Ansaldo Personal Tank 1935 MIAS/MORAS

[riggerrob]

The 1935 Ansaldo MIAS/MORAS Personal Tank was perhaps the smallest armored vehicle ever built. I was shorter than a standing soldier. Armor protecected the front and sides, but it was totally exposed to the rear. Armament looks like a pair of Villa Perosa 9 mm SMGs ... in fuzzy photos. This tiny one-man tank left the driver exposed from the ankles down. It also left his butt completely exposed from the rear. The goal was to provide am armored vehicle for assaulting bunkers.
I encountered this armored oddity on "The Potentially Inappropriate Membrary for Historians and Literaries."

 

[dan_inbox]

It was a one-man "Motomitragliatrice", or "auto-mitrailleuse", which in English is usually called armored car. Now we say a tankette.
Ansaldo MIAS : Motomitragliatrice Blindata d'Assalto, 1.5 ton.

 

[drejr]

It was armed with two 6.5mm machine guns. The MORAS was a "moto-mortaio blindato d’assaulto" with a 45mm Brixia mortar.

It wasn't really considered a tankette, it was a motorized descendant of the wheeled mobile shields commonly used in World War One.

 

[riggerrob]

It was a one-man "Motomitragliatrice", or "auto-mitrailleuse", which in English is usually called armored car. Now we say a tankette.
Ansaldo MIAS : Motomitragliatrice Blindata d'Assalto, 1.5 ton.

Thanks for up-loading the photos.
The word "mitrailleuse" means machine gun in French, so the Italian name translates to "motorized machine gun, armored for assault."

 

[dan_inbox]

Indeed, then nobody spoke of "tankettes", tanks themselves were barely invented.

Here is what a Moto-mortaio blindato d'assalto looked like:

 

[publiusr]

Steampunk Davros figure not included

 

[klem]

The small Ansaldo tank if it was not protected at the rear, leaving also the ankles, feet completely exposed as you say then I prefer this small Japanese tank.

 

[muttly]

Wouldn't mind having one of those myself.

 

[Nico]

Dear friends,
I'm back! No particular problem but, in this strange world, as you get older, the commitments increase instead of decreasing...
I just wanted to say a few words about this strange contraption that Secret Projects made me rediscover.
I have not been able to find out whether it was an Ansaldo private venture or a Regio Esercito requirement. However, there is a patent, dated 13 June 1934, attributed to L. Bongiovanni, F. Murri and F. Bassino for a very similar vehicle, which would suggest a requirement.
Of the Ansaldo project, only the prototypes of the two versions, MIAS and MORAS, were built.
The MIAS was armed with two little-known 6.5 mm Scotti light machine guns (Scotti Mitragliatrice Leggera per Fanteria 6,5); this gun was built in several versions, even in 7.92/8 mm calibre, but I am not aware that it was ever purchased by the Army, and when Alfredo Scotti's business was taken over by Isotta-Fraschini of the Caproni group, this machine gun was abandoned.
Eng. Scotti was a talented designer but his activity is very little known and it is not clear for which brands he was an external consultant or employee and which were his own.
The exact designation of the Light Infantry Machine Gun is unknown, perhaps 6.5MC.
The MORAS prototype was armed with a 45 mm Metallurgica Bresciana (Tempini) Mod. 1935 Brixia light mortar.
It would be interesting to know more
Nico

 

[Nico]

More: I found a nice multiview drawing from the manufacturer: we can read that the vehicle is namede AB XIII (for Auto Blindo, armoured car); XIII could be the 13rd year of the Fascist regime. The date of the drawing is unreadable but iy could be January 28, 1936.
Nico

 

[Bottleship]

Can this be considered a tank? In fact, this is just a machine gun with a motor and tracks.
This concept appeared during the First World War in many countries. In addition to the Italians, something similar, but without armour, was implemented by the British with a 20-mm cannon and the Soviets with a 45-mm howitzer.
At the same time, there were mini-tankettes, the French and the Soviets had models where the machine gunner lay on his stomach. It was much more like a tank. The French micro-tank had a height of 1100 mm (like MIAS), the Soviet one - 860 mm. At the same time, the Soviet had armor in front of 20 mm and sides of 10 mm.

 

[dan_inbox]

Can this be considered a tank? In fact, this is just a machine gun with a motor and tracks.

Those are usually called tankettes.