Are you sure ? Was was the spanish name of this.
The name was CCI Tipo 1937. CCI stands for “Carro de Combate de Infantería”, translated as infantry tank. It´s necessary to understand that for the spanish military the BT-5 used by the Republican Army was a heavy tank.
The tank was created thinking in the L3´s hull and the Pz I´s turret. It was intended to be protected only against 7,92mm ammunition, machine gun fire.
I can tell you that the buildings at the picture are from the Sestao Naval Yards.
OK, gracias por aclararlo, lo que habia visto antes era unos Pz 1 con torre equipada con cañon Breda de 20mm.
Has anyone seen the film “The Lion of the Desert” about the Italian invasion and occupation of Libya?
The central Italian general, whose name I forget, makes the claim that he is “the first to put tanks in the desert” (circa the late 1920s or early thirties)…
Is this true?
Unless the british had deployed some armor in WW1 in his colonies, I believe that this statement is probably truth.
Probably true.
The RAF put Armoured Cars in to the desert in the 20’s but I don’t know about tanks.
The history of No 3 (Field) Squadron Royal Air Force Regiment dates back to the inter-war years, before the formation of the Royal Air Force Regiment itself. It was Lord Trenchard’s philosophy in the 1920s that, to support light bombers in their policing of large areas in the Middle East, Armoured Car Companies should be formed, manned by Royal Air Force officers and airmen and under Royal Air Force control. No 3 Armoured Car Company was formed on 3 November 1922 at Basra and served in eastern Iraq. The Company conducted operations both on its own and in co-operation with aircraft against disaffected Kurdish tribes over a wide area of southern and eastern Iraq. On 1 April 1925 the Company was disbanded and its personnel and vehicles were distributed among the remaining Armoured Car Companies.
They drove around in Rolls Royces…
Honest, they are Rolls Royces.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rolls_Royce_Armoured_Car
http://www.raf.mod.uk/rafaldergrove/aboutus/3sqnhistory.cfm
Tanks were certainly seen by the British as only any good for World War 1 type offensives. Many didn’t wish to see them replace the Cavalry (in all armies). The Armoured cars above would probably have been more reliable and faster in the desert.
An outstanding achievement of the British Army was the creation of the Experimental Mechanised Force in the late 1920s. This was a small Brigade-sized unit developed to field-test the use of tanks and other vehicles. The unit pioneered the extensive use of radio to control widely-separated small units. The unit was short-lived, however.
Anyone like to guess what this unit inspired? Yep, thats right, the Blitzkreig was pioneered by the British and discarded, the Germans perfected it.
I am pretty sure the Italians may have been, if the film is accurate, unless the British used them in Iraq inthe 1920s.
The Royal Tank Regiment, does not have any battle honours for the prewar period, so unless htey were used by other units…
I ahve a feeling htough that they used the cars as above. Lawerence of Arabia was a Tank officer though.
The Italians were the first to do it with tanks but before them the french were testing armoured vehicles there
Yes this is true because the French was the first nation to build a tank. (which was manuafactured in World War 1) After World War 1 the French were very interested in making a great tank that would give them the advantage on the battle field. While they were taking interest in their tanks the Italians were already in great process in their future tank population in World War 2. (Italy probably did not make the best tanks in World War 2.) Me personally I did not like the Italian tanks very much, but I like the effort that most Italians had during fights. No matter what tank, they were determined to win the battle. However this statement might have been true only a few times in World War 2.
…the French was the first nation to build a tank. (which was manuafactured in World War 1) After World War 1 the French were very interested in making a great tank that would give them the advantage on the battle field. While they were taking interest in their tanks the Italians were already in great process in their future tank population in World War 2. (Italy probably did not make the best tanks in World War 2.)
I agree that Italian tanks were some of the worst in WW2, but wrt the first tanks I disagree…
The first tank design was, the Italian, Leonardo DaVinci (although it never got off paper).
The British were the first to design and develop “water carriers”, so named after the cover story of them being tracked water carriers for the Army on the front. This name slipped to “water tanks” and then “tanks”. The name becoming official in December 1915 as a cover, and eversince their actual name.
Little Willie was Britains first succesful prototype and was completed in Sept 1915 (design started in July 1915). The first British tank saw action during the Battle of the Somme on 15 September 1916.
The first French tank was the Schneider CA1, it started life as a tracked gun tractor (the British had these prior to the Great War as did many farmers and other countries) and thus can not be called a “tank” as such.
The Schneider Company was a large arms manufacturer in France. Having been given the order to develop heavy artillery tractors, in January 1915 the company sent out its chief designer, Eugène Brillié, to investigate tracked tractors from the American Holt Company, at that time participating in a test programme in England.
On his return Brillié, who had earlier been involved in designing armoured cars for Spain, convinced the company management to initiate studies on the development of a Tracteur blindé et armé (armoured and armed tractor (essentely and early “tank”), based on the Baby Holt chassis, two of which were ordered. In July 1915 this private programme was combined with an official one for the development of a barbed wire cutter by engineer Jean-Louis Bréton.
On 9 December 1915, the first chassis was demonstrated to the French Army (3 months after the British).
One of the onlookers was colonel Jean-Baptiste Eugène Estienne (1860-1936), a man held in very high regard throughout the army for his unmatched technological and tactical expertise. For Estienne the vehicle shown embodied vague concepts about AFVs already growing in his mind. On 12 December he presented to the High Command a plan to form an armoured force, equipped with tracked vehicles.
This plan met with approbation and a production order of 400 at a price of 56,000 French francs per vehicle was made on 25 February 1916. The first vehicle of the production series was delivered on 5 September. Meanwhile, production had shifted to the SOMUA company.
As their production numbers were more ambitious, the French lagged behind the British somewhat — it took them more time to build larger factories — deploying their tanks for the first time on 16 April 1917 at Berry-au-Bac during the infamous Nivelle Offensive (7 months after Britain’s first operational deployment).
The first tank versus tank action took place on 24 April 1918 at Villers-Bretonneux, France, when three British Mark IVs met three German A7Vs taking part in an attack with infantry incidentally met three Mark IVs (two Female machine gun tanks and one Male with 6 pounder guns) near Villers-Bretonneux. During the battle tanks on both sides were damaged. According to the lead tank commander, 2nd Lt Frank Mitchell, the machine gun armed Female Mk IVs fell back after being damaged by armor piercing bullets. They were unable to damage the A7Vs with their own machine guns. Mitchell then attacked the lead German tank with the 6 pounders of his own tank and knocked it out. He hit it three times, and killed five of the crew when they bailed out. He then went on to rout some infantry with case shot.
The two remaining A7Vs in turn withdrew. As Lt. Mitchell’s tank withdrew from action, 7 Whippet tanks also engaged the infantry. Four of these were knocked out in the battle, and it is unclear if any of them engaged the retreating German tanks. Lt. Mitchell’s tank lost a track towards the end from a mortar shell and was abandoned. The damaged A7V was later recovered by German forces.
The Medium Mark A Whippet was a British tank of World War I. Intended to complement the slow Mark V tanks by using its relative mobility and speed in exploiting any break in the enemy lines.
A British whippet (named after one of our Mods :D)
For the Germans, the A7V was a tank introduced by Germany in 1918, near the end of World War I. The name probably means Allgemeines Kriegsdepartement 7 Abteilung Verkehrswesen (“General War Department 7, Branch Transportation”).
In German the tank was called Sturmpanzer-Kraftwagen (roughly “assault armoured motor vehicle”). 100 were ordered for the spring of 1918, but only 20 were delivered. They saw action from March to October that year, and were the only tanks produced by Germany in WWI.
A British Mk 1 Male tank Somme, around 25 September 1916
A french Schneider CA1. Note the main armament on the front RHS corner. There was no similar armament on the LHS.
a German A7v, note that most of the hatches would have had a machine gun mounted in them.
Even if you go to the Tracked Tractors and claim they were tanks…
{quote]A crude caterpillar track was designed in 1770 by Richard Lovell Edgeworth. The British polymath Sir George Cayley patented a caterpillar track, which he called a “universal railway” (The Mechanics’ Magazine, 28 January 1826). In 1837, a Russian inventor Dmitry Zagryazhsky designed a “carriage with mobile tracks” which he patented that same year. However, due to a lack of funds he was unable to build a working prototype. As a result his patent was voided in 1839. Steam powered tractors using a form of caterpillar track were reported in use with the Western Alliance during the Crimean War in the 1850s.
An effective caterpillar track was invented and implemented by Alvin Lombard, for the Lombard steam log hauler. He was granted a patent in 1901. He built the first steam-powered log hauler at the Waterville Iron Works in Waterville, Maine the same year. In all, eighty-three Lombard steam log haulers are known to have been built up to 1917 when production switched entirely to internal combustion engine powered machines ending with a Fairbanks diesel powered unit in 1934. [/quote]
Kégresse track is an unusual kind of caterpillar track which uses a flexible belt rather than interlocking metal segments. It can be fitted to a conventional car or truck to turn it into a half-track, suitable for use over rough or soft ground. Conventional front wheels and steering are used.
…
The name comes from the system’s inventor Adolphe Kégresse, who designed the original while working for Tsar Nicholas II of Russia between 1906 and 1916.
from the wiki.
A rare italian design of WW1.
Fiat 2000 - Model 17
[LEFT]The first Italian tank. It was conceived by Fiat as a private venture in October 1916. The first prototype was ready in June 1917. Fiat donated 2 tanks to Italian Army in February 1918. Total production until the end of 1919. encompassed 6 vehicles. Arguably the finest heavy tank built in WW1 and a great “what if…”. The Fiat 2000 never saw combat.
[/LEFT]
The reason I said that is because I was watching the Military channel on tanks and it said that France was the first to create a tank. I guess they must of had some wrong information if your post is true.
Don’t worry about it. The History Channel and other sattelite channels often make mistakes (believe it or not). I think somewhere on here there is a thread about it.
Like I say though, it is generally accepted that the British were the first to look at an Armoured, Tracked Fighting vehicle. Prior to that there were Armoured Cars, I wouldn’t like to guess who invented them, and Tracked gun tractors, maybe armoured but not “tanks”.
The Channel may have used the armoured tracked gun tractors as the first “tank”. Bearing in mind that this name was also coined by the British, as a cover originally, “tanks” in other armies were named differently.
Rather than the British Mk1.
Profiles of FIAT 611 armored car and other vehicles deployed in africa.
In here the 611 is armed with an ansaldo 37 mm gun.
The right SPG is a newly designed semovente?
No. I think is a Semovente dal 75/34. That figure refers to the calibre and lenght of the gun.
aham… thanks… I tought that, because the right are lower, and the nose plate is other.
Ansaldo AS-37, armoured personel carrier:
Designed as a APC truck this all drive entered in service in 1941. It wa sdesinged as a recce and transport vehicle for a crew of 8.
The lenght was 5 meters, width 1,9 meters and it had a height of 1,8 meters. Armor was comprised by a 8,5mm plate in every surface with a open back. In the later production vehicles an extra shield of 8mm plate was added in the rear to allow a machinne gunner to shot his weapon from a protected position.
The total weight was 5,7 tons, a 6 cilinders diesel engine with 75 hp was used allowing a top speed of 75 km/h in good terrain. The diesel fuel and a large capacity tank combined to gave an autonomy of 550km.
Some 500 AS 37 were delivered to the italian army, those were mostly used in antipartisan and security task in the Balkans and Greece.
My experiences with Italian AFV’s of that era show that they were either very good, or very bad, without a middleground. Even if the operational designes were good ones, the vehicles lacked sufficient armor to protect them from anything larger than basic rifle fire, and not so near misses by artillary. It also seems that a committee must have designed them, as some aspects were indeed well thought out, and others, not much considered. Like the ammo basic load, was very small,in some cases, and sometimes not onboard at all. (in the example of some Itlaian self propelled artillary.) Good automotive, but poor weaponry. Perhaps it was because they had only limited availability of some parts, and weapons, so had to “make do” with what was on hand at the time. - Raspenau -