- Yes
- Maybe
- No
History.
The concept behind the AS42 “Saharan” came to the minds of Italian designers in 1942 while observing the English soldiers of the British and Commonwealth Long Range Desert Groups (LRDG),
who with their characteristic heavily armed and unarmored long-range vehicles, made incursions among the Axis forces causing havoc in Italian-German logistics. At the same time, their large-scale reconnaissance tasks were very valuable to English intelligence. The Royal Army tried to emulate these units using a vehicle designed by SPA-Viberti, which had proposed it and based on the chassis of the AB41 armored car. At the end of 1942, the first batch of 140 vehicles was delivered to the Royal Army, which had great effectiveness against the forces of the LRDG, which had to reduce their incursions. As time passed, the AS 42 was used during the Italian campaign and various examples were used in areas of Europe under German hands after the events of 8 September 1943. A modest number of AS42s were used by the State Police after the end of the war, until their replacement by more advanced vehicles.
Armaments and propulsion.
The main armament of this truck was composed of a Solothurn S-18/1000 anti-tank rifle, called by the Italians as Carabine “S” or Anti-tank rifle “S” (the same one mounted on the CV35 CC) mounted on an improvised carriage with orientation 360°. For the rifle there was a reserve consisting of 10 magazines of 10 rounds each. The secondary armament consisted of a Breda Model 1937 medium gun placed next to the driver with a reserve of 24 magazines of 24 rounds each.
The engine mounted on the truck weighed 430 kg and was the 6-cylinder FIAT-SPA ABM 2 petrol engine which delivered 88 HP, the same as the AB41 armored car. The vehicle’s performance was good, with a maximum road speed of 84 km/h and up to 50 km/h off-road.
Specifications.
Spoiler
Crew: 2-4
Powerplant: SPA Abm water cooled inline 6 cylinder, 110 hp power
Maximum speed: 84 km/h
Range: 720km -1400km
Length: 5.62 m
Width: 2.26 m
Height: 1.8 m
Weight: 4,500 kg
Armament: 1x Solothurn S-18/1000 and 1x Breda Model 1937.
Pictures and drawnings.
Sources.
Spoiler
Engines of the Wehrmacht in WW2
Fiat-SPA AS42 "Sahariana" - Wikipedia
SI VIS PACEM, PARA BELLUM: REGIO ESERCITO ITALIANO 1942 - 1954: Fiat-SPA AS42 “Sahariana".
SPA-Viberti AS.42 - Wikipedia
SPA-Viberti AS.42 Sahariana - Comando Supremo
Italian Special / Elite Forces Groups WW2 - LRDG
https://tanks-encyclopedia.com/ww2/italy/camioneta_as-42_sahariana.php
GLI AUTOVEICOLI DA COMBATTIMENTO DELL'ESERCITO ITALIANO VOL II TOMO I by Biblioteca Militare - Issuu
https://youtu.be/zIGKKihGEw4?feature=shared
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Te06YWuMDw
Solothurn S 18-1000 - Tank Encyclopedia
Solothurn S-18/1000 - Wikipedia
AS-42
