CFS Macro - Fiat-Ansaldo M13/40 - API MACRO
CFS Version of a WWII ground vehicle.

This is another api macro of an Italian ground vehicle created by Easy Object Designer (EOD), for CFS scenery designers that they work with Airport 2.0 or later.

The Fiat-Ansaldo M13/40 was an Italian medium tank ("M" for Medio (medium), 13 for 13 ton and 40 for 1940), designed to replace the Fiat L3, the Fiat L6/40 and the Fiat M11/39 in the Italian Army at the start of World War II. The design was influenced by the British Vickers 6-Ton and was based on the modified chassis of the earlier Fiat M11/39. Indeed, M11/39 production was cut short in order to get the M13/40 into production.

The tank's main armament was a 47 mm gun. It could pierce about 45 mm of armor at 500 meters. This was sufficient to penetrate the British light and cruiser tanks it would face in combat, though not the heavier infantry tanks. One hundred four rounds of armor-piercing and high explosive ammunition were carried. The M13 was also armed with three or four machine-guns: one coaxially with the main gun and two in the forward, frontal ball mount. A fourth machinegun was sometimes carried in a flexible mount on the turret roof for anti-aircraft use. Two periscopes were available for the gunner and commander, and a radio was also theoretically available as standard equipment. The diesel engine was an advantage, and the simplicity of production suited the state of Italian industry.

The M13/40 was used in the Greek campaign in 1940 and 1941 and in the North African Campaign. Beginning in 1942, the Italian Army recognized the firepower weakness of the M13/40 series and employed the Semovente 75/18 self propelled gun alongside the tanks in their armored units.

The M13s fought in Greece in difficult terrain. Subsequently, in April, 1941, M13s of the Ariete division took part in the Siege of Tobruk, with little success against British Matildas. The first successful action for the M13 was the Battle of Bir-el Gobi.

In April 1941, at the time of the arrival of the Afrika Korps, the Italians had around 240 M13 and M14 tanks in first line service. In 1942, as the allies began deploying Grants and Crusader IIIs, along with towed 6 pounder anti-tank guns in their infantry units, the weaknesses of the M13 were exposed. The Italians equipped at least one company in each tank battalion with more heavily-armed Semovente 75/18 assault guns. In an attempt to improve protection, many crews piled sandbags or extra track links on the outside of their tanks, but this made the already underpowered vehicles even slower and added to maintenance problems.

The Second Battle of El Alamein saw the first appearance of the M4 Sherman, while some 230 M13s were still in front line service. In several days of battle, the Ariete and Littorio divisions were used to cover the Axis retreat. The Centauro Division was virtually destroyed fighting in Tunisia.

Despite heavy operational attrition, the M13 were present at the war's end and a few even managed to survive into the post-war period.

(Source: Wikipedia on Line)

I have created this api macro with Easy Object Designer (EOD), Version 2.2.85 (© Matthias Brückner), to generate a static Fiat-Ansaldo M13/40, with use of BMP textures, oriented to CFS scenery designers and that they work with Airport 2.0 or later.

The BMP texture are based on the Italeri "Fiat-Ansaldo M13/40", scale model kit.

On this zip file, I have included two new version of my Semovente 75/18 API MACRO, with a few upgrades on textures and dimensions.

All mine API macros, could be included on objects libraries with crash detection (for CFS missions), but must be distributed with the original API-MACRO copyright.

Edmundo Abad
Santiago-Chile
February 2011