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