Cannone da 47/32

Cannone da 47/32 M35

Type	Infantry gun / anti-tank gun
Place of origin	Austria
Production history
Designer	Böhler
Specifications
Weight	Travel: 315 kg (694 lb) Combat: 277 kg (611 lb)
Length	1.68 m (5 ft 6 in)

Caliber	47 mm L/32 (1.85 in)
Elevation	-15°- +56°
Traverse	62°
Muzzle velocity	630 m/s (2,067 ft/s) AP 250 m/s (820 ft/s) HEAT
Maximum firing range	7,000 m (7,700 yd)

The Cannone da 47/32 M35 was an Austrian artillery piece produced under license in Italy during World War II. It was used both as an infantry gun and an anti-tank gun which it proved to be successful at, especially when equipped with HEAT (Italian: "Effetto Pronto") rounds.

History

47/32 M35.

AB 41 with 47/32.

The Austrian firm of Böhler originally designed and manufactured the gun. In the 1930s Italy bought some of these guns from Böhler, and then began to produce the weapon under license, continuing its development. The Cannone da 47/32 M35 was the main armament in the M13/40 medium tank, the M14/41 medium tank, and experimentally on the AB 41 armored car (see photograph), and the 47/32 self-propelled gun. The M15/42 featured a slightly improved version of this gun (the 47/40).

The 47/32 was built in two versions, the first with semi-pneumatic disk wheels, and the second (in 1939, from which the name 47/32 mod. 39) with improved barrel and suspension (in some series also light-alloy wheels with semi-pneumatic tires). To tow this piece, the Fiat-OCI 708 CM tractor and the L3 tankette were used, but these projects were soon abandoned as the gun was subjected to breaking at the axles spindles and shanks. Due to its shape, the 47/32 was commonly called "elefantino" (little elephant) by the troops.

The 47/32 was primarily an anti-tank gun; however, it was also used as a close support weapon.^[1] In 1940 it was nonetheless an adequate weapon: it had roughly the same degree of armor penetration of its contemporaries (like the British 2-pounder gun, the German PaK 36 and the Soviet 45 mm gun, outperformed the French 25 mm gun), and its HE shell was at least successful (while other guns like the 2-Pounder or the PaK 36 were limited to the anti-tank role). Its major drawbacks were the inadequacy of the gun to be towed by truck, and the lack of a gun shield. The failure of the Italian Army to produce and deploy a more powerful gun in numbers meant that by 1942 the 47/32 gun was still seeing frontline service despite being inefficient against the improved tanks it had to face.^[2]

Characteristics

Caliber: 47 mm (1.85 in)
Length: 1.68 m (5 ft 6 in)
Length of Bore: 1.525 m (5 ft)
Length of Rifling: 1.33 m (4 ft 4.3 in)
Travelling Weight: 315 kg (694.5 lb)
Weight in Action: 277 kg (610.6 lb)
Elevation: -15 degrees to +56 degrees
Traverse: 62 degrees
Muzzle Velocity: 630 m/s (2,067 ft/s) for AP; 250 m/s (820 ft/s) HEAT
Range: 7,000 m (7,655 feet) - HEAT
Shell Weight: 1.44 kg (3.175 lb) AP; 2.37 kg (5.225 lb) HEAT
Armor Penetration AP: 58 mm (2.3 in) at 100 m (110 yards); 43 mm (1.7 in) at 500 m (550 yards)
Armor Penetration HEAT: unknown

Users

The same weapon was also used in the Austrian, Chinese, Dutch, Finnish, Romanian, Estonian, Latvian, Soviet(Captured Ex-Latvian guns) and Swiss armies.

While not an original user, the German army captured several of these guns during their annexation of Austria and their conquest of the Netherlands (4.7 cm Pak 187(h)) and the Soviet Union (4.7 cm PaK 196(r)) and took them into service. Some of these guns were donated to the Italians. After their surrender, these were recaptured along with Italian models (4.7 cm Pak 177(i)). These guns were then reassigned to German and RSI (Axis-aligned Italian) units or donated to Croatia.

Notes

↑ Latimer 2000, p. 56.
↑ Cappellano, Filippo (February 2013). "L'Esercito Italiano nel 1943". Storia Militare Dossier (5): 175–176, 180. |access-date= requires |url= (help)

References

Latimer, Jon (2000). Operation Compass 1940: Wavell's Whirlwind Offensive. Oxford, United Kingdom: Osprey. ISBN 9781855329676.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Cannone da 47/32.

Italian artillery of World War II

Tank guns	Breda Model 35 Cannone da 37/40 Cannone da 47/32 modello 35 Cannone da 47/40 Cannone da 75/34

Anti-tank guns	Solothurn S-18/1000 Cannone da 47/32 modello 35 Obice da 75/18 modello 35 Cannone da 75/32 modello 37 Cannone da 75/34 Cannone da 75/46 C.A. modello 34 Cannone da 90/53 Cannone da 105/25

Infantry and Mountain guns	Cannone da 47/32 M35 Cannone da 65/17 modello 13 Cannone da 70/15 Obice da 75/18 modello 34

Field, Medium and Heavy guns	Cannone da 75/27 modello 06 Cannone da 75/27 modello 12 Cannone da 75/27 modello 11 Obice da 75/18 modello 35 Obice da 100/17 modello 14 Obice da 105/14 Cannone da 105/28 Cannone da 105/32 Cannone da 149/28 Cannone da 149/35 A Cannone da 149/40 modello 35 Obice da 149/19 modello 37 Obice da 210/22

Superheavy and Siege artillery	Mortaio da 210/8 D.S.

Railroad artillery	Cannone navale da 381/40

Anti-aircraft guns	Cannone-Mitragliera da 20/77 (Scotti) Breda Model 35 Cannone-Mitragliera da 37/54 (Breda) Cannone da 75/46 C.A. modello 34 Cannone da 75/49 Cannone da 90/53

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Tuesday, February 02, 2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.