They say, “Keep your friends close and your enemies closer.” That’s an Italian saying that is often apocryphally attributed to Niccolo Machiavelli. It’s wise advice. The Italians have given us many things. The republic, roads, and civilization itself here in the West, at least in terms of spreading it far and wide. 

Certainly, Italian sports cars are some of the best in the world. Yet, beyond Ferrari, Lamborghini, and Maserati, Italian engineering is not so great. Indeed, since the fall of the Roman Empire, Italy’s military dominance has also been lacking. 

This was never more evident than during World War II.

Benito Mussolini promised a restoration of Italian greatness based on his fascist principles. Black-shirted thugs terrorized the masses and brutalized suspected political opponents. 

People often forget today that WWII did not begin in Asia or Europe. It actually began with the Italian invasion of Ethiopia and the barbarism of fascism was first displayed by Italy’s military in that war well before the Imperial Japanese and Nazi Germans perfected such state-sponsored savagery. 

Even though Italy had three million troops in its armed forces, one of the largest armies in the war, the Italian military was a shambolic display of poor leadership, weak soldiering, and dilapidated equipment. 

Specifically, Italian tanks were horrible. They were routinely outclassed by American Sherman tanks and Italian tanks proved completely ineffective against British Army Matilda II tanks in the Axis Powers’ North African campaign.

Enter the Sardine Cans

Even in Italy’s war against Ethiopia in 1935, Italian armor put on a pathetic display. Italian armor was so bad that the tanks used in that campaign had become known as “sardine cans.” 

Fiat, that “great” Italian manufacturer, was chosen to build Italy’s knockoff of the French FT-17 light tank, which became known in Italy as the Fiat 3000. The initial tranche was equipped with two 6.5-millimeter machine guns. The last batch of fifty units was given a small, low-velocity 37-millimeter cannon. These units first saw combat against the dreaded Libyan Senussi tribes in 1926.

For their aforementioned Ethiopian War, the Italian Army built the absurd turretless “tankettes,” known in Italy as the Carro Veloce, or “Fast Tanks.” These lightly armored tankettes had maximum speeds of up to 26 miles per hour. Imported first from Britain, Italy went about mass-producing indigenous versions known as the CV-33 and CV-35 tankettes. They were armed either with a machine gun or a flamethrower.

Because Mussolini envisioned reclaiming the old Roman imperial holdings in North Africa and expanding Italy’s control throughout the African continent, such as in places like Ethiopia and Somalia, Mussolini’s military chiefs reasoned they only really needed tankettes. 

These units, mobilized along with the Fiat platforms, while being supported by air power and mustard gas, were to be the new way of colonial warfare for Italy. But the performance was pathetic. 

Indeed, at the Battle of Dembeguina Pas, as Sebastien Roblin outlined, “A platoon of six CV-35 tankettes escorting convoy was overrun by a force of 2,000 Ethiopian irregulars led by the guerrilla chieftain Leul Ras, or “Duke.” The irregular fighting force managed to flip over, immobilize, and/or set on fire all the tankettes and even lured a crewman out who was beheaded with a sword.”

A Terrible Export

Italy’s military dreamed of the tankettes being a popular export model for their arms industry. So, they deployed 155 of the tankettes to the Spanish Civil War only to have them utterly obliterated by the cannon-armed Soviet T-26 and BT-5 tanks that were supplied by Josef Stalin to the communist forces fighting the fascist-backed Spanish forces of General Franco.

The armor on the tankettes was paper-thin and made for a failed tank. Italian M11/39 “medium” tanks with their 37-millimeter gun and twin machinegun turrets weren’t much better. Essentially, Italian tanks were the butt of many jokes before and during WWII. Collectively, they were probably the worst tanks of the war and contributed mightily to the defeat of fascist Italy. 

Brandon J. Weichert, a National Interest national security analyst, is a former Congressional staffer and geopolitical analyst who is a contributor at The Washington Times, the Asia Times, and The-Pipeline. He is the author of Winning Space: How America Remains a Superpower, Biohacked: China’s Race to Control Life, and The Shadow War: Iran’s Quest for Supremacy. His next book, A Disaster of Our Own Making: How the West Lost Ukraine, is available for purchase wherever books are sold. Weichert can be followed via Twitter @WeTheBrandon.

 Image Credit: Creative Commons and/or Shutterstock. Of course, the main image is of a modern tank.