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Semovente da 75/18, Part 1

Picture 1:
There were a couple of
Italian designs created to
take advantage of their
M 13/40 tank chassis as
a basis for other armored
vehicles. One of these
was very successful and
mated the 75/18 Gun
Howitzer Modello 34 in
a fixed superstructure to
the tank chassis, creating
the Semovente da 75/18.
Since these first vehicles
were built on the M
13/40 chassis, they were
officially named Su
Scafo M 40, but after a
few had been built, the
14/41 tank chassis went

into production and this become the basis for many more Semovente vehicles. Towards the end of production, the M 15/42
tank chassis was also used, the resulting Semovente called "Semovente da 75/18 Su Scafo M 42".

This particular vehicle is one of the first series based on the M 40 chassis. One of the ways to tell the difference between those
Semovente based on the M40 and those on the M41 chassis is to check the track guards. Most of the M 40 tank chassis only
had partial coverings over the tracks, normally covering just the front portion of the track run, like you see here. The M 41
chassis with the larger engine was built with complete track covers, so the track guards typically run the length of the vehicle
from front to back.

Picture 2:
Credit for the original
Semovente design goes
to an artillery colonel
named Berlese, and only
a few days after the
design was presented to
Ansaldo Fossati of
Genoa, the
manufacturing company
was able to produce a
wooden mockup. It was
successful enough that
an initial order for thirty
vehicles was placed, and
once the prototypes were
accepted, full-scale
production was begun in
mid 1941 with an
increased order now for

sixty vehicles based on the M 13/40 chassis. During 1942 many more vehicles were manufactured, mostly on the M 14/41
chassis with its larger engine, and these were called Semovente da 75/18 su Scafo M 41. As I mentioned earlier, the last version
was the M 42 version, with an even larger engine and a slightly enlarged chassis. By the way, the '18' in '75/18' refers to the

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length of the gun, L/18.

This is a Semovente da 75/18 captured in the desert fighting. It is based on the M 41 tank chassis as you can tell by the full-
length track guards. Note the ammo rounds on the fender.

Picture 3:
The British captured a Semovente in the early stages of their fighting with the Italians and brought it home for study at the
Tank Technology School. The vehicle was a su M 13/40 type, and the report that was produced from the study contains some
interesting drawings and photographs. This is the side view of the early machine, showing how it was divided up into two
compartments, the fighting in the front and the engine in the rear. Although the engine was mounted in the rear, the tracks were
driven by front sprockets via the transmission in the front, so a drive shaft cuts the crew compartment in half on its way from
the engine to the transmission. The engine is a SPA Modello M 13(8T), and is water-cooled via a radiator mounted at the very
rear of the engine compartment. The engine is a V-8 diesel type, developing around 105bhp at 1800rpm. At the front of the
Semovente is the Fiat-built 8 F2 transmission, utilizing a splined shaft and sliding gears. There are four forward and one
reverse speeds available from the gearbox. The steering unit attached to the front of the transmission is a conical gear
combination, with two epicyclic gears, pretty much standard at this time for AFVs.

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Picture 4:
Crew in the Semovente consisted of three men, a commander/gunner, a loader/radio operator, and a driver. The driver sat in the
front-left, next to the gearbox, the commander/gunner to the right of the gearbox, and the loader radio operator on an ammo
box seat next to the left sponson, behind the driver. This over-head drawing shows the general layout of the vehicle with
gearbox and steering unit at the front, open fighting compartment in the middle, and engine/radiators in the rear. There was a
bulkhead between the engine and crew, but part of the front of the engine stuck out into the fighting compartment. The oil bath
air filters for the engine were located on the firewall in the fighting compartment, and you can see them represented here by the
circles with pipes leading back to each cylinder head. The vehicle batteries were also located with the crew, on the floor at the
right-rear corner. Notice how the exhaust pipes exit the engine compartment walls and then turn before mufflers are attached
above the track guards.

Picture 5:
This TTF
drawing is very
detailed, but also
very busy. We
will look more
closely at it in a
few minutes, but
for now notice
the general layout
of the vehicle.
The driver has the
most comfortable
seat in the house,
and forward and
to the sides are
his traditional
steering levers.
The steering box
is located at the
very front of the
tank, and the
brake bands for
each sprocket are

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shown. These
were controlled
by the steering

levers, in effect,
by pulling back on the lever on one side, the driver applied the brake on that side of the steering box, slowing the attached
sprocket. The hot transmission sits right next to the driver, and you can see the gearshift lever and knob projecting just about
horizontally out the back of the shift box unit.

The big 75mm gun is mounted in a gimble mount relatively high in the vehicle near the ceiling, and some of the left side of the
breech can be seen from here. Interestingly, the firing lever is on this side of the breech, even though the commander/gunner is
on the other with his roof sights. On the back firewall are the two cylindrical oil bath air filters for the engine, and between
them is a horizontal water reservoir tank for the radiator. You might also notice the two pistol ports on either side of the water
tank. These are the typical round Italian type we have seen in their WWII tanks.

Picture 6:
A closer view
of the front of
the Semovente
shows some
additional
details. The
twin steering
levers (9) are
attached to the
floor with
control rods
running
forward to the
epicyclic
steering brakes
(5) mounted
right next to the
track brakes (4)
in the steering
unit. The large

box between the left and right sets of brakes is called a bevel box because it contains bevel gears that transfer the rotation of the
gearbox drive out sideways to the brakes. The gearshift lever (25) is a bit clearer here as it curves over towards the driver's seat,
and both the reduction gear lever (11) and the transmission brake lever (10) are also identified. Unfortunately, the reduction
lever is partially hidden on the other side of the gear case, and the transmission brake lever is the vertical one well below the
end of the identifying arrow.

A couple of the foot pedals are visible between the driver's seat and steering box, with the clutch (8) on the left (our right). The
accelerator pedal (24) is difficult to locate down in all that jumble. Wall off to the right side of the hull is a crank mechanism
(2) that opens and closes the cooling vent doors located on the glacis armor above the steering box.

Picture 7:
Notice the
firing lever on
this side of the
breech ring. A
complicated
series of rods
and levers
transfers the
firing lever

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action under the
breech ring to
the other side
where the
actual firing
mechanism is
located. I'm not
sure why the
Italian
designers
wanted the
driver to be the

one to fire the gun, unless they were concerned that the vehicle was pointed in the right direction, or something like that. The
sight bracket (20) on the gunner's side of the weapon is devoid of sights, but if one was mounted it would protrude out the top
of the roof through a small hatch at this location. Just a bit further back is the rounded hood of the gunner's general-use
periscope, unfortunately drawn off the side of the roof instead of on top of the roof as it should be.

Behind the gun is one of the pistol ports (15), the other one being on the far side of the radiator reservoir tank (17). Below the
tank is the front end of the engine protruding through the bulkhead, and the L.P. fuel pump (19) is shown mounted to the top of
the clutch housing. Off to the right side of the picture are the sockets and switches for the radio headset (14), and directly below
the air filter on this side of the vehicle is the radiator and fan for the transmission cooling system. There are a couple of 75mm
ammo boxes shown on the right side of the floor, but the one located on this left side has not been drawn. All combined, there
were 44 rounds of 75mm ammo carried aboard of two basic types, Granata da 75/13 Mod 32, weighing 14lbs (6.36kg) and a
length of 13.5in (34.1cm), and Granata perforata da 75, weighing 13.9lbs and having a length of 12.25in (31cm). Most of the
secondary weapon ammo was stored in slotted boxes up on the sponsons and near the ceiling, but none of those boxes have
been shown in this drawing.

Picture 8:
This rather poor representation of the left
side of the hull still provides some
information. The driver's large instrument
panel is mounted vertically on the sponson
to his left, with a periscope mounted in the
roof in front of him for use when the
hatches are closed. Behind the periscope,
but on the gunner's side of the roof, are his
sight hatch, and general viewing periscope.

On the left track sponson behind the
instrument panel sits the radio system, with
both a transformer and the typical Magneti
Marelli RF 1 CA. Shown on the rear wall
is one of the two oil bath air filter
canisters, below which is the transmission
radiator and cooling fan. The left side

ammo bin is also included in the drawing, holding what looks like 14 75mm rounds. I suspect this was the seat for the third
crewmember, the loader, who probably also operated the radio when the commander was working the gun. It is quite possible
that the commander did not lay and fire the weapon, but had a gunner to do that for him while he manned the radio. This
arrangement makes more sense, but remember that in Italian tanks the commander was traditionally also the gunner. The idea
of freeing up the commander to actually command the other crew members had not quite taken root for the Italians during the
war.

Picture 9:
This is just another general location drawing, this
time for the rear of the firewall. The front of the

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clutch housing for the engine is again seen here.
Notice that there is some space between it and the
bulkhead; this was not an air tight fit, and I really
should not call this bulkhead a firewall, because it
certainly was proof against engine fires. To our left
are the vehicle batteries, which were about small
enough to fit under the air filter hanging on the
bulkhead, but are usually hidden by the large ammo
bins in front of them.

The Magneti Marelli radio is shown up on the left
track sponson again, but for some reason the dynamo
is now drawn down on the floor. Notice the radiator
reservoir on the wall above the engine. The filler is

shown on the front of the tank here, while earlier it
was on the right end. Notice that the artist has omitted the firing ports on this back wall that should be on either side of the
water tank. Although the ports were poorly designed, they were the only way the crew could look out the back of the
Semovente.

Picture 10:
The cross-section
views show the
radiator/cooling
fans at the far rear
of the vehicle as
well as the engine
compartment. In
both cases we are
looking forward,
as if the rear armor
has been removed
and we can see
inside the engine

compartment. The fans are located under the radiators, pulling cooling air through the radiators from outside the vehicle before
forcing it into the engine compartment just forward of the fans. A small water expansion tank is located between the radiators,
at the high point on the sloping engine deck.

Further forward is the V-8 diesel engine, here both the cylinder heads are clearly drawn along with the exhaust manifolds on
the sides dumping exhaust out the sides of the hull. To the left is the fuel tank that holds around 28gal US (145l) and on the
other side is an oil tank above and what appears to be more batteries below. Perhaps the batteries in the fighting compartment
were for the radio set.

Picture 11:
Our last drawing of the interior of the Semovente
75/18 is an over-head sketch again, but this time
there is more detail provided. Note that the gearbox
and drive shaft are just about on the center line of the
hull, and the gearshift can be seen leaving the
gearbox and curving to the rear on the center line. To
the left of the gearbox, between it and the driver's
seat, is a thin stowage box for some tools and vehicle
manuals. To the left of the seat is the instrument
panel up on the sponson, and once again the radio
equipment is mounted to the same sponson. Note the
ammo bin on the floor, and the transmission radiator

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and cooling fan between the bin and the rear
bulkhead. On the right side all that is drawn is are
the two ammo bins and the anti-aircraft MG stowed
on the right sponson. Up in front of the gunner's
round seat is the crank for opening the cooling
hatches on the front armor.

Picture 12:
With the two roof
hatches opened we have
a good view of the
driver's area. His seat on
the left is flanked by the
steering levers angling
forward, and if you use
your imagination you
might make out the thin
storage box to the right
of the seat used for
stowing small tools and
manuals. On the left side
of the gun-howitzer
breech ring is the firing
lever mechanism, and
over on this side is the
breech lever on top of
the ring. Forward and to
the far right is the
elevation and traverse
gearbox with at least the

traverse handwheel visible at the lower-right corner of the photo. Note the sight opening in the roof just forward of the open
hatches we are looking through, the sight door opening seen at the upper-right corner of the picture.

The driver has a fairly large forward viewing flap in front of him that can barely be see in the shadows, and to his left is the
speedometer on the sponson, all by itself. The instrument panel is further back on the sponson, and in the shadows further back
on the sponson is the radio equipment. This is an image that was published in the School of Tank Technology report on the
Semovente, but this print is a copy of a copy, and unfortunately is not very clear.

Picture 13:
Another image from the TTF report illustrates the
general layout at the front of the vehicle. The
driver's seat is at the left and the gearbox to his
right. Above and to the right of the gearbox is the
gimbal mounting for the main gun, and to the right
of that is the elevation gearbox. From this photo
you can clearly see the breech handle on top of the
breech ring. The small box on the sponson would
hold tools and spare supplies for the MG that would
normally be stowed on this sponson. Notice the
roof periscope on the slanting portion of the roof
that has not been removed for this picture. The

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actual sights for the gun would rise up through a
small hatch in the roof just forward of these hatch
openings, but it is closed here and can't be seen. A

connecting bracket would run between the sight
mount and the gun mount, attaching to the right of the barrel, in front of the breech ring.

Picture 14:
The driver's controls and surrounding equipment are mostly
visible in this photo. His steering levers are again pushed all
the way forward, and the three pedals at this feet are also
visible. The vision flap on the front armor is open here and a
small intercom box is located to the lower left of the flap.
The speedometer is sitting down on the sponson near the
radio box, and to the left, at the far left of the picture, is the
major portion of the instrument panel.

To the right of the seat is that thin stowage box again, and
then the gearbox is visible, although the gearshift is sticking
out at a severe angle towards the driver's seat. The 75mm
gun is to our right, and the firing lever is clearly seen. The
Italians used system of boxes with small lights to help
communicate between the commander and driver. The box
for the driver, I think, is the wide white box with the four

lights you see just above his vision flap opening. The
commander would also have a small panel on his side of the vehicle with some switches, and before starting out they would
agree on the light system (slow, fast, left, right, etc.).

Picture 15:
This little picture more or less confirms what we have seen
before in the rear of the fighting compartment. The front of
the engine and clutch case dominate the center of the
bulkhead, and the two air filters flank it. Below the filter on
our right is the transmission cooling radiator and fan, and at
the upper right corner of the opening you can see the
connection box for the radio equipment that was seen in the
large sketch previously. Both the round pistol ports are
visible, although if you didn't know what to look for, they
might be hard to point out. The water tank is white and
mostly washed out in this blurry print, but the general shape
of the over-head hatches can be clearly seen, as well as their
locking handles.

Now that we have the vehicle design perimeters and general

layout clear in our heads, it is time to get into a preserved Semovente in Part 2 and see how it looks from the inside.

TO SEMOVENTE 75/18, PART 2

BACK TO AFV INTERIORS HOME PAGE

(c) 2003, AFV INTERIORS Web Magazine

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Semovente da 75/18, Part 2

Picture 1:
The Semovente we will be spending some time in today is a Scafo M 42 model like the one pictured
here. This is one of the last versions of the Semovente 75/18 to be built by Fiat-Ansaldo during the
war. It was based on a new tank chassis (M 15/42) that was slightly longer and wider than the earlier
design, and included a larger more powerful engine (note the air vents on the engine deck covers).
But the same superstructure and other details were used during the conversion of these chassis to
Semovente M 42, so the interior layout and equipment was also the same.

Originally, these new Semovente M 42 vehicles were to be armed with the longer Italian 75/34 gun,
but production commenced before the gun was available, so the first 200 had the original 75/18
weapon, like the one shown here. Note the three water can holders on the side. This is something
unique to the M 42 hulls, and makes them easier to identify from a distance or in period photos.

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Picture 2:
The images in this page were loaned to us by Mr. Pietro Podavini from Italy. Mr. Podavini has helped
us at AFV INTERIORS a number of times over the years, especially when we need information about
WWII Italian vehicles, and his contribution to the Semovente pages is greatly appreciated. We only
have a few images to share, so I have made them fairly large to see the most detail.

This is the vehicle that we will be exploring, a M 42 preserved in the Trieste collection in Italy. This
particular vehicle has a gun barrel but is missing its breech ring, as you will soon see. But before we
climb aboard, you should know one thing about that big 75mm gun barrel. The weapon actually
consists of a loose barrel with a short jacket around it, as well as a locking ring and detachable breech
ring. So what you see here is not the actual gun barrel, but an armored jacket that surrounds and
protects the barrel. At this end of the barrel is what we used to call a "pepper pot" muzzle brake. It
acts as both a muzzle brake and flash hider, but was of little consequence when fighting at night. The
unique barrel design was common to all the Semovente 75/18 Model 34 gun-howitzers, from the M
40 through the M 42.

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Picture 3:
The driver's position shows his two steering levers and their attachment brackets on the floor. The
floor brackets show a ratchet at the top edge, indicating there is a locking mechanism to keep them in
one position, and usually released by a button or lever at the handle. In this case, the lever you see on
the handle will set the lock and the button will release it. Note that the black seat has been slid all the
way back on its floor mount. Normally it would be up so the front of the seat cushion is about even
with the steering lever brackets, depending on the length of the driver's legs, of course.

The photo shows the gearshift lever on the Fiat gearbox coming out of the top of the case and
crossing the picture to the left. The long reduction gear lever is also visible here, coming from the
side of the gear case at the upper-right, and then angling toward us. Unfortunately, both levers have
been painted black and tend to disappear in the shadows, or when crossing black painted equipment.
The bottom corner of the instrument panel is visible at the upper-left corner of the photo.

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Picture 4:
The view over to the driver's left includes his vision flap and instrument panel. The flap is opened by
a handle sticking up above the hinge at the left, but out of sight here. Notice that there is no vision slit
in the flap, and no backing glass block. When in action, this flap must be shut and locked, and vision
is available only via the over-head periscope, making a very restricted view. That is why the light
system was used to communicate between the commander and driver, as the commander had a better
view through his optics and rotating roof periscope.

Below the vision flap is a black grab handle, and at the upper-left corner of the picture is part of a MG
ammo storage bin. The lone speedometer gage that normally sits on the sponson to the left of the
instrument panel is missing. Notice the nuts and angle iron used to join the superstructure armor
plates.

Picture 5:
Along with the rest of the vehicle, the
instrument panel obviously has been
painted a few times since the war, but it
was probably black as you see it here. I
don't know what the various knobs are for,
but someplace is the starter and a switch to
control exterior and interior lights, and
there are some fuzes at the lower right. If
you happen to know what is on this panel,
let us know.

The first Semovente to see combat action
were the early M 40 types comprising two
self-propelled artillery gruppi of the Ariete
Division in early 1942. At the time of their
introduction in North Africa, their
armament was formidable in comparison
with both British and German tank guns. In
North Africa, the Semovente 75/18 gruppi
(battalions) were organized with a HQ
battery and two gun batteries, normally
with four Semovente guns and a command
vehicle in each battery. Command
Semovente (carri comando) were modified
M 13 and M 14 tanks, usually turretless and
armed with one or two machine guns
mounted on the right hand side in the

machine gun sponson. A gruppi, or battalion, of Semovente then typically had a total of eight
Semovente SPGs along with four carri comando vehicles and perhaps as many as 30 supporting
motorcycle troops.

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Picture 6:
The gunner's area in this old girl is just about as you would expect with the gun breech missing. The
seat appears to be adjustable in height by rotating it on its mount. Notice the floorboards further
forward that may lift off to allow stowing equipment underneath. The hand crank for opening the
steering brake cooling hatches is still intact on the right sponson wall.

The armor used on the Semovente was rolled homogeneous plate. The hull nose was 1.18in (30mm)
thick while the front glacis plate was 1in (25mm), at 81 and 69 degrees slant. The side and rear plates
were also 1in thick plate with the hull floor being 0.63in (15mm) in the front and 0.43in (11mm) in
the rear. Most of the interior was painted the traditional Italian white, with a lot of the removable
equipment inside being black. We think the floors were also originally white, but of course that didn't
last for long.

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Picture 7:
This is a good view of the floor space at the foot of the gunner's position. Both the steering brake and
the track brake on this side are visible, including the actuating levers. The track brake is the cylinder
on the right, and the steering brake is the one partially hidden to the left. Inside the track brake is a
fan that helps keep the drum and brake bands cool, but the small hatch over the brakes contributes
more cooling air on hot days (the crank is to our right).

The gearbox next to us also radiates heat when in operation, and even with the gearbox oil cooler in
the rear of the fighting compartment, this was probably not a fun place to be seated during hot desert
action. The long handle you see to our left is the reduction gear lever again. It appears that these
floorboards are not easily removable, so I guess there is probably no crew storage under them after
all.

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Picture 8:
The right sponson next to the gunner normally holds a small box for MG parts and spares, as well as
the MG, but only their brackets and clamps are visible here. Up above is another ammo storage box
for MG magazines. The anti-aircraft MG was typically the Breda Model 38, and typically a support
bracket was mounted on the roof so the weapon only had to be hauled out and mounted on the bracket
when conditions required. There is more information about the Breda and its ammo in the M13/40
tank pages in AFV INTERIORS.

A total of 294 Semovente M 42 vehicles were issued to German troops in 1943-44, and by late 1943
they were in service with six infantry divisions, two Panzer divisions, three Panzergrenadier
divisions, and one Jager division, of Army Groups C and F, in Italy and the Balkans. References
indicate that by December of 1944 the total number had dropped to 93. After the war, Italy used its
remaining Semoventes for a number of years, equipped with Allied radios, but looking pretty much
the Semovente vehicles during the war.

My thanks again to Mr. Pietro Podavini for sharing his reference information and photos of a
Semovente da 75/18 with us. If you have additional information you would like to share, we would be
interested to hear from you.

TO SEMOVENTE 75/18, PART 1

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(c) 2003, AFV INTERIORS Web Magazine

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