Back to the Drawing Board: the M11/39 Medium Tank

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. The Italian M11/39 during the Western Desert Campaign, September 1940. The type’s limitations rapidly became apparent after Italy entered the war, and it was quickly phased out. Image: Wikimedia Commons A requirement for a new 10-ton medium tan