Italian tankette L3/35, Belgrade Military Museum, Serbia. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
I like to find the odd ball and lesser known unit and equipment types of the Second World War. I came across the second picture in an online German magazine.
The man pointing is a German Fallschirmjager The caption reads Wehrmacht in Rome in 1943. When the Italians surrendered to the Allies in September of 1943 the German 2nd Fallschirmjager Division moved into the City of Rome and disarmed the Italian garrison.
The tracked vehicles to the Fallschirmjager’s right are Italian CV-35 tankettes. They are armed with two Breda 13mm machine guns. By 1943 they were hopelessly obsolete but the Germans continued to use captured ones in anti-Partisan warfare in the Balkans like the one in the top picture.
There is a German motorcycle to the left of the 2nd tankette. I am uncertain of the nationality of the men in the tankettes but I’m guessing they are Italians and are being escorted and shown the way to a surrender area where they are being disarmed. If anyone knows for sure what is going on here I’d love to know.
Film of Italian tankettes of the CV-33 and Cv-35 varieties.
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