Италияның P 26/40 танкы: тарихы мен сипаттамасы

The P 26/40 was an Italian World War II heavy tank (sometimes defined medium tank when compared to tanks of other nations). It was armed with a 75 mm gun and an 8 mm Breda machine gun, plus another optional machine gun in an anti aircraft mount. Design had started in 1940 but very few had been built by the time Italy signed the armistice with the Allies in September 1943 and the few produced afterwards were used by the Germans. The official Italian designation was carro armato ("armoured vehicle") P 26/40. The designation means: P for pesante ("heavy"), the weight of 26 tonnes, and the year of adoption (1940). While considered a heavy tank according to Italy's standards, the P26/40 was much more similar in performance to the medium tanks of other nations.

The development work began in 1940, on Benito Mussolini's specific orders. Initial requirements were for a 20 tonne (the maximum load allowed by pontoon bridges) tank with a 47 mm gun, three machine guns and a crew of five, but this was quickly superseded by another 25 tonne design, to be named P26. The development work proceeded quickly except for the engine; the Italian military staff, the Stato Maggiore, wanted a diesel power plant, while the builders favoured a petrol engine. However, in Italy at the time there were no engines (diesel or petrol) available capable of developing the required, and the Italian tank industry (i. e. the duopoly Fiat Ansaldo) did not turn to easily available aircraft engines for its tanks as contemporary U. S. and British tank manufacturers had done. The design of a new engine was very slow, and in the end a petrol engine (Fiat 262) was eventually tested, even though in the end it was not adopted. The gun designation "75/34" referred to a 75 mm bore diameter gun with a length equal to 34 calibres. However, the weight increase (which now topped at 26 tonne) and the difficulties in finding a suitable engine further hampered the start of mass production; in the end, it was decided that the prototype and the early production samples were to be equipped with a 330 HP SPA 8V diesel engine, later to be replaced by a 420 HP petrol engine. A few were used in combat, under the German designation of Panzerkampfwagen P40 737(i), for example at Anzio; some, without engines, were used as static strongpoints. the tank P40 was employed by the Group "Leoncello" only in the latest days of the war, when a part of "Leoncello" was sent in Milan, where Mussolini had moved its headquarters, in a first attempt to make the city as a sort of "fort" in which waiting the arrive of the Allies. This was one of the fantasious projects products in that last spots of the war by many chiefs of Republican Fascism, like the one conceived by Pavolini about the so called "Ridotto" of Valtellina. In Milan, as a matter of fact, it was planned to concentrate the majors of Fascism in the area of Corso Monforte an Via Mozart, where there were the Prefecture and the command of the Black Brigades, and, for this reason, the little group of tankers of "Leoncello" received two P40 tanks from Germans, who also trained them for a little. The tanks was then employed only for garrison's duties and they did not take part in any fights against partisan. The tanks were abandoned by their crews during the insurrection of April 25th and at least one of them was re used by partisans during that day (with a big and evident comunnist symbol painted on it). The two tanks were produced by Vanzetti's factory, a small factory that was producing armors under license during the last period of wartime (the history of the two tanks was confirmed in a letter by captain Zuccaro, creator and commander of "Leoncello"). The two P40s did not have any symbol of the Armord Group "Leoncello", they had only the usual camouflage pattern of that type of tank P. Barbarigo

The turret was operated by two crew members and this was a significant drawback as it put excessive workload on the tank's commander. At that time, most new tanks were designed with three man turrets. Moreover, it lacked a commander's cupola. For secondary armament, the P 40 had a co axial machine gun and another which could be used in the anti aircraft role, eschewing the traditional dual mount in the hull; the standard ammunition load was also lower, only around 600 rounds, compared to 3,000 of the "M" series. The mechanical systems were a development of the "M" series, in particular the leaf spring suspension which was reliable, but in rough terrain would not allow speeds similar to the more modern Christie suspension or torsion bar suspension. Nevertheless, the good power to weight ratio represented a significant improvement in mobility over its predecessors. The armour, quite resistant by Italian standards, was sloped and 60 mm thick at the turret front and mantlet (by comparison the M13/40 had 42 mm), but it was still riveted at a time when most tanks were constructed by welding. in support of the widely used medium ("M") tanks on the battlefields. In weight, armour and armament it was similar to the medium tanks of the Wehrmacht or other contemporary armies, its armament and protection being roughly the same as the early production American M4 Sherman tank. It was the final evolution of Italian tank designs, that began with the Vickers based tankettes (such as the CV29 and L3/35) and developed into models such as the M11/39 medium tank, a much heavier construction whose internal design shared many characteristics of the earlier tankettes.

Some 1,200 tanks were ordered (but the total was later reduced to 500 when development work on the heavier P 43 began), but the start of production was delayed by the engine problems and by other factors, such as the bombing of the SPA factory in Turin in September 1942; in the end, production began only in summer 1943. The other project was the Semovente 149/40, based on the P 40 hull. Only one of these vehicles was ever built.