- Yes
- Maybe
- No
History.
At the beginning of the 1930s, Fiat-Ansaldo presented an armored vehicle based on the Fiat 611 colonial truck, with the addition of armament and a dual driving system. The armored car had been designated specifically for the State Police departments and was in fact armed only with machine guns. Despite the good performance and the fact that the armored car responded to requests, the vehicle was not adopted on a large scale by the Royal Army, which however ordered a small order of about ten examples for the metropolitan police in 1933 through the Ministry of 'Internal. The first armored cars in use by the police did not see much use, but the examples later destined for the colonial forces saw a fair amount of use in the Italian colonies of the Horn of Africa after the declaration of war on the United Kingdom in 1940 (and also saw use during the shooting of a propaganda film). The vehicles were used for police, scouting and convoy defense duties and most of these were lost as the conflict continued.
Armaments and propulsion.
The armored car in this specific version was armed with a Vickers-Terni 37/40 cannon placed in a rotating turret that could turn 360°. For the cannon, a minimum of 50 rounds and a maximum of 70 were stowed. Furthermore, the vehicle was protected by two Breda Mod.5C front machine guns, which from 1941 were replaced with 7.7 mm Lewis machine guns of aeronautical origin. For the Mod.5C, 1,500 cartridges were supplied, while for the Lewis the number is unknown but presumably similar.
The vehicle was powered by a Fiat 122 B 6-cylinder petrol engine with a maximum power of 46 hp. With this engine the armored car could reach a maximum speed of 43 km/h in both directions.
Specifications.
Spoiler
Length: 5.6 m
Width: 2 m
Height: 2,56 m
Weight: 6 tons
Engine: FIAT 122 B 6-cylinder water-cooled gasoline engine, 46 hp
Maximum speed: 43 km/h
Crew: 5
Maximum armour: 15 mm
Armament: 1x 37/40 cannon and 2x Breda Mod.5C 6.5 mm machine guns or 2x 7.7 mm Lewis machine guns
Pictures and drawnings.
Sources.
Spoiler
Autoblinda AB.611
Auto blindée Fiat AB 611 – Seconde Guerre
AB/35 - FIAT 611
FIAT AB-611 (1932)
AUTOBLINDA 611 - Quartermaster Section
LE PRIME AUTOBLINDE ITALIANE: LANCIA 1Z, FIAT 611 E ALTRE MINORI
Autoblindata FIAT 611 (Italia)
Fiat 611 del Regio Esercito - Flying Lions
GLI AUTOVEICOLI DA COMBATTIMENTO DELL'ESERCITO ITALIANO VOL I by Biblioteca Militare - Issuu