Carro Armato L3-35Lf (Lanciafiamme)

History

After Ethiopia nicely demonstrated their backpack-portable flamethrower, the Italian army set out to expand the effectiveness of this deadly weapon. The system was partially modified and expanded to fit into the existing Carro Armato L3/38 tank series to produce the L3-35Lf (Lanciafiamme) mobile flamethrower vehicle. The tank retained a crew of two, but one of the hull-mounted machine guns was replaced by a flame thrower, which was offset to the left of the upper hull superstructure (the driver sat to the right of the gun).

Behind the vehicle was a two-wheeled wagon (weighing 1,100 pounds) that contained the fuel for the artillery. A rigid arm connects the two components, while a flexible hose is used to propel the propellant from the trailer to the fuel tank.

A trailer is necessary because the vehicle itself doesn't have much room to store combustibles.

In practice, vehicles on the battlefields of World War II (1939-1945) proved to be of limited value over time. Crew conditions were tight, armor protection was light, but no defensive weapons were installed.

The projector has a range of about 25 meters and can fire a stream that lasts 20 seconds - further limiting the vehicle's advantage. In any case, the L3-35lf became the most widely used of all available Italian flame throwing tanks.

The improved form of the vehicle finally got rid of the trailer and fitted a smaller fuel/fuel supply on the rear hull of the fuel tank.

Specification

Basic

Roles

Dimensions

Performance

Performance

Armor

20 seconds of fuel/propellant.

Changes