Video: Italian M 14/41 Tank in Action

Aquino Tank Weekend hosted at the Ontario Regiment Museum often has a guest appearance from a vehicle owned by the Base Borden museum. Usually these are static displays, but this year visitors were presented with a running Italian M 14/41 medium tank. 

Captured Tank Observation

Continued from part 2.

"T-1 tank

The driver's observation devices are located in the turret platform. There are two slits in the observation hatch in front of the driver. For observation hatches are located in the corners of the turret platform. The slits in the hatches on the left side are covered with two layer protective glass. There are no slots in the right side. The driver observes through the front slits and the left slit.

The commander observes through the machine gun sight. Outside of battle, he can use the observation ports above the machine guns. Observation ports without slits are located on the sides of the turret. Two observation ports with slits are located in the back of the turret. The location and range of the devices is shown in figure 15. The observation devices do not protect the observer. It is impossible to observe to the right during battle.

Heavy Tank, Italian Style

In the mid-20th century heavy tanks were a sign of membership in an elite club of tank building nations. Many nations attempted to make these tanks, but failed. Even if a heavy tanks was made, it did not always make it to the war, like the American Heavy Tank M6. Only four nations mass produced heavy tanks that made it to the battlefield: USSR, Germany, Great Britain, and Italy. The British Churchill was officially an infantry tank, and the Italian Carro Armato P 40 was only heavy on paper. The Italians never even got to use their tanks in battle, as they fell to the Germans.

Workhorse of the Italian Army

Stereotypically, Italian tank forces were filled with antiquated designs that broke down constantly. Reality is somewhat more complicated. It's true that Italy fell behind in the arms race, but this happened closer to 1942 or even 1943. In 1940-41 Italian tanks were on par with British tanks, or sometimes even surpassed them. The Carro Armato M 13-40 was comparable to British cruiser tanks that it shared the front line with.