Italian tankette in Irak

[Semovente]

Yes you always hear of the German 88's as the terror of battle field for allied armour etc..but you dont hear much about the 90/53's !...a formidable weapon indeed Mufasa...it backs up the fact more & more that Italian army was a good force in combat and not the popular myth of WW2 & postwar years!...

[mufasa]

January 20, 1943, in retreat as the rearguard of the Sahara Grouping, the armoured cars of Monferrato clashes at El Hamma with the Long Range Desert Group inflicting heavy casualties and capturing the commander Ten. Col. Sterling (under a photo with his men).
The Armoured Group Cavalleggeri Monferrato continued fighting in Tunisia, in cooperation with Nizza Cavalleria and Cavalleggeri di Lodi until the last .....

and from Cavalelggeri di Lodi with their Ab41 in Tunisia I have only some recent postcard of Parducci....

[mufasa]

I return onrebuke the Lodi because on his armored car in Tunisia was the "manufacturer"

Gianni Agnelli, of course cavalry officer in Pinerolo, does not want to ambush as he would like his grandfather Giovanni (Fiat owner) who has lost the other grandson in Russia with the Savoia Cavalleria, and his grandfather can transfer Gianni from Russia in Africa with armored cars .. .. Gianni Agnelli s also injured in an air attack from a Spitfire and take home a bronze medal of valor ....

Gianni Agnelli in Russia and in Africa

[mufasa]

the fiirst military mail of "AB41"...

III Gruppo Corazzato Nizza Cavalleria (3 squads with 4 AB41 each) was is organic to the Ariete Division.
Ain El Gazala, Tobruk, oasis of Siwa, Qattara Depression, El Alamein.
In August '42 the armored survivors are incorporated to the remains of VIII Batalion and fighting until April 1943 when Tunisia became part of the Lequio grouping.
A military mail of an officer of the Armoured Cars of the Nizza sent from Tunisia just before the surrender (Posta Militare 600)

... .... but the twin Armoured Squadrons Nizza Cavalleria, the IV (of AB 41 and L6/40 derived form our L6 or cv35) arrives in Albania and goes right into the line against the Tito partisans in mid-1942 ........ here are some photos of the IV Group in Albania




here are two photos of the Group IV in Albania

[mufasa]

compared to the twin III Squadrons Group in Africa, a pure exploration department with 54 AB41, the IV had just a Squadrons Group of AB41 (21 vehicles) + 15 light tanks L6 / 40 .... a photo of a L6/40 just captured by the Germans in September 1943 always Albania....

a beautiful military post of the end of 1942 form NCO of the Armoured (corazzato) Group IV of Nizza Cavalleria from Tirana (PM 22)

[mufasa]

and the commander of the Fourth Squadron of the Armoured Group of Nizza in Albania: Colonel Luigi Goytre (Gold Medal Value in memory) killed in action leading his armored cars the September 13th, 1943 while resisting the Germans after the "armisitce"...

[mufasa]

and the light tank L6/40 remains a poor and inadequate tank, while a best derivative of the CV35 is Semovente L40 with anti-tank 47/32 gun... here it is in the last phase of the war in Africa, in Tunisia

[mufasa]

.....only 300 semoventi L40 roduced...

[mufasa]

an interesting "franchgia" with the question mark on the military address space!!
Our officer he was just landed in Biiserta in Tunisia (12th november 1942) with the 136 "Battaglione Semoventi" (2 companies from of 10 L/40 each) so 10 days before this card, had not yet been assigned the number of military postal service, (because it was an autonomous Unit)

[mufasa]

and the Italian had the recklessness to employ the Semovente L/40 in Russia....

[mufasa]

and another military mail of self-propelled gun L/40, this time from Sicily, two months before the landing, CCXXXIII Battaglione Controcarri 47/32

[mufasa]

and a brave soldier of CCXXXIII Battalilon : Lieutenant Scapuzzi Luigi, Gold Medal Value......... exhausted the ammunition of his tank, instead of retreating cradling his MP and went to fight from his tank until his death .... Sicily 10-22 July 1943

[mufasa]

another postcard from Sicily dated summer 1943 (pm 3500) of the "Semoventi of 47/32 ....

IV Battaglione Anticarro (Semoventi L.40 da 47/32);
(during the landing at Gela fight in support of the Livorno Division)

[mufasa]

it is very difficult to find photos of Semovente L40 in Sicily ... the most beautiful remains those of the propoganda reportage took in Tunisia posted above....

[mufasa]

and another IV Battaglione Anticarro (Semoventi L.40 da 47/32) of the Livorno Division in Sicily butdated 1942 (pm 77)