Unique Italian Tank Scientist
Added a dedicated tank scientist for Italy
Francesco Rossi was born on December 6, 1885 in an Italian family. In 1926, he was promoted to lieutenant colonel and became a professional soldier. In the 1930s, he was appointed Minister of Military Transport in the Rome region. After that, he served as commander of various artillery regiments. In 1939, Rossi became the commander of the artillery of the First Route Army of Italy. During World War II, he was promoted all the way and served as deputy chief of staff of the Second Corps in March 1941. In October 1942, his military rank was promoted to lieutenant general. In March 1943, he served as deputy chief of staff of the Supreme Staff of the Italian Royal Army. At the same time, he was also an important figure in promoting peace negotiations between Italy and the Allies. After the war, he put forward many constructive suggestions for the development of the Italian Army and made an indelible contribution to the modern military history of Italy.
General Rossi had already sensed the mainstream tank development trend in 1946. The bloody lesson of Germany’s defeat in World War II alerted tank designers from all countries that the idea of "heavy armor and expensive objects" had deviated from the needs of military development. Therefore, General Rossi was obviously more inclined to designs similar to the American Sherman and the British Centurion. However, General Rossi’s idea was beautiful, but the reality was even more cult than the dark drama. In the early days of the Cold War, Italy was not only sanctioned by the Paris Peace Agreement, but also had an extremely weak domestic industrial system. Therefore, General Rossi’s 35-ton "high-speed tank" could only remain on his paper.
