Editing Fascist Italian Equipment (section)

===Misc===

[[File:Breda Mod. 35.jpg|150px|thumb|left|In nature, bright colors alert predators to danger.]]

*'''''Breda Mod. 35''''': The 35 along with other series of similar hand grenades was the Italians bread and butter when it came to anti-personal explosives. Often called Red Devils because…Well…Just look at the damn thing, the striking paint job was actually pretty typical at the time. Everyone getting a hand grenade only really became common practice after WW1 so color coding explosives to maximize safety was typical for many countries including America, hence why early Pacific troops had yellow grenades. What made the Italian grenade stand out was its choice of fuse, contact instead of timed. Once activated it would detonate once it was impacted by force meaning it would go off the moment it landed. While the advantages are obvious there were a few reasons other countries avoided this. Activating a grenade only to drop it was a much more deadly mistake with these, plus veteran soldiers would quickly get a feel for the timer and actually manage to get their grenade off while it was still at chest height causing maximum casualties to the enemy. The final reason, which turned out to be an advantage for the Italians, was how fickle the mechanism was. Basically, if you fought in an area with soft ground like say, the deserts of North Africa, the grenade would sometimes not go off on impact. Of cause, the grenade was still armed though and even touching the thing could cause it to detonate.  If you toss one into a British foxhole either it immediately went off killing a bunch of guys inside or it wouldn’t and instead just sit there, nice noticeable red in color, telling the troops in the hole they were now sitting on a ticking timebomb that would turn whoever touched it into meat paste. This could lead to MORE soldiers than who have been killed abandoning the hole and getting shot as they retreated. That, and most Allied troops (especially American) was trained to fight the Germans and Japanese not Italians…So a fresh squad out of training would see a red can in the ground, go “Oh what’s this?” and vanish in a cloud of blood. 

[[File:Breda Mod. 42.jpg|200px|thumb|right|]]

*'''''Breda Mod. 42''''': Despite the name the 42 was actually an anti-tank grenade instead of a fragmentation like the 35. The name was actually a reference to the fact that mechanically it was pretty much the same grenade using an anti-tank charge and a stick for further throws. Not much more to say beyond that except it was the primary anti-tank weapon of the Italian infantry. No Bazooka for you buddy. 

[[File:Passaglia Grenade.jpg|200px|thumb|left|Molotov on crack]]

*'''''Passaglia Grenade and OTO Mod. 42''''': Since the Breda Mod. 42 wasn’t developed till 1942, Italian soldiers in the early years slapped together their own AT grenades in the form of Passaglia grenades. Essentially a bag with some dynamite in it, it was attached to a Mod. 35 to act as a fuse. It was heavy, unstable, difficult to throw and since it relied on concussive force to cause damage it was only effective when tossed onto the engine block. While ineffective it was still examined back in Italy and helped inspire a sister project to the Mod. 42. This new bomb, the OTO Mod. 42, was a large thick glass bottled filled with a mixture of 50% gasoline and 50% flamethrower fluid. It didn’t actually come with any form of explosive or ignition making them safer to transport and carry. Instead, once one was needed, the user would [[Ork|stuff a regular grenade into the neck of the bottle before tossing this double grenade at the enemy.]] This essentially makes it a few molotovs taped to a stick grenade and tossed together. As you can probably expect they were quite effective but did have some issues such as its short range, unstable nature and difficulty transporting (we did say it was safer, not easier…)

[[File: Brixia Model 35.jpg|200px|thumb|right|]]

*'''''Brixia Model 35''''': Mostly known for having a top mounted clip and a nice pad to sit on, this light mortar was known for its surprising accuracy and staggering rate of fire. In fact, it could fire rounds so quickly they had to teach the crews to slow down less they damage the barrel. It also as mentioned came with a comfy little pat so the user could sit or lay upon it for hours without feeling as uncomfortable. Issue came from its complicated nature and light shells lacking any real punch. The clip that sticks out on top isn’t the explosive rounds but separate ignition cartridges. If you are unaware this is how modern cannon-mortars work meaning this is another Italian WW2 weapon that was [[What|ahead of its time.]]

[[File:Mortaio da 81-14 Modello 35.jpg|100px|thumb|left|]]

*'''''Mortaio da 81/14 Modello 35''''': Based on the already well-liked Brandt 81 mm Mle 1927 French mortar the design was further tweaked and messed with to improve the already impressive range and cutting back on weight. As you can probably guess it was very successful and quite popular. 

[[File:Breda mod.31 .jpg|200px|thumb|right|]]

*'''''Breda 20/65 mod.35''''':  Probably the best well known stationary gun of the Italians, this light AA gun isn’t so much known for its performance (it was sub-par on release, was improved to ‘ok’) but because it was used EVERYWHERE. As you read above Italy and machine guns did not mix well so whenever a vehicle or defensive position needed some heavy rapid-fire weaponry the 20/65 was sought out instead. It had enough punch to deal with most light tanks, didn’t jam every five seconds and was rather light for its purpose. The only serious issue it had was a structural fault that meant dragging it faster than 20 kph could damage the frame so it was often transported (and used) on trucks. 

[[File:Lanciafiamme Modello 35.jpg|200px|thumb|left|]]

*'''''Lanciafiamme Modello 35-40''''':  Pretty typical for a inter war period flamethrower, the 35 model was rather heavy and required two soldiers (one for the lance, one to carry the tank) in protective gear which granted wasn’t exactly uncommon at the time while the 40 shrunk it down to a more familiar single soldier backpack. Considering the reputation of Italian weaponry, one would think strapping on one of their flamethrowers would be a very, VERY bad idea though thankfully for their users they weren’t much more dangerous than other flamethrower of the time. Both varieties were heavier and had a shorter range however. 

[[File:SPA-Viberti AS.42.jpg|200px|thumb|right|Death Limo]]

*'''''SPA-Viberti AS.42''''': Funnily enough based on the chassis of Autoblindo 41 rather than a armoured car based on an established vehicle, the AS.42 was created to fulfill the armies request for a long range reconnaissance and raider inspired by the successful British units of the same variety. While these British models were either jeeps or smaller armoured cars the AS.42 was quite a lot longer with additional seating. This also provided space to equip much larger weapons giving Italy access to a fast-moving heavy weapon platform. It also carried up to 20 jerry cans giving in incredible longevity along with two machine guns standard with the extra space allowing the installation of either a Breda mod.31, S-18/1000 rifle or a Elefantino gun. They performed well, as despite overall having a larger shape they had quite the short profile making it easy to hide plus the cans and extra space gave in much longer longevity then their allied counterparts. 

*'''''Mustard Gas''''': Yeah, this ones not getting a picture...While the exact start of WW2 is constantly debated  considering the Second Italo-Ethiopian occurred shortly before Hitler got his groove on we'll count the weapons use here, especially since it would influence the war more directly as explained in a second. Essentially, while Hitler had a strict no gas policy against people he considered [[Grimdark|'human']] (and actually stongly opposed its use even against the Soviets, despite having a massive stockpile and the Wehrmacht pressuring Hitler to use it), Italy gave no shits. The Italian Army still had massive quantities of spicy air leftover from WW1 though after their war in Ethiopian was dragged into a slog Benito figured the best way to deal with the complex tactical situation was to [[That Guy|dump mustard gas over basically everything and just wait.]] Hundreds of thousands of Ethiopian citizens died from this but the Italians ended up dumping so much of the stuff they didn't really have much if any left for use against the Allies when the war started, especially since most of that gas was actually donated by the other Entente powers. 
{{WW2}}
[[Category:History]]