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How many aircraft in a squadron? How many in a Gruppo?

Thanks. It's getting much harder to find info these days.

I understand the Cr.42 fighter was originally armed with two 7.7mm MG's. Then it was up gunned to one 7.7mm MG and one Breda 12.7mm MG; then to two 12.7mm Bredas. Does anybody know when these weapon upgrades occurred? Were all previous aircraft retrofitted with the new installation or keep their...

It would seem like the British carriers Eagle and Illustrious would be paying monthly, if not weekly, visits on Tripoli with swordfish torpedo planes. The Italians must have had some kind of defense against this. Anyone know what it was? When it was installed? Its success?

Thanks! No surprise. Hard to imagine you found that!

Yes. It was motorized before arriving in N.A. I found this info in: OPERATIONS IN NORTH AFRICA VOL. I-SIDI EL BARRANI (June 1940-February 1941) MARIO MONTANARI 10th Bersaglieri mentions: a motorized regiment of three battalions coming from the Army of the Po, possibly reinforced with some...

My mistake. The CK was not a 75/46.

An unsourced claim gives the 10th as 2,000 men. which sounds like two truck trained or mounted infantry battalions and one motorcycle battalion, a common Bersaglieri regiment organization at the time. Unfortunately, the lack of a named source might indicate the author simply assumed the 10th was...

No luck on translating the TOE. On 10 June 1940, the day Italy entered World War II the regiment consisted of the following units: 10th Bersaglieri Regiment Command Company XVI Auto-transported Battalion XXXIV Auto-transported Battalion XXXV Auto-transported Battalion XC Auto-transported...

Since they didn't use them against the Matilda tanks, that speaks for their doctrine and ammunition in Dec 1940. That info would be very hard to find. BTW, the C. K. models were truck mounted. No need to set up. They had four in 10th Army in 1940.

I know they had anti-aircraft ammunition. But A/T? According to Robert Denny's translation of Mario Montanari, on December 12, 1940, General Berti counted 48 of these guns available to the defense of Tobruk and Bardia, enough to knock out all 50 British Matilda tanks.

I see this gun had 90mm of armor penetration at 500 meters. Does anyone know when it received anti-tank ammunition?

Anyone have an idea on the organization of a 1940 Bersaglieri bicyclist battalion?

First, thanks for the reply. I'm trying to determine what troops were landed in Libya in 1940 and the 10th Bersaglieri shows only as a regiment with no given organization. A bicyclist battalion was 450 men, correct? Would autoporto number differently?

That would be six motorcycle companies totaling just over 600 men. Seems kind of small. Did I make a mistake?

I agree with Jeff with some additions. Mussolini made rather small demands on France, but which included the French naval bases at Toulon, Bizerte, Ajaccio and Oran be demilitarized. Italy considered itself "bottled up" inside the Mediterranean between France and Britain. As a result, Mussolini...

Another truck question. I have read numerous times that the Cirene and Marmarica divisions were partly motorized in the September, 1940 invasion of Egypt. Other sources say only 1st Blackshirt was motorized and with which I agree. What's the true story on the other two divisions?

That is correct. They were very good at it. In North Africa, the British had a railhead to Mersa Matruh and it could supply two divisions, one infantry and 7th Armor. From Mersa Matruh it was then trucked west to Sollom. The British landed supplies by ship (rowboats actually) here in order...

In WW2, most armies used horses such as Japan, France, and Russia. Even Germany's divisions were 80% horse drawn. The average division requiring 3,000 horses/mules. But in North Africa, there was no grass or water, So they had to be replaced by trucks, at least 230 per division. These trucks...

Anyone know the assigned number of trucks to a 1940 semi-motorized division? Blackshirt division? I have numbers all over the place, 110 supply trucks for a semi-motor. With the artillery regiment added I have 298 cars/trucks (probably 342 trucks as the ideal counting supply trucks). When I do...