Egyptian M13/40

DemoNik8770 · March 23, 2024, 8:33pm

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Description/History:
After WW2, there was a large quantity of equipment left behind from the war, and due to the shaky political climate in the middle east, along with middle eastern countries lacking decent quantity of military equipment, had to make due with the leftovers, and among these, is the Italian M13/40. Egypt had ~2-3 M13/40s left behind from the North African Campaign which they used doing the Arab-Israeli War in 1948. At least one of these (which looks like a M13/40 Series III) had some interesting modifications.

The original 47mm gun was removed and replaced with a slightly smaller caliber gun, though its unconfirmed which gun it is, however its believed to be a 37mm M6 gun pulled from an M22 Locust. The reason this modification was made was likely due to a shortage in Italian 47mm ammunition, as the Egyptians had a good supply of 37mm ammo at the time. Tank Encyclopedia speculated that the new mantlet may have been made from Panzer II, or III parts, which certainly is possible as the Egyptians did have both of those tanks lying around. However a different source proposed a simpler idea that the original mantlet wasn’t removed, but instead cut it open to make room for the M22 mantlet.

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Images above comparing the modified M13/40s mantlet and armament to the M22 Locust.

Its unknown what the Egyptians did to the secondary armaments of the M13/40, as all photographic evidence obstructs view of the hull machine gun, however, images of the tank after it was captured (and its armaments unfortunately removed) show no noticeable signs of modification to the machine gun port, so it is very much possible that the original machine guns were retained. It has been speculated that they replaced the Breda 38s with a single Vickers machine gun, as .303 was a standard round the Egyptians were using at the time, however this is purely speculation. Beyond this however, there are no other noticeable modifications to the tank, and the rest of the features like armor, crew size, mobility would mirror the M13/40 in game

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Mockup of the M13/40, featuring the M22 mantlet, and the speculated Vickers machine gun in the hull

This tank would participate in the Battles of Negba where it would hit a mine, be abandoned by its crew and subsequently captured by the Israeli’s and kept as a war trophy for a while. It was likely scrapped shortly after.

Why it should be added:
Probably the best place for this tank would be as a tech tree or premium option for an Egyptian sub-tree for whichever nation it would be paired with. Otherwise it could also be added to the Italian tree as a premium, Event, or even tech tree vehicle, as its 37mm gun offers an interesting combination with the M13/40 chassis, as it sacrifices post pen damage for higher penetration.

Specifications:

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