P40

P40

▄Pz.III N

▄Sherman V

P40

▄Pz.III N

▄Sherman V

Italy

II Rank

Battle rating:

AB	RB	SB
3.3	3.3	3.3

Class:

Medium tank

Research:14 000

Purchase:32 000

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Description

The Fiat-Ansaldo P40 is a rank II Italian medium tank with a battle rating of 3.3 (AB/RB/SB). It was introduced in Update 1.85 "Supersonic".

General info

Survivability and armour

Adequate. This is the word that comes to mind when thinking of the P40's armour. Its protection is enough for most medium-ranged engagements but is able to be easily penetrated by most guns at close range. The front plate is a 50 mm plate sloped at 45° allowing for 65-67 mm of total protection, and the drivers hatch on the left side is 76 mm also sloped at 45° allowing for nearly 100 mm of protection. Most shots to the upper glacis won't penetrate thanks to the radical sloping angle of the plate offering 95 mm of armour, but it is possible for it to deflect a shot into the UFP. The gun mantlet is very well protected, with two rounded plates, which each offer roughly 50 mm of protection, stacked on top of each other allowing for a total of 100 mm. Be wary that the turret is a very vulnerable spot due to the nearly flat plate that only has 50 mm of armour.

Mobility

Mobility is below average for the rank but is faster than some common tanks like the early Sherman's and Chi-Nu. However, almost every other tank in the rank will easily outrun the P40 (Such as the early T-34's, Cromwell's, Pz.III and the Pz.IV F2). The tank's offroad speed is quite good, able to reach 43 kmh/27 mph on dirt and get to that speed quite quickly. The hull traverse is also very good and the tank is very responsive while in motion, allowing for a very mobile playstyle.

Armaments

Main armament

The Fiat-Ansaldo P40 is armed with a Ansaldo 75 L/34 (75 mm), able to hold a total of 63 shells.

The 75 mm Ansaldo 75 L/34 cannon mounted on the P40 is appropriate armament for its rnk, combining a decent reload with flexible munitions. The P40 has access to a 75 mm APHE round with 79 mm of penetration and a HEAT round with 100 mm of penetration. It is worth noting, either ammunition is usable, but a mix is preferable. Most enemies will easily fall prey to the APHE round, but T-34's, M4 Sherman's, KV1's, are all enemies that require heavier hitting rounds, like the HEAT round. Note turret rotation is mediocre, and traversing the hull is necessary during close range engagements. The average round velocity will make longer-range combat difficult and the penetration drop off of the APHE round becomes quite noticeable.

Ammo racks[edit | edit source]

Ammo racks of the P 26/40.

Full ammo	1st rack empty	2nd rack empty	3rd rack empty	4th rack empty	5th rack empty	6th rack empty	Visual discrepancy
63	58 (+5)	53 (+10)	48 (+15)	43 (+20)	22 (+41)	1 (+62)	No

Sponsons empty: 43 (+20)

Machine guns

• Breda Mod. 38 (8 mm) x 2 (One pintle-mounted and one mounted co-axially, 576 rounds total)

Usage in the battles

The P40 is a tank that excels in medium-ranged engagements thanks to its decent armour and adequate gun. Due to the relatively small size and good mobility, it can, however, be played as an ambush tank that can sneak around and plant a shot in the enemy's sides, allowing for an easy elimination because of the large explosive filler in the APCBC shell. Be wary that while the tank's armour may protect against many lower-rank cannons, cannons at equivalent BR (Namely the Pz.IV's long-barrelled cannon) are easily capable of destroying the tank.

Players in the P40 should always be with teammates, as the P40 is easy prey when separated from its team. Stick with the heavier tanks such as the KV-1's, Churchill's and Matilda's, as they can soak up shots and draw attention away from the weak little P40, allowing the player to sneak around and hit a few tanks. If there are no heavy tanks, the P40's best bet is to support a Sherman or Pz.IV, as both of them can deal with enemies that the P40 can't.

Pros and cons

Pros:

• Decent frontal armour
• The gun possesses satisfactory performance at its rank
• Has access to HEAT shells with 100 mm of penetration
• Stock shell has a lot of explosive filler, making one-shot very common
• Relatively small for a medium tank
• Very good in medium-ranged performance

Cons:

• Overall penetration is not that great
• Pitifully low ammo count for each machine gun belt
• Armour can still be penetrated by a few enemies of rank II, most notably by the long-barreled Panzer IVs
• Breda Mod. 38's have a very low magazine count
• Lower than the average speed
• Mediocre turret traverse

History

The Carro Pesante P26/40 was Italy's best tank that saw service in the war. Despite only weighing 29 tonnes, which is significantly less than almost every other country's heavy tanks, it was classed as a heavy tank due to Italy's tank design doctrine. In early 1940, the Italians started working on a 25 tonne "heavy" infantry support tank that was intended to fight alongside the "M" class medium tanks. The recent Africa campaign showed the massive problems the Italian tanks in production had, namely a lack of armour and insufficient firepower, prompting the army to make some changes. Initially designated as "P75" due to the 75 mm short-barrelled 75/32 mm cannon that was changed to a longer barrelled 75/34 with higher potency. The initial prototype was powered by a 330 hp diesel engine but was changed to a traditional petrol-fueled engine due to the unimpressive performance of the diesel engine, which forced the Ansaldo engineers to delay the program until the necessary modifications to the chassis and body could be made to fit the petrol engine. This eventually produced a petrol engine titled "V-12 SPA 342" delivering 420 hp. The vehicle was adopted and was named "P26/40", 26 for the weight and 40 for the year it was designed.

Media

An excellent addition to the article will be video guides, as well as screenshots from the game and photos.

Read 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.

ETC.

Sources

Paste links to sources and external resources, such as:

• topic on the official game forum;
• other literature.