The Cannone da 47/32 mod. 1935 was an Italian artillery piece that saw service during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

. It was originally designed by Austrian firm Böhler, and produced in Italy under license. The ''Cannone da 47/32'' was used both as an

infantry gun Infantry support guns or battalion guns are artillery weapons designed and used to increase the firepower of the infantry units they are intrinsic to, offering immediate tactical response to the needs of the unit's commanding officer. They typical ...

and an anti-tank gun at which it was effective against light to medium armored tanks.

History

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 The Carro Armato M13/40 was an Italian World War II tank designed to replace the M11/39 in the Italian Army at the start of World War II. It was the primary tank used by the Italians throughout the war. The design was influenced by the British Vi ...

medium tank, the M14/41 medium tank, and experimentally on the

AB 41 The Autoblindo 40, 41 and 43 (abbreviated AB 40, 41 and 43) were Italian armoured cars produced by Fiat-Ansaldo and which saw service mainly during World War II. Most ''autoblinde'' were armed with a 20 mm Breda 35 autocannon and a coaxia ...

armored car (see photograph), and the 47/32 self-propelled gun. 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 but was also used as a close support weapon. In 1940 it had roughly the same degree of armor penetration of its contemporaries such as the British 2-pounder gun, the German

PaK 36 The Pak 36 (''Panzerabwehrkanone 36'') is a 3.7 cm / 37mm caliber German anti-tank gun used during the Second World War. It was the main anti-tank weapon of Wehrmacht ''Panzerjäger'' units until 1942. Developed by '' Rheinmetall'' in 19 ...

and the Soviet 45 mm gun. It outperformed the French 25 mm gun and a High Explosive shell was available unlike the 2-Pounder. 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 ineffective against the heavier tanks it had to face. For use in the

M15/42 tank The Carro Armato M15/42 was the last Italian medium tank produced during World War II. It was based on the earlier M13/40 and M14/41 medium tanks, and was built with the lessons from the North African Campaign in mind. The tank was meant to be ...

the 47/32 gun was redesigned with a longer L/40 barrel and an enlarged ammunition chamber. The larger amount of propellant combined with the longer barrel greatly increased the armour penetration capability of the 47/40 gun.

Characteristics

* Caliber: 47 mm (1.85 in) * Barrel 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) HE /40 Variant: 829 m/s for AP and 310 m/s for HE* Range: 7,000 m (7,655 feet) - HE * Shell Weight: 1.44 kg (3.175 lb) AP; 2.37 kg (5.225 lb) HE * Armor Penetration AP (L/32): 58 mm (2.3 in) at 100 m (110 yards); 43 mm (1.7 in) at 500 m (550 yards) * Armor Penetration AP (L/40 Variant for Medium tank M15/42): 70 mm at 100 m, 50 mm at 500 m, 38 mm at 1000 m, 25 mm at 1500 m, 20 mm at 2000 m * Armor Penetration HEAT: 55 mm at 90 degrees contact

Users

The original Böhler and license-produced versions were also used in the Austrian, Chinese, Dutch, Finnish, Romanian,

Estonia Estonia, formally the Republic of Estonia, is a country by the Baltic Sea in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, a ...

n, Latvian,

Soviet The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nation ...

(Captured ex-Latvian guns) and Swiss armies. Romania purchased 545 Austrian-made pieces and 275 Italian-made pieces in 1941.Mark Axworthy, London: Arms and Armour, 1995, ''Third Axis, Fourth Ally: Romanian Armed Forces in the European War, 1941–1945'', p. 30 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 and the Soviet Union (4.7 cm PaK 196 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 . These guns were then reassigned to German and RSI (Axis-aligned Italian) units or donated to Croatia.

References

Sources

External links

Jaegerplatoon.net

Worldwar2.ro

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cannone da 47 32 M35 47 47 47 47 47 mm artillery Gio. Ansaldo & C. artillery Tank guns Military equipment introduced in the 1930s