Fascist Italian Equipment

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While Fascist Italy was never really known for having even the most basic and functional equipment you may be surprised to find some of their weaponry is still commonly used today, both in all forms of fiction and even real life! Lack of resources and basic experience in developing these new weapons born from the First World War resulted in a very scraped-together arsenal, though thanks to some brilliant designers and ambitious manufacturers, individual weapons would sometimes overshadow even their Allied equivalents in quality. Much like how Nazi weaponry can be put into four categories Italian equipment generally falls into three:

  • Barely usable or totally unusable garbage
  • Shockingly effective designs that were around for longer than Benito's government lasted
  • Shockingly so ahead of its time it wouldn't be revisited for decades...Which were badly thought out and poorly designed

Be aware going forward: due to their constant supply and manufacturing issues, Italy frequently used either captured or gifted foreign equipment as well as weaponry left over from WWI. While some of those have been included due to their iconic use or of especial note, most have been left out. Seriously a third of this page would have to be dedicated to Nazi stuff if we counted those.

Small Arms

Rifles and SMGs

Carcano: Italian for "President Killer".
  • Carcano M1891: A cheap, easily manufactured rifle that received a number of updates over the years. Opinions vary depending on the model, but of important note was its ammunition. Unlike other rifles, the Carcano used softnose bullets, a type of ammunition that was already outdated in World War I. While the Italians attempted to produce a more traditional rifle with the Carcano M38, they struggled to keep up with ammunition demands and ended up going back to the old ammunition. Besides imported Austrian rifles and a semi-automatic rifle that was so short-lived people seem to disagree on if it was even used at all, the Carcano would end up being the only rifle Italy used during the war. Most famous for being the rifle Lee Harvey Oswald used to shoot JFK.
The best SMG of the war, used by the worst army.
  • Beretta Model38: Based on an old school semi-auto carbine of all things, this weapon would go on to be one of the best performing infantry small arms of the whole war. The weapon is most well-known for its iconic four-cut muzzle brake and a heat-shield style barrel that helped in air cooling. It’s also known for its unique double trigger system. Essentially the system used two triggers, one firing the weapon at full auto while the other was used for single shots. While making the weapon heavier (hence why modern SMGs don’t do this) it allowed a commanding officer to use aimed shots at a distant target before immediately firing full auto if suddenly assaulted or flanked, rather than taking the time to flip a fire switch. It was also super easy to maintain as you can literally just pull the firing mechanism out of the back of the gun (that’s what the large cap on the back is for). The weapon was ultimately so successful that the Italian government attempted to save resources by asking Beretta to purposefully make the later models more shit, and even than they still managed to achieve typical SMG performance for the time. Fun fact: the final airborne drop of the war was performed by co-belligerent troops with the goal of preventing German retreat into far North Italy. Outnumbered and outgunned, the Allied commanders allowed the Italian paratroopers to test every American, British, and captured German weapon they had access to. After these tests they universally agreed to take their old Beretta M38s. It was also known early war as the ‘burp guns’ as Italy experimented with ten round magazines resulting in a short ‘burp’ of automatic fire.
The Algerian’s best friend.
  • FNAB-43: While originally entering the design process before the 1943 split, it was ultimately put into production in the RSI North. Was oddly expensive and high quality for the time, which resulted in only about a thousand being produced. Still had issues with being overly complicated and while not a bad firearm it was basically a more expensive, slightly less effective M38 from above. Oddly enough popped up in Africa and Algeria, and we have no idea why.
The Burmese’s worst friend.
  • TZ-45:A last-ditch weapon produced in the final days of the war. Very light and, surprisingly, performed better than most last-ditch weapons! The big issue it had was that it was one of the first submachine guns to use a grip safety, most likely to stop untrained conscripts from shooting their own feet off or something. This meant that after putting a new clip in, one had to keep a hand on the magazine before taking their firing hand and using that to pull back the bolt. This was a VERY unnatural feeling and regular soldiers who had used traditional SMGs for years were bound to stuff it up thanks to muscle memory. Was sold to and used by the Burmese Army until 1955.

Pistols

The quintessential pistol
  • Beretta Modello 1934-1935: HOLY shit you guys… When someone says a weapon is ‘the best of the war’, that’s typically an opinion. To say that the Beretta pistol is the best pistol of the war is a strongly supported FACT. Hell there are still plenty of people who would agree wholeheartedly that it's still the best pistol of all time. Light, cheap, accurate, easy to make and easy to maintain, this weapon was so beloved that everyone from frontline troops to the highest-ranking officers on both sides nicked one whenever they could, and they only stopped being manufactured in 1993 ... in Italy. Foreign versions are still being widely manufactured today! The only real issue it may have is that it's chambered for 9mm ammunition, but many argue that 10mm or .45 is overkill for a sidearm anyway. A ton of these were made, so they’re not exactly uncommon, and plenty of Allied veterans came home with one.
Il Duce’s personal firearm.
  • Beretta M1942 Sosso Pistol: A prototype design that’s only here because it was produced, but only for literally the highest-ranking people in Italy. All five of them. Benito himself got one naturally, as did the King. Used a holster/stock hybrid along with a curved magazine which held 21 rounds! Pretty good for its size, all things considered. Still, the weapon was heavy, the holster/stock was naturally not a good holster OR stock and we can’t say much for performance since it was given to the people least likely to ever get into a serious firefight in all of Italy.

Machine Guns

Holy shit is the FAIL link going to have to overcharge itself for this one…
  • Breda 38: Considering the state of the regular light machine gun, Italian vehicle crews were very glad to receive their own separate model. The Breda 38 was on the heavy side for an LMG, but its compact size better suited the cramped spaces of a tank and offered much better accuracy and reliability. While limited by a top mounted 24-round magazine, it was very simple and easy to maintain. Its heavier barrel allowed the weapon to fire much more often before overheating, which thanks to a quick-change barrel was remedied quickly. It was effective enough that tripod mounts were produced so the weapon could be deployed with the infantry.
  • Fiat–Revelli Modello 1935.jpg: Essentially just a Fiat–Revelli Modello 1914 taken out of storage and modified to take a belt feed and replace the water-cooled barrel with an air-cooled version. Probably the most traditional machine gun used by the Italians despite the barrel overheating, jamming issues and rounds cooking off in the chamber.

Antitank Infantry Weapons

Lol nope.

Well, mostly. Italian infantry had access to antitank grenades (as talked about below) but their primary and really their only man-portable antitank weapon was the Solothurn series of rifles, which are already covered in the Nazi equipment page. The RSI was gifted a number of Panzerfausts and Panzerschrecks, also covered on that page. Really, the primary anti-tank weapon for the Italians was the Elefantino, which is covered below, being an antitank gun and all.

Misc

The original Noob Tube.

Artillery Pieces and Antitank Guns

The poor man’s 2-pounder.
Italy’s own Flak 88.
  • Cannone da 90/53: Originating as a naval cannon, the 90/53 was later modified for terrestrial use in the form of antiaircraft and antitank guns. In this role it was surprisingly effective, much like the German 88. It had enough punch to blast open any Allied tank fielded in North Africa and Italy. It also served as the main armament of the Semovente 90/53, and while that vehicle had many issues its gun wasn’t one of them. Unfortunately for the Italians, only about 500 were built, and out of those only 48 were made for AFVs.
  • Obice da 75/18 Modello 34: Designed as a mountain gun first and foremost (I mean, you ever been to Italy?), the gun was designed to be disassembled and reassembled quickly and efficiently. Also had a nice punch to it, forming the basis of the Semovente 75/18. Probably better known for the funny heatshield-style barrel.

Vehicles

Tanks

Now, the previous entries might give the impression that while Italian weaponry was full of issues, there were some excellent pieces of equipment that would stand the test of time. That is NOT the case with Italian armour. Saying that every Italian tank was rusty old garbage wouldn’t even be much of a stretch. Of cause, this was thanks to a number of factors that the designers and manufacturers of these vehicles couldn’t control, not just a lack of resources. Back in the interwar period Italy never really showed much interest in tanks (the opposite was true in WWI, but France couldn’t afford to send them any at the time and their local models were sub-par). After all, Italy was, and is, not good tank country. Its heartland is rugged and mountainous, as opposed to the wide open fields of central Europe, and so Italy was inclined to specialize in mountain warfare, not armored warfare. Another important aspect was that prior to WWII, tanks were a relatively unproven concept. They were slow, easy targets for artillery, and the rise of antitank rifles made many nations, not just Italy, cautious about investing too much into them. When Mussolini took over, his obsession with military dominance caused him to push armoured vehicles hard, resulting in Italian designers dismantling imported designs to see how they worked. Ultimately, Italy simply did not have the time or resources to play catch-up with the rest of the world. Every time the Italian tank development teams put together something ‘modern’ it had already been made outdated by recent Allied tanks. Resource shortages also forced designs to stay in the ‘light tank’ range with only one exception, which we’ll get to below. The most infamous aspect of Italian armour was that most vehicles were either riveted or bolted. This meant that if and when the armour was dented, these connecting pieces tended to break off and turn into bullets, injuring or even killing the crew. This meant high casualties and very few veteran crews.

Behold! The armoured workhorse of the mighty Italian Army!
  • L3/33-35: Essentially an armoured go-kart. The primary armoured vehicle of the Italian Army, this little thing was produced in such massive quantities that many were sold to other countries including Spain and Finland. An overall reliable and speedy little bugger, it was also surprisingly adaptable, with variants produced that mounted flamethrowers and Solothurn antitank rifles, along with another version modified to serve as an artillery tractor. Unfortunately, it had about as much armour as a wet paper bag and was so cramped that the gunner would often sit on top of the tank to give the driver some elbow room. Has gained a bit of a following amongst Italian wargamers (that is to say those that play Italians, not Italian players) in the same way as the Urbanmech of Battletech fame. That is to say, it's a small, short underdog of a vehicle that excels in the niche conditions it was designed for but lacklustre in the situations it finds itself in by the nature of the game. I mean, look at this thing! It’s adorable!
  • L6/40: An attempt to replace the old FIAT 3000 used by Italy since 1921, it was stupidly outdated by the time it entered service, but was used up to the battle of Sicily. To make matters even worse the tank was originally designed with reconnaissance in mind (in fact it was quite short to help with this) but due to a lack of vehicles it was instead pushed into the role of primary battle tank on the Eastern Front against T-34s. This went about as well as you'd expect.
Diet M3 Lee
  • M11/39: Italy’s first attempt at a modern tank design, this model did not last long, as one might expect from just looking at it. Just like the similarly shaped M3 Lee it was tall, bulky and had its primary cannon mounted in the hull, giving it a limited firing arc compared to turreted tanks. When you consider it was primarily designed for a breakthrough role, this is kinda nuts. Unlike the Lee, however, its turret was equipped with machine guns instead of a smaller cannon, had bolted armour and oh! It wasn’t a medium tank at all! Yeah, despite the M standing for medium Italy decided to base their tank sizes on roles, not weight. This means that all tanks with the M moniker produced in Italy during WWII were actually all light tanks. Thankfully, they weren’t around for long. Unfortunately, they were replaced with…
  • M13/40-41-42: Considered the ‘primary’ Italian tank of the war, the 40 was the first actual modern tank design from the Italians. Not that it was any good, of course. Basically, take the main gun of the M11/39 and put it IN THE TURRET and put the machine guns in the hull! Beyond the armour and firepower issue mentioned above, the tank was also one of the first to use diesel engines. This allowed the tank to run for longer periods of time and meant it was less likely to explode when hit, but in the earliest models it would fill the vehicle with smoke forcing its crew to open up all the doors in the middle of combat in order to even see what was happening. This was quickly fixed though, and following models were more akin to Germany’s variants then full-on new vehicles.
The Italian Panther
  • P26/40: Believe it or not this tank actually entered the initial stages of development back in 1940, but design issues pushed its debut all the way back to late 1943. Most of this revolved around the designers wanting a traditional petrol engine while the Italian Army wanted a diesel, which granted was better but untested at the time. It didn’t help that Italy didn’t have any ground-based engines powerful enough to drive this 26-ton tank, and unlike the Allies they refused to use repurposed aircraft engines. Requested by Mussolini himself, the P26/40 was inspired by Germany's heavier tanks, but the whole thing had to be redesigned in 1941 by encounters with the T-34 and then its later variants. What resulted from all this was Italy’s only medium tank, which in regards to its performance was surprisingly effective. While not exactly a ‘good’ tank, the P26 had a pretty decent gun, slow but very reliable mechanics and an interesting dual armour system that combined wielded and riveted structures to make it the most durable of the Italian armoured vehicles. Despite this it still couldn’t stand up to late war heavy gun, but could take a hit or two from a Sherman. Despite being without a doubt the best Italian tank of the war, the design was in the final stage of prototyping before the Armistice of 1943, though five of these prototypes were actually in Rome when this all went down and were used by the defending Italians during the fall of the city. It would see production by the RSI under German watch, with the Nazis receiving and using so many that it's falsely believed to have been used by the German forces exclusively! Turns out it was somewhat popular as it was much more reliable than the heavier late-war German tanks like the Tiger and the Panther, though there was a lot of criticism at its cramped two-person turret.

Tank Destroyers/Assault Guns

Turns out while Italian tanks were mostly garbage their tank destroyers were surprisingly effective, which sort of makes sense when you consider that tank destroyers were often used as budget tanks. Most of Italy’s larger guns were reserved for their tank destroyers and while their variety was limited, each one performed remarkably well.

  • Semovente da 47/32: Okay, maybe not ALL their tank destroyers were effective. The 47/32 was based on the L6/40 chassis, though the design was up-gunned with an Elefantino and had some extra armour bolted on. In fact, it was the most heavily armoured Italian vehicle that fought on the Eastern Front. While the Elefantino could arguably be effective as an infantry support weapon in the early war, as a dedicated antitank cannon? Yeah, this thing was pinging off T-34s the moment it entered service.
  • Semovente da 75/18: Since the P26/40 was seeing setback after setback, it was decided that there had to be an interim vehicle to support the outclassed M13 series. While inspired by the StuG III, it was instead used as short ranged artillery support weapon until the increasing usage of medium tanks forced their use in close quarters as tank destroyers. Despite not being the original purpose of the design, its 75mm cannon and HEAT ammunition proved devastating to the Shermans and Lees it came across. While using the same bolted armour as the M13, its smaller silhouette and extra armour increased its survivability. While not produced in huge numbers they were far from uncommon and ultimately went down in history as the one Italian vehicle the Allies feared. Since most Allied heavy tanks were kept for the Western Front, the 75/18 stayed effective throughout the whole war.


75/18 version 1.01
  • Semovente da 75/34: Not much to say about this one. It’s pretty much the M13/42 chassis Semovente 75/18 but with a larger gun, most likely to provide the same punch without the reliance on HEAT ammunition. The only real change was the front armour being made from a single plate instead of having an extra plate bolted onto to the M13s standard. Some were used during the defence of Rome, but the design was mostly used by the RSI and Germany.
  • Semovente da 105/25: Originally conceived as a self-propelled gun made from the P26/40 chassis, the ongoing development of the base model and the success of the 75/18 ultimately saw the M13/42 chassis taking on this 105mm monster of a gun. Despite its size and power the vehicle remained enclosed with little issue and the gun was able to obliterate anything it aimed at. The gun was even repurposed for defensive bunkers in the Vallo Alpino line. Just like above, some were used during the defence of Rome but most saw action with the RSI and Germans.
The Italian glass cannon. Probably would have made it out of glass if they could get away with it…
  • Semovente da 90/53: When the inability of Italian armour to so much as scratch the T-34s and KV-2s on the Eastern Front became apparent, the Italian army put out a call for a vehicle dedicated to raw firepower. At the time, the Cannone da 90/53 seen above was the only practical choice, though sacrifices had to be made to the eventual design. The armour was paper-thin (seen as a non-issue with the guns range), and the vehicle had both an open top and rear. Probably the worst issue was ammunition. The vehicle itself only had space for eight rounds, although a ‘novel’ solution was found. A number of old outdated L6/40 tanks were transformed into ammunition carriers following these 90/53s while also dragging along additional ammunition carriages. Few were made since most Cannone da 90/53s were needed for air defence. While seeing action in North Africa and Sicily, they never saw action on the Eastern Front.

Halftracks and Armoured Cars

  • Autoblindo 40-41-43: Uniquely, the Autoblindo 40 was actually revised and redesigned a few times during its development thanks to its original purpose for recon and policing duties including in overseas colonies. Essentially the car was built from the ground up to perform in the same environments Italy would find itself fighting in during the second world war allowing the vehicle to operate for much longer times compared to their somewhat slapped together allied equivalents. The 41 simply replaced the turrets weapons from two machine guns to a 20mm Breda autocannon in order to make the vehicle more capable during skirmishes with similar vehicles. A more original design similar to the German armoured cars was in mind for the 42 model, but since it had North Africa in mind development stopped after Italy left the area. Instead, the 41 was improved with a better engine and improved armour. It ultimately performed well in all theatres and was even well liked by the Germans who used it.
APC. Adorable Personal Carrier.
  • Autoprotetto S.37: While the Italian Army knew from the start of the war that they would need their own armoured personal carriers the three designs proposed were…Less than impressive. The S.37 was the only one to actually see production and was literally just a failed armoured car design with the turret ripped off. Uniquely, despite being designed for transporting squads it used four-wheels left over from the original armoured car design rather than being a half-track preferred by the other major powers. This allowed the vehicle to move faster and was easier to produce and keep running, though naturally had a lot more trouble on muddy off the road terrain. Carried eight men (not great, but not terrible) while having the option for a machine gun both at the front and back, but usually had it at the back. There were also two variants both replacing most of its carry capacity for either a flamethrower or a Elefantino gun.
  • 1ZM: Often mistranslated to the IZM (even Warlord Games use this incorrect spelling) the 1ZM is a modification to the 1Z used during the first world war, which was quite the advanced design for its time but saw little to no combat since Italy spent most of the time killing (then dying to) Austrians atop mountains. The original model actually had a machine gun turret attached to its machine gun turret resulting in an armament of three machine guns, a shocking amount of firepower for the time. The more streamlined 1ZM however ditched the extra turret while also using experience from the war to install wire cutters (hence those weird rails running up the front.) It would be accurate to say by the time WW2 started it was horribly out of date in every way possible but still did an ok job during the start of the East Africa front as the British forces were limited to whatever vehicles they could scrounge up in the dessert Wallace and Gromit style.
It's not 3D printed we swear...
  • Lince: Italian for Lynx, this vehicle was pretty much a carbon copy of the British Dingo armored car, to the point that yes they ripped off a vehicle named after a small carnivore before then renaming it after a different small carnivore. Information on the vehicle is very limited, only that about 300 were built by the RSI before seeing use in anti-partisan actions in Italy and the Balkans and that the light machine gun armament was replaced with an Italian Breda 38 from above.

Airplanes

  • Fiat CR.42 Falco: Before the start of the war biplanes were on their final days, though this doesn’t mean they weren’t still desirable. Beside price and ease of construction monoplanes were still a new, relatively untested design. Most of the major powers saw the numerous advantages that came with monoplanes but most importantly they also had the funds and resources to develop a number of failures. Secondary powers though like Spain, Poland and the Balkan states needed something tried, tested and guaranteed to actually fly. That’s where Italy came in…Yeah despite the reputation their weapons received after the war, before the war Italy was quite the arms dealer, especially to other Fascists or nations sympathetic to the Axis cause. The Fiat CR.42 was probably their best product not only selling a trusted weapon but used many design techniques from the more modern monoplanes. This resulted in a plane more manoeuvrable than a monoplane with a well armoured strengthened frame. Most well known for their use by Spain, the Hungarian Resistance and…Well…Italy, the plane was extremely adaptable being easily equipped for recon, dogfighting and ground attack. Apparently, it was REALLY good at that last one too, with some sources claiming it had a 1 to 12 kill ratio in Hungary.
  • Fiat G.50 Freccia : One of Italy’s first monoplane designs, it was quite fast and manoeuvrable during its first deployment in the Spanish Civil War though like many Italian fighters they used Breda-SAFAT machine guns which were unreliable, jammed often, low velocity and low rate of fire. It did have good range so…You know…I guess it has that. Once the war started though they were vastly outclassed by the British fighters they were often sent against.
  • Macchi C.202 Folgore: The mainstay fighter of the Italian airforce, this monoplane kicked ass. Introduced in 1941 it was durable, fast, manoeuvrable and actually mass produced! It even outperformed the Messerschmitt Bf 109 in North Africa and has been credited as a very underrated fighter by many aces on both sides. Despite this though it did have a habit of entering bad spins, had the same shitty machine guns as above and had radios so bad the pilots often had to wiggle their flaps to communicate. Still, as an actual plane it was top notch but those failings as well as the rapid evolution of aircraft at the time led the model to be used for training and garrison after the 1943 Armistice.
  • Fiat G.55 Centauro: Declared by the Luftwaffe as the best Axis fighter, the Fiat G.55 had many of the same advantages as the C.202 but didn’t have the same mechanical issues, while also FINALLY getting rid of those machine guns for German replacements. While it was built in smaller numbers and mostly used by the RSI it performed incredibly and was one of the few planes they had that could fight at high altitude.
Three is always better then two.
  • Savoia-Marchetti SM.79: Arguably one of Italy’s most well-known military planes, if not downright the most famous of their three engine designs, the SM.79 actually started out as a civilian airliner focusing primarily on speed while also providing a rather sizable hull for passenger transport. Putting the focus on speed over space it was still limited to only eight passengers but in the former regard it was record breaking thanks to its three powerful engines. Many public test flights and races were organized by the Italian government as a propaganda tool and after it became clear they didn’t have to fudge the numbers to come out with a win, discussions on turning the aircraft into a military design were quickly organized. The idea of a medium bomber came naturally with its size and free space, modifying the design to be equipped with four to five machine guns and a bomb bay. On top of that the plane was famously manoeuvrable and easy to control, capable of even doing a loopty-loop! Wasn’t that much of a slouch on durability either…Some had to be sacrificed for the speed but it wasn’t fragile for the time. Sadly, it did come with a couple of issues coming from the original civilian design, mostly in regards to its inability to install turrets and the shape limiting its capacity to hold larger bombs to only a couple (though smaller bombs could be carried in typical quantities). When it saw battle in the Spanish Civil War it was so good at outrunning and outfighting the interceptors it came up against, they weren’t even given escort fighters furthering its reputation. Sadly, while used till the end of the war newer planes quickly caught up with its performance and it was soon brought low by Allied planes.
A good idea done even better.
  • CANT Z.506: The 506 takes the good idea of the tri-motor SM.79, and does it from the ground up as a military seaplane. It was ostensibly designed as a mail courier, but its tall central fuselage was ready-made for conversion to torpedo bomber and reconnaissance roles. The 506 was regarded as the best seaplane of the entire war, being faster than a typical torpedo bomber and with much better handling than flying boats like the catalina. 506's remained in service as sea-rescue planes until the end of the 50's.

Ships

"I don't think their remaining three battleships will face us and if they do I'm quite prepared to take them on with only two."

– Admiral Cunningham (RN) after Taranto

To sum up the Regia Marina (and this is a VERY short summary considering they were the fifth largest navel power) the Italian navy started the war with a massive fleet, though most of these ships were of an earlier design. Still, they weren’t exactly lacking; many sources show the Italian ships to be great in design often able to complete against the allies in a fair one on one fight. Their issues came from modernization and production capacity. They didn't have sonar or radar, which meant any engagement at night or in bad weather would go very badly.

They also purposefully elected to give up on any sort of formalized air arm for the navy since it was seen as unnecessary. Their larger ships carried seaplanes for courier and spotting duties just like everyone else, but as their fleet generally stayed in the Mediterranean they saw no need for carriers; they would always be in range of an Italian airbase.

Italy entered the war with a force that could potentially overpower the British Mediterranean squadron, and had been theory-crafted with an eye towards beating the French (the early Condottieris were hard counters to the French Le Fantasque). This changed after Taranto, the first all-air vs ship attack in history. Torpedo bombers attacked the Italian fleet in harbor, destroying or disabling half their battleships, as well as a cruiser and two destroyers. Afterwards, they were regarded as more of a nuisance than a threat.

What was left of the Regia Marina didn't take the 1943 disarmament by Germany very well; some scuttled their ships (like France had before them) while others simply hauled anchor and sailed south to the allies. The allied landings in Sicily were essentially unopposed by the Italians at sea.

Wunderwaffen

Hahahaha…Oh wait, you’re serious. Let me laugh even louder. AAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!

Misc

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.
  • 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 ant-tank weapon of the Italian infantry. No Bazooka for you buddy.
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 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…)
  • 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 ahead of its time.
  • 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.
  • 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.
  • 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.
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 'human', 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 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.
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