Copyright 2010 by Brandon Cope 

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Carro Armato L6/40 light tank

The L6/40 (six ton, model 1940) light tank was originally designed for the export market but primarily used by Italian forces. It was somewhat similar to the Panzer II in capability. It was used as a recon vehicle but was often forced into fighting heavier tanks with predictable results. Like most light tanks, it had a fairly weak gun and armor, although the one-man turret was also a major limitation. Some 283 were built. After the 1943 armistice, Germany took over a number for its own use. The L6/40 had a somewhat tall, angular look and the turret was offset to the left of the hull center, to clear room for the driver on the right side of the hull.

The L6/40 has a crew of two. The commander sat in the turret, with the commander acting as loader and firing both guns and manually traversing the turret at x degrees per second. The driver sits in the body. The driver had a hatch on the front hull and the commander had a hatch on the top of the turret. The L6/40 used 2.3 gallons of gasoline per hour at routine usage.

Subassemblies: Very Small Tank chassis +3, full rotation Small Weapon turret [Body:T] +2, tracks +2.
Powertrain: 52-kW HP gas engine w/ 52-kW tracked drive train and 54 gallons fuel in standard fuel tank [body]; 4,000-kWs batteries.
Occupancy: 1 CS Body, 1 CS both  Cargo: 3 Body, 0.5 Turret

Armor:

Body: F 4/115, RL 4/75, B 4/50, TU 4/25

Tracks: 4/18

Turret: F 4/115, RL 4/75, B 4/50, T 4/25

Weaponry
20mm Long Ground AC/Model 35 [Tur:F] (296).*
Ground LMG/Model 38 [Tur:F] (1,560).*
* Can fire linked

Equipment
Body: Small radio receiver and transmitter.

Statistics

HT: 12
HP: 800 [Body], 75 [Turret], 270 [Each Track]
 

Design Notes
The design purchased 315 AC rounds and 1,500 MG rounds. The design weight had to be reduced 7.5% to match historical weight.

Many did not mount radios.

Historical range was only about 1/3 (125 miles) of what would be indicated by the MVDS formulas.

Variants

Thirty were converted to ammo carriers for the Semoventi M41 da 90. The turret was removed but an 8mm Breda was retained for local defense. 25 rounds for the 90mm gun were carried internally and another 40 were towed in a trailer.

A flamethrower variant with a Medium Tank Flamethrower (replacing the 20mm gun) and 54 gallons (30 shots) of fuel was developed but was not believed to have seen service.

A command version added additional radio gear and left the turret open-topped.

The Semovente 47/32 (1942) may actually have been more important than the L6/40. It replaced the turret with a built-up superstructure mounting a 47mm anti-tank gun (47mm Short TG) with 70 rounds and added a loader (the commander still fired the main gun). The 8mm Breda was sometimes retained. About 300 were built.