M15/42

M15/42

M14/41

▄Pz.III N

M15/42

M14/41

▄Pz.III N

Italy

II Rank

Battle rating:

AB	RB	SB
2.7	2.7	2.7

Class:

Medium tank

Research:7 900

Purchase:10 000

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Description

The Fiat-Ansaldo M15/42 is a rank II Italian medium tank with a battle rating of 2.7 (AB/RB/SB). It was introduced in Update 1.85 "Supersonic". The M15/42 is the last tank before getting to the P40 and foreign medium tanks and is the final version of the Carro Armato, thus giving some notable improvements over the previous models.

General info

Survivability and armour

The best way to describe the overall armour on the M15/42 is "Adequate".

Turret

• The turret is only 25 mm at the side, but due to the roundness and the slope of the armour at the front of the tank, it has an effective thickness of ~70 mm which can bounce poorly aimed shots. The Manlet has two layers of armour stacked on top of each other, giving an effective thickness of 75 mm, however, it has a shot trap on the left side which only has a thickness between 29 mm and 49 mm however due to the low battle rating, most new players won't know to shoot there. Despite the shot trap, the combination of good, sloped and rounded turret armour can make the M15/42 effective at hull-down positions.

Hull

• The top of the hull has decent protection in the form of a 50 mm frontal plate and a ludicrously sloped 80° 20 mm plate which has an effective thickness of ~75 mm. However, the lower Glacis plate only has a thickness of 30 mm and is directly in front of the transmission, so shots there will cripple the tank's mobility and possible result in the player's destruction.

Mobility

The M15/42 is not a shining star on the battlefield, however, when it comes to mobility, this medium tank can get around. While being understandably significantly slower than most light tanks encountered at this battle rating, it can hold it's own over most terrain as a medium tank, sacrificing armour for mobility.

Armaments

Main armament

The 47/40 mod.38 is quite the powerhouse at this rank, especially due to the effective shells at its disposal. The Mod.39 shell has a decent muzzle velocity of 755 m/s, good post-penetration damage and adequate penetration at close ranges. However, it quickly loses effectiveness at longer ranges. This encourages the player to fight in the mid-range area, almost always in a hull-down position.

47 mm 47/40 mod.38
Capacity			Vertical guidance	Horizontal guidance	Stabilizer
111			-10°/+20°	±180°	N/A
Turret rotation speed (°/s)
Mode	Stock	Upgraded	Prior + Full crew	Prior + Expert qualif.	Prior + Ace qualif.
Arcade	__.__	__.__	__.__	__.__	__.__
Realistic	__.__	__.__	__.__	__.__	__.__
Reloading rate (seconds)
Stock	Prior + Full crew	Prior + Expert qualif.	Prior + Ace qualif.
__.__	__.__	__.__	__.__

Ammunition

Penetration statistics
Ammunition	Type of warhead	Penetration in mm @ 90°
		10m	100m	500m	1000m	1500m	2000m
Granata mod.35	HE	4	4	4	4	4	4
Granata Perforante mod.39	APBC	69	67	59	50	43	36

Shell details
Ammunition	Type of warhead	Velocity in m/s	Projectile Mass in kg	Fuse delay in m:	Fuse sensitivity in mm:	Explosive Mass in g (TNT equivalent):	Normalization At 30° from horizontal:	Ricochet:
								0%	50%	100%
Granata mod.35	HE	250	2.4	2	0.1	150	°	79°	80°	81°
Granata Perforante mod.39	APBC	755	1.4	1.2	15	30	°	48°	63°	71°

Ammo racks

Ammo racks of the M15/42.

Full ammo	1st rack empty	2nd rack empty	3rd rack empty	Visual discrepancy
111	102 (+9)	93 (+18)	1 (+110)	No

Machine guns

8 mm Breda Mod. 38
Coaxial mount
Capacity (Belt capacity)				Fire rate (shots/minute)	Vertical guidance	Horizontal guidance
1,524 (24)				600	N/A	N/A
Pintle mount
Capacity (Belt capacity)				Fire rate (shots/minute)	Vertical guidance	Horizontal guidance
288 (24)				600	__°	__°

Usage in battles

Describe the tactics of playing in the vehicle, the features of using vehicles in the team and advice on tactics. Refrain from creating a "guide" - do not impose a single point of view but instead give the reader food for thought. Describe the most dangerous enemies and give recommendations on fighting them. If necessary, note the specifics of the game in different modes (AB, RB, SB).

Pros and cons

Pros:

• Solid frontal armour
• Decent mobility
• The Mod.39 shell has effective penetration for the BR and quite good post-penetration damage
• Best shell is unlocked by standard
• Decent gun depression of 10°
• Adequate turret traverse
• Due to the 80° angle the upper glacis is angled at, it can be a very good shot-bouncer
• Hard to kill from the front, especially when in a hull-down position
• Decent muzzle velocity

Cons:

• Crew is cramped
• Mod.39 shell rapidly loses effectiveness at range
• Frontal plate is almost flat
• Rest of the armour is mediocre at best
• Shots to the lower glacis almost always result in the transmission breaking

History

The last version of the M13 series. The M15/42 was slightly longer than the preceding models and had a higher-velocity 47mm gun, a more powerful engine, and improved armour. In total 112 were built, before production was switched to the tank destroyer version (the Semovente M42 da 75/18). By September 1943 when Italy surrendered, 82 of those had been issued to army units, in five-tank platoons. Their only use in combat by an Italian Army unit was actually against the Germans that month, in particular by the 135th "Ariete II" Division in the defence of Rome.

Germany confiscated 92 on Italy's surrender and produced another 28 themselves. Some were turned over to Italian forces. While most remained in Italy, some were also employed by the German forces in Hungary.

Media

Excellent additions to the article would be video guides, screenshots from the game, and photos.

See also

Links to the articles on the War Thunder Wiki that you think will be useful for the reader, for example:

• reference to the series of the vehicles;
• links to approximate analogues of other nations and research trees.

External links

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• topic on the official game forum;
• encyclopedia page on the tank;
• other literature.