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Carro Veloce L3/33

The Carro Veloce is a pre-war design based on upon the British-Lloyd Carrier, these tiny vehicles were built and used in vast numbers by the Italian Army in WW2. They had been employed by the Italians in Ethiopia and Spain and sold to other nations including Hungary, China, and Brazil. Against un-armoured troops they had some potential but confronted by tanks or even armoured cars they were death traps.

This example was captured in North Africa, is a flame thrower version which carried 500 litres of flame fuel in a special two wheeled trailer. Fuel was delivered by a pump driven off of the gearbox, which gave it a flaming range of about 40 yards. In fact the pump was so weak that crews were instructed not to use flame when driving at full speed, for fear of setting themselves alight.

Although a number of these flamethrower carriers were captured in the Tobruk area there is no evidence from British sources of them ever being used. The tiny vehicles were very cramped inside and must have been ghastly when closed down in the desert. Add to that the risk of having fuel pumped through the centre of the vehicle and any reluctance to use them is understandable.

This text is from the information board at Bovington tank museum.