M1907 St-Étienne on Fiat 618 M.C., an attempted italian tiny anti-aircraft truck

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M1907 St-Étienne on Fiat 618 M.C.

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History.

These are the years of the Spanish Civil War. The Spanish Republican Air Force is creating various problems for the logistics chain of the Italian Volunteer Corps, and they are thinking of an easy yet effective solution: mounting an anti-aircraft weapon on a truck. One of the first attempts was to mount an old French machine gun given away after the Great War, the Saint-Étienne M1907, on a Fiat truck, the Fiat 618. Unfortunately the vehicle turned out to be a mousetrap, as the armament was weak and the crew was almost totally at the mercy of enemy planes, so the idea was shelved.
Despite this, this vehicle would be fine at a very low br as anti-aircraft, just like the GAZ-AAA 4M.

Armament and propulsion.

As mentioned before, the truck was equipped with a Saint-Étienne M1907. Speaking of the weapon itself, it used 8×50mm R Lebel caliber ammunition and had a maximum rate of fire of 400 rounds per minute, with a belt magazine of 25-30 rounds or a 150-round belt magazine and 11 magazines transported in the ammo racks.
In terms of engine, the truck had a Fiat 118A, 4-cyl engine. diesel 1944 cm3, 43 ch/3,800 rpm which allowed the vehicle to reach a maximum speed of 65 km/h.

Specifications.

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Crew: 3
Dimensions: 4.7 x 1.94 x 2.5m (3.05 m wheelbase)
Maximum weight: 4 tonnes
Propulsion: Fiat 118A, 4-cyl. diesel 1944 cm3, 43 ch/3.800 rpm
Top speed: 65 km/h
Payload: around 1.25 t
Transmission and suspension: 4+1 speed, leaf spring

Photos.

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20231109_085125

Sources.

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Autocannone da 20/65 su FIAT-SPA 38R - Tank Encyclopedia
Fiat 618 4x2 Lorry (1935)
Saint-Étienne mod. 1907 - Wikipedia
St. Étienne Mle 1907 - Wikipedia
Fiat 618 - Wikipedia
Fiat & SPA Trucks
Regio Esercito - Materiale bellico - Mitragliatrice Saint Etienne

4 Likes

Oh god no

3 Likes

The italian brother of the GAZ.

1 Like

The gaz has 4 guns, while this one has 1. Other than being a single machine-gun, it’s also much older than the ones mounted on the GAZ. -1

2 Likes

On the other hand, there is no certainty as to whether the weapon was fed with 25-round plates or 300-round belt magazines.

I’d prefer 4x guns with 25 r. plates than 1x with even an infinite belt.

1 Like

Me too, but at least it would be a unique (even if insane) thing to add.

+1 yes to vehicles from spanish civil war

1 Like

I can see this being a low tier event reward or battlepass vehicle. I don’t think its needed but can still be something neat to add. +1

1 Like

Edited the gun information and added one pic.

Can I get white walls for it?

What you mean?

And just 400 rpm, thats super slow for an MG of this size, it would be super weak.

But it compensate with ammo size and magazine (not totally but yes).

As much as I love gun trucks, and I try to see the possibilities where people put up a veil of complaints, this one I struggle to see its usefulness.
Its firepower is the main problem and is unfortunately severely lacking. Even if the Italians used full strips of HE-I rounds or something other spicy, It still wouldn’t be enough to be effective in my opinion.

I appreciate that you’ve managed to research and compile the information that you have and brought it to the forum for us to read, that’s a win for everyone no matter what. :)
But that said, for the game, I’m gonna have to give it a pass.

5 Likes

I know that it will be useful 75/100, but is better than having nothing.
And it wasn’t so easy to find info but it also wasn’t so hard.

White wall tires, cause they were cool

Idk man. We can only hope.

I will support that and accept it

2 Likes