Italian Forces

Fiat M16/43

NCY-152

The Carro Armato M Celere Sahariano (Tank M Fast Saharian) was a prototype medium tank developed by the Kingdom of Italy during World War II to defeat the speed and firepower of contemporary British cruiser tanks which were encountered by Italian forces during the Western Desert Campaign. The project was canceled before the single prototype was completed after Axis were expelled from North Africa. Given the tank nomenclature system used by Italy at the time, the tank, if it were to have entered service would have been Medio (M), 16 (weight in metric tons), and date of introduction (originally planned for 1943). Therefore M16/43. After being devastated by British cruiser tanks in 1942, Fiat and Ansaldo began developing a low profile 15 to 16 tonne tank to counter, the faster and more heavily armed A-13 series tanks, particularly the Covenanter tank. Fiat-Ansaldo first began on this new tank project by modifying a M14/41 medium tank chassis by inclining the tank's armor plates creating a glacis. The armour remained, liked other contemporary Italian tanks of the period, bolted, rather than welded and generally thinner than tanks of other countries. Many different engines, including aircraft engines were tested on the chassis before development of the Sahariano tank was halted. At the time of cancellation a 275 hp gasoline engine was being tested. An elongated M14/41 turrent housing a 47mm 47/40 L40 was tested on the Sahariano tank and would also be used by the M15/42 medium tank. There were plans to later use a 75mm cannon for the production model of the Sahariano tank as well. The most groundbreaking feature of the Sahariano was the first Italian tank to use a modified christie suspension system (without the road wheel/track conversion system), a more robust and faster suspension system than the leaf spring bogies used by previous Italian tank designs. Ansaldo based the Sahariano's suspension on both British tanks encountered in North Africa and a captured Soviet BT-5 from the Spanish Civil War. By the time of the Sahariano tank's cancellation, the design looked very similar to their British counterparts but with a notable low profile design, making the tank easy to conceal and difficult to hit. Several factors contributed to the Sahariano tank's demise, the concurrent development of the Carro Armato P 40 heavy tank, the strain on introducing a model of tank on the weak Italian manufacturing industry, the potential of license producing foreign designed tanks such as the Czechoslovakian T-21 medium tank and the most decisive reason, Italy's loss of Libya and the end of Italy's need for a fast tank