- Yes
- No
75/34 da M43 “Bersaglieri” , the rare of the rare bassotto’s.
History
The 75/34 da M43 “Bersaglieri” was a tank based on the Semovente M43 da 105/25. Sporting an Ansaldo cannone da 105/25 inside a casemate. Known as one of the more dangerous tanks to look out for by the allies as compared to other tanks such as the m14’s, m15’s, etc. The gun had enough firepower to punch into their more widely used tanks such as the Sherman, Matilda, M3 Lee’s and Grant’s. FIAT and Ansaldo created an early prototype of what we know as the 105/25 M43 in game, the prototype was created between 16th and 28th January 1943. Fast forward to the Italian armistice on September 8th 1943, then being turned into a German puppet nation, Germany started taking control of Italian factories in the northern areas. They continued production of the Semovente M43 da 105/25 now under the use of the German army and perhaps whatever Mussolini loyalists laid there in contended Italy. Later the Germans sought to upgrade the Semovente M43 da 105/25 and incorporate a sort of up armoring kit, that consisted of a welded “suit” of 25mm of additional armor on the sides and front. Totaling the effective thickness of the M43 to 100mm on the front, and 70~mm on the sides. Planes were drawn up to upgrade the gun itself to use the cannone da 75/46, a converted anti aircraft gun made by OTO Melera, which used modified time fused ammo to be used as a general purpose anti tank gun instead. Mounted into the upgraded M43 chassis creating the Semovente M43 da 75/46. However not enough conversions where being produced of the anti aircraft gun itself, so they settled with around half of the upgraded units instead using the proven but still weaker Ansaldo cannone da 75/34 that were already plentiful in amount compared to the 75/46. Thus creating a different variant known as the Semovente M43 da 75/34. Leading very soon into the tank im mostly going to talk about now.
Armaments and Propulsion
This particular SPG was armed with the 75/34 Modello SF, a widely used gun amongst some later versions of the Semovente M42’s, which were essentially upgrades from the 75/32. Which is present on many of the Italian casemates already. Secondary armaments consisted of 3 Breda Mod. 38 (8 mm) machineguns, mounted all on the same mount that the commander of the 75/34 da M43 “Bersaglieri” would have used against infantry. The engine used was the FIAT-SPA 15T Benzina 12 Cylinder petrol engine, generating 190 horsepower. Being able to drive the SPG at the same speed as its non-upgraded young brother the Semovente M43 da 105/25, 38 km/h to be exact, albeit the smallest bit slower due to added weight from the machine guns, the mount for the guns, the ammo for the machineguns, and the up armoring kit itself.
Specifications
Spoiler
Size (L-W-H): 5.97 x 2.42 x 1.74 m
Weight: around 15.5 tonnes (if not closer to 16 tonnes due to the added mg’s and the mount for them itself)
Crew: 3
Engine: FIAT-SPA 15T Benzina 12 Cylinder petrol engine, 190 hp at 2,400 rpm
Maximum speed: Roughly 38 km/h (if not slower by a tiny margin due to added weight from the mg mount and mg ammo)
Armament: 1x Cannone da 75/34 Modello SF
Elevation: -10°/+16°
Ammo rack: 45 rounds
Armour: 75 mm + 25 mm front(100mm), 45 mm + 25 mm sides(70mm) and 45 mm rear
Pictures of the 75/34 da M43 “Bersaglieri”
Spoiler
Yeah thats the only pic of this thing I could find.
Old pictures of it within files
A small reminder to Gaijin
The 75/34 da M43 “Bersaglieri” (Bersaglieri referring to the sharpshooters of the Italian army, or rather the army as a whole), is a rather simple vehicle from a previous period in war thunders history right when italy was getting ground vehicles. Being a typical 75/34 M43. Just with now having an actual mg to use, or rather 3 of them mounted on a single mount. This vehicle isnt really special, the name itself is essentially reffering to the italian army as a whole(sorta?) with “Bersaglieri”. However I made this post as this is a vehicle they were most likely gonna add at some point with italy being added in 2018, it was datamined 2018 around the latter half of 2018 to my own memory. Around the time of Italy itself receiving ground vehicles, however in 2020 it was taken away from the files and put into the CDK (Content Development Kit) of war thunder. It has now been 7 years since this was first found. I am making this post as a potential reminder of its existence to gaijin to perhaps add it as a vehicle of some sorts in the future. Yeah it would fall into that pit of “copy and paste”, which is rather unfortunate, but in certain scenarios its okay to an extent.
(If I missed some info or made incorrect statements please do point it out, this is my first ever forum post)
Links mentioning said tank before being tossed into CDK
Spoiler
https://www.reddit.com/r/Warthunder/comments/o25oh2/please_dont_be_a_premium_or_battle_pass_vehicle/
Sources
