Carro Armato M13/40

The Carro Armato M13/40 was an Italian medium tank designed to replace the M11/39 in the Royal Italian Army at the start of the Second World War, and it became the primary tank the Italians used throughout the war. It was based on a modified M11/39 chassis, with running gear influenced by the British Vickers 6-Ton, and production of the M11/39 was cut short to make room for it. The name reads M for medio, medium, with 13 tonnes as the planned weight and 1940 as the first year of production. Bolted steel plates were 30 mm thick at the front and 42 mm at the turret front, and a crew of four worked a 47 mm gun, powered by a 125 horsepower diesel engine. It fought in the Greco-Italian War and the North African campaign, where its gun was outclassed once Allied medium tanks arrived in 1942.