By far the best feature of the Carro Veloce is the fact that if you cannot find a parking spot, you simply put it your pocket and take it inside with you.
This vehicle as a flamethrower was the first to use a detachable cart to carry the fuel which inspired the Churchill Crocodile. In North Africa to upgun the basic vehicle , Swiss 20mm Solothurn cannon were fitted to it. There is a photo of on guarding the harbor of Trobuk before captured by the British.
If wars were won by the side with the cutest tanks the whole world would be speaking italian right now. The Carro Veloce just looks that adorable. Edit: I have once again managed to launch a small scale comment war.
There's a story that a couple of these managed to sneak by the more powerful British armor and got into the rear area. Don't know if it's true, but they supposedly managed to shoot up some trucks before scurrying away. If true, it shows that these little blighters could cause headaches if used with some stealth and imagination.
Anything armored+Gun is better than no armour + Gun. If you've got a 1/4 steel plate and joe has a hay bale or something doesn't matter how effective the device is.
When one considers the diminutive size and weak armor of this sort of tankette/light tank (that several nations were playing around with in the 1920s-1930s), it becomes easy to understand that the US Army's initial idea for use of the .50 machinegun was as an antitank weapon.
The original concept for the tankette was as a mobile pillbox. Get a "bulletproof" machinegun somewhere fast and fight like a mobile machinegun nest. The problem is that they were used as tanks, something they were not designed for. One vehicle that did work as intended was the Universal Carrier.
There's a lot of re-evaluation about Italy occurring at the moment; one of the simplest ones; look how much resource the Royal Navy committed to the Med to ensure the safety of the Suez Canal import routes, which Italy was a direct and very significant threat to. The RN lost a lot of ships, including Ark Royal and Barham to that Theatre, and were sending some of their best units to the region, including some of their most modern cruisers and destroyers. Plus defeating Italy meant Britain could focus solely on Northern Europe instead if two fronts and force Germany to go from supporting Italy to fully fighting on two fronts.
Indeed, it is easy to look the most threatening when you are the only one standing up and threatening anyone. Credit to Mussolini, he was very good at looking strong and capable, irrespective of his actual strength and capability, and the power of good bluffing in politics and diplomacy should never be underestimated. By his bluster, he made Europe realize what Italians could do if they were indeed unified in purpose as a nation. The problem for Mussolini, of course, was he had not actually unified Italians in purpose, but he got closer than most anyone before and since.
Getting all the minute details correct is not easy, and even find corrections, but some inaccuracies I saw are that Italy did not get 100 FT in WW1, they planned asking for them in 1917 but the inventory register at the end of the war only lists 4 in Italy. Another one is the L3/38 suspension, it did not actually use torsion bars, at least not in the traditional sense, it used a circular spring on bogies much like a spring in a clothespin. Oh yeah and Ansaldo, not Ansalado, but foreign names being spelled wrong is notthat big of a deal.
Put the 2.0L I4 Ecoboost engine from my wife's 2019 Ford Escape SEL in one of these and you'd have a fast little tractor. 245 HP and 200 ft/lbs of torque would be fun in one of these!
There's something very otherworldly or scifi about the shapes on this. From the curves and angles of the flame nozzle, to the mantlet, and shape of the road wheel brackets, and the rest of it. It's fascinating, and feels like it's the product of an entirely unique heritage of engineering.
Alot of 20s and 30s vehicles did that. They look retro-futuristic. Italy is famous for it because as stated, alot of their vehicles were for propaganda.
@@polygondwanaland8390 It surely depends, if your opponent is the squirrel empire, whose worst attack is throwing nuts at you or facing a less imaginary, but rather real and capable opponent. If you have even the slightest form of survival instinct, you would run from the tankette instead of facing an opponent like the red army in a vehicle, which will do more damage to you sitting in it, then if it were not there. If this thing gets hit, crewmen will be hit by broken pieces of metal from the tankette's own excuse for armour. Try to imagine facing a t34 in this little deathtrap. At least you wouldn't have to face a t34 for very long...
Brilliant video thank you for sharing. In my opinion flame throwers are evil things, I know there isn’t a good way to die in war but being burned alive must be one of the very worst ways to get killed.
Do you agree with with those that say the bolted versus riveted armor was intended to allow field repair of battle damage after impact by enemy weapons and, that due to defamation of the plates and frame, it did not work very well? Thanks for another great video!
"carro veloce" (acronym CV) does not stand for "light tank" but for tankette. The light tanks had the acronym "L" (leggero, light) like the L6/40 tank.
@@polygondwanaland8390 the literal translation would be 'fast wagon'. The Italians called their tanks 'carro armata' then added a model number and L, M or P for light, medium and heavy. The tankettes were called fast wagons/cars.
‘Recirculating flame thrower liquid for pressure reasons’ will be heat buildup in the pump and maybe constantly recirculating hot liquid into the nozzle. And to be honest it’s easy to stop the return flow at the nozzle to build up the pressure for firing, rather than having a tap somewhere else. Keep it simple :o)
Oh, I was wondering what that was, having excluded Ansaldo on the basis of sound likeness... thanks for confirming it was Ansaldo nonetheless. 'Ansalàdo' = 'ansàldo' sometimes, note taken and good to know.
I recently built a vintage wood model kit from 1940 that was produced by Marvel Manufacturing Company that was based in Seaford, Long Island, NY. It is listed on the box as the "Swiss Reggi Ansaldo". It generally resembles the actual vehicle, but much of the detail is either missing or incorrect as I now view the actual vehicle. Clearly, the reference sources/photos for this vehicle were extremely limited back then.
@@Juntasification I still have the original, unbuilt kit. I used it as a template to recreate an exact reproduction. Not difficult when these early kits were nearly 100% wood.
Slightly disappointed that the CV35 fitted with the 20mm Solothurn anti-tank gun was not mentioned. The limited information I have on them indicate that this was quite an effective light AT vehicle, due to its very low silhouette.
Great to see this tank family covered! Btw, "carro veloce" (with the final "ce" pronounced as "Che" from Che Guevara) is literally "fast tank", while "carro leggero" would be "light tank". You're the best when it comes to covering tanks and this little detail is nothing serious ofc but still good to point out
Cool to know that German has it as well! Cafro is basically the Italian version of the french "char" (FR char - IT carro). Btw, I love the small imperfection at the end with "lanciafiamme" (flamethrower) becoming "Lancia Flaminia", the '50s-'60s luxury car used by the President of the Italian Republic to this day.
It is amazing how rare anti-armour weapons were in the 20's and early 30's, so anything that could stop standard rifle ammunition was seen as good enough. But from the late 1930's onwards, anti-tank rifles, door knocker anti-tank guns, 20mm weapons in mounts to take on air and ground targets, started to get everywhere. Then these things became ultra vulnerable.
I would go that far, the British complained that the L3 was too small and too mobile to effectively engage with ground mounted weapons (low gun vs low tank meant even slight bumps and hills in the terrain would make the already small target even smaller) Most cv33s were lost to tanks, armoured cars and truck-porters and indirect fire.
@@matthiuskoenig3378 It had it's good points. It was very low, so difficult to target. The armor thickness was no different than that of many turreted light tanks of the period, but, contrary to them, it was sloped. As a scouting vehicle and mobile pillbox it was good. Obviously it had no real use in AT role, or for assaulting entrenched enemies.
Love the David Willey .... anything Videos, Ok, we are coming slowly out of the Pandemic, but Please bring those Garden Chats back, They kept me sane during the worst times
I have been inside this tankette it is really cramped with the knees in my mouth 🤦! It wasn't easy to climb in out and the hatches was heavy to open and close with limited outside view. A veteran told me that it had good off-road capability and small as it is was quite manoeuvrable. However I do prefer a Ferrari over this CV 33...
Crewing a flame tankette sounds like a guaranteed death sentence. You're operating a motorized bomb with light armor and even if you're lucky enough to survive combat there's zero chance the enemy will take you prisoner.
To your first point, I disagree. If the fuel trailer gets hit and explodes then it's on the outside of your tankette. Stay buttoned up until its burned out then bail out and pretend to be infantrymen.
This flamethrower vehicle would be Target Number One, I bet, and I’m not sure 6mm armor is truly bulletproof. I know that soldiers carrying flamethrowers had a life expectancy of mere minutes, because NOBODY wants to let such a horrible weapon ANYWHERE NEAR them, so the enemy always made maximum effort to kill Flamethrower Guy. An enemy would attack a flame tankette with similar urgency, I would think. I’m actually surprised that flamethrowers weren’t outlawed by The Hague convention or a follow up treaty. It’s an inhumane weapon.
You know, I kinda like how he's mispronouncing "Ansaldo". You can clearly see it in his eyes, he's trying his best! Nice video, would definitely like more videos on italian tanks.
Look up the semovente series of spgs. There's one that was an open back with a 90mm that was capable of killing a kv at 600m. But most are similar to stug's with some changes that most I say are improvements
These little tanks could be used behind enemy lines causing disruption to Logistic Supply Lines and delaying an attack by causing frontline troops to have to turn back to try to deal with them. Perhaps even some Special Forces hit and run tactics spread out over large areas to cause maximum disruption? They are small and difficult to hit at distance, so I can see some good uses for them. Great video and keep up the great work at the museum. Keep well and stay safe, Joe
Problem is that these tankettes can be beaten up by Vickers light tanks and would even struggle against Bren carriers. When your vehicle has limited ability to fight back it doesn't take much to counter you. A single troop of CW tanks could have countered a numerically superior number of CV33 without much problem. Also in North Africa the idea of 'front' was flexible. Raiding was deep raiding at almost strategic level. Anything under 100km was simply another offensive maneuver. The other point to be remembered is that the Italian wasn't stupid. They weren't defending their families and loved ones and were well aware of the limitations of their equipment relative to their immediate enemy. Italians could and did perform some very successful raids (mainly naval) but did so with equipment prepared for the mission. I feel they were way too pragmatic to raid for the sake of finding a use for obsolete equipment.
@@mudcrab3420 Excellent points and you are correct in everything that you said, but I still think a few of these could disrupt Logistic Supply Lines with hit and run tactics and as many a general will tell you "You can't fight a battle without food, fuel and ammo". But I do agree with everything that you said, well done.
@@jjab99 Thanks Joe. Western Desert is a somewhat different playground. You stop seeing the big mixed up battles once the massive mine fields started to be put down, but Crusader/The Winter Battles effectively had zero front after the first day. You owned the big of land you were currently on and nothing else. Rommel did his dash to the wire move when he assumed he had the bulk of the CW forces defeated and most of the CW just ignored him. You also get situations like the 42 retreat/advance east into Egypt. German/Italian units were actually advance in front of some of the CW units retreating in the same direction. North Africa was a weird place :)
Better than walking. And hopefully light enough not to get bogged down easily. Yes, a Boys AT rifle will go through one, but it will also go through folks who are walking!
Some info... I was a little sad about some missing information; 1.---- regarding the 1st ever italian tank, the Fiat 2000. This was the "heaviest" and "most armoured" tank of all the belligerants in WW1 (apart from the 120ton k-wagen of the germans) and the first ever to have incredible features - rotating turret armed with a proper cannon (65mm) unlike british and german tanks that were turretless. Together with the FT17 this was a first ever - engine compartment which was separated from the main battle compartment 2. ---- Italy wasn't convinced to join the Allies in ww1. Austria betrayed Italy after attacking Serbia, since the agreement stated that they had to consult with their allies before doing any aggressive action (Germany and Italy). Italy was furious for this... and rightly so. Austria made the pact void and enraged the italians who rightly went against it. 3. ---- "Carro Veloce" means literally ---- "fast tank" not light tank 4. ---- Some names are completely misspelled... just a 10 seconds effort in Google Translate (which can also spell themI) would have made the point. Ansaldo not An-sa-lah-doh. Lancia-Fiamme not Lancia-Flaminia (a roman road and a Lancia car) Other than this, amazing as usual! Love the Tank Museum , went there many times. Very much waiting for the M13/40 series.
Veloce actually translates to fast, not light. So this is literally a fast truck or wagon. As the Italians decided not to call it 'Armato' I guess they too didn't think it very well protected.
In my mind the main curse of these little things just like every other tankette inspired by Carden-Loyd was as funny as it sounds traditionalism or rather lack of ambition of some designers. They wanted a cheap, but usable vehicle so much that they barely changed anything from the original. Meanwhile brits themselves upscaled it and eventually have gotten Universal Carrier. Technology and production processes hardly changed, it was still same types of components, just slightly increased in weight. In short if your tankette is narrower then 2m, get out of here:D It's a significant increase in size(and mass), but doesn't change the scale of vehicles needed to transport the tankette... unless you planned to tow it by horses. Later on italians produced a version of L3 with torsion bars and eventually a munitions carrier made from L6 light tank.
I love this tank, and similar ones. They perfectly fit a very useful role, but, as with all that were similar, got pushed into a role they werent for. Its small, nimble, and fairly quick, has an mg, and can tow. Beats walking, beats lugging the ammo for the mg, can get the initative early if sent in good time. as with early American cav armoured units, the small, quick, light armoured mgs put advanced quickly into chokepoints like bridges, trunk roads, valleys, etc, put strain on the advancing enemy, til you're heavier forces arrive. Plus with the trailer, they can be good for armed convoys, as you can have a low profile chain of them, pulling fuel and ammo, quickly across terrain too difficult for lorries, while also bring their own MGs, and resistant to small arms. And the best thing is, probably small enough to be able to drive in the UK comfortably nowadays
Ya, everybody love a King Tiger but I always loved the early light tanks and tankettes. The first time I saw a photo of Panzer I tanks fording a river with the guys wearing the crash berets I thought they looked so cool. Early tanks of all nationalities had such a mechanical whimsy to their design from an aesthetics POV.
It would be interesting to scale these small AFVs up to e.g. twice the size, or 3, using modern software. See how they would perform if that was seen as an evolution option. Just make 'em bigger, engine and main gun included. I'd appreciate that.
Not gonna lie, I'd actually like to own one of these. I'd have to desecrate it and remove the gunnery off of it, but technically, put mirrors and enough lights on it and it's a street legal vehicle in the US. . . In the temperate area where I live where you do experience all 4 seasons, having a tankette wouldn't be so bad. Plop a plow on the front, "BRrrrVroom!", snow's cleared from the driveway. Someone's moving, well I think an L3/35 would be able to haul at least half of an entire house away. Imagine what kind of Uber that'd be.
Interestingly the Japanese captured some of Chinese vehicles and used them within their own territories (along with other equipment like Stuarts and T-26). The Chinese then recaptured at least a few in Burma I believe and put them back into service.
@@scockery Luckily for the Chinese at least, they lost so many vehicles soon after they arrived that spare parts may not have been much of an issue. Seriously, I think only the T-26 had much service life outside of the odd armoured car, and even then probably just because they bought so many of them (though I guess the T-26s were on par with the types of vehicle Japan were fielding at the time).
I was looking at economic stats concerning Italy from 1913 through 1925, they were in a terrible situation really. I would say that I am very impressed with their Navy during ww2 all things concerned.
Leave it to the Brits to adopt a foreign alphabet and then spell most of the letters incorrectly. They also are like that with numbers. T-55 has 100mm of armor so this museum translated it to 4 inch and then to 102mm.
This would be quite successful as a daily driver in Naples. People tend to have a small cars there due to narrow streets, and most of those cars look like they were in combat, bumps and scratches all over.
One of those was knocked out by a Matilda in Eritrea - the 2 pound shot went through the glacis, the driver, the engine, right through the entire vehicle. Ouch.
Seen it a couple of times at Bovington. I really would not like to face any sort of flamethrower but that thing provokes sympathy for the men asked to ride these into battle.
Britain looks at Italy, mmm yes, might be a potential threat for us in the future, you know what we better sell 4 of our tanks to them cause we really need that money we can make of 4 tanks.
@@matthewwhitton5720 While the post WW1 environment was bad for the UK between 1925 and 1938 they ran a budget surplus every year except 1928. In the interwar period in total, the UK only had 3 budget deficits in 20 years.
Has anyone thought of doing a top or bottom 5 tanks of the interwar period 1919-1939 or doing it by decade? We often see interwar series but not comparisons of tanks and or tankettes.
Was there even a single task that a CV fit for? (like tow guns, usage as radio vehicle, or just put a pair of panzerfaust for hit and run in variegated areas like suburbs) I’m just wondering what the many hundreds of chassis could have been converted to...
Other than the variants mentioned in the video (flamethrower and airborne), the Italian Army was testing and deployed other versions of the vehicle. Those that passed the testing were the anti-tank version with a 20mm Solothurn AT rifle and a radio/command vesion. The variants, known, tested but that never entered service or remained at the prototype stage were. -a ramp layer -a bridge carrier -a recovery vehicle - a tractor for the 47/32 AT guns -a self propelled gun with the 47/32 AT gun -4 turreted versions
these tanks were also used by the partisans in Yugoslavia only versions armed with machine gun . they transported them with the help of wagons driven by oxen. And they mostly used them to attack where the enemy was not expecting like bad rocky terrain they mostly attacked bunkers with these tanks while partisans carrying bombs sat in the back of l35 and when they got close to a bunker they jumped and they started throwing bombs into the openings of the bunker.
By far the best feature of the Carro Veloce is the fact that if you cannot find a parking spot, you simply put it your pocket and take it inside with you.
They should use these in cities where they have too many cars
Just lift the front up and prop the thing up against the wall, or you could stack them like bycicles into racks
I don't know. You may get in trouble for having a concealed somewhat deadly weapon... depending on where you live at any rate. 🤪
@Paul Thiessen 😄 That is meme worthy good sir.
and i always thought they're best feature was the 4 reverse gears
Crazy how influential the Carden-Lloyd tankette was.
good looking out. as soon as I saw the track and suspension I nearly vomited, it could mean only one thing lol.
It's also capable of skipping on the surface of water like a pebble
Ah, I see you are a man of culture as well.
I got that reference
@@gustavgustav2670 Same
"This has never worked!"
also gets dinked by a pershing seconds later
Also you can use them on rollercoasters to spot enemy tanks! Ute!
Or serve as a ramp for a hetzer
I think I saw one of these as a gate guardian outside an Afghan National Army barracks in 2004.
Then you were very safe from attack🤔
Wack to think that's an army that doesn't exist anymore. I wonder if the Taliban appreciate tiny, antique tanks?
@@polygondwanaland8390 As far as I can tell, from reading since 1996, the Taliban don't appreciate much other than power.
This vehicle as a flamethrower was the first to use a detachable cart to carry the fuel which inspired the Churchill Crocodile.
In North Africa to upgun the basic vehicle , Swiss 20mm Solothurn cannon were fitted to it. There is a photo of on guarding the harbor of Trobuk before captured by the British.
Every time the 20mm Solothurn failed to hit its target, they called it a "Swiss Miss".
Okay, I made that up.
@@scockery Solothurn 20mm s18 / s28 1000 gun was considered the Pinnacle of Anti Tank weapons.
If wars were won by the side with the cutest tanks the whole world would be speaking italian right now.
The Carro Veloce just looks that adorable.
Edit: I have once again managed to launch a small scale comment war.
It's the Vespa of tanks
i rase you the M22 Locust
smol
Pz II L would like to disagree
what about polish TKS, the same size but curvier
There's a story that a couple of these managed to sneak by the more powerful British armor and got into the rear area. Don't know if it's true, but they supposedly managed to shoot up some trucks before scurrying away. If true, it shows that these little blighters could cause headaches if used with some stealth and imagination.
If only we'd placed mouse traps around our supply depots.
Do you know where and when the action took place ? Would love to read up on that
Anything armored+Gun is better than no armour + Gun.
If you've got a 1/4 steel plate and joe has a hay bale or something doesn't matter how effective the device is.
@@TheAtmosfear7 No. Completely annecdotal.
So if you lucked out and you managed to stumble upon a post truck or a milk truck you could do some damage, not really realistic
It's quite rare to see a baby StuG ! I hope it'll grow up to be nice and terrifying !
Awesome video !
More of a baby jagdpanzer 38t
Thank you for toning down Mr. Smith's insert. It no longer seems like a late night "Sham-Wow" commercial.
I really love ur presentations, storytelling, enthusiasm. Much love David Willey. ♥️
So glad to see David Willey back. I was getting worried he'd left the museum
His doggo said he was spending too much time there.
He's def the best presenter. Love the detail and history he gives.
@@scockery I miss Finn and the backyard episodes. Hopefully they bring those back next summer.
@@joshmeads I agree
@@joshmeads Better than David "The Moustache" Fletcher?
Heresy!
They should resume production. Would make a nice vehicle for shopping trips
When one considers the diminutive size and weak armor of this sort of tankette/light tank (that several nations were playing around with in the 1920s-1930s), it becomes easy to understand that the US Army's initial idea for use of the .50 machinegun was as an antitank weapon.
The original concept for the tankette was as a mobile pillbox. Get a "bulletproof" machinegun somewhere fast and fight like a mobile machinegun nest. The problem is that they were used as tanks, something they were not designed for. One vehicle that did work as intended was the Universal Carrier.
When used in their intended role the L3 preformed well, too well infact as it put the Italian leadership into complacency.
.50 BMG is in european system 12,7x 99, cartridge of german Tankbüchse of wwl was 13,2x 92.
@3:23 "Britain viewed Italy as a greater threat than Germany." Italy's unironic proudest (post-Roman Empire) military moment.
The Brits probably saw Mussolini's propaganda films of Italian soldiers parading like Roman legionnaires and thought "Oh no here we go again!"
To be fair. The Italians have a better Navy and more Battleships than Germany and the USSR.
u got to give some value to ur oponent, right?
There's a lot of re-evaluation about Italy occurring at the moment; one of the simplest ones; look how much resource the Royal Navy committed to the Med to ensure the safety of the Suez Canal import routes, which Italy was a direct and very significant threat to. The RN lost a lot of ships, including Ark Royal and Barham to that Theatre, and were sending some of their best units to the region, including some of their most modern cruisers and destroyers. Plus defeating Italy meant Britain could focus solely on Northern Europe instead if two fronts and force Germany to go from supporting Italy to fully fighting on two fronts.
Indeed, it is easy to look the most threatening when you are the only one standing up and threatening anyone. Credit to Mussolini, he was very good at looking strong and capable, irrespective of his actual strength and capability, and the power of good bluffing in politics and diplomacy should never be underestimated. By his bluster, he made Europe realize what Italians could do if they were indeed unified in purpose as a nation. The problem for Mussolini, of course, was he had not actually unified Italians in purpose, but he got closer than most anyone before and since.
The crew of a Carro Veloce confronted by a Grant tank must have felt the same way that the crew of a Cromwell did when facing a Tiger.
Even worse.
Depending on the situation, a Cromwell could do fine against a Tiger. A CV against a Grant, Sherman or heck, even a Crusader... not so much
Or any japanese tank meeting a sherman.
Yup
@@bavtie1with the flamethrower it could manage(with luck and prayers).
Getting all the minute details correct is not easy, and even find corrections, but some inaccuracies I saw are that Italy did not get 100 FT in WW1, they planned asking for them in 1917 but the inventory register at the end of the war only lists 4 in Italy. Another one is the L3/38 suspension, it did not actually use torsion bars, at least not in the traditional sense, it used a circular spring on bogies much like a spring in a clothespin.
Oh yeah and Ansaldo, not Ansalado, but foreign names being spelled wrong is notthat big of a deal.
2⅔³
Great video, thanks! Hope to see more videos on the Italian tanks from your collection
Thank you for your work and keeping history alive!
Put a snow plow on it with the flame thrower and you have the world's greatest lawn tractor.
Put the 2.0L I4 Ecoboost engine from my wife's 2019 Ford Escape SEL in one of these and you'd have a fast little tractor. 245 HP and 200 ft/lbs of torque would be fun in one of these!
There's something very otherworldly or scifi about the shapes on this. From the curves and angles of the flame nozzle, to the mantlet, and shape of the road wheel brackets, and the rest of it. It's fascinating, and feels like it's the product of an entirely unique heritage of engineering.
Alot of 20s and 30s vehicles did that. They look retro-futuristic. Italy is famous for it because as stated, alot of their vehicles were for propaganda.
😊😊😊
In an infantry support role, that being a mobile machine gun/field gun nest, these would work splendidly.
I wonder if replacing the twin machine guns for a single water cooled maxim type would have made these a bit more viable for infantry support.
Thanks for covering the CV, can't imagine men fighting in such equipment against cruisers and Matilda, very brave or foolhardy Italian tank men.
F for the Italian tankers that had to take these into the Soviet Union in 1942
They didn't do much better against the partisans in Yugoslavia.
OTOH, would you rather have a tankette, or a bolt action rifle and some grenades?
@@polygondwanaland8390 It surely depends, if your opponent is the squirrel empire, whose worst attack is throwing nuts at you or facing a less imaginary, but rather real and capable opponent.
If you have even the slightest form of survival instinct, you would run from the tankette instead of facing an opponent like the red army in a vehicle, which will do more damage to you sitting in it, then if it were not there. If this thing gets hit, crewmen will be hit by broken pieces of metal from the tankette's own excuse for armour.
Try to imagine facing a t34 in this little deathtrap. At least you wouldn't have to face a t34 for very long...
Well by that time those few tankettes operational were used as tractors
Tankette obviously, I could run away a lot faster in it than on foot.
Brilliant video thank you for sharing. In my opinion flame throwers are evil things, I know there isn’t a good way to die in war but being burned alive must be one of the very worst ways to get killed.
One of these, with twin MGs, was on exhibit in Managua, Nicaragua, when I was there in 1986.
Do you agree with with those that say the bolted versus riveted armor was intended to allow field repair of battle damage after impact by enemy weapons and, that due to defamation of the plates and frame, it did not work very well? Thanks for another great video!
"carro veloce" (acronym CV) does not stand for "light tank" but for tankette.
The light tanks had the acronym "L" (leggero, light) like the L6/40 tank.
What's the exact literal translation of CV? "Fast car"?
@@polygondwanaland8390 "carro veloce" means "fast tank"
Not a linguist, but I'd suggest that "veloce" is a blood-relative of "velocity". ie "speedy".
@@polygondwanaland8390 the literal translation would be 'fast wagon'.
The Italians called their tanks 'carro armata' then added a model number and L, M or P for light, medium and heavy. The tankettes were called fast wagons/cars.
Carro Veloce stands for Fast Tank in italian
‘Recirculating flame thrower liquid for pressure reasons’ will be heat buildup in the pump and maybe constantly recirculating hot liquid into the nozzle. And to be honest it’s easy to stop the return flow at the nozzle to build up the pressure for firing, rather than having a tap somewhere else. Keep it simple :o)
Nice low silhouette, excellent for reconnaissance or towing light artillery.
"Anzio High school aproves of this video" - Anchovy
Much as I like these talks, I still lose it every time "Ansaldo" is pronounced to sound like "insalato"...
and lanciafiamme, not lancia flaminia, which is a car introduced in 57
@@crono331 cazz quelle si che erano macchine
Oh, I was wondering what that was, having excluded Ansaldo on the basis of sound likeness... thanks for confirming it was Ansaldo nonetheless.
'Ansalàdo' = 'ansàldo' sometimes, note taken and good to know.
@@decespugliatorenucleare3780 Lancia Flaminia Zagato
I wonder what dressing the insalato comes with.
We do not put Ansaldo on salado. Maybe David was hungry during filming this.
They were looking at air transporting these things at one point. a concept way ahead of its time.
I recently built a vintage wood model kit from 1940 that was produced by Marvel Manufacturing Company that was based in Seaford, Long Island, NY. It is listed on the box as the "Swiss Reggi Ansaldo". It generally resembles the actual vehicle, but much of the detail is either missing or incorrect as I now view the actual vehicle. Clearly, the reference sources/photos for this vehicle were extremely limited back then.
That was probably worth some money until you decided to assemble it.
Would love to see pictures if you got any
@@Juntasification I still have the original, unbuilt kit. I used it as a template to recreate an exact reproduction. Not difficult when these early kits were nearly 100% wood.
@@michaeldebellis6171 I do have photos that I am willing to share, not quite sure how to get them to you
"This is the way Anzio fights!"
DUCE! DUCE! DUCE!
"Anzio is not weak! No, we are strong!"
Slightly disappointed that the CV35 fitted with the 20mm Solothurn anti-tank gun was not mentioned. The limited information I have on them indicate that this was quite an effective light AT vehicle, due to its very low silhouette.
Great video and well presented.
One question, Ansalado? I guess he means Ansaldo.
I'd love to hear more of the stories of the men inside the tanks. The one you did a while back was really quite effecting.
Great to see this tank family covered!
Btw, "carro veloce" (with the final "ce" pronounced as "Che" from Che Guevara) is literally "fast tank", while "carro leggero" would be "light tank". You're the best when it comes to covering tanks and this little detail is nothing serious ofc but still good to point out
In german language the word , Karren' exists. This is a,two wheel coach/ wheelbarrow. This word ( in variant Karre) is also used for ,car'.
Cool to know that German has it as well!
Cafro is basically the Italian version of the french "char" (FR char - IT carro).
Btw, I love the small imperfection at the end with "lanciafiamme" (flamethrower) becoming "Lancia Flaminia", the '50s-'60s luxury car used by the President of the Italian Republic to this day.
It is amazing how rare anti-armour weapons were in the 20's and early 30's, so anything that could stop standard rifle ammunition was seen as good enough. But from the late 1930's onwards, anti-tank rifles, door knocker anti-tank guns, 20mm weapons in mounts to take on air and ground targets, started to get everywhere. Then these things became ultra vulnerable.
I would go that far, the British complained that the L3 was too small and too mobile to effectively engage with ground mounted weapons (low gun vs low tank meant even slight bumps and hills in the terrain would make the already small target even smaller)
Most cv33s were lost to tanks, armoured cars and truck-porters and indirect fire.
@@matthiuskoenig3378 It had it's good points. It was very low, so difficult to target. The armor thickness was no different than that of many turreted light tanks of the period, but, contrary to them, it was sloped. As a scouting vehicle and mobile pillbox it was good. Obviously it had no real use in AT role, or for assaulting entrenched enemies.
Love the David Willey .... anything Videos, Ok, we are coming slowly out of the Pandemic, but Please bring those Garden Chats back, They kept me sane during the worst times
Need more Finn
I have been inside this tankette it is really cramped with the knees in my mouth 🤦! It wasn't easy to climb in out and the hatches was heavy to open and close with limited outside view. A veteran told me that it had good off-road capability and small as it is was quite manoeuvrable. However I do prefer a Ferrari over this CV 33...
Crewing a flame tankette sounds like a guaranteed death sentence. You're operating a motorized bomb with light armor and even if you're lucky enough to survive combat there's zero chance the enemy will take you prisoner.
Kind of like driving a Ford Pinto...
@@RichWhiteUM Or a mobile pizza oven.
To your first point, I disagree. If the fuel trailer gets hit and explodes then it's on the outside of your tankette. Stay buttoned up until its burned out then bail out and pretend to be infantrymen.
This flamethrower vehicle would be Target Number One, I bet, and I’m not sure 6mm armor is truly bulletproof. I know that soldiers carrying flamethrowers had a life expectancy of mere minutes, because NOBODY wants to let such a horrible weapon ANYWHERE NEAR them, so the enemy always made maximum effort to kill Flamethrower Guy. An enemy would attack a flame tankette with similar urgency, I would think.
I’m actually surprised that flamethrowers weren’t outlawed by The Hague convention or a follow up treaty. It’s an inhumane weapon.
I think the version with the 44gal drum mounted on the rear hull, directly behind the case-mate/crew compartment sounds like a reason for mutiny.
This has the greatest pronunciation of Nicaragua ever! 15:42
You know, I kinda like how he's mispronouncing "Ansaldo".
You can clearly see it in his eyes, he's trying his best!
Nice video, would definitely like more videos on italian tanks.
If it was scaled up by 300% it would look awesome, like an early Stug
Look up the semovente series of spgs. There's one that was an open back with a 90mm that was capable of killing a kv at 600m. But most are similar to stug's with some changes that most I say are improvements
@@datpieceofbread9570 will do, cheers!
You have the eye Sir!
Looks like some thing I could build in my shed, now where did I put that pop riveter
“Well, officer, I needed a flamethrower tankette to stop those kids from skateboarding on the sidewalk…”
I think the pronunciation is An-Sal-do - no '...salad...' in that tank, unless they were using it as a catering vehicle? Gelato too?😄
These little tanks could be used behind enemy lines causing disruption to Logistic Supply Lines and delaying an attack by causing frontline troops to have to turn back to try to deal with them. Perhaps even some Special Forces hit and run tactics spread out over large areas to cause maximum disruption?
They are small and difficult to hit at distance, so I can see some good uses for them.
Great video and keep up the great work at the museum.
Keep well and stay safe,
Joe
Problem is that these tankettes can be beaten up by Vickers light tanks and would even struggle against Bren carriers. When your vehicle has limited ability to fight back it doesn't take much to counter you. A single troop of CW tanks could have countered a numerically superior number of CV33 without much problem.
Also in North Africa the idea of 'front' was flexible. Raiding was deep raiding at almost strategic level. Anything under 100km was simply another offensive maneuver.
The other point to be remembered is that the Italian wasn't stupid. They weren't defending their families and loved ones and were well aware of the limitations of their equipment relative to their immediate enemy. Italians could and did perform some very successful raids (mainly naval) but did so with equipment prepared for the mission. I feel they were way too pragmatic to raid for the sake of finding a use for obsolete equipment.
@@mudcrab3420 Excellent points and you are correct in everything that you said, but I still think a few of these could disrupt Logistic Supply Lines with hit and run tactics and as many a general will tell you "You can't fight a battle without food, fuel and ammo". But I do agree with everything that you said, well done.
@@jjab99 Thanks Joe. Western Desert is a somewhat different playground. You stop seeing the big mixed up battles once the massive mine fields started to be put down, but Crusader/The Winter Battles effectively had zero front after the first day. You owned the big of land you were currently on and nothing else. Rommel did his dash to the wire move when he assumed he had the bulk of the CW forces defeated and most of the CW just ignored him.
You also get situations like the 42 retreat/advance east into Egypt. German/Italian units were actually advance in front of some of the CW units retreating in the same direction.
North Africa was a weird place :)
Better than walking. And hopefully light enough not to get bogged down easily. Yes, a Boys AT rifle will go through one, but it will also go through folks who are walking!
And it beats the hell out of horses if you're towing artillery.
I recently got a 3D printer and guess what tank model is fresh off the printer. Huge coincidence !!!!
Is it in original size? 🤔😉
1:1 ?
I had no idea that 3D printers were that big by now.
@@untruelie2640 1/56 scale
@@rotwang2000 where did you get the stl file? Willing to share a link?
Some info...
I was a little sad about some missing information;
1.---- regarding the 1st ever italian tank, the Fiat 2000.
This was the "heaviest" and "most armoured" tank of all the belligerants in WW1 (apart from the 120ton k-wagen of the germans) and the first ever to have incredible features
- rotating turret armed with a proper cannon (65mm) unlike british and german tanks that were turretless. Together with the FT17 this was a first ever
- engine compartment which was separated from the main battle compartment
2. ---- Italy wasn't convinced to join the Allies in ww1. Austria betrayed Italy after attacking Serbia, since the agreement stated that they had to consult with their allies before doing any aggressive action (Germany and Italy). Italy was furious for this... and rightly so. Austria made the pact void and enraged the italians who rightly went against it.
3. ---- "Carro Veloce" means literally ---- "fast tank" not light tank
4. ---- Some names are completely misspelled... just a 10 seconds effort in Google Translate (which can also spell themI) would have made the point. Ansaldo not An-sa-lah-doh. Lancia-Fiamme not Lancia-Flaminia (a roman road and a Lancia car)
Other than this, amazing as usual! Love the Tank Museum , went there many times. Very much waiting for the M13/40 series.
Bravo, molto ben spiegato, complimenti.
Veloce actually translates to fast, not light. So this is literally a fast truck or wagon. As the Italians decided not to call it 'Armato' I guess they too didn't think it very well protected.
Armato is implied outside of the most official documents
@@M.M.83-U Sorry, it was a joke.
@@timgosling6189 ops 😅
Now we need some very big doors to wedge open with these self-propelled big door wedges.
In my mind the main curse of these little things just like every other tankette inspired by Carden-Loyd was as funny as it sounds traditionalism or rather lack of ambition of some designers. They wanted a cheap, but usable vehicle so much that they barely changed anything from the original. Meanwhile brits themselves upscaled it and eventually have gotten Universal Carrier. Technology and production processes hardly changed, it was still same types of components, just slightly increased in weight. In short if your tankette is narrower then 2m, get out of here:D It's a significant increase in size(and mass), but doesn't change the scale of vehicles needed to transport the tankette... unless you planned to tow it by horses.
Later on italians produced a version of L3 with torsion bars and eventually a munitions carrier made from L6 light tank.
More Italian content PLEASE 🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏
The Vespa of tanks
Interesting Video and Vehicle
Glad to see Davie is back!
I love this tank, and similar ones. They perfectly fit a very useful role, but, as with all that were similar, got pushed into a role they werent for.
Its small, nimble, and fairly quick, has an mg, and can tow.
Beats walking, beats lugging the ammo for the mg, can get the initative early if sent in good time. as with early American cav armoured units, the small, quick, light armoured mgs put advanced quickly into chokepoints like bridges, trunk roads, valleys, etc, put strain on the advancing enemy, til you're heavier forces arrive.
Plus with the trailer, they can be good for armed convoys, as you can have a low profile chain of them, pulling fuel and ammo, quickly across terrain too difficult for lorries, while also bring their own MGs, and resistant to small arms.
And the best thing is, probably small enough to be able to drive in the UK comfortably nowadays
No "Carro Veloce" was NOT the Italian for "light tank".
Carro Veloce = Fast Tank
Light tank = Carro leggero
👍
Italians: "This is a light tank!"
Rest of the world: "Lmao nah try again"
Ya, everybody love a King Tiger but I always loved the early light tanks and tankettes. The first time I saw a photo of Panzer I tanks fording a river with the guys wearing the crash berets I thought they looked so cool. Early tanks of all nationalities had such a mechanical whimsy to their design from an aesthetics POV.
It is a cool looking little tank. I'll bet it's a blast to drive.
As my uncle would say "How many reverse gears ⚙ does that Italian tank have" 😅
Have to admit, it is kinda cool! Would come in handy dealing with angry drivers in traffic here in Jersey.
It would be interesting to scale these small AFVs up to e.g. twice the size, or 3, using modern software. See how they would perform if that was seen as an evolution option. Just make 'em bigger, engine and main gun included. I'd appreciate that.
Mini crocodile. Great explanation
Not gonna lie, I'd actually like to own one of these. I'd have to desecrate it and remove the gunnery off of it, but technically, put mirrors and enough lights on it and it's a street legal vehicle in the US. . . In the temperate area where I live where you do experience all 4 seasons, having a tankette wouldn't be so bad. Plop a plow on the front, "BRrrrVroom!", snow's cleared from the driveway. Someone's moving, well I think an L3/35 would be able to haul at least half of an entire house away. Imagine what kind of Uber that'd be.
A Lancia Flaminia is a car, what you were looking for there I'm sure was "Lancia Fiamme"
Perfect for patrolling the back streets, then parking up next to the cafe for lunch.
Interestingly the Japanese captured some of Chinese vehicles and used them within their own territories (along with other equipment like Stuarts and T-26). The Chinese then recaptured at least a few in Burma I believe and put them back into service.
Surprising they didn't break down before that. It's not like they'd have spare parts.
@@scockery Luckily for the Chinese at least, they lost so many vehicles soon after they arrived that spare parts may not have been much of an issue. Seriously, I think only the T-26 had much service life outside of the odd armoured car, and even then probably just because they bought so many of them (though I guess the T-26s were on par with the types of vehicle Japan were fielding at the time).
I was looking at economic stats concerning Italy from 1913 through 1925, they were in a terrible situation really. I would say that I am very impressed with their Navy during ww2 all things concerned.
US M67 flame tank had the fuel tank inside the turret! Burner was disguised as a normal gun.
It's so low to the ground! Would you be able to fit in that thing sir? How tall are you?
There are some mistakes in the history talk before speaking about the CV33
Never heard of this thing before! Interesting bit of kit, but you can get more capable vehicles free in a box of cereal.
Love you guys, but "unselado" is far, far away from Ansaldo. "An" like the article, "sal" like in salt, "do" as in dome.
Actually "sal" as in salvage, though i guess it depends on what accent u apply to salt.
Leave it to the Brits to adopt a foreign alphabet and then spell most of the letters incorrectly. They also are like that with numbers. T-55 has 100mm of armor so this museum translated it to 4 inch and then to 102mm.
So cute and tiny. Could they be kept in an apartment? Would they leak on the carpet or are they potty trained?
"what do you get with the Carro Veloce?", well, laughed at mainly, it would seem.
I'd like one to go ripping around out in the bush and it would be handy during hunting season for dragging out a moose or elk 👍👌
7:56
Nice to see someone utilizing Acacia wood for something useful!
I thought it was only good for dulling my chainsaw teeth!
4:20 proud parents look on as the go-cart championship kicks off
I didn't know you had a CV; this was a really welcome surprise
This would be quite successful as a daily driver in Naples. People tend to have a small cars there due to narrow streets, and most of those cars look like they were in combat, bumps and scratches all over.
If you want a good laugh get a deckchair and some cold beers and watch the traffic on the arc'd'triomph roundabout...
One of those was knocked out by a Matilda in Eritrea - the 2 pound shot went through the glacis, the driver, the engine, right through the entire vehicle. Ouch.
Can't get excited about Italian tanks😛 Looking good DW.
Awesome and educational tank chat as always!
Seen it a couple of times at Bovington. I really would not like to face any sort of flamethrower but that thing provokes sympathy for the men asked to ride these into battle.
Finally a good review on this tank.
Britain looks at Italy, mmm yes, might be a potential threat for us in the future, you know what we better sell 4 of our tanks to them cause we really need that money we can make of 4 tanks.
They did. They were broke. And still are. The Brits have been scouring the nooks and crannies of couches for coins since 1918.
@@matthewwhitton5720 While the post WW1 environment was bad for the UK between 1925 and 1938 they ran a budget surplus every year except 1928. In the interwar period in total, the UK only had 3 budget deficits in 20 years.
These things are goofy! 🤣 they look like alot of fun to drive but I sure wouldn't want to fight in them.
My favourite tank, although carro veloce means fast opposed to light
Has anyone thought of doing a top or bottom 5 tanks of the interwar period 1919-1939 or doing it by decade? We often see interwar series but not comparisons of tanks and or tankettes.
Was there even a single task that a CV fit for? (like tow guns, usage as radio vehicle, or just put a pair of panzerfaust for hit and run in variegated areas like suburbs) I’m just wondering what the many hundreds of chassis could have been converted to...
Other than the variants mentioned in the video (flamethrower and airborne), the Italian Army was testing and deployed other versions of the vehicle.
Those that passed the testing were the anti-tank version with a 20mm Solothurn AT rifle and a radio/command vesion.
The variants, known, tested but that never entered service or remained at the prototype stage were.
-a ramp layer
-a bridge carrier
-a recovery vehicle
- a tractor for the 47/32 AT guns
-a self propelled gun with the 47/32 AT gun
-4 turreted versions
Think of it as a self-propelled machine gun.
well if you roll it onto its roof you could always use the tin opener from the ration kits to get out
these tanks were also used by the partisans in Yugoslavia only versions armed with machine gun . they transported them with the help of wagons driven by oxen. And they mostly used them to attack where the enemy was not expecting like bad rocky terrain they mostly attacked bunkers with these tanks while partisans carrying bombs sat in the back of l35 and when they got close to a bunker they jumped and they started throwing bombs into the openings of the bunker.
Lovely 1:2 scale tank