The Carro Armato L6/40 was a 6 tons light tank used by the Italian army during the WW II, mainly in North Africa, Russia, and the Balkans. Initially developed in 1936 for the export market, It then replaced the outdated L3/33 tankette used by Italians during Ethiopian and Spanish civil war. The production started in1939 but the L6/40 was already obsolete by the time. Some 300 vehicles were produced, mainly in 1940-1941. Originally designed as a recon tank, it was not particularly fast and was also badly used as a main battle tank on the eastern front. Despite the improvements it brought to the Italian tankettes, its conception remained conventional with a hull made of riveted plates, and it suffered from an inefficient transmission system, an overloaded two men crew with a single man acting as loader and gunner, and an armor and weaponry inadequate to face most likely opponents. A flamethrower version was also designed but very few vehicles entered in production. More successfully, some L6/40 were converted into self-propelled gun ("Semovente L40 da 47/32"). Eventually, the L6/40 was used by the Germans and by the Mussolini's republic in northern Italy to fight partisans.