After witnessing the inadequacies of their M13/40 and M14/41 medium tanks, the Italian Army decided that they needed a stopgap design until the heavier P26/40 was ready for production. The M13/40 and M14/41, although comparable to most of their early British and Allied contemporaries, had several severe drawbacks which made them very unsuited for the deserts of North Africa. Moreover, their guns, although adequate against most medium tanks, could not penetrate the most heavily armoured British types being fielded in North Africa at the time.