k__pxsvqhPI/видео.html this all are experts, their interest is not to grow fast with myth's
Jesus, imagine being a young Italian man who enlists with the promise of glory and conquest and they stick you in a go-kart with sheet metal riveted on...
The original Mario kart
@@ayyyyye mario kart arena war dlc
It's italian 🍕
Equipped with a nerf gun
@@harrywoodrow688
It’s nerf or nothin, only the Italians understand that
Italian tanker: "Can you fix my tank?"
"Nope. Try the Fiat dealership in Palermo"
“ You know what the Fiat stands for, don’t ya, Spencer? “
@@williamsantamaria2813 Found In A Tip / Fix It Again Tomorrow
@@williamsantamaria2813*In a Dale Gribble voice* Fix it again Tony.
@@williamsantamaria2813 fix it again Tony
@@The105ODST "Dale, that stand for Fiat, not Ford."
It sounds like Italians are playing free to play while everyone else is playing pay-to-win
and they also played since the game's release
Ya they need to stop playing an just get the battlepass
That's basically Italy in WW2.
Italy is like when you still using the pistol that you get free from the start and you fight allied with a pay to win machine gun
World of tanks in a nutshell
Imagine being a german tank commander in your shiny Panzer, then suddenly this office chair with tracks and styrofoam armour rolls up next to you like "Hey wassup, Nice tank ye?"
Seeing Churchills, Cromwell in the distance, "now I understand why you lost to Egypt"
Yo Italy is the tank behind the go-kart?
And then your panzer breaks down because mud got in its tracks and it’s practically impossible to repair
@Sakkra123 yea wished they would be deployed at the Eastern front
But not for long
*shot richochets*
"use the AP!"
"I DONT HAVE THOSE!"
"HANS GIVE THIS MAN BETTER ROUNDS"
Italian tank designer: **slaps roof of the tank**
The tank: **combust into flames**
Mama Mia !
Italians could not produce compact enough engine with 300-500 hp . And that was a core of their problems - without strong enough engine you could not mount decent gun or good enough armor. They finally solved that problem in 1943, but at that time it was too late . Reliability of Italian tanks was actually good for WW2 standards. Ariete division was highly regarded by Rommel . But the industrial base was lacking in engine production.
Oh oh spaghettioooos
@@aleksazunjic9672 Their industrial base was lacking in pretty much everything, the only part that had "some" success was their airplanes, which were pretty good, but they still didn't have enough industry to produce them in sufficient numbers.
Bruh, lmao.
When FIAT cars are more effective tanks than FIAT tanks
True fiat puntos are the best light cars
@ReichsFührer Monika did you know the fiat engines are the same as ferrari
A fiat car did more damage to my car one day (that car got totalled while I could still drive away) than that tank ever would 🤣
sono belli, almeno.
‘A good quarter of a league 🌺🥀🌹🏵💮🌸💐
"The risk we took was calculated. But boy do we suck at math" Italian tank designers
Vero hahaha
Ho rischiato la giocata
meanwhile in pizzeria: *_math gods_*
Imagine if Ferrari made tanks
@@HarrowKrodarius >BT Series
Another factor that is not often mentioned, regarding how the Axis manufactured war goods is this: The Italians (and to a lesser extent the Germans) had a self-inflicted handicap that made itself apparent, as soon as the war dragged on after 1940. Italian manufacturing was good at making high-quality goods, using slow hand-crafted techniques - but they could only make a few of them. The Italians had a long tradition of making finely made products (one of the oldest companies is Beretta Firearms, that have been making guns since the 17th century, for instance). This craftsman tradition meant that while goods would be finely made, they could not make many of them, since they were slow to produce but the Italians suffered worse shortages of resources than even the Germans did. Naturally such methods were completely unsuited to a world war, where the numbers needed of guns and bullets alone were measured in the millions or billions. It also meant Italy was slow to modernize designs and, except for a few excellent aircraft types, the Italian army was stuck with too many obsolete small arms, machine guns, and tanks and too many ammo types, that had no commonality with their German allies.
and what about the British?? their weapons were useless and old, only as the US stepped in with massive supply you could make a few more or less usable tanks! Dünnkirchen humiliating defeat was the first sign of your useless weapons, but the Brits sold this retreat as success, Singapore was even more shameful, British outnumbered the Japanese 10 to 1, nevertheless the surrender without even try!!! yes you can be so proud of Brits, sorry i mean proud of the US and their help!!!
*The opposite story*
Americans in 1940: What's a medium tank?
Germans in 1940: This is a medium tank.
Americans: O_O
British: What in God's name is that?
Americans: It's the M3 medium tank. Through the magic of COTS parts and extensive use of low risk technologies, we managed to move it from the start of the design process to mass production in a little over a year.
British: Why does it look like that?
Americans: We didn't have time to design a turret and the radial engine+front transmission means there is a a drive shaft that goes diagonally across nearly the entire length of the tank adding about a foot or so to its overall height, but I guess you don't want a reliable heavily armored vehicle with a big gun.
British: We didn't say that.
@@Ezekiel903 why does this feel like an american?
@@Ezekiel903 alot of countries have their weapons useless and old
@alapotamus5293That's hilarious. the M3 Sherman was a weird tank but it was very reliable mechanically. It was built off an obsolete but well tested battle platform, the M2 Medium, By the time it came off the production line the designs were quite old, but they worked.
The Sherman by retaining its older technology became the most mechanically reliable tank in the war, and its boxy superstructure was partly to make it easy to open up the tank, yank its guts out and put in new parts. A desirable feature when the factories that made the things was on the other side of the world.
Most European tanks of that time had no concept of ease of maintenance in their designs. The Amerricans backed by their Detroit knowhow knew how important that would be and so they put it in. As a result you could drive a Sherman all day, and go into the fight that night and expect everything to work. NO other nation can claim that in WWII
"In the affairs of this world, poverty alone is without envy"
- Giovanni Boccaccio
" My name is Giovanni Giorgio but everybody call me Giorgio "
- Giovanni Giorgio
@@HeathcliffY hai vinto tutto
@@HeathcliffY "I, Giorno Giovanna, have a dream." ~Giorno Giovanna
Do you want to unlearn the lies and learn the truth about history? Then watch the documentary 'Europa: The Last Battle.'
@@BurnPerimeter YES YES YES YES... YEES
The thing is, when the Italians used these tanks against the Greeks to NO great capacity and abandoned them, the Greeks just hauled them on the road, fixed them, and used it against the Italians! Unbelievable.
The terrain really did the Italians no favor.
The greeks: it's free real estate
@Nakki_Boii at least Soviet tanks did prove effective against Japan and Germany
@@zerokilo5811 The Italian failure in Greece led to the German intervention there and the delay in Barbarossa
@@michaeltelson9798 let's all be honest here, the Germans were never the allies Italy needed. Not only was Italy fighting Greece, but also the common wealth forces in the area. The Germans were forced to help, but it was not until the Italians took a beating. At the end of the day casualties on both sides are similar.
my grandfather drove the cv 33 in ww2, he told me that even when a small shot reached him the bolts that held the plates together jumped. he lost an eye for the splinters.
damm u cant call that a tank anymore its a deathtrap imagine it a bollt hits you in the head
It's like a frag grenade turned inside out.
@@minhducnguyen9276 or being inside a frag grenade
@@DarkPsychoMessiah but the shrapnel surround your body
@@theheavy1200 well, it hit him in the eye soooooo...
It is really interesting to look at the prototypes Italy had in the works during the war. The P40 and P43 were medium/heavy tanks which carried 75mm or 90mm guns respectively. They were designed to counter the Sherman and other similarly sized allied tanks, and would have been incredibly powerful had they come to fruition. Additionally, the Italian Panther would have been an interesting product, as the Italians only negotiated for the license to produce the tank, not the armament or propulsion. This means that it could have been an almost new vehicle with a 75 or even 90mm gun, local 7.7mm or 6.5mm machine guns, and a local engine, along with subtle design differences. Imagine a Panther armed with the 90/53 gun!
Panther’s gun was already insanely good for it’s calibre due to it’s huge barrel length which gave it a very high muzzle velocity of 935m/s.At distances between 0-2000m it had better armor penetration charasteristics than Tiger I’s 88mm KwK 36 and Pershing’s 90mm M3.
There is absolutely no doubt it would still outperform anything Italians had at the time no matter what calibre.
If they just started the p40 in 1939 they could have had a real chance. Very capable tank
There was a problem with this. Italy tried making powerful enough engines to move the P40s. But only made it in 1944, when Italy was already split up. So if the Italians make every model 10 years earlier, they would have delt a lot better. Also the Italian army needed much more preparation, Wich it didn't get thanks to Hitler's abitions
The P26/40 was adequate, but not outstanding. It had better speed, but worse protection and a worse gun than the most common medium tanks of the war. Its performance would likely have been about on par with later model cromwells or Panzer 3s, oress known, the Turan 2, which had an almost identical gun, and aimilar protection.
I mean you won’t feel like a real tank commander considering you’re sitting in a gaming chair but in a tank it’s extremely hot and cramped
Then I’ll be at home
you could fix that, if you know what i mean
My wifes boyfriend locked me in my basement, i already feel like a tank commander. Its hot and cramped.
In a tank in a tank?
Not if the tank has adequate AC. Of course, it would be extremely difficult for the average WOT player to get the full sensation of shrapnel flying in their face.
"when i joined the corps, we didn't have any good tanks like the Ariete! we had sticks, two sticks and a rock for the whole platoon, and we preferred the rock over the tank!"
Nothing like a Halo 2 reference to make my day.
@@zacklapaglia7644 I knew I heard that somewhere haha
I read this and cracked up!
He knows what the ladies like
Well played reference sir, well played
"I wish I joined the infantry " said only Italian tankers ever.
In fact I think most tankers would prefer not be in their tanks. During ww2 it was in most cases 1 shot 1 tank dead. And if the tank exploded, you died instantly, and you were lucky. If the tank cought fire and stuck you inside, you'd burn to death. I don't think you want it to happen tho
@@ahouais5620 depends which tank because the Sherman was pretty good at keeping it’s crew from getting killed
@@stealthcone You're kidding right? The Sherman was nicknamed the "Ronson" after the cigarette lighter brand because of how easily it caught fire when hit.
@@coreypatterson5827 no it wasn’t the tank was much better than any other at keeping it’s crew alive than even the German’s big fucking useless slabs they called king tigers
@@stealthcone You need to get away from the propaganda reels and learn some actual history. The Sherman was EXTREMELY fragile against anything bigger than a rifle. The only real protection it offered its crew was there being so damn many Shermans it reduced the odds of any given one getting hit.
And yes, the "Ronson" reputation was very real, and very deserved. Look it up.
It would also be important to mention the mountainous terrain of the Italian country side as well and narrow roads for why they mostly produced light and medium tanks and almost no heavy tanks. decent versions were in the pipeline but surrender ended those projects.
The problem was that the Italians had we fought the war syndrome just like every Main land European nation had. The Italian battled in the mountains during the first war so they made their tanks accessible to fight in the Alps or Rocky terrain. It didn’t help the Italians one bit because the whole country wasn’t industrialize to fight a mobile war.
Wrecking the antiquated Italian economy and then helping them rebuild it along modern lines was the best favor America ever did for Italy.
They were too busy making pasta with Chef Boyarmussolini.
Ma che cazzo dici?!Ma è piuttosto ovvio chi si arruola in militare gli mettono nel cervello di ammazzare quell'altro
@@mizzoupatriot8814 no...questioni di industrializzazione ed economica
Add the fact it lacked any type of resources of industrial interest, unlike Germany which was rich in coal and iron ore for steel mills, and also the sabotage that the military was undergoing throughout the war from fascists dissidents (for example in one occasion tanks destined for the Africa campaign were shipped with sugar in their gas tank, making them de facto useless, unless towed and used as fixed artillery, like in the battle of Bir el Gobi) and British sympathisers (almost all navy high command received medals and rewards at the end of the war).
Imagine chasing a tank running from you.
"This is BS, how could you catch me? I was in 4th gear!"
Why are you running WHY ARE YOU RUNNING. (MEME)
King Bradley: I can relate
@@paxtonjohnson2488 😐
@@moch.farisdzulfiqar6123
Ah a fellow FMA fan.
World: Did you make a good tank?
Italy: Yes.
World: What did it cost?
Italy: Dignity, pride and a war.
Underrated
When the battle started, the pizza ran away.
They had a pampered general from a wealthy family who practiced "decimation" on a battalion after losing a battle too. Would have sucked to be an Italian conscript during ww2
@@getthegoods420 nice, we lost, let's give some more free kills, so we will lose easier next time xD
Japan’s tanks sucked even harder than Italy’s tbh
The M13/40 was an improved version of the M11/39 which oddly seems to have forshadowed how the M3 Lee would preceed the M4 Sherman, both having hull mounted guns while a larger turret was designed.
Germany: This is where I put my best team trophy I have
IF I HAD ANY
Zis is vhere I put my best team trophy I have
IF I HAD ANY
That can go for all axis members the axis members where all horrible allies italy performed really badly but the Germans gave them none of the equipment the needed which goes for basically every minor axis nation a notable example would be the Romanians outside of Stalingrad which fought hard but had non of the anti tank guns Germany promised which meant they had to defend against the horde of t34s with molitov cocktails
but yeah the meme is pretty accurate
**offended Japanese noises**
@@darylleleong Germany equipped and trained the nationalist Chinese which fought japan
@Hunter6213 very little Chinese were trained by the Germans and by 1941 most of them were dead or out of supply’s but when the German trained units went against the Japanese with the proper equipment they preformed very well
Bob Semple tank: "Finally, some worthy opponents."
Play ravenfield, bob is op for no good reason
Bob Semple: Our battle will be mediocre!
Nah the perfect opponent was the tiger or t34
No the semple tank was good if it had a good gun like it was intended it would be amazing just ugly
@@jasonreed1631 haharious
"Less likely to burst into flames"
*Proceeds to show the tank burst in flames and turret blown off
Popping a turret means the tanks ammo was hit and detonated. Engines generally just burst into flames.
Am I the only one that noticed the "good Italian tank" is clearly either an M1 or and M2 abrams.
@@bunniesandbuns6869 The Ariete is a domestically built Italian MBT and honestly it's design is closer to a Challenger than Abrams.
@@DarkButz well, the more I know! Thanks for letting me know.
I read that in the same moment when it was said
One tank not mentioned here is the Carro Armato P 26/40 heavy tank. Armed with a 75mm cannon and with 50mm of slopped armor and 60mm for the turret, this tank could go toe to toe with allied armour. The only setback was the riveted construction. The tank was good enough that when the Germans took over italy, not only did the Germans continue to use these tanks (under the designation of Panzerkampfwagen P40 737(i)) but also ordered their production continue.
I was so confused why there were people who were here a week ago but then I forgot about Early Access members. Good reward for being a member.
@Trolley It's a spambot
Don't click the links
‘Come, Little Red-Cap, here is a😫😪😯🤐😮😥😣
looked at her, but most of all 😏🙄😶😑😐🤨🤔
The huntsman was just passing🤽♂️🤼♀️🤼♂️🤸♀️🤸♂️🏍🏎
not hear how sweetly the little🍲🥘🍳🥚🥙🌯🌮
Look up the book “Iron Hulls, Iron Hearts” by Ian W. Walker. For one thing the Italian military units were smaller in comparison to those of other nations. The Ariete Armored Division of the the 3 armored divisions created served in North Africa. It was equivalent in size to a British armored brigade or a US Armored Command. The NCO’s were considered decent to good, but the officers primarily lacked training and experience getting positions mostly by feudal rank or political influence. The tank mechanics were marvelous being able to keep these terrors of construction in service. Many out dated weapons from WWI were still in service like Austria-Hungarian artillery pieces and machine guns prone to jamming easily.
They were brave men in these vehicles hampered by a government not willing to improve equipment.
well their government did try to improve the equipement, but italy lacked tank experience and industry. Italy also hadn't as much steel as uk or germany. This resulted in italy prefering wooden planes for instance.
@@ahouais5620 Most of the military industrial complex was FIAT and its many subsidiaries. There was a great lack of knowledge in the design and manufacturing of engines for both aircraft and armored vehicles. Their air force also needed to to accede to the pilots still wanting open top cockpits when handed the original G.50 and Macchi C.200 designs. The smaller aircraft companies not affiliated with FIAT. Reggiane had engineers that had previously worked for Seversky (later became Republic) and were quite familiar with the P-35. If you look at the wing and tail surfaces of their aircraft (RE 2000 thru RE 2005) you will see a family resemblance to the P-35 and the P-47. Later they had to rely on licenses to build versions of the Daimler Benz water cooled aircraft.
I would also include Macchi as aviation innovators from their seaplane racing experience.
Yes, lack of ability to obtain metals did hinder production, but other smaller countries had good designs, like Czechoslovakia with both the 35 and 38 models that they were also selling abroad (Sweden). Why didn’t they try to adopt a Christie suspension? The Czechs and Soviets did.
Many bomber aircraft had wooden wings like the CANT aircraft.
If it wasn’t for Mussolini’s ego to rule the new Roman Empire and not do his attacks to gain lands that were marginally helpful at best, Italy would have survived better. A neutral Italy would have served the people better and actually help Hitler more with a more secure southern flank.
@@michaeltelson9798 i agree, and also the italian aircraft were very good, like the g56 which was better than the me109 and comparable to late fw190. The italian bomber sm79 was feared by the royal navy. The cr42 was arguiably the best biplane in WW2. I think the italian airforce did far better than the italian land army or the italian navy
@@ahouais5620 I do think that the RE 2005 might have outclassed both the G 55 and the M.C. 205. The SM79 was outdated as a level bomber as it fought in the Spanish Civil War, but as a torpedo bomber it served well. The Gloster Gladiator did some yeoman work in many theaters especially in the hands of pilots like “Pat” Pattle or against the Japanese by the Nationalist Chinese (2 America Chinese are accredited aces in it including the first Gladiator ace). The CR42 had a very limited speed ( the Gladiator as well) so at most it could only make a single pass on British bombers which sent it into night fighter and fighter bomber duty. It was past it time of efficacy.
@@michaeltelson9798 There are still some myths about the Italian military in WW2.
The majority of the Italian officers gained their ranks through hard work on the frontlines, in fact field generals like Messe, Nasi, De Stefanis and others, were very capable as were the junior officers under them. The real problem were the high ranking officers, the ones appointed by Mussolini in the high commands.
The "outdated WW1 era weapons" that everyone mentions, were in reality few and far between. Only some of the artillery pieces were really outdared, machine guns were mostly Breda Mod 37s while the modified Fiat-Revelli 14/35 were used as vehicle mounted weapons; the few remaining WW1 Fiat-Revelli 1914s were relegated to mainland duties as small AA guns, on coastal defence duties or placed inside the forts in the Alps.
The Carcano Mod91 were instead mostly used by rear line units or in the mainland with not that many reaching the frontlines.
Regarding Fiat, while they produced a big chunk of the Italian military land and air equipment it didn't have the overall monopoly of the industrial complex, with Macchi, Savoia-Marchetti, Caproni, CRDA CANT, Breda, Ansaldo and Acciaierie Terni being the rest of the major productors of vehicles and weapons used by the Army and Air Force.
What hindered all these companies wasn't their own lack of inventive, but was more caused by Mussolini and the fascists' protectionist plans and lack of funding to the aviation research institutes (that can be expanded to the whole industrial complex).
Onto tanks; the Czech tanks weren't that diffirent from the Italian ones, aside from their reliability of the engines, the tanks had similar weight (10-15 ton range), riveted armour, but with weaker guns. The suspensions that the LT vz 35 and LT vz 38 had, was based on the leaf spring system used by the Vickers 6-Ton, the same design adopted by the Italians for their M series, also no Czech tank used Christie suspensions.
Christie suspension in fact wasn't adopted due to it being costly to produce and maintain/repair, plus taking too much space inside a tank.
As for the CANT planes, being made of wood wasn't really a drawback, it made them lighter and faster and freed up metals needed for other vehicles/weapons.
I saw both FIAT 3000 and CV33 Tankette in the tank museum. They were both half size of my Ford Fusion sedan car. Unimaginable how brave you had to be to fight in one of these
The thing is these tanks would never be fighting Sherman’s or at least very rarely. The lees (grants) would not face the Italian tanks often either, the most common tanks fighting these tanks would most likely be the crusader 1 and 2 as well as the British cruiser series.
And they were still inadequate. What’s your point?
And why is that?
@@timsellers4946 these things were more than capable of dealing with crusaders.
Which was kinda dumb since the British were on a lend-lease program with America, so they were getting hundreds of Lees and later, Shermans.
@@casematecardinal absolutely not
WW2 italian tanks are considered memes even in Italy, where italians people usually laughs at their flaws(at least those interested in history). Btw do you know the tankettes were nicknamed 'Tin Coffin' by the soldiers?
Indeed but we had potential to make better tanks than Britain, America and the Soviet Union.
It's not like we have Lamborghini, Ferrari, Alfa Romeo, Fiat etc. We know how to make fuel-guzzlers, just needed the resources.
As an Italian, I do agree
@@gloomsouls But you eventually made a good tank, the P26/40.
Here is a Wikipedia article about it.
en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/P26/40_tank
@@ghostplays2766 it would have been effective but they ran out of time, and it honestly would not have made much of a difference in the scope of the war.
@@ardie4 Well, yes. Only about a hundred were build, and only a few saw combat, so you are right. Still, it was probably the best tank Italy had developed (and manufactured) during the WWII.
Imagine advertising a game where the developers want nothing to do to improve the game but will constantly do stuff to make the game worse until Credit cards are flashed for things to be fixed
Yeah, it doesn't have the same feel anymore. "Historical battles," show me which army used a GI Joe themed tank to win rewards in a wrestling competition. I enjoyed it when it was unique, not trying to emulate other things.
@@thecombatwombat7652 I agree with you on that, or some sort of outlandish tank that was never even made and or tanks that never even had blue prints for due to them being scrapped
Are you talking about World of tanks PC or World of tanks Console?
@@thecarslinger7590 PC
@@nick250ification at least they are better than console
Tank Driver: "Can we have armor?"
Mussolini: "No, we don't do that here"
Tanks in many other countries:
Well armored
Powerful guns
Italian tanks:
Armored Taxis
Attached with a nerf gun
*Slightly armored taxis
at least they can stop bullets right?
@@FelonE-k8x If the bullets aren't moving too fast (e.g someone is throwing them by hand), then yes, I'd say that armor stands a good chance of blocking the bullets.
If you look at R3 it more like armoured go-cart
This video has given me a respect for the the Italian tanker. I can only imagine how horrible it would to crew any of these tanks
Hey red baron
@@Bikavin hey dmitri
@@kingoftheskies34 hello
I love Red Baron pizza
@@n8pk69 tastes like cardboard
"feel like a real tank commander in wot"
"HERR KOMMANDANT, ZE ENEMY HAS 5 HITPOINTS LEFT"
@Hylian sniper Hetzer gonna hetz
Funny how they promote that crap game when war thunder is infinitely better...
@Bernard Miszczuk sort of, germanizing an english sentence
So irrelevant to the video
Herr commandant: INITIATE FULL-ON TANK OLBLITERATION, just because ze enemy is dumb and weak.
You know I just realized that out of all the factions that participated in World War II, the Italians are the ones we always forget.
We remember what the Germans and the Japanese did, but the Italians?
They're like the member of a band that never gets any recognition.
Because of propaganda nobody know when the italian did well and only remember their failures. Like nobody remember the failures of USA or the other major nations
very simple ,because only the winner write the history .
they played bass for ww2
They deserves it with the awful performance they put up
@@Joseph-mw2rlawful? Erwin Rommel was impressed how they fought..the only thing they needed was the Equipment
"That's not a tank, that's death coffin with turret"
Some Italian Soldier during WWII
They nicknamed the cv33 "Scatoletta di Sardine" wich means sardine box
That is a ctually a name with wich it was called
Cassa di morto
"Less likely to burst into flames when hit..."
TURRET PROCEED'S TO CREATE IT'S OWN SPACE PROGRAM
It's the emergency turret ejection system 😂😂😂😂
"you know what FIAT stands for right? FIX.IT.AGAIN.TONY."
Toni*
aaaaa
Therussianbadger
Yep
Knew it
I don't argue on the poor quality of the italian tanks. But when I hear that italian tanks had one gear forward and four reverse I think that you should study the battle of El Alamain where the Ariete division was totally destroyed. They fought up to the end and sacrificed themselves, even if inferior in quality. Respect to them.
@@Commodore22345 I mean would you blame them? What glory or bravery is there to die in Afghanistan during a war sought by the Americans? We don’t have any beef with the Afghans. You can’t compare two different wars that hold two different stances of people and institutions. It’s like saying that the Americans were cowards because they didn’t want to go to Vietnam to die in a useless anti communist effort.
@@Commodore22345 also, that said, aren’t the US soldiers cowards in the eyes of all Middle Eastern combatants? Killing people with pilotless vehicles and other kind of drones? Fighting in enormous tin cans while their enemies ride horses at best? Frankly I don’t think Americans hold the best judgment in the regards of bravery in general.
@@Commodore22345 well they joined NATO, if they didn't like NATO they could opt out. Priviliges come with duties, if they had done their duties, they wouldn't be called coward
@@Commodore22345 I don't want to mention how quick the strongest super power of the world (i.e. Usa) run away from Afghanistan, leaving behind an impressive amount of materials and military vehicles. Many gifts kindly offered to the talibans. And an example of bravery for all of us. isn't?
@@Commodore22345 Evidently the information may change from the two sides of the ocean. The withdraw was planned by Mr. Trump and put in operation by Mr. Biden. And also very quickly. In a very confusing way, abandoning tons of weapons and vehicles. This is what has been reported by any media in the world.
The Italians are like that one kid who finally finished his homework 4 weeks later but missed out the next homework with a different topic
Pretty much how it happened. They create a tank, they send it to fight, it loose, they design a new one, they built it, by the time it is fighting it's already obsolete and repeat the all cycle
Italians could not produce compact enough engine with 300-500 hp . And that was a core of their problems - without strong enough engine you could not mount decent gun or good enough armor. They finally solved that problem in 1943, but at that time it was too late . Reliability of Italian tanks was actually good for WW2 standards. Ariete division was highly regarded by Rommel . But the industrial base was lacking in engine production.
I give Italy the grade E: "Effort"
And what about F?
F? Funny?
@@_GuruhAminhadi Fear of dying but fighting into these metal death traps anyway
The Italians excelled in asymmetric warfare. The used mini subs and frogmen to attach mines to the hulls of ships. The had a plan to release the mini subs in New York harbor to sabotage shipping. At Gibraltar they used a partially sunk ship as the launching point to release their frogmen. They developed a low profile , shallow draft boat to attack ships at anchor. The boat could just make it over the torpedo nets and then the pilot would race to his target. He would lock the rudder and activate the ejection seat. There was a small explosive in front which was just enough to sink the craft. The main charge was set off when it had sunk to a specified depth. You want an explosive to detonate under the keel so you can almost crack the ship in half.
asymmetric warfare is not enough to turn the war into their favor.
cool!
Well a stopped clock is right twice a day I suppose. But being good at one small facet of warfare doesn't do much when you suck at everything else.
@@guppy719 exactly. 1 factor is just not enough to win anything meaningful. the italians were good despite having so little technology capabilities. They really did try to make the most of it but they were really just limited due to economic reasons. But I'm glad the italians really made up for it after the war in modern age.
@@jmgonzales7701 oto melara cannon is the main cannon for navy in the world. Beretta is the ferrari of guns and our helicopter and space compartment are very good now. The video talk about ariete C1 at the last but I prefer centauro.
Italian placing heavy gun in the plane : 🤑
italian placing heavy gun in the tank : 💀
"With a top speed of 26mph, or 42kph. Which is comparable to the famous sprinter Usain Bolt running at full speed."
Now I need an animation of Usain Bolt chasing down a tankette and the crew being terrified of him catching up.
Yes because their engine would prob catch on fire or end up using all the fuel before Usain bolt could be outrunned
Set to Yakity Sax
His top speed was 37.5 kph, that's considerably slower than 42 kph, and he could not sustain 37.5 kph for long
@@victory7999 do you know what a joke is?
@@victory7999 I retract myself, seems like you do but just wanted to share the actual math. Thank you sir
The tanks armor was just sheets of lasagna pasted together
Sheets of pasta pizzaed together
Lol
@@Hoody8844 ikr
The worst part of this is that it’s pretty much true lol
tomato paste special
Italy: conquering the enemy with superior wine and hospitality.
Lies
As usual, our deficits in WW2 came down to inefficient (and often inept) leadership at the top level, rushed decisions and a general disorganization, all at the detriment of brave soldiers who more often than not had to fight with their bare hands against either far larger numbers (Eastern Front) or far better equipped armies (everywhere else).
The Italians and Japanese had a contest on who could make the funniest tank and kill the enemy with laughter.
Edit: it's amazing, how many people have taken this comment seriously. Cripes
And the austrailians took the gold medal
@@A.RandomGuy you mean the Kiwis?
@@radjadawamindra697 no. i meant the austrailians. Bugger off.
@@A.RandomGuy wasn't that actually New Zealand?
@@felipecardoza9967 Shut up! Youre ruining my credibility by using freedom of speech to call me out as the liar i am
Italy: *Uses outdated Ally tanks* Hey could you give me some ta-
German: Nien, you incompetent pizza makers!
Thus, Italy switched sides once more.
Oof ! Germany shouldn't have done that
Nope, Italy switched side becuase the governament was changed + the king never liked fascism and Mussolini( the king was weak, he decided to give Mussolini power to stop his nationaist wave)
@@pumpkin91ful r/woooooosh
@@pumpkin91ful The king FINALLY getting a spine and deposing Mussolini likely saved Italy from total destruction. His big mistake though was not ensuring Mussolini was swiftly executed, allowing Hitler to rescue him and set up a puppet state in the north under his leadership. It's not too surprising the Italians went to a republic not long after the war (though as many Italians said, they had often been more republic-type people since Rome fell).
It's "Nein"
"World of Tanks, where history meets action."
Yes.
History where Soviet imagination tanks fought against the French and the Americans.
History where artillery had a satellite view.
History where the wheels of a wheeled tank could stop 88mm shells.
Nice meme.
yea they have more made up tanks than real ones
Wow. Almost like it's a videogame.
Can't believe you didn't bring up how tanks are controlled by a single person with a mouse and keyboard even though neither of those existed during ww2
@@clockworklemon9243 True, although I think people are just frustrated about companies having the main selling point of their games be "realism" when it's mostly just arcade action. Not to say you can't learn anything from a game.
@@clockworklemon9243 haha that's not the same thing
you forgot about the fantasy tanks
The problem was that Mussolini made a fatal miscalculation when he threw his lot in with Hitler. He knew Italy wasn’t ready for another massive war, and he likely expected to simply be able to get some scraps from Germany’s conquests and then have it be over with. Unfortunately for everyone, including his fellow Axis powers, Hitler really just seemed to want to watch the world burn. Italy, Romania, Hungary, and Bulgaria all ended up getting roped into an Earth-shattering conflict by Germany.
Italy wasn't ready for war but could expect to be pulled into it anyway. So picking the winning side was critical. Note that Mussolini waited until days after the Dunkirk evacuation with the French Army in retreat to declare war.
Italy was originally in an alliance with France and UK against Germany (1935). This ended when the UK led the League of Nations to impose sanctions against Italy over the invasion of Abyssinia.
And in early 1939 Mussolini was approached by the British government wanting to revive this alliance.
Makes it even more of a fatal miscalculation since they had offers to join the Allies.
Finland?
@@iansneddon2956 Who knows maybe the Germans wouldn't bother crossing the Alps and Italy would have joined Switzerland's side in the war.
Italy wasn't pulled into anything. Mussolini was off starting wars long before Hitler. Mussolini invaded Ethiopia in 1935, Hitler had only just taken over Germany in 1933 and wasn't nowhere near to doing anything. If anyone got pulled into needless wars it was Hitler, having to bail out the Italians after they botched their Balkan escapades. That diversion is believed to have caused Barbarossa to be delayed by several crucial weeks, possibly changing the outcome of the war.
Italy will NEVER get over its ww2 performance and this proves part of it
atleast it isnt france
The Italian Navy was no pushover though, they gave the British a pretty hard fight for at least several years, in no small part due to their three major battleships. There's a 1943 newsreel of the fleet surrendering at Malta, and it's quite impressive to say the least. I think they were one of the top ten navies in the world when the war broke out.
@@dominicdelgado1654 Italy actually attacked France in the South while Germany attacked in the north. Even while France was falling, the outnumbered French, who were getting no reinforcements, or regular supplies, because of what was happening up north, were successfully attacking into Italy, capturing considerable territory. Hitler actually had to make the French give the territory back after he conquered them. So in answer to your question, the Italians actually had a much worse military than France.
At least we didn t lose against talibans. XP
@@thunderbird1921 Yes, Italy was on it way to building a better fleet than Britain's. That was it's goal I believe. They wanted to defeat the British then push them out of North Africa.
Germany is actually at fault there for declaring war on America, otherwise Britain wouldn't have won in North Africa and America would never have had a foothold in the Mediterranean.
0:08 "history meets action" the 30% of tanks in game never existed, and a tier V tank is actually from The Great war
Wargaming logic
...which Tier V?
@@hans3000 france
@@Mangoeplanter Huh... I'll open wot and see if it's true.
@@Mangoeplanter OK, looking at all the Tier V French vehicles...
1) AMX 13 105 AM mle. 50 (1950)
2) Somua S35 CA (1945)
3) BDR G1 B (1938)
4) AMX ELC bis (1957)
...with no collectors' or premium vehicles of that tier.
So you've either got your facts mixed up or something has changed since the last time you played WoT.
...in fact, the Renault FT (Tier I) is probably the only WoT tank to be from WWI.
The only effective version of the tankette was that one upgraded with a flame thrower. If it made it to the enemy lines it almost always caused a small rout even if it was small and wasn't that effective it was scary as it was hard to hit and relatively quick.
That was, *IF* it made it to enemy lines.
It was limited by the lack of a rotating tower and hampered by the small trailer. Later they tried to replaced it with a L6/40 flam. But yes it could also be used against tanks, sneaking and fry them. the flames will get in the various openings similar to a molotov.
If
@@ls200076 the IF is the big question. On the flip side it was a very small target, with some luck and some fog of war it would reach destination. But the manovring and positioning would be deadly. No turret it means you had to move alot just to get a shot.
In fact it was so quick and swift that they couldn't move when shooting flames or else they would surpass the flames and die burning
imagine if the Italians and Japanese tanks had to fight each other in WW2
That would only happen if the Imperial Japanese Navy entered the Mediterranean or North Africa and decided to take some of the territory fascist Italy had. Unfortunately that was utterly impossible as long a the Royal Navy controlled the Suez and large parts of the Indian Ocean.
I feel like Japan would have the advantage
Based only on the "hard stats" for the best tanks each nation fielded and the ammunition for their guns, Japan would take the crown with the Chi-Ha Kai. It is faster with a high-velocity 47mm gun whose ammo could penetrate the Italians' M14/41s at well over one kilometer distance. That being said, both tanks were made of such low-quality steel that it would fail under sustained heavy machine gun fire such as that from a US M2 Browning or Soviet DShK.
They'd abandon their tanks and shoot with their hand guns which would be way better than the tanks
I would count the japanese designs as generally superior, and certainly better suited to their strategic requirements and tactical environment.
"Ariete is rated as one of the best tanks ever made"
Centauro in War Thunder: "Are you sure about that?"
Centauro, are you sure you're a tank?
That's not a tank
For some reason centauro is just an easy target with its massive size and poor torque
@@aliminhas5981 i don't think you understand the antitank doctrine, so here it is: "Tank destroyer units are employed offensively in large numbers, by rapid
maneuver, and by surprise . . . . Offensive action allows the entire strength
of a tank destroyer unit to be engaged against the enemy. For individual
tank destroyers, offensive action consists of vigorous reconnaissance to locate
hostile tanks and movement to advantageous positions from which to attack
the enemy by fire. Tank destroyers avoid “slugging matches” with tanks,
but compensate for their light armor and difficulty of concealment by exploitation of their mobility and superior observation." Page 24 of Dr. Christopher R. Gabels' book: Seek, Strike, and Destroy.
@@putatankinamall7168 although not a tank, the Italian Army upgraded the Centauro while the Ariete remains in "as is, where is" state since its introduction.
Italians be like: "I'm limited by the technology of my time."
Considering they used the german DB605 engine that the Bf109 used to create 1 equal and 2 better fighters than the Bf109, but if they were to use Italian engines the plane would be crap, you could say the Italian designers were really limited by the Italian industry
Their vehicles ran on Chef Boyardee and Spaghetti-O's.
Don't forget to pinch the air.
Not really they time. Their own leadership.
Also italians: *creates atomic bomb*
When a daddy tank and mommy tank love eachother VERY much, they make an Italian tank
With tanks like these, it's no wonder Italy was referred to by the Allies as "Europe's Soft Underbelly."
Mama Mia! Think, Mussolini! THINK!
Nice Invincible reference
M3 crews be like: "Look at how they try to mimic a fraction of our power."
Very interesting video! My grandpa served in the Italian Army post war (50-52), he used to tell my brothers and I stories about commanding ex-American M4 Sherman’s and we have a few photos of him with a M36 Jackson tank destroyer too.
The Americans banned Italy from producing tanks at home for twenty years after the war, but when the Cold War began to heat up in the late 50’s the ban was lifted, leading to their involvement in the creation of the Leopard.
WW2 tankette: The literal definition of quantity over quality
War Thunder tankette: Giga Chad tank that can pick apart modern tanks if shot at the right places.
So true.
Italians were still able to push the brits so far back, that they stretched the supply line to much! what if when the US would have PROVIDE TANKS TO ITALIAN INSTEAD THE BRIT'S??? they would have cross the channel with this tanks
Honestly the engineering to make that tiny tank is pretty impressive.
1:08 "one forward, and four reverse" sounds more of a french joke than an italian one
French Rifle for sale
Dropped twice
Never fired
I remember my dad saying that same thing... or was it one forward and five reverse gears?
One forward in case the enemy came from behind...
To be fair. Italy would have lost in Greece and in North Africa pretty much instantly without the support of Germany. In Greece against an enemy that was way inferior in combat strength compared to what France faced against Germany. And in North Africa against the British Empire that feared for their homeland and couldn't really support their egyptian exclave.
If one of the major players really underperformed in WW2 it was Italy and not France.
I'd like to remind everyone that the Imperial Japanese Army had at least 1 tank on the front lines that could theoretically penetrate a Sherman's side or rear armor.
Yes. I'm saying Japanese WWII tanks were better than Italian tanks.
The P40 could do so too...
Japanese tanks are better, you're right, they also have mortars and Anti- tank guns that gave the U.S Shermans a run for their money.
@@Latrine1999 I heard the Army barely ever used it and it was Germany who mostly operated it.
@@redrocket604
And the magnetic bombs on the end of bamboo sticks.
That moment when even your ally who spent most resources on navy and air force has more reliable tanks than you
the last video about pompie I said " I wished they did more tank stuff" my wish has been graned
The Cv-33, Semovente, & P40 will always have their place in Anzio High School Academy in Girls und Panzer
7:50 Oh, that's the gun some historians say was a rival to the German 88.
German 88 means WaffleTracktor
Or WT pz 4??
@@AnshuOP69 the flak gun
@@CharyllGabrielCAclao i dont get it. And i will never will.
@@CharyllGabrielCAclao Grillie 15?
Balistically it was the same as powerful, the germans build a similar design near the end of the war, copying the vehicles they'd captured after Italy's surrender (I had ROCO's model)
The early Italian tank designs were meant for fighting in the mountains. As they had done a lot of mountain fighting in World War I. And they expected it to be much the same the next go around.
What a bunch of dummies.
@@bearsausage8599 to be fair the British expected this as well but unlike the Italians could adapt faster
@@Kirb-kc4vs even english tanks were trash
@@bearsausage8599 Have you ever seen a map of Italy? 35.2% of the territory is made up of mountains, 41.6% of hills and only 23.2% of plains, not to mention the rivers from the Po to the Tagliamento that break up the largest Italian plain. Even the Allied Command after 1943 had to accept that a different war was being fought in Italy from the one being fought in France or in the Desert.
@@bearsausage8599 It took the allies two years to push from Sicily to Northern Italy tho, but that's mostly due to the Germans
People tend to forget that tanks are made for different purposes, for example, the shamans were designed to be used on all fronts, the Soviets designed their tanks to fight in fields and open areas,the Italians designed their tanks to fight in urban areas so the reason why they were ineffective was because they wrnt designed to fight in desert conditions
What?
Tanks are supposed to be used everywhere. In open field and urban if unavoidable
The idea of urban italian tank is ridiculous as it would mean they wanted to fight in their own CITIES.
Also, You know that Italian had had colonies and fought in Africa for decades before WW2, right?
They assuredly had to design their tanks with those requirement in mind. If not, that is their own fault.
@@huntermad5668 "Tanks are supposed to be used everywhere."
That's true today, but not entirely true in World War II where pre-war doctrine divided tanks into different categories based on role that determined tonnage, armament, speed, crew, etc. Some were assault tanks meant to destroy fortifications (so heavily armored, high-caliber low-velocity guns), others were anti-tank tanks (so fast, low-caliber, high-velocity guns), and then you had scout tanks (fast, light armor and armaments), defensive tanks, assault guns, etc. Some were just weird hybrids like the KV2 or the assorted modifications the Germans made to the vehicles that were out of date or captured (The Marder, STUG, and Hetzer fall into this category) that were more or less stopgaps.
A light, fast tank like what the Italians built was actually pretty good for the intended purpose of fighting lightly-armed tribesmen in North Africa who wouldn't be able to do much except pepper them with rifle fire and ride away.
The main battle tank was something that emerged from this experience, but all of the combatants took a long time to develop it, all while to produce enough tanks to keep themselves in the fight. It didn't help, of course, that all crawling out of the Great Depression and no one was actually ready for a world war (even the Germans. Especially the Germans).
@@zenogias01
I was talking about the assessment that Italian urban tank which is BS as nobody really want to fight in urban combat if they could help it. The urban tanks if exist mean Italian wanted to bring the fight into their towns and cities which is historically false.
The thing is that is classification based on role. Heavy, med, light still being used everywhere except in landing or island or other terrains unsuitable for heavy tanks. Med and light are pretty much used everywhere.
Italian heavy is P40 which by that time considered med by everybody else.
It was good to have light tank to fight those lightly armed fighters but the fact remain is that Italy would eventually fight a modern nation but tankette should be enough for that.
The light tanks and tankettes were not the result of they didn't want heavier tanks but the italian economy couldn't support that.
okay, tanks had been built from.the beginning to adapt to the environment the operator supposed to use them. Guess the environment Italian had to contend with in their northern africa colony, DESERT. So it is the fault of the engineers design the tank.
Actually most Italian tanks and tankettes before 1942 were meant for fighting in the mountains. But yeah, the main reason for not building heavier tanks is time and a basically none existent economy
@@huntermad5668 yea my mistake got confused, sorry
Soldier: "I'm ready to command a tank!"
Military: "Best I can do is a Tankette."
If war thunder taught me something, NEVER underestimate an L3 who catches you off guard
"Imagine how good italy's army would have been if they had the r3 t120" -average light tank user
" They will conquer all Europe and then swimming across Atlantic Ocean for invade America " - german-american tank player
"imagine how good they'd be if they had weapons from 40 years in the future"
The Italian wheeled light tanks/IFV's of the Cold War era I would describe as how Lamborghini would design a tank!
Italian tanker 1: "My meatballs are hard"
Italian tanker 2: "Those are rivets"
Italy: Thank you Germany for accepting me into the Axis, what is my purpose ?
Germany: you make pizza
Italy: Oh My God
Germany: Yeah, welcome to the club, pal
Hundreds of thousands of Italians died because of the choice of Mussolini to join Hitler.
13mph - shows soldiers walking casually next to it. That just cracked me up.
It should be noted part of the problem was that Italy's economy in WW2 was still primarily agricultural based, and limited industrial capacity hampered their ability to keep up with everyone else.
For them, the war was far more a political stunt than a practical one.
And what industry they had was tied down by the navy.
Mussolini's economical advisors told him Italy was ill-prepared for war in 1940 and that 1943 was the earliest they could enter as an effective force. Mussolini scoffed that off and believed the entire war would be over by 1941 or 1942 which is why "Italy had to sacrifice a little to gain a lot by sitting at the winner's table".
Here's the reality too. In the 1940's a significant percentage of the Italian population was still *illiterate* which meant that your average rural Italian was never going to understand any field manuals, tank/truck repair instructions or written orders. Forget about reading maps or the names of targets and objectives.
Italy's manufacturing was also relatively slow. A lot of their developed products were made by hand rather than machine, meaning it took time and effort. The products were great quality, but wars are centered around quantity over quality, which is sad for Italy.
I appreciate the Men of War: Assault Squad 2 theme.
I wonder if a US citizen like myself could own one of these Italian tanks because I honestly Wonder if it would be considered a fighting vehicle yes I know fighting vehicles and tanks are two different things but still
When I saw the thumbnail, I laughed a bit.
I thought it was a joke at first.
Interestingly they were quite aware of the sheer amount of problems they had and devised solutions. Problem was with their limited industry something that was needed right now didn't really enter service until 2 years too late at which point it was practically already obsolete. They had some interesting things they were working on like the Celere Sahariano M16/43 which was basically an Italian interpretation of the A15 Crusader (although far too late in 43 and thus cancelled) or the P40 which was heavily inspired by the Russian T-34, or various attempts at getting licence production deals that fell through due to various reasons.
i like the thumbnail its legit like
"they can't hit me if im too close!"
When your a Sherman tank driver and there is an Italian tank in front of you
Sir: someone is shooting pebbles at us
It’s a good idea for Mussolini to just let Rommel control their African Territory
Why you always on the videos?!
They let Marshal Cavallero wreck havoc for a while
@@ayyyyye ehhh you mean the man whose orders Rommel ignored constantly...try again
@@TheAngelobarker uhhh I long for the days where we can pick up on sarcasm through text
Sure he was only 'Marshal' Cavallero in the first place to stop Rommel from outranking him
And sure Rommel was under Italo Garobaldi and in fact it was Rommel who disobeyed orders, "One cannot allow unique opportunities to pass for the sake of trifles" (I think that was the quote)
Love the pfp dude
2:50 The CV33 wasn't inexpensive, roughly It costed as a panzer 2
Italian Tanks. When you designed a Tank for WW1 in WW2.
T O G I I *
"imperial japanese empire"
That made me laugh out loud lol
Why? Thats what it was
Russians weren't laughing at Port Arthur.
It's like saying Empire Japan Empire, Imperial is just another way of saying Empire. People normally refer to it as 'Imperial Japan' or 'Japanese Empire'
But it was so Imperial!
@@JG-tt4sz neither did the Americans at Purl Harbor, nor the Japanise in Manchuria.
RIP to those Italian tank crews🙁
3:24 he looks like a meme
Bob semple: "Finally a worthy opponent, our battle will be legendary!"
1:48
Man the Blast was so strong it blew his skin off
Hehe never noticed
Ironically in the thumbnail
The italian tank is so close and small that the sherman can't hit/see
Meaning the the italians might be able to flank it
(The l3/33 cannon can penetrate the side of the sherman)
This channel has the best voice actors. The other guy they always have is awesome, but this guy that they use sometimes is also phenomenal, I could listen to either of them talk all day 😂
Wait , Simple History going to ignore that one SINGLE Prototype P40 Tank? Bummer.
The animation quality on the tank do offset that I would say.
P40 is not prototype, they produced enough of them to be deployed but it was used mostly by German army so it is hard to consider it a Italian tank
the flames at the back of the semovente irritated me a lot, the engine is meant to be in the middle
The Italian actually designed a good tank called the Ansaldo M6 in 1938, a medium tank with 75mm gun in rotating turret and 20 to 40mm armor but Italians chose the Fiat M11/39 instead 🤦♂️🤦♀️
*British see German Tiger* "Right let's capture this and do some extensive research on this magnificent beast!"
*British see Italian tank* "Sir! Shall we capture this tank?" *Sergeant Skipper* "Just smile and wave boys!"
It's not a surprise that the one thing Italian tanks did well was go fast. 🤔A nation with an outstanding sports car history. Good video.
Imagine Jeremy Clarkson in a cv33: POWEEEEERRRRR!!!!!!
The hellcat would like a word
and good at retreating
(Still respects for those who fought under them tho)
@@dimitrypetrenko3470 Italians aren't French
@@dimitrypetrenko3470 Petrenko, you Russian or Ukranian? Ukranian, I'd say. Anyhow, the Italians were more than capable of making a tactical retreat during the Soviet campaign avoiding an all out encirclement by Soviet forces and killing tens of thousands of Soviets even in hand to hand combat. Us Italians are all mafiosi, you know that right? So, when it comes to killing we have few equals in the world.
Few small correction, the design of the M13 was adequate and ok modern for the time. It had 30mm frontal armor that more or less was the standard at the time, it had a two man turret and the main gun the 47/32 could fire but AP and HE charges. It became obsolete later during the war, but not at the beginning. The weak side of this tank was the suspension system, quite old for the time, but similar were still in use by several countries, including Russia, Czeck, Germany, France. The side armor was quite fragile, 24mm only, and the engine was generally unreliable till it got sand filters. Narrow tracks and lack of radio, at least the first few tanks.
final a normal and correct comment, at this stage of war all had similar tanks, only the French had a better one, still don0t know how the Germans managed to fool them, nevertheless, the Brit's used the tankette too, at this time, no one says something, and last point, if the Italian could manage to push the Brit's back near Cairo with this tank's, then they performed a incredible achievement! btw, no more British propaganda or Hollywood myth's! watch here ruclips.net/video/4fcFkEo7NA8/видео.html or two Austrian students, which are not interested in myth's but reality ruclips.net/video/JhhsMuCPCbo/видео.html or another great channel Drachinifel and his view on Italian ruclips.net/video/k__pxsvqhPI/видео.html this all are experts, their interest is not to grow fast with myth's
Never knew all of that. Thank you for sharing!
*Tank you for sharing!*
*...*
@Not RickRoll 👇 2 🧐
@@Getman0001 Now I'm on track!
@@curraheewolf Nice!
1:48 after the tank fires the face of the guy on the bottom left changes looks
Meh, never stopped me from maining Italy in WT. Breda 501 and 75/46 M43 are my babies.