- Yes
- Maybe
- No
History.
In 1937 the Italian Royal Army realized that the old Lancia 1ZM armored cars in service, although still efficient, were obsolete because they were not fast enough, weakly armored and armed and had poor off-road driving capabilities. This inevitably led to the development of a new fast and wheeled reconnaissance vehicle. An attempt was first made to replace the Lancia armored car with the Fiat 611 armored car, which was appreciated as a replacement for the old Lancia armored car. More or less in the same period, however, the Italian African Police (or PAI) unilaterally requested Ansaldo to develop an armored car for reconnaissance tasks to be used in the Italian African colonies, in which there were pockets of colonial resistance, in replacement for the old armored cars already present (which had been in service for almost a quarter of a century). Fiat-SPA, in collaboration with Ansaldo, responded to the request of both parties by deciding to develop a new armored car based on the TM40 artillery tractor. After the necessary modifications, the vehicle called AutoBlinda Mod. 1940 or more simply AB40 was born. The vehicle was much appreciated and several examples were ordered, although it was soon realized that the vehicle was too lightly armed. It was therefore decided to rearm the vehicle by replacing the previous turret with the one installed on the L6/40 light tank, and the vehicle was renamed AB41. In 1941, however, the Royal Army realized that the performance of the modern AB41 was not able to satisfy the operational needs of the African Campaign, and at the beginning of 1942 the official request was made to Fiat-Ansaldo for a new, lighter and more elusive vehicle. but with the same armor as the AB41, and after some time the vehicle called Autoblinda Alleggerita Mod. 1942 was born, which was sent to the Motorization Study Center in November 1942. The vehicle, however, did not satisfy the Italian high command, and it was soon set aside and scrapped. However, it was decided to exploit the experience to further enhance the 41 armored car, and shortly after the death of the AB42 the AB43 was born, the final definitive version of the AB series. The AB43 was immediately tested and tested but the Royal Italian Army did not have time to order production due to the Armistice of 8 September 1943. At the end of November of the same year, production of the vehicle for the occupying German forces began, which they produced about a hundred examples. Some of these vehicles were captured by the Italian partisans after the insurrection proclaimed in 1944. Some of these vehicles survived the conflict, and were used by the State Police and Carabinieri departments until 1955, when they were replaced by vehicles more modern Anglo-Americans. One example survived and is still mechanically functional.
Armaments and propulsion.
The armored car was armed with a Breda 20/65 Model 1935 multi-purpose cannon placed in a Model 1942 type rotating turret and two Breda Model 1938 machine guns placed one in the turret coaxial to the cannon and one in retreat to defend the vehicle when reversing. One of the machine guns (or an additional machine gun) could be attached to the special support mounted on the vehicle’s turret. Additionally the vehicle featured an all-vehicle mounted smoke grenade launcher on the right side of the engine compartment and a box containing the smoke grenades on the rear of the armored car, extending the vehicle’s silhouette by 20cm. For the 20 mm cannon there were 57 magazines, while for the machine guns 83 magazines were stowed.
The armored car was powered by a 108 HP FIAT-SPA ABM 3, 6-cylinder in-line water-cooled petrol engine, which could push the vehicle up to a maximum speed of 88 km/h. There were 3 fuel tanks for a total stowage of 195 litres.
Specifications.
Spoiler
Crew: 4
Length: 5.2 m
Width: 1.92 m
Height: 2.3 m
Weight: 7,6 tons
Engine: FIAT-SPA ABM 3, 6 cylinders, 108 hp
Maximum speed: 88 km/h
Armament: 1x Breda 20/65 Model 1935 and 2-3x Breda Model 1939
Armor: 22-8.5 mm
Pictures and drawnings.
Sources.