Italian Units and
Formations
These unit lists should help new 1943 players orient
themselves as to how the rules relate to historical organizations. They are
meant only as guidelines, and players should feel free to modify them if they
wish.There were an enormous variety of formations which existed throughout the
war and those formations often used equipment as it was available in their
respective theaters of war, and so these guides are merely primers upon which
players can re-create their own historical units.
The Italian Army of
World War II fought against a number of difficult headwinds. At the start of
the war, their equipment was not always of the latest generation compared to
their ememies, and there was sometimes a large cultural gap between officers
and their men. This resulted in some units starting off with excellent morale
which was then crushed when they came up against enemy tanks with armor that
the Italian anti-tank guns could not penetrate. The British offensive in 1940
North Africa succeeded not because of their own skillful execution (which was
questionable), but rather because the Italians were demoralized by the British
Matilda tank's ability to roll through the Italian defenses without any
apparent losses or damage. Once stiffened with German equipment and training
(and newer equipment from home), Italian formations performed much
better.
Infantry Morale: Italian morale in theaters like North Africa
varied widely according to circumstance. At the start of the fighting the units
could be considered Steady. After Operation Compass had overrun much of the
Italian front line and triggered the retreat back into Cyrenaica, Italian
morale could be considered Shaky. By the time the German army arrived, Italian
morale could be considered Mutinous. After that, improvement of morale (if any)
would have been dependent on proximity of the unit to German allied formations
and/or level of additional training/equipping.
- Italian infantry formation command type is:
Rigid
- Infantry Battalion (Foot)
- Units:2 | Bases:9 |
Morale:See "Infantry Morale" notes (above)
| Training:Poor to Marginal | Infantry
AT Assault/Fire:0 / -2 | Machine
Guns:2 Medium | Mortars:4 Light
- Infantry Battalion (Motor)
- Units:3 | Bases:6 |
Morale:See "Infantry Morale" notes (above)
| Training:Marginal to Average |
Infantry AT Assault/Fire:0 / -2 | Machine
Guns:2 Heavy | Towed Weapons:1 or 2 - 47mm | Vehicles:11+ large trucks
- Infantry Regiment 1940:
- Battalions:3 Infantry Battalions | Mortars:3 Medium | Towed Weapons:4
- 47mm AT guns
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