Il Self-propelled L40 47/32 It was an armoured fighting vehicle used by the Royal Army during the Second World War.
The main users of the vehicle were – in addition to the Royal Army – the German Army, the armoured units of the Independent State of Croatia (a puppet state during the Second World War) and the Slovenian National Guard.
The vehicle was conceived, designed by Ansaldo and built by SPA of Turin from 1941. The vehicle was in service from 1942 to 1945 and, in total, over 300 examples were built.
The vehicle was one of the Italian self-propelled guns built in the largest number of units.
It is worth noting that from Self-propelled L40 47/32 some variants were made and among these were the L40 command wagon andL40 G “Germanic".
The combat vehicle was created by inserting an anti-tank gun – 47/32 mod.1935 gun – onto the hull of the tank.L6 / 40 (read article "Italian light tanks: the L6/40")
The armoured vehicle entered service in the ranks of the Royal Army between the end of 1941 and the beginning of 1942. “and it was intended, given its modest tonnage and type of armament (the 47/32 piece supplied to the infantry) for tasks of accompanying scouting vehicles and eliminating infantry fire centers. Our motorized and armored units were equipped with it, however, as often happened, its use was distorted.”1
The self-propelled gun was used – for operational needs – in combat against armoured forces, and the results were disastrous. In fact, the mediocre armor and caliber of the piece were not able to compete with the artillery pieces and armor of enemy tanks. During the war, it was used in North Africa and, above all, on the Eastern Front.
Il Self-propelled from 47/32 toIt was 3,820 m long, 1,690 m high, 1,860 m wide and weighed 6,5 tons.
The armour was 30 mm (maximum) and the armament consisted of a 47/32 mod. 1935 gun.
Engine: SPA 18 VT four-cylinder petrol, power 68 HP. The maximum speed was about 42 km/h on the road.
The vehicle could count on a crew of 3 men.
1 PF Cazzani, Semovente da 47 / 32, in Illustrated History n°186, 1973, p.126
