Cannone da 47/32 mod 1935

The Austrian firm Böhler exported this quickly-disassembled 47 mm (L/32) gun, which the Italians found to be an effective portable canon (“canone”) for infantry, Alpini, and airborne units in anti-personnel and anti-tank roles. The 47/32 was primarily an anti-tank gun, but Italy also used it as an infantry close support weapon. Comparatively, as of 1940 it had roughly the same degree of armor penetration as contemporaries including the British 2-pounder (40 mm) gun, German PaK 36 (37 mm), and Soviet 45 mm gun, and outperformed the French 25 mm gun; unlike the 2-pounder, it also had an effective high-explosive shell. As with these other weapons, however, later in the war its effectiveness against more heavily-armored tanks became increasingly apparent. Italian forces used the type throughout the war, however, because Italian industry failed to develop a more powerful gun in numbers. A crew of five operated this weapon. Italian industry continued development of this gun. It was the main armament in the M13/40 and M14/41 medium tanks, Semovente da 47/32 self-propelled gun, and also some experimental Italian armored vehicles.