This article is a traduction from regioesercito.it

Lancia 1ZM model is here

The Lancia 1Z and further modified 1ZM was an Italian armored car of WWI and WWII. The Ansaldo factory was ordered to begin a study on armored cars, during the period of neutrality that preceded Italy’s entry into the war during WW1. The engineer Guido Corni, a mechanical expert as well as a connoisseur of metallurgy, prepared a project based on the Lancia 25/35 Hp truck chassis.

In April 1915 the prototype was delivered and the first tests carried out, the first Ansaldo Lancia 1Z was delivered to Udine in the first days of August 1915, followed by 1918 by another 137 machines.

The first 37 armored cars called 1Z, built until 1916, were characterized by the two superimposed turrets that housed three 6.8 mm Maxim 1906 machine guns, however these vehicles had a significantly unbalanced center of gravity, for this reason in the following specimens, called 1ZM, the upper turret was eliminated, and its machine gun moved towards the rear of the vehicle. These vehicles suffered from a worse quality of the steel used for their construction, it is thought to solve the problem by increasing the caliber of the weapons installed, the Maxims were replaced by three 8 mm St.Etienne 907F, an unfortunate choice, as the French guns were prone to jamming, and difficult to handle by the crew, and unsuitable for firing on the move.

Both models had the same characteristics of weight and dimensions, obviously the second type was lower due to the abolition of the third turret, the 4950cc water-cooled engine was mounted at the front, and had a power of about 60 Hp, the transmission was by a cardan shaft, with 4 gears + reverse, a double braking system was installed by foot and by hand. The fuel tank was cylindrical in shape and was placed in the center of the combat chamber, and could contain 100 liters of petrol for a maximum range of 300 km, the oil tank contained 9 litres.

The maximum speed on the road was 60 km/h, the wheels were in pressed steel with high pressure tyres, the rear ones were twin, the drive was on the right.

The armor was 6.5mm all over the car except on the bottom, where it was 2.5mm, only at the tank it increased to 5mm.

Ideally, the vehicle could be divided into three parts, bonnet and engine, fighting chamber and turret. The bonnet was equipped with fins for cooling, the front part of the cab, inclined, was equipped with a rectangular door that could be lifted for driving, there were two large access doors, one on each side, both equipped with a slot, three other slots was placed on each side, another larger one on the stern for the rear machine gun, on the turret roof, there was a small diameter circular hatch, the turret rotated resting on two rows of steel balls, on the bow were mounted two crosslinked irons, two complete spare wheels were carried mounted outboard on the starboard side, although they were later moved to the lower part of the stern.

We have already written about the main armament used during WW1, in 1924 the French weapons were replaced with Fiat Mod.14s, providing these armored vehicles with finally safe armament!

In 1938, on the armored cars present in AOI, 8mm Fiat mod.35s were installed.

For the crew, composed of 6 men, an individual armament was initially envisaged consisting of the French-made Chauchat mod 15 8mm machine gun, not appreciated by the crews because they were heavy and difficult to use, in 1918 they were returned to the French and replaced by muskets cavalry mod.91.

Operational use :

1st World War :

In 1915 the Lancias made some « tests » in combat, but without committing themselves too much, also because the terrain was not suitable for operations with that type of vehicle. In 1916 3 squadrons of machine guns were formed, the Stato Maggiore was unable to find their precise task, and ended up being shelved, a couple of sections of the 1st sqdr, used in night disturbance actions in Val Sugana. In 1917 they found effective employment in the month of May with public order tasks in the Lower Isonzo, contributing not a little to restoring order on the front after the mutiny of some detachments of the « Catanzaro » brigade, between 21 and 27 August of the same year, they were in action in Turin during the bloody clashes called « the bread revolt ».

In October 1917, after the rout of Caporetto, the armored personnel carriers suffered heavy losses, but mainly due to lack of coordination, many armored personnel carriers even acted on their own initiative!

In the general Chaos, the Austrians capture some armored vehicles which they later reused.

Once the Piave line was reached, and the delivery by Ansaldo of the new armored vehicles had begun, as many as 15th Sqdr. were set up, one was stationed permanently in Turin for the usual police duties, the others at the front.

During the Austrian offensive of June 1918, thanks also to the dense network of roads that characterized that front, the armored cars were much appreciated by the commands, but it was also the first time that the command had given clear instructions on the use of the « new » weapon, the requests for the assignment of armored vehicles to the troops became very numerous.

On 24 October 1918, the day of the beginning of the battle of Vittorio Veneto, the Comado Supremo drafted the first document on « Regulations for the use of squadrons of armored cars », the document asserted the importance of the means in surprise actions, the need careful maintenance of the machines, and the obligation to use the vehicles at least in pairs.

In the battle of Vittorio Veneto, the armored cars were used to exploit the successes of the infantry, with fast advances to occupy points of strategic interest, without paying too much attention to the enemy units that they left behind, a single squadron, just before the armistice, he reached the Carnia station, and single-handedly captured two Austrian generals and blocked the trainloads of troops.

The 7th sqdr, captured over 200 Austrian soldiers and a supply convoy in a single day, with just 3 armored cars, then advancing towards Trieste captured two trains loaded with soldiers and 60 artillery pieces! From combat to combat, the armored cars reached Masseria Tre Ponti, where they captured the entire General Staff of the Austrian 58 Division.

The 12th Sqdr, assigned to the 3rd div. Cavalry « Lombardia » with 6 machines, was sent towards Nogaredo, where, with a vanguard of cyclist machine-gunners of the « Lancers of Montebello », it was taken under fire from cannons and Austrian units, losing four machines. The commander, Capt. Venturelli, did not gave up, countered the enemy fire, managed to stop the enemy action, plug the leak and reach Udine on November 3rd.

The 1st Sqdr was aggregated to the « Foggia » Brigade and the 4th to the « Piemonte Reale », they moved to advance but failed with the remaining sqdr to take part in clashes before the armistice.

The squadrons, for the activity carried out during the battle of Vittorio Veneto, obtained a special mention from the Supreme Command.

Between the two wars :

After the war, the squadrons were deployed in the occupied territories, the 1st Sqdr was sent to Corinthia, the 4th and 5th to Fiume in 1919.

In June 1920, 15th Sqdr was sent to Albania, where it took part in fighting against the Albanian insurgents in Valona.

The 1ZM were often used in the metropolitan area to contain the continuous popular demonstrations of those years, with their shape, they had a significant psychological impact on the demonstrators, when in October 1920, the Public Security Corps was created, it was immediately supplied 35 Lancias, organized in 7 squadrons.

The 4th sqdr, after having left Fiume, was located in Castelnuovo, about 30 km from the city. When d’Annunzio’s column marched on the city on 12 September 1919, in the absence of officers, the armored cars joined the column, and went to form the « 1st Armored Automitragliatrici squadron of the Italian Regency of Carnaro » was also formed the 2nd Sqdr, with defected 7th Sqdr machines.

The Lancias were always present at all D’Annunzio demonstrations, and became the tangible demonstration of the strength of the regime.

As many as 4 Sqdr (1st, 5th, 7th and 15th) were part of the units of the Royal Army which surrounded Fiume in December 1920, but there were no fratricidal clashes, after the Fiumana adventure, all armored cars were reacquired by the R.E.

At least one armored car participated in the « March on Rome » of 1920.

In 1926 34 Lancias were assigned to the Carabinieri and located in Naples, two were sent to the Dodecanese, mainly for representation purposes.

The Lancias also participated in the 1919 operations for the reconquest of Libya, with a section for a total of 11 vehicles, which arrived without personnel who were found on site. The military operations, precisely due to the poor training of the personnel, were not happy, and often the vehicles found themselves with all their weapons jammed. They took part in various war episodes, some such as that of Bil Alal unfortunate and mournful, in 1931 the departments were granted the MBVM for the operations carried out from 1925 to 1929.

In 1930 the Stato Maggiore developed a distribution plan for the surviving Lancias, it was a question of making old and worn out machines operate with coastal and territorial defense tasks, again in those years some vehicles were sold to other states: Albania, Afghanistan and Austria, in particular the Albanian armored cars in 1939 were reacquired by the RE after the occupation of Albania, apparently in good condition, together with some Fiat 3000s, to be reassigned to the departments.

In 1937 4 Lancia 1ZM were transferred to the Chinese Italian concession of Tien Tsin, the vehicles remained in service until September 1943, when Japan occupied the garrison and captured the 4 armored cars.

In 1926 a sqdr with 6 cars was sent to Somalia, and mixed crews made up of Ascari and nationals were trained. They were used in the 1935 campaign alongside the CVs and the Fiat 611, the tires were modified, adopting wider tires, and the lateral armor of the rear wheels was eliminated. They were the peak of the operations conducted by Graziani, despite the infernal temperatures and the age of the machines.

When it was decided to send a force of armored cars to Spain in 1937, recourse was made once again to the now obsolete Lancias, 8 were sent which operated until 1939, actively participating in the conquest of Alicante, in the battle of Santander and in the battle of Catalonia.

2nd World War :

During WW2, the Lancias were mainly used in AOI, providing a definitely superior contribution to the quality of the machines, due in large part to the commitment of the crews, the condition of the machines was such that after each move some repairs were necessary.

The conquest of Somaliland was bloodless for the elderly warriors, who disappeared from the area of ​​operations with the loss of their crews in 1941, after a series of clashes with Abyssinian rebels.

In North Africa while waiting for the AB41, in addition to the Fiat Tripoli already present, 2 Lancias were also reactivated, armed with 12.7 mm Safat aircraft machine guns, which were abandoned in the desert without fighting after yet another breakdown during the transfers to the area of ​​operations.

Six vehicles were present in the CCCXII Mixed Tank Battalion which was sent to the Aegean in March 1940 at Psito on the island of Rhodes. In September 1943, now considered devoid of war efficiency, the battalion surrendered to the Germans and the armored cars were set on fire.