L3/35
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The L3/35 was an Italian tankette utilized before and during World War II.
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[edit] Development
The L3/35 was developed from imported British Carden-Loyd Mark VIs (designated CV29 in Italian service, CV stood for Carro Veloce, "fast tank"). It was built as the CV-33 in 1933, but was retrofitted as the CV-35 in 1935 and renamed the L3/35 in 1938. The official Italian classification of this vehicle was as a light tank, however this type of vehicle is classified as a tankette by Anglo-American militaries.
The L3/35 was a lightly armored two-man vehicle typically armed with two tandem machine guns. The differences between the L3/33 and the L3/35 were not many.
[edit] Production
Between 2000 to 2500 L3 tankettes were built in different models and variants. 20 L3/33 tankettes were sold to China. Other L3s tankettes were sold to Afghanistan, Albania, Austria, Bolivia, Brazil, Bulgaria, China, Greece, Hungary, Iraq, and Nationalist Spain. Captured L3 tankettes were also used by the Greek Army during the Greco-Italian War (1940-41). After the invasion of Yugoslavia (1941) and Greece (1941), L3 tankettes were also captured by the Yugoslav and Greek resistance forces. From 1941, some L3 tankettes were given to the German puppet government of the Independent State of Croatia (Nezavisna Država Hrvatska, or NDH).
[edit] Combat history
In addition to seeing action in the Second Italo-Abyssinian War the Spanish Civil War and the Slovak-Hungarian War, the L3 was used almost everywhere that Italian troops fought during World War II. L3s were found on the Italian/French border, North Africa, Italian East Africa, the Balkans, and Russia.
On 10 June 1940, when Italy entered World War II, the Royal Army possessed only about 100 M11/39 medium tanks in two tank battalions. L3 tankettes were still equipping all three Italian armored divisions, the tank battalions in the motorized divisions, the light tank squadron group in each "Fast" (Celere) division, and numerous independent tank battalions.
[edit] Variants
The L3 cc (controcarro, "anti-tank") was a basic L3 with a Solothurn 20 mm anti-tank rifle mounted in place of its normal machine gun armament. Only a few were so modified, and they saw action only in North Africa.
The L3 Lf (Lancia fiamme, "flamethrower") was another variant of the L3. Development began in 1935. The flamethrower nozzle replaced one of the machineguns, and the flame fuel was carried in an armored trailer towed by the vehicle. Later versions had the fuel carried in a box-shaped tank mounted above the L3's engine compartment. The L3 Lf saw action in Spain, France, the Balkans, North Africa and Italian East Africa and weighed 5 tonnes.
[edit] External links
 External images |
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Model of the tank with model soldier in comparison |
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Museum display of this tank |
- L3/33 (CV 33), L3/35 (CV 35) Tankettes at wwiivehicles.com
- CARRO CV 33 (L3/33) and CV 35 (L3/35) at comandosupremo.com
- L3/35 at onwar.com
- Pictures of a Fiat/Ansaldo L3/35 Tankette at the Goloso Museum in Spain
| Italian armoured fighting vehicles of World War II |
|---|
| Light Tanks and Tankettes |
| L3/35 | Fiat L6/40 |
| Medium Tanks |
| Fiat M11/39 | Fiat M13/40 | Fiat M14/41 | M15/42 |
| Heavy Tanks |
| P40 |
| Armoured Cars |
| AB 40 | AB 41 | Lince scout car |
| Self propelled guns |
| Semovente 47/32 | Semovente 75/18 | Semovente 75/34 | Semovente 90/53 | Semovente 105/25 | Semovente 149/40 |
| Italian armoured fighting vehicle production during World War II |
