| Carro Armato M15/42 | |
|---|---|
 Carro Armato M15/42 on display at the Musée des Blindés in Saumur | |
| Type | Medium Tank |
| Place of origin | Kingdom of Italy |
| Service history | |
| In service | 1943–45 |
| Used by | Kingdom of Italy Italian Social Republic Nazi Germany |
| Wars | World War II |
| Production history | |
| Designer | Ansaldo |
| Designed | 1942 |
| Manufacturer | Ansaldo |
| Produced | 1 January 1943 - post September 1943 |
| No. built | Disputed. 333 produced before and after the armistice according to Cappellano (including 85 command units) [1] see production paragraph |
| Variants | Command tank, Semovente 75/34, Semovente 75/46, Semovente 105/25 |
| Specifications | |
| Mass | 15.5 tonnes |
| Length | 4.92 m (16 ft 2 in) |
| Width | 2.20 m (7 ft 3 in) |
| Height | 2.40 m (7 ft 10 in) |
| Crew | 4 (commander, radio operator, driver, gunner/loader) |
| Armour | 50 mm frontal armour[2] 25 mm side armour[2] |
Main armament | 47 mm / L40 gun 111 rounds |
Secondary armament | 3 × 8 mm Breda 38 machine guns |
| Engine | SPA 15TB M42 petrol 11,980 cc V8 water cooled 192 hp/2,400 rpm |
| Suspension | Two 4 wheel bogies, semi-elliptic leaf spring |
Operational range | 200 kilometres (120 miles) |
| Maximum speed | 38 km/h (24 mph) |
The Carro Armato M15/42 was the last Italian medium tank produced during World War II. It was based on the earlier M13/40 and M14/41 medium tanks, and was built with the lessons from the North African Campaign in mind.[3][4] The tank was meant to be a stopgap until the heavier P26/40 tank could be produced in numbers.[4]: 14 It did not serve in North Africa, the theatre in which it was intended to operate, but served in Italy and in Yugoslavia with the German Wehrmacht.[5][6]
- ^ Cappellano, Filippo; Battistelli, Pier Paolo. Italian Medium Tanks (New Vanguard) (p. 67). Bloomsbury Publishing.
- ^ a b Pignato 2002, p. 246.
- ^ Comando supremo: Italy at war: Carro M.15/42 History of M15/42
- ^ a b Cappellano, Filippo; Battistelli, Pier Paolo (2 December 2012). Italian Medium Tanks: 1939-45. Osprey Publishing. ISBN 9781849087759.
- ^ "M15/42 In German Service". Archived from the original on 25 November 2020. Retrieved 7 February 2015.
- ^ Flames of War Web site: Italian Armoured Vehicles in German Service, Italy 1944-45