Wednesday, August 4, 2010

Self-Propelled

The Semovente 75/18 was an Italian self-propelled gun of the Second World War. It was built by mounting the 75 mm Obice da 75/18 modello 34 mountain gun on the chassis of a M13/40 or M14/41 tank. The first 60 were built using the M13/40 chassis and a subsequent 162 were built on the M14/41 chassis from 1941 onwards. The Semovente 75/18 was intended to be an interim vehicle until the heavier P40 tank could be produced.
Originally, these Italian vehicles were meant as divisional artillery, but since they sported fully enclosed fighting compartments, they were well protected enough for front-line action. They could fire as indirect support, and if necessary, also act as an assault gun and anti-tank vehicle. It could be used with HE, AP and HEAT shells, and with these latter the vehicle was powerful enough to defeat Allied tanks such as the M4 Sherman. In fact, these machines were responsible for many of the successes by the Italian armoured troops during 1942-43.
Photos: tkonst_fm @ LJ

Text: Wiki

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