L3 with names.

[Kustosz2137]

Hi, recently I saw multiple photos of L3 tanks with such white names written on their sides (as attached). Does anyone knows what unit might it be? Was this characteristic for one, or just something that multiple of them did? They are pretty similar to those used by Legione Tagl

 

[Francoquarter]

the 2nd and 4th look like a surname the 5th like a place
i can't read 1st and 3rd

 

[DrG]

The 2nd, "Castelnuovo" (literally "Newcastle"), could be the name of a place and not necessarily a surname.

 

[diciassette2000]

Chiesa is certainly a surname (example Damiano Chiesa patriot, Federico Chiesa footballer etc), Castelnuovo could be both a surname (example Nino Castelnuovo actor or also a locality Castelnuovo ne Monti or Castelnuovo Garfagnana or Castelnuovo Rangone in the Emilia Romagna region) while San Pietro Novello it is certainly a place in the province of Florence or Treviso. However, it was common practice, especially in light tanks, to write on the side the names of the commander or the place of origin of the crew or even pure nicknames of the vehicle such as "Garibaldino" or "Monarchico" or mottos of the Duce such as "Vincere" etc.... examples of that type can be found in the contemporary films "Luce"
All the best
Maurizio

 

[Kustosz2137]

Chiesa is certainly a surname (example Damiano Chiesa patriot, Federico Chiesa footballer etc), Castelnuovo could be both a surname (example Nino Castelnuovo actor or also a locality Castelnuovo ne Monti or Castelnuovo Garfagnana or Castelnuovo Rangone in the Emilia Romagna region) while San Pietro Novello it is certainly a place in the province of Florence or Treviso. However, it was common practice, especially in light tanks, to write on the side the names of the commander or the place of origin of the crew or even pure nicknames of the vehicle such as "Garibaldino" or "Monarchico" or mottos of the Duce such as "Vincere" etc.... examples of that type can be found in the contemporary films "Luce"
All the best
Maurizio

Thank you, how about these? Any ideas?

 

[jwsleser]

It appears that naming Italian armour was more an individual action rather than something done at the unit level. There doesn't seem to be a commonality such as all names in a unit starting with the same first letter. Of course, Italian companies were numbered and not lettered (1ª, 2ª, 3ª rather than A, B, C).

Pista! Jeff

 

[Kustosz2137]

Thank you, how about these? Any ideas?

I've discovered that 3 first photos are CTV vechicles that fought in Spanish Civil War.

 

[diciassette2000]

yes
Jeff is right the habit of giving a nickname to the individual tanks was the spontaneous will of the individual tank drivers and did not have a confirmation of the unit.... as for the other photos the ones with the square symbols and large numbers are shown badges on tanks during large maneuvers or public demonstrations while the one with the dagger badge is a tanketta used by the Black Arrows division in Spain as well as the one with the band and the one with the writing Adua is, as already mentioned, a nickname like Garibaldino or Monarchist
all the best
Maurizio

 

[Kustosz2137]

I've recently acknowledged that these names were actually characteristic markings of the interwar armored cavalry regiments. Colors of the letters and line beneath them corresponded to individual regiments.