- Yes
- Maybe
- No
History.
In 1937 the Italian Royal Army realized that the old Lancia 1ZM armored cars in service, although still efficient, were obsolete because they were not fast enough, weakly armored and armed and had poor off-road driving capabilities. This inevitably led to the development of a new fast and wheeled reconnaissance vehicle. An attempt was first made to replace the Lancia armored car with the Fiat 611 armored car, which was appreciated as a replacement for the old Lancia armored car. More or less in the same period, however, the Italian African Police (or PAI) unilaterally requested Ansaldo to develop an armored car for reconnaissance tasks to be used in the Italian African colonies, in which there were pockets of colonial resistance, in replacement for the old armored cars already present (which had been in service for almost a quarter of a century). Fiat-SPA, in collaboration with Ansaldo, responded to the request of both parties by deciding to develop a new armored car based on the TM40 artillery tractor. After the necessary modifications, the vehicle called AutoBlinda Mod. 1940 or more simply AB40 was born. The vehicle was much appreciated and several examples were ordered, although it was soon realized that the vehicle was too lightly armed. It was therefore decided to rearm the vehicle by replacing the previous turret with the one installed on the L6/40 light tank, and the vehicle was renamed AB41. The AB41 was the standard reconnaissance armored car of the Royal Italian Army which used it with excellent results in the campaign of Africa, on the Russian front and in the Balkans from mid-1941 to 8 September 1943. The vehicle was widely used by the Exploring Armored Groupings (R.E.Co) of various cavalry and armored divisions, and was also used by the famous unit called Armored Exploring Group (R.E.Co) “Lancieri di Montebello”. The 8th “Lancieri di Montebello” Regiment was disbanded in 1920 and was reconstituted in July 1942 and subsequently included in the “Ariete II” division. During the division’s move near Rome from Ferrara shortly before the armistice of 8 September 1943, the armored cars were repainted by the crew while they were on the train platforms during a stop at Castelnuovo di Porto. The armored cars were subsequently used and lost during clashes during the armistice period against German units.
The camouflage.
The basic camouflage used the Light Saharan Khaki color used by the AB41, with green and brown patches applied on top.
Pictures and drawnings.
Sources.