Mussolini’s ambition to create a new Roman Empire was constantly undermined by Italian war industries, which were totally inadequate to mass-produce the necessary modern weapons. This was especially true of Armoured Fighting Vehicles (AFVs). By the mid-1930s, the Italian army could still field nothing more than obsolete armoured cars and tiny tracked L3 machine-gun carriers, often referred to as ‘tankettes’ in contemporary publications.
A requirement for a new 10-ton medium tank was finally issued in 1936, and the prototype M11/39 was completed two years later. The design was heavily influenced by the Italian campaigns of the 1930s, such as the conquest of Ethiopia, when the limited arc of fire of the L3 machine-gun carrier led to several vehicles being destroyed by flank and rear attacks launched by infantry anti-tank teams with improvised demolition charges.
Subsequent combat experience in the Spanish Civil War had shown the urgent need for the new design to incorporate an effective anti-tank gun. In several actions in Spain, the machine-gun-armed L3s were found to be helpless against Republican T-26 tanks with their 45mm guns.
Film Review – Apocalypse Now Redux