Unit Card:
Semevente L40 da 47/32-Cost 10-1942
Speed 4
Def 3/3
AI 6/5/4
AV 10/8/7
SA-No Turret
Set - Rarity - Number
Early War - Rare - 43/50
Historical Background:
By the time the Regia Esercito entered war in may 1940, the armoured branch of the army was far from being ready. Most numerically important was the CV tankettes series, armed with machine-guns. The main gun in use on the medium tank M11/39 was a 37 mm and and the brand new M13/40s armed with a 47 mm were a few. The army decidedly needed to bolster its anti-tank capabilities, and driven by necessity, designed an expedient in 1940 based on the CV 33, the L3 da 47/32, which featured an open platform mounting a 47 mm 32 calibers gun under mask, with its servants left unprotected. This prototype was never followed by an order. At the same time, the German STUG had some successes against tanks even with its 75 mm short-barrel howitzer, and it was decided to carry out a similar configuration on the brand new light tank L6/40 chassis.
By the time it entered service, the bulk of this new tank-hunter was shipped on the eastern front, soldiering with the ARMIR (8th Italian army) which operated in cunjunction with other forces in Ukraine from the summer of 1942 to early 1943. It was one of the most available Italian AFV on this front, but its main gun failed again the excellent armour of the T-34 and KV-1s. By february 1943, these have been decimated by the large winter soviet counter-offensive around Stalingrad. Others were sent in North Africa, to operate with the Ariete and Litorrio divisions to the second battle of El Alamein, to the fall of Tunis in february 1943. Other were stationed in Italy. Some seen action in Sicily, apparently used by "Black Shirts" formations. Many were captured in november 1943. The German used them as the StuG L6 mit 47/32 630(i) until the end of the war, other were passed onto the Esercito Nazionale Repubblicano (RSI, 10 in all) and others to their Bulgarian and Croat allies.
- Source: www.tanks-encyclopedia.com
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