Carro de Combate de Infantería tipo 1937 (CCI tipo 37).

ImportantSimone5 · October 31, 2024, 10:01am

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Carro de Combate de Infantería tipo 1937 (CCI tipo 37).

History.

In the second half of 1936 in the Spanish Republic a civil war due to a failed coup by some army officers. The initial Nationalist rebel troops led by General Franco were in trouble, but in time and Italian-German support they prevailed over the Soviet-supported Republicans. In June 1937 the region of Vizcaya (with its capital Bilbao) was conquered by the Nationalist troops, who planned to use local industries, including the Sociedad Española de Construcción Naval, to be able to produce armored military vehicles independently so that they would have to request fewer armored vehicles from the Allies. The Nationalist authorities had some tanks brought to the local SECN headquarters from both the Nationalists (CV33 and Panzer I) and some captured from the Republicans (T-26) so that they could find a good compromise for a new vehicle to be built by taking advantage of the industry’s potential and the knowledge of local workers. The design for a new tank was agreed upon between August and September 1937, and in the middle of that month the Nationalist Army gave a contract to the SECN to build an initial series of 30 tanks, which was followed by the construction of a prototype. The vehicle was based on an elongated CV35 wagon hull, while the turret resembled in shape that of a Renault FT-17 (wagon employed by the Republicans).
During testing the vehicle met most of the requirements, but by 1938 only the prototype of the vehicle appeared to have been built, which suffered from its lack of armor (barely strong enough to be able to safeguard the crew from gunfire), and eventually the vehicle was discarded after the Nationalist forces had obtained enough Soviet T-26B type tanks.

Armament and propulsion.

The vehicle was armed with an Italian Breda 20/65 Model 1935 cannon placed in a 360° rotating turret with a maximum elevation of 30° and two Hotckiss Model 1914 machine guns in 7 mm caliber placed in the vehicle’s hull (similar to how machine guns are placed in L3 series tanks). The vehicle’s ammunition reserve is not known.
As an engine, the tank was powered by a MAN 6-cylinder 100-hp truck-type engine capable of propelling the vehicle up to a maximum speed of 24 km/h.

Specifications.

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Crew: 3-4
Maximum weight: 8 tons
Engine: 1x MAN 100 hp
Maximum speed: 25 km/h
Armament: 1x Breda 20/65 Model 1935 and 2x Hotckiss Model 1914 7.57 mm.
Armor: 10-12 mm

Pictures and drawnings.

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