Italian M14/41 Tank Company

The Italians learned about modern warfare the hard way in 1940. Now they are back, showing the world what the Italian soldier can do. Fighting under the famous ‘Desert Fox’, General Rommel, they form a crucial part of the Italian-German Panzer Army. Tough, determined, skilled, and aggressive veterans, the Italians broke through the British Gazala Line to save the trapped German Afrika Korps, held the line at El Alamein, and opened the way at Kasserine Pass, before holding up the American offensive at El Guettar. Fight or die for the new Roman Empire!

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The Italian M14/41 Tank Company includes:

• Ten Plastic M14/41/Semovente tanks
• Four Plastic 47mm guns
• Four Plastic 100mm Howitzers
• Four Plastic 88mm guns
• Complete A5 Flames Of War rulebook
• One Italian "Start Here" Guide
• One 8 Million Bayonets Dice
• Two Decal Sheets
• Eight Unit cards.

The 14-tonne M14/41 tank of 1941 was an upgrade of the older M13/40, featuring a more powerful engine fitted with sand filters. Despite its armour and armament remaining somewhat inadequate, the carristi manning these tanks did their duty and fought bravely against any odds.

While the M14/41 is outclassed in tank-versus tank fighting, it is an excellent weapon against enemy infantry. It has plenty of machine-gun firepower to keep the enemy pinned down while it moves into position, and an effective highexplosive round for engaging anti-tank guns.

Italy was quick to follow Germany’s lead in creating assault guns mounting large guns in turretless self-propelled mountings. The first of these, the Semovente (semovente meaning selfpropelled), mounted the 75/18 short (L/18) 75mm howitzer on the chassis of the M14/41 tank. Not only did the Semovente mount a bigger gun, it was also more heavily armoured, thanks to no longer needing a turret.

Although initially intended as a close-support artillery piece, the fact that the Semovente carried a bigger gun than the tanks it supported quickly led to its use as a tank-destroyer, and then as a tank in its own right.

By the time of the Tunisian fighting, the Semovente made up approximately half of the Italian armoured force in theatre, giving them significantly greater punch than in earlier battles in the desert..

The 100/17 howitzer is an Austrian design for a short (L/17) 100mm howitzer dating back to the First World War. However, it's still an effective weapon in skilled hands. Firing a modernised 13.8kg (30.4 lb) shell, it had a greater punch than the British 25 pdr gun.

The 100mm howitzer has the range to drop an artillery bombardment wherever needed on the battlefield. It has the calibre to deliver enough explosive to dig infantry and guns out of their fortifications.

When production of their own 90m heavy anti-aircraft gun failed to keep pace with demand, the Italians purchased German 88mm anti-aircraft guns to make up the numbers. Like the Germans, the Italians used the deadly '88' as a heavy anti-tank gun, giving them the range and punch to knock out any Allied tank, even the Sherman, at ranges where the tanks could not strike back.

The 88mm anti-aircraft gun is accurate out to a range of several kilometeres, giving it the ablitiy to knock out tanks beyond the range at which they can reply.

The light 47/32 gun is a small and mobile 47mm gun, allowing it to accompany infantry in the attack or be easily hidden in the defence. It is effective against enemy machine-guns and light tanks, knocking out these threats to the infantry it protects.

The Austrian-designed 47/32 M35 gun is relatively light for its calibre at 315kg (695 lb), making it quite mobile for a heavy crew-served weapon. Its 2.37kg (5.23 lb) explosive shells are quite effective at knocking out enemy machine-gun nests, while its armour-piercing and HEAT rounds are deadly against light tanks.