<h1>introduction</h1>
In the early 1930s, Italy developed a very small light tank, and later in the Second World War, the tank became one of the smallest tanks in the war, which is the star of the tank world: the CV33. The CV33 is well known for its ultra-small size, but most people do not know the history of the Italian CV33 tank, and why it became the main force of the Italian armored forces in the early days of World War II.
<h1>The beginning of the Italian development of tanks, using French goods</h1>
Although the originator of the tank was the British "Little Vagabond" tank, the origin of most Western tanks was the French Renault FT-17 tank, because the "Little Vagabond", as the main force of the British army, rarely exported or leased to other countries. The French Renault FT-17 was exported to many countries during and after World War I, including Italy, because of its better performance and simple production. The first tank developed by Italy was the Fiat 2000, but it was not successful. So Italy turned to France for help, and in 1917 succeeded in getting a complete Renault FT-17, which was the beginning of the Italian tank line.
Italian imitation of fiat 3000
The Italian military instructed Fiat to imitate the Renault FT-17, most of the design did not change, but to the greatest extent possible to localize it, a new Italian version of the FT-17 was born, but the name was fiat 3000. From the current point of view, what a good foundation and foundation for development, rotating turrets, rear engines, light guns and coaxial machine guns do not fall. As long as the Italians continue to develop this line, it will not be long before the tank industry will enter the forefront of the world. But Italy encountered a fatal problem at this time, and it is also the problem that the armies of various countries are most afraid of facing now, that is: "Poor! ”
The more common armament of the Fiat 3000 was two machine guns
After World War I, Italy did not gain much, and only gained a little territory and ports of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and nothing else. This, combined with the decadence of the capitalist world economy in the 1920s, further embarrassed Italy. Although the Army was desperate to install the Fiat 3000 in large quantities and continue to develop this tank line, there was only one word on it: "Poor!" ”。“ Poor" cannot produce in large quantities. But by 29 years, the Italian Army had a new hope, the British Carden-Lloyd MK6 tank.
British Carden-Lloyd MK6 tank
<h1>The ultralight tank was born</h1>
In 1929, despite the poor Italian Army, for its own tank dreams, it still bought 4 Carden-Lloyd MK6 tanks from Britain, as well as their production licenses. The Italian military expected this very low-cost tank to complete the Italian Army's dream of tanks. The Carden-Lloyd MK6 tank, rather than a tank, is preferred by some people to call it an armored vehicle or a tractor. Because its crew compartment design is double side by side, one pilot and one shooter, no turret, armed only a water-cooled heavy machine gun, and the crew is open-air.
Italy itself copied the CV29
But Italy liked the design very much, believing that the tank was in line with the tank doctrine developed in Italy at that time, light, fast, and able to effectively escort infantry to the front. In the Italian conception, this fast light tank would be combined with motorized infantry to form the mechanized force of Italy (low-duty mechanization). With the strong support of the military, Fiat launched the Italian domestic version in the year of purchase: CV29, but the power and design of CV29 are still insufficient, after 4 years of improvement and upgrading process, CV33 ultralight tank was born!
The abbreviation CV on the front of the CV33 tank, the full name is Italian Carro Veloce, which translates to Chinese translates to express, which also explains the use and positioning of the tank. The CV33 changed the previous open-air crew compartment to a fully enclosed form. At the same time, in order to solve the problem of insufficient power of CV29, Italy specially designed a new water-cooled four-cylinder gasoline engine for this purpose. The engine is also Fiat's own product, called CV3-005 type, although it is a four-cylinder gasoline engine, but due to Italy's own industrial level limitations, it can only provide 43 horsepower to the CV33, fortunately, the total weight of the CV33 is 3.2 tons. It can still allow the CV33 to have a maximum road speed of 43 km/h.
The size of the CV33 is very small, which is also one of the biggest features of the CV33. It was only 3.2 meters long, 1.4 meters wide, and 1.28 meters high, but the average height of people in that era was not as high as it is now due to nutritional levels and productivity, so the group could still sit in the car completely. The driver sits on the right side and the shooter sits on the left, and the interior of the tank is deliberately painted with white paint in order not to make the occupants feel dark. There are observation holes on the front, back, left and right, and the captain and driver have their own periscopes for observation. When the situation is not particularly tense, the driver will open the hatch to maneuver the car.
<h1>Armament</h1>
The CV33 was originally equipped with a 6.5 mm water-cooled heavy machine gun, which was later changed to an air-cooled heavy machine gun in the first production version. In the second mass production batch that began production in 1934, the CV33's weapons became the well-known two-pack 8 mm Fiat M35 machine gun and the Beretta M38 machine gun. The shooter can operate this machine gun to shoot the target by taking a notched shot at the door.
Early versions of the CV33 used welding as much as possible
The CV33 was originally manufactured entirely by welding, but the quality of the Italian welding process was not good, and in order to reduce costs and expand production as much as possible. In 1935, the CV33 was converted to the traditional riveting process for production. This batch was produced using the riveting process, also known as the CV35 tank. Later, there was an accident in which the crew was injured by flying rivets due to the firing of British anti-tank guns.
The CV33 armor is 7 mm at its thinnest point and 14 mm at its thickest point (front). Although the 7 mm has the potential to be penetrated by a rifle, the CV33 is generally facing the enemy head-on, and the frontal armor is 14 mm with an oblique angle. Therefore, there are no cases of CV33s being penetrated by rifle bullets, but the CV33 is difficult to defend against large-caliber machine guns or anti-tank guns, let alone anti-tank guns. But for a tank with the armor and firepower described above in 1933, the data was decent and even excellent at the time. The German Panzer I developed in 1934 had similar firepower and armor, but it was not as maneuverable as the CV33, so the CV33 was not outdated at the time.
The CV33 can be transported by truck
<h1>It is small and can be transported by truck</h1>
Overall, the CV33 did meet the needs of the Italian Army for tanks at the time. Italy did form a mechanized unit based on the CV33, some brigades used the CV33 and a small number of Fiat 3000 as the main armored force, while the tank-equipped brigades also had a large number of trucks as a means of transport, able to quickly put the CV33 and infantry to the front. Weighing only 3 tons, the CV33 itself can be loaded onto SPA38R trucks and driven down to combat at its destination. This is also one of the advantages of the car, Italy itself lacks railway lines, and allowing the tank to march with its own power will undoubtedly reduce the service life of the tank. Thus from the outbreak of World War II to the end, the most used armored unit was therefore the CV33 tank.
CV33 goes to Ethiopia
<h1>Try your hand on the battlefield for the first time, fight England up and fight the natives</h1>
After the mechanized unit is formed, is it time to find someone to try it out? Mussolini was finally ready to pick a soft persimmon to pinch, so in 1935, the Italian fascists invaded Ethiopia. In October, the first batch of CV33 or CV35 tanks totaling 150 were put into combat, with good results. Objectively speaking, the CV33 is simply not going to play well, the Ethiopian army lacks organization, and seriously lacks heavy weapons to carry out effective anti-tank operations, and many Ethiopian soldiers have never even seen tanks. Thus, in the one-sided advantage of the Italian army, the Ethiopian army was naturally crushed by the ultralight anti-tank CV33.
CV33 Spitfire Edition, pay attention to the fuel trailer behind
But CV33 also showed its strengths in the war, ethiopia's roads are rugged, mountainous, and in some places even only dirt roads. With its ultra-light weight, as well as its small size, the CV33 can easily climb terrain that the Fiat 3000 can't climb. The CV33 was also upgraded according to combat conditions, and in 1935, Fiat installed a vehicle-mounted flamethrower on the CV33 with a coaxial machine gun. More than 60 litres of fuel for the flamethrower are stored in the vehicle, and the remaining 500 litres of fuel are loaded on a special fuel trailer and towed by the CV33 itself.
The Spitfire achieved good results in Ethiopia, but like the German No. 3 Spitfire. The upgraded CV33 also targeted innocent residents' settlements, and some of the CV33s participated in the burning of the settlements. In fact, the evils of fascism did not stop there, and when the war situation did not improve, Mussolini even allowed the Italian army to use poison gas in Ethiopia. Interestingly, the Ethiopian army also destroyed about 18 CV33 tanks through primitive means, such as overturning, pouring gasoline and burning, and even some sources pointed out that Ethiopians captured several CV33s and used them for their own use, but there were no photos as further evidence. Italy eventually annexed Ethiopia in 1936, but the Ethiopian people's resistance to fascism continued until the end of the war.
CV33 tank in Spain
<h1>Expedition to Spain</h1>
CV33's performance in Ethiopia has come to an end, but it's not over. When the Spanish Civil War broke out in 1936, Germany and Italy were already showing signs of alliance, and the two countries simultaneously announced their support for franco's Spanish rebels in terms of weapons and equipment. The Soviet Union announced that it would support Franco's enemy: the Republican Army. The weapons and equipment of the two sides in World War II were the first to clash in the Spanish land in advance. Germany and Italy sent Panzer I and CV33 to Franco's army, while the Soviets sent T-26 tanks and 45 mm anti-tank guns to the Republican army.
The front one was equipped with a 20 mm cannon, but this version of the CV33 was not available in many quantities
The common feature of the Panzer I and CV33 tanks is that they both have two machine guns and are armored no more than 20 mm. During the Spanish Civil War, most Panzer I tanks and CV33 tanks were destroyed by 45 mm guns of the Republic. German and Italian observers in Spain reported this information to the country, and the former later developed the No. 2, Iii, and IV tanks with stronger armor and firepower. Italy decided to upgrade the firepower of the CV33 tank, so in 1938 the CV38 tank was introduced, which was essentially a CV33 tank. However, the main armament became a 13.2 mm Beretta M31 heavy machine gun, while the tracks and suspension were improved. At the same time, some CV33 tanks changed their main armament into a 20 mm M1935 cannon.
Therefore, there are a total of 3 models of CV33, namely CV33, CV35, and CV38. It is also called L3/33, L3/35, L3/38 tank, due to the Italian army before the war on the number of armored units made a comprehensive collation, L stands for Leggero, translated as light, 3 means 3 tons. Thus the L3/33 means the light 3-ton 33 version of the tank. After the above-mentioned transformations and integrations, Italy took these "small points" into World War II (Italy also had a medium tank line).
CV33 in the museum, note that the sign is marked L3/33, North African livery
At the beginning of the war, the Italian army using the CV33 clearly felt the weakness of the CV33 in actual combat. Unlike the Ethiopian army, the French army on the french southern defense line and the British army in the North African battlefield could easily destroy these "small points" through artillery fire. On 31 January 1941, the British sent a Buren machine gun tractor to lure Italian tanks into the open, and CV33s and other variants of Italian light tanks went in pursuit. As a result, it entered the encirclement circle of the British "Matilda" infantry tanks, "named" the Italian tanks one by one, and completely annihilated the Italian tank troops. After this operation, the CV33 never went to the front line again, and instead acted as a tractor or communication vehicle on the second line.
As a light tank, the CV33's off-road performance is excellent
<h1>brief summary</h1>
In summary, the design of the CV33 was not obsolete in 1933. In fact, the armored forces at that time did need this type of light, fast tank as a special unit for reconnaissance and communication. British, American, and German armored regiments all had armored vehicles with similar effects, the British "DeerHound" tank/armored vehicle, the United States "Stuart" or the M8 "Greyhound". The CV33 is undoubtedly excellent as a reconnaissance and infantry fire support vehicle. However, if the CV33 is the mainstay, it is not realistic to form a motorized and mechanized force. However, the Italian Army used it as the main force of armored forces, so the defeat in North Africa was doomed.
The CV33 tank photographed by the author in Beijing is located in Junbo
The advantages of the CV33 are many: small, high-speed, good off-road capability, and the most important point is the cost performance. Earlier in this article, we talked about the main problem faced by the Italian army at that time: "Poor! Not only Italy was poor, many countries at that time were poor. Therefore, the CV33 has also become the choice of other countries' militaries, and the total output of each CV33 is about 2700 vehicles, of which more than 1200 are used for export! China once purchased 20 vehicles for the 200th Division of the Nationalist Army, and one was captured by the People's Liberation Army during the Liberation War and is now in the Beijing Military Museum, which is one of the museum's important collections. The rest of the countries purchased are: Bulgaria, Austria, Hungary and other countries. So the CV33 is likely to be the most exported tank in the history of the Italian military industry.