M11/39

M11/39

AB 41

AS 42/47

M11/39

AB 41

AS 42/47

Italy

I Rank

Battle rating:

AB	RB	SB
1.0	1.0	1.0

Class:

Light tank

Research:2 900

Purchase:700

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Description

The Fiat-Ansaldo M11/39 is a rank I Italian medium tank with a battle rating of 1.0 (AB/RB/SB). It was introduced in Update 1.85 "Supersonic". Despite being classed as a Medium tank, it has the armour and size of a light tank and shares more in common with conventional tank destroyers.

General info

Survivability and armour

Armourfront / side / back

Hull30 / 14 / 14

Turret30 / 14 / 14

Crew3 people

Visibility79 %

Armour type:

• Rolled homogeneous armour (hull, turret)
• Cast homogeneous armour (gun mantlet, MG mantlet, MG mount)

Armour	Front (Slope angle)	Sides	Rear	Roof
Hull	30 mm (19°) Upper plate - Gun mount 30 mm (11°) Upper plate - Driver side 30 mm (19°) Gun shield 30 mm (cylindrical) Gun mantlet 14 mm (77°) Upper glacis 30 mm Lower plate 10 mm (77°) Lower glacis	14 mm (7°) Top 15 mm Bottom	30 mm Crew compartment 14 mm Upper plates 14 mm (54°) Upper glacis 14 mm (20°) Lower glacis	14 mm (13°) Front glacis 8 mm Crew compartment 6 mm (3-17°) Engine cover 5 mm (8°) Engine vents
Turret	30 mm (11°) Turret front 30 mm MG mantlet 15 mm (cylindrical) MG mount	14 mm (7-10°)	14 mm (9°)	7 mm

Notes:

• Suspension wheels and torsion bars are 15 mm thick while tracks are 20 mm thick.
• Support plates for wheels and suspensions are 7 mm thick.
• Belly armour is 10 mm thick.

The M11/39 has fairly unimpressive protection overall at 30 mm frontally. At common combat ranges it will be vulnerable to the vast majority of typical rounds, however it is frontally immune from heavy machine gun fire. The crew is made up of 3 total members: the driver, the gunner and the commander, the latter of which is positioned in the MG turret. An incoming shot into this turret will rarely one-shot the tank, but a shot into the drivers port will commonly see the vehicle knocked out. However it is fairly likely enemies will attempt to fire into the MG turret, which will likely only knock out the commander leaving all other assets of the tank completely functional, allowing you to drive off or return fire.

Mobility

Speedforward / back

AB38 / 6 km/h

RB and SB34 / 5 km/h

Number of gears4 forward

1 back

Weight11.0 t

Engine power

AB248 hp

RB and SB130 hp

Power-to-weight ratio

AB22.5 hp/t

RB and SB11.8 hp/t

Game Mode	Max Speed (km/h)		Weight (tons)	Engine power (horsepower)		Power-to-weight ratio (hp/ton)
	Forward	Reverse		Stock	Upgraded	Stock	Upgraded
Arcade	38	6	11	201	248	18.27	22.55
Realistic	34	5		115	130	10.45	11.82

The mobility of the M11/39 is quite average: it is fast and responsive enough to get around the map and change direction easily, but not fast enough to really take advantage of its mobility. It won't outpace many enemy vehicles to advantageous positions into the map, and overall doesn't offer any advantage to the vehicle other than being adequately mobile. Its reactive mobility is fairly effective however, it can easily turn in place to face a different direction when upgraded which is necessary due to the hull mounted cannon. It can cruise off-road at 37 km/h in AB and 33 km/h in RB, so it isn't slow by any means, but not notably very fast either. The reverse is only -4/-5 km/h as well, making it hard to back out of an unwanted engagement.

Modifications and economy

Repair costBasic → Reference

AB106 → 136

RB95 → 122

SB111 → 142

Total cost of modifications2 970

890

Talisman cost190

Crew training200

Experts1 000

Aces20

Research Aces96 000

Reward for battleAB / RB / SB

10 / 10 / 20 %

100 / 100 / 100 %

Modifications

Mobility	Protection	Firepower
Tracks Research: 200 Cost: 60 50 Suspension Research: 165 Cost: 50 40 Brake System Research: 165 Cost: 50 40 Filters Research: 250 Cost: 75 65 Transmission Research: 320 Cost: 95 80 Engine Research: 320 Cost: 95 80	Improved Parts Research: 200 Cost: 60 50 Improved FPE Research: 165 Cost: 50 40 Crew Replenishment Research: 250 Cost: 75 65	Horizontal Drive Research: 200 Cost: 60 50 Adjustment of Fire Research: 165 Cost: 50 40 Elevation Mechanism Research: 250 Cost: 75 65 Artillery Support Research: 320 Cost: 95 80

Armaments

Main armament

37 mm Vickers-Terni 37/40 mod.18 cannon

Ammunition84 rounds

Reloadbasic crew → aces

4.1 → 3.1 s

Vertical guidance-8° / 15°

Horizontal guidance-15° / 15°

37 mm Vickers-Terni 37/40 mod.18					Turret rotation speed (°/s)					Reloading rate (seconds)
Mode	Capacity	Vertical	Horizontal	Stabilizer	Stock	Upgraded	Full	Expert	Aced	Stock	Full	Expert	Aced
Arcade	84	-8°/+15°	±15°	N/A	13.3	18.4	22.4	24.8	26.4	4.03	3.57	3.29	3.10
Realistic					8.3	9.8	11.9	13.2	14.0

The M11/39 is equipped with a hull mounted 37 mm cannon that fires an APHE round. Overall, the performance of the cannon and this round is largely unimpressive, at common combat ranges it can punch through between 35-25 mm of flat armour, which means that it can potentially meet some vehicles that the round can't frontally penetrate without a very well aimed shot. It will struggle against the American Stuarts and the majority of French vehicles, meaning that this vehicles combat ability isn't hugely consistent. Additionally, it lacks the penetration performance to engage at ranges, as passed 800 meters or so, the penetration power falls off to only 20 mm of flat penetration which means it will struggle to penetrate the vast majority of enemy vehicles, on top of this the cannon itself is fairly inaccurate. The round does contain 23 grams of explosive filler however, which is enough to one-shot enemy vehicles with 3 crew members or less fairly regularly, which is something to consider.

Ammunition

Penetration statistics
Ammunition	Type of warhead	Penetration @ 0° Angle of Attack (mm)
		10 m	100 m	500 m	1,000 m	1,500 m	2,000 m
Granata Perforante da 37 mm	APHE	39	36	26	17	12	8

Shell details
Ammunition	Type of warhead	Velocity (m/s)	Projectile Mass (kg)	Fuse delay (m)	Fuse sensitivity (mm)	Explosive Mass (TNT equivalent) (g)	Ricochet
							0%	50%	100%
Granata Perforante da 37 mm	APHE	640	0.7	1.2	9	23	47°	60°	65°

Ammo racks

Ammo racks of the M11/39

Full ammo	1st rack empty	2nd rack empty	3rd rack empty	4th rack empty	Visual discrepancy
84	64 (+20)	43 (+41)	22 (+62)	1 (+83)	Yes

Notes:

• Shells are modeled by sets of 3 shells and will disappear from the rack once all shells in the set have been loaded/fired.
• Pack 43 (+41) shells or fewer to minimize on board ammunition while staying capable for lasting engagements.

Machine guns

2 x 8 mm Breda Mod. 38 machine gun

Ammunition1 440 rounds

Belt capacity24 rounds

Reloadbasic crew → aces

10.4 → 8.0 s

Fire rate600 shots/min

8 mm Breda Mod. 38
Mount	Capacity (Belt)	Fire rate	Vertical	Horizontal
Turret	720 (24)	600	-10°/+20°	±180°
Turret	720 (24)	600	-10°/+20°	±180°

The M11/39 is also equipped with twin 8 mm Breda Mod. 38 machine guns in the Commander's turret with 24 rounds per gun. They have basically no viability against enemy armour and can only be use to knock out exposed crew members. However, they can potentially be used as an anti-air weapon as the twin machine guns will be enough to cripple enemy aircraft. In practice applying them in this way isn't very viable though, as they can't elevate high enough to be able to attack aircraft unless the aircraft is flying very low, or the tank is positioned on an angle giving it an artificially higher elevation. The machine guns can be used to attack aircraft, however it isn't regularly effective enough to consider this a key strategy.

Usage in battles

M11/39 passing a knocked out BT-7

Because of its various shortcomings, the M11/39 doesn't have a play-style that consistently works well every time, but certain ways of play are easily more consistent than others. One effective way to play is in ambush, lying in wait to engage enemies at close range, at distances the cannon is just too inaccurate and lacks the penetration required to be constantly effective, so playing it at close range negates those issues. It's also important to avoid situations where you could possibly meet an enemy on the move, as adjusting your angle to face the enemy tied with how unstable the cannon is when coming to a stop, means that enemy tanks will likely be able to get a shot off on you before you can accurately fire at them.

Ideally, you're going to want to engage at close range from a sedentary position, watching corners or covering cap points is where you'll likely see the most hostile tanks, so if you can find a good position in these locations you will likely pick up a few kills. Due to the small size of the M11, it might tank enemies a few seconds longer than normal to identify you as a threat, especially if you're positioned out of the way, making this vehicle even more adequately suited to the ambush role.

It's also important to note which tanks you'll struggle engaging, the M11 lacks the penetration to engage most French tanks and the late American Stuarts and HMCs, so it's a good idea to look at the armour layout of these vehicles to identify weak spots, if an enemy comes into sight that you can't easily penetrate, refrain from engaging it unless it presents a side shot, there's no use firing if you can't reliably cut through the armour. The M11/39 is a more defensive tank when compared to its contemporaries, and if you can identify a good camping position on any given map, the M11 will likely perform well enough.

Pros and cons

Pros:

• Machine guns have anti-air potential
• Shell has enough filler to knock out many tanks with a single penetrating shot
• Relatively fast reload
• Low profile

Cons:

• Poor penetration
• Fairly inaccurate main gun
• Poor performance at range
• Low survivability

History

This pre-war design was intended to be the standard Italian medium tank, equipping medium tank battalions in the armoured divisions. Influenced by the British Vickers 6-ton, which can be seen in its suspension design; the positioning of the medium-velocity 37mm main armament in a limited-traverse hull mounting rather than a turret was short-sighted and quickly lost favour. The tank had no radio. Only 100 were built before Italy moved on to the M13/40. Twenty-four served, in 4-tank platoons, with the Medium Special Tank Company (Compagnia Speciale Carri M) in the East African Armored Task Force in Italian East Africa until the Italians there were defeated in June 1941. Another 70 were deployed with the 1st and 2nd Medium Tank Battalions, which deployed to Libya in summer, 1940, and were all either destroyed or captured by British forces by early February 1941.

Media

Skins

• Skins and camouflages for the M11/39 from live.warthunder.com.

Images

• 

  M11/39 in desert livery

• 

  M11/39 In Winter camouflage

• 

  M11/39 Engaging an enemy T-26

• 

  The M11/39 in standard livery

• 

  M11/39 engaging an enemy M8 HMC

Videos

Carro Armato M11/39, Italian, Tier-1, Medium Tank - Angry Nerd Gaming

M11/39 Review, Bad gun, Great top turret! - Joseph 2000

See also

Vehicles equipped with a similar chassis

• T-26 (Family)

Other vehicles of similar configuration and role

• SAu 40 - French tank destroyer with similar configuration of hull cannon and turret machine gun

External links

• [Wikipedia] M11/39 tank
• [Tanks Encyclopedia] Carro Armato M.11/39
• [Military Factory] Carro Armato M11/39