SPA Dovunque 41

The SPA Dovunque 41 was a heavy off-road truck made in Italy and used first by the Royal Italian Army and then by the Italian Army. It began in 1941 as the heavy Dovunque, a six-wheel-drive chassis built both as a truck and as a heavy artillery tractor. The first version entered production in the first months of 1943, but its career with the Royal Army was cut short by the armistice of 8 September. In 1944 production resumed for the Germans, who took 153 examples, and after the war it stayed in production until 1948 for the Italian Army, the recovery truck version remaining in service until the 1970s. A TM41 medium tractor version was adopted on 24 March 1942 to tow the 90/53 anti-aircraft gun, and a lighter Dovunque 42 was shown the same year. The layout follows the Dovunque 35, with three axles and six driven wheels, the rear four single rather than twinned, a first wheelbase of 3.9 metres, and a six-cylinder diesel engine of 9,365 cubic centimetres giving 110 horsepower. The truck had a closed metal cab with right-hand drive and a large wooden body with a payload of 4.2 tonnes.