75/46 M43
Contents
Description
The Semovente 75/46 M43 is a rank III Italian tank destroyer with a battle rating of 4.7 (AB/RB/SB). It was introduced in Update 1.85 "Supersonic".
General info
Survivability and armour
Armour type:
- Rolled homogeneous armour (hull, casemate)
- Cast homogeneous armour (gun mantlet)
| Armour | Front (Slope angle) | Sides | Rear | Roof |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hull | 25 mm (78°) Upper glacis 50 mm (40°) Lower glacis - top 30 mm (50°) Lower glacis - bottom |
40 mm 40 + 25 + 4 mm Casemate area 40 + 4 mm Side skirts area |
25 mm Upper part 25 mm (15°) Lower part |
25 mm (12°) Front glacis 10-15 mm (12°) Rear - Engine hood 5-15 mm (5°) Rear - Radiator vents |
| Casemate | 75 mm (5°) + 25 mm (25°) Casemate front plate 90 mm (5°) + 25 mm (25°) Driver port 60 + 30 mm (spherical) + 25 mm (25°) Gun mantlet |
45 mm (7-9°) + 25 mm | 45 mm | 15 mm (0-4°) Centre 15 mm (18°) Sides |
Notes:
- Suspension wheels are 15 mm thick while tracks are 20 mm thick and bogies 10 mm thick.
- The belly is 15 mm thick.
- Mudguards are 4 mm thick.
The 75/46 M43 has the same protection as the 75/34 M43 but sits at a much higher battle rating, making its armour increase useless. The vertical front armour plate is wide, easy to target and not thick enough to stop most shells. The sides are weak and the roof armour is poor. The lower glacis offers little protection, although shots that penetrate this area will often be absorbed by the transmission, saving the tank at the cost of its mobility.
The armour is ineffective, with Allied guns such as the British 17-pdr, US 76 mm M1 and Soviet 85mm D-5T guns being able to reliably penetrate the vehicle at long range even when your vehicle is angled. The small crew of 3 also means that APHE shells will disable several crew members when they get through its armour.
As with most tank-destroyers, the vehicles' side and rear armour do little to protect it in case of a flank, and players should always look to keep their nose pointed toward the enemy.
Mobility
| Game Mode | Max Speed (km/h) | Weight (tons) | Engine power (horsepower) | Power-to-weight ratio (hp/ton) | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Forward | Reverse | Stock | Upgraded | Stock | Upgraded | ||
| Arcade | 42 | 4 | 15.7 | 263 | 353 | 16.75 | 22.48 |
| Realistic | 39 | 4 | 164 | 185 | 10.45 | 11.78 | |
The 75/46 M43 has reasonable mobility for a tank destroyer, being able to hit and maintain around 37 km/h when driving off-road on level ground. The vehicle has a slow reverse speed however, only reaching -4 km/h in its single gear.
Despite its lack of neutral steering, the 75/46 M43 can traverse its hull reasonably quickly from a full stop, greatly helping to overcome its lack of a turret.
Modifications and economy
| Mobility | Protection | Firepower | ||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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Armaments
Main armament
| 75 mm OTO 75/43 mod.40 | Turret rotation speed (°/s) | Reloading rate (seconds) | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mode | Capacity | Vertical | Horizontal | Stabilizer | Stock | Upgraded | Full | Expert | Aced | Stock | Full | Expert | Aced |
| Arcade | 42 | -10°/+16° | ±18° | N/A | 12.3 | 17.1 | 20.7 | 22.9 | 24.4 | 7.80 | 6.79 | 6.25 | 6.00 |
| Realistic | 8.3 | 9.8 | 11.9 | 13.2 | 14.0 | ||||||||
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 | ||
| Granate Perforante mod.39 | APCBC | 151 | 148 | 135 | 121 | 108 | 96 |
| Granata mod.34 | HE | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 |
| 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% | |||||||
| Granate Perforante mod.39 | APCBC | 792 | 6.8 | 1.2 | 14 | 28.9 | 48° | 63° | 71° |
| Granata mod.34 | HE | 550 | 5.74 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 686 | 79° | 80° | 81° |
Ammo racks
| Full ammo |
1st rack empty |
2nd rack empty |
Visual discrepancy |
|---|---|---|---|
| 42 | 25 (+17) | 1 (+41) | No |
Notes:
- Shells are modeled individually and disappear after having been shot or loaded.
Machine guns
| 8 mm Breda Mod. 38 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mount | Capacity (Belt) | Fire rate | Vertical | Horizontal |
| Pintle mount | 504 (24) | 600 | -10°/+80° | ±90° |
The small calibre of the Breda Mod. 38 machine gun makes it largely ineffective against all armoured vehicles but the ones with an open compartment. It still can be used to ping targets as a rangefinding help or to mow down minor obstacles blocking your line of sight.
Usage in battles
The Semovente is usually most effective when remaining at a distance, where its powerful gun and strong frontal armour can do their best work. A player should ideally look to exploit the tanks' small frontal profile and reasonable mobility to get into strong position's on the enemies' flank. The 75mm gun's high velocity, good reload and post-penetration effectiveness make it ideal for attacking enemy tanks from the side, where it can easily penetrate their side armour even in a full up-tier. This normally represents the safest way to play the vehicle.
Players can be considerably more aggressive when top-rank however. Most adversaries at 4.3 or below will struggle to stop the Semoventes' gun with their frontal armour, and the vehicles' fast traverse time and low profile can allow it to quickly take out an unaware enemy, even in close quarters.
The most dangerous adversaries for the Semovente are either heavy tanks with extremely thick and angled armour, or vehicles with powerful APCBC shells that can defeat its frontal plate. Sherman Jumbos have the frontal armour to stop the Semoventes' gun, with their only weakspot being their machine gun port or their turret ring, both of which represent very small targets. A Jumbo in a hull-down position represents an incredibly difficult target for the Semovente, although its short-barrelled gun will have trouble penetrating the Italian tanks' frontal plate.
Heavy Soviet tanks such as the KV-1 and the rarer IS-1 are also tough opponents for the Semovente, with the KV best shot through the turret cheeks or the machine-gun port when angled. While the IS-1 has a far better gun than either the KV-1 or the Jumbo, its vulnerable turret ring can allow the Semovente to bypass its extremely thick frontal armour.
Pros and cons
Pros:
- Powerful gun with effective penetration and post-penetration damage, high velocity and accuracy, and a decent reload.
- Strong frontal armour that can be easily angled
- Unlike nearly every other Semovente, the guns' best shell is available immediately
- Small frontal profile makes the tank easy to conceal and difficult to hit
- Decent mobility and good hull traverse
- One of relatively few tank-destroyers to mount a machine-gun, allowing players to find and mark targets
Cons:
- Armour becomes much less effective when uptiered against stronger vehicles
- The Italian tech tree lacks effective partners for the Semovente, meaning players are often forced to rely on weaker vehicles once the tank is knocked out, unless they want to be dragged into higher-rank games
- As a casemate tank destroyer, the Semovente is extremely vulnerable to flanks
- The tank lacks any other ammunition choice outside of its (admittedly very good) APHE and lacklustre HE, meaning players do not have the option of switching to an AP or APCR round for tougher opponents when necessary
- A cramped interior and only 3 crew lessens survivablilty
History
- Development
The 75/46 M43 is a German-designed variant of the Semovente 105/25, with improved armour and using the German Pak 40 anti-tank gun in place of the original 105 mm howitzer.[1] Due to the low production output of the Italian-licensed version of the gun, only eleven 75/46 M43 were built, while others were outfitted with the available Italian 75 mm Ansaldo L/34 gun, leading to the production of the 75/34 M43 tank destroyer.
- Combat usage
They only saw service with German forces in Italy in late 1944 and 1945.
Media
- Skins
- Videos
See also
- Vehicles equipped with the same chassis
- Other vehicles of similar configuration and role
External links
References
- ↑ Filippo Cappellano. Le artiglierie del Regio Esercito Italy, Storia Militare, 1998
| Italy tank destroyers | |
|---|---|
| Italy | |
| M41 | 75/18 M41 · 75/32 M41 · 90/53 M41M |
| M42 | 75/34 M42 |
| M43 | 105/25 M43 · M43 "G.C.Leoncello" · 75/34 M43 · 75/46 M43 |
| Wheeled | Lancia 3Ro (100/17) · AS 42/47 · Breda 90/53 · Breda 501 |
| Other | L3/33 CC · 47/32 L40 |
| Germany | ▄StuG III G |
| USA | M36B1 · ▄M109G · M113A1 (TOW) |
| Hungary | |
| Zrínyi | Zrinyi I · Zrinyi II |
| USSR | ◔2S1 |
