The Auto-Saharan Companies (Compagnie Auto-Avio-Sahariane) were Italian military units specialised in long range patrols of the Sahara Desert. The units operated from the late 1930s to the Italian surrender in 1943.
The Auto-Saharan Companies (Compagnie Auto-Avio-Sahariane) were Italian military units specialised in long range patrols of the Sahara Desert. The units operated from the late 1930s to the Italian surrender in 1943.
The Saharan companies were first formed in 1923 with the purpose of patrolling the space among the Italian forts in the Libyan Sahara desert in Italian Libya. In 1938 the five existent companies were reorganized as motorized units with their own aerial support. The companies received new off-road vehicles and a light aircraft section (manned by Regia Aeronautica personnel). In March 1941 five new Compagnie Sahariane were formed. [1]
Two aircraft sections (Sezioni Aeroplani) were formed in order to operate together with the Saharan companies. Each section had four planes for reconnaissance and liaison, the most effective of which was the twin engined Caproni Ca.309 Ghibli.
In concept, the Auto-Saharan Company was similar to the British Long Range Desert Group (LRDG) which was created (as a partial copy) in 1940, except that the Company also had the support of its own air arm to assist in long range reconnaissance and ground attack.
On January 31, 1941, the British LRDG were encountered near the oasis of Kufra, in southeastern Italian Libya. The British were intercepted by the Compagnia Autosahariana di Cufra in the Gebel Sherif valley. [2] The LRDG had one man killed and three men captured, including Major Clayton, and three trucks destroyed during the battle. The Italians losses were five killed and three wounded, and one truck was abandoned. [3]
The "Auto-avio-Sahariane Compagnie" fought against the LRDG in 1941 and 1942, but their activity was reduced because of lack of gasoline. Under Del Pozzo leadership these units made an incursion inside Egypt and in November 1942 defeated the British raiders in two small skirmishes. After El Alamein they lost their Libyan troops, but they were enlarged to 5000 men (all Italians) in Tunisia as "Raggruppamento Sahariano" under the orders of General Alberto Mannerini. [4]
One German narrator says that there were ‘about five battalions and three light batteries’ (in the Raggruppamento Mannerini), but this estimate is certainly too low for artillery units. Another detailed estimate shows that there were about ten companies of sorts and eight batteries, very mixed in nature and calibre. Probably the total strength (initially) was something short of 2,500, which is the highest figure given anywhere. It was known to the Intelligence service—and so to NZ Corps—that the troops in the Gap were all Italian. [5]
The Mannerini Raggruppamento fought hard in the area of Mareth and Sfax (Battle of the Mareth Line), [6] until the final Italian surrender in Africa in May 1943. [7]
In 1940, a Compagnia Sahariana, according to regulations, was composed of four platoons (one HQ, two motorized and one machine guns), the strength was 4 officers, 7 NCOs and 32 Italian enlisted together with 77 Libyan enlisted totaling 120 men. The company operated with 16 AS.37 off-road cars and 3 trucks (FIAT 634). One of the AS.37 in the HQ platoon was equipped with radio in order to maintain real time liaison with the aircraft during operations.
In 1942, the organisation of the companies was revised, other than the HQ platoon, a company was made up with one infantry motorized platoon, one machine guns motorized platoon, one 20mm cannons motorized platoon and one 47/32 anti-tank cannons motorized platoon. They could rely on 7 off-road vehicles (AS.37 or AS.42) and 10 trucks (LANCIA 3 RO). A single company was manned by 5 officers, 3 NCOs, 2 Italian enlisted and 133 Libyan enlisted.
The most common and versatile weapon used by Auto-Saharan Companies was the Cannone-Mitragliera Breda 20mm mod.35. Following the successful experience made by Italian units operating together with the Francoists in the Spanish civil war, the installation of 20mm Breda machineguns on medium trucks began in 1939. The gun-carriage, without its legs, was fixed to the vehicle with a pin. During the war the 20mm Breda machine-guns used different kinds of ammunition, initially HE air defence and HE piercing. At the end of 1942 armor-piercing incendiary ammunition was also in use. The standard Italian anti-tank cannon Ansaldo-Bohler 47/32 was used by Saharan motorized units, mainly mounted on revolving platforms on LANCIA 3 RO lorries but also on AS.37 or AS.42. The 47/32 was able to fire various kinds of HE, piercing and piercing-exploding ammunition. Maximum useful range as an anti-tank gun was 700 metres (770 yd), the piercing power at 650 metres (710 yd) with 30 degrees impact angle was 40 mm, at 1,600 metres (1,700 yd) the piercing power was reduced to only 30 mm. [8] Since the beginning of the war, due to the progress in tank design, the usefulness as an anti-tank weapon of the 47/32 was very limited, and it proved effective only against light tanks and armoured cars.
The vehicles most commonly used by Saharan Companies were the following:
Every "compagnia" was supported until November 1942, by 3 Caproni Ca.309 aircraft, nicknamed "Ghibli" (Desert Wind). In Tunisia the "Raggruppamento sahariano" had no air support but a Ca.309, left in Libya because of damage, was repaired and remained active in Africa until May 1943. [9] The Ca.309 (with a 3 crew) was a low-wing cantilever monoplane with a piston engine fitted to each wing, and was intended to serve as a reconnaissance and ground-attack aircraft. It had 3 × 7.7 mm (.303 in) Breda SAFAT machine guns and could carry bombs up to 330 kg.
The Long Range Desert Group (LRDG) was a reconnaissance and raiding unit of the British Army during the Second World War.
The Carro Armato M15/42 was the last Italian medium tank produced during World War II. It was based on the earlier M13/40 and M14/41 medium tanks, and was built with the lessons from the North African Campaign in mind. The tank was meant to be a stopgap until the heavier P26/40 tank could be produced in numbers. It did not serve in North Africa, the theatre in which it was intended to operate, but served in Italy and in Yugoslavia with the German Wehrmacht.
The Autoblindo 40, 41 and 43 were Italian armoured cars produced by Fiat-Ansaldo and which saw service mainly during World War II. Most autoblinde were armed with a 20 mm Breda 35 autocannon and a coaxial 8 mm machine gun in a turret similar to the one fitted to the Fiat L6/40, and another hull mounted rear-facing 8 mm machine gun.
The Semovente L. 40 da 47/32 was an Italian self-propelled gun built during World War II. It was created by mounting a Cannone da 47/32 anti-tank gun in an open-topped, box-like superstructure on a L6/40 light tank chassis. Some were built as command tanks with a radio installed instead of the main gun. An 8 mm machine gun disguised as the 47 mm main gun was used on these versions to make them look like a regular Semovente 47/32s. About 300 Semoventi da 47/32 were built from 1941 onward. The Semovente da 47/32 was the most heavily armed Italian armoured fighting vehicle used on the Eastern Front.
The Frontier Wire was a 271 km (168 mi) obstacle in Italian Libya, along the length of the border of British-held Egypt, running from El Ramleh, in the Gulf of Sollum south to Jaghbub parallel to the 25th meridian east, the Libya–Egypt and Libya–Sudan borders. The frontier wire and its line of covering forts was built by the Italians during the Second Italo-Senussi War (1923–1931), as a defensive system to contain the Senussi population, who crossed from Egypt during their resistance against Italian colonisers.
This article is about the Royal Italian Army which participated in the Second World War. The Royal Italian Army was reformed in 1861 and existed until 1946. The Royal Army started with the unification of Italy (Risorgimento) and the formation of the Kingdom of Italy. It ended with the dissolution of the monarchy. The Royal Army was preceded by the individual armies of the independent Italian states and was followed by the Italian Army of the Italian Republic.
The Capture of Kufra was part of the Allied Western Desert Campaign during the Second World War. Kufra is a group of oases in the Kufra District of south-eastern Cyrenaica in the Libyan Desert. In 1940, it was part of the colony of Italian Libya Libia Italiana, which was part of Africa Settentrionale Italiana (ASI), which had been established in 1934.
The Breda 20/65 mod.35, also simply known as 20 mm Breda or Breda Model 35, among other variations, was an Italian 20 mm (0.787 in) anti-aircraft gun produced by the Società Italiana Ernesto Breda of Brescia company during the 1930s and early 1940s which saw heavy usage during the Spanish Civil War and World War II, among other period conflicts. It was designed in 1932 and adopted by the Italian armed forces in 1935, becoming one of two major 20 mm caliber anti-aircraft guns used by Italy during World War II, the other being the Scotti-Isotta Fraschini 20/70, both firing the common Swiss 20x138mmB "Solothurn Long" cartridge.
The 60th Infantry Division "Sabratha" was an infantry division of the Royal Italian Army during World War II. The Sabratha was raised in May 1937, in Gharyan in Italian Libya and named after the nearby ancient Roman city of Sabratha. The division's regimental depots were in mainland Italy in Campania and shared with the 25th Infantry Division "Bologna", with both divisions recruiting their troops from and training them there. The division was destroyed on 25 July 1942 during the First Battle of El Alamein in Egypt and its remnants used to fill up the depleted ranks of the 102nd Motorized Division "Trento". The Sabratha was classified as an auto-transportable division, meaning it had some motorized transport, but not enough to move the entire division at once.
The Maletti Group(Italian: Raggruppamento Maletti) was an ad hoc mechanised unit formed by the Italian Royal Army in Italian North Africa, during the initial stages of the Western Desert Campaign of the Second World War. The Italian army had three armoured divisions in Europe but all were needed for the occupation of Albania and the forthcoming invasion of Greece, which began on 28 October 1940. The Raggruppamento Maletti was formed in June 1940, as part of the 10th Army and contained all of the M11/39 medium tanks in Libya.
The 131st Armored Division "Centauro" was an armored division of the Italian Army during World War II. The division was formed in April 1939 by expanding the I Armored Brigade. The division's name came from the mythological race of half human-half horse creatures named Centaurs. The division participated in the invasion of Albania, Greco-Italian War, and invasion of Yugoslavia. In August 1942 the division was sent to Libya to participate in the Western Desert Campaign. After the Axis defeat at the Second Battle of El Alamein the division retreated with the German-Italian Panzer Army to Tunisia, where the division participated in the Tunisian Campaign. On 18 April 1943 the division was disbanded due to the losses suffered in the Battle of El Guettar.
The 3rd Cavalry Division "Principe Amedeo Duca d'Aosta" was a Cavalry or "Celere" (Fast) division of the Royal Italian Army during World War II. The division was formed in 1934, and during World War II was mobilized in June 1940. As a cavalry division it took part in the Invasion of Yugoslavia and was part of the Italian Expeditionary Corps in Russia. Annihilated during the Red Army's Operation Little Saturn in December 1942, the survivors returned to Italy in spring 1943.
The 136th Armored Division "Giovani Fascisti" was an infantry division of the Royal Italian Army during World War II.
The Camionetta Desertica Model 42 was an Italian reconnaissance car of World War II. The AS.42 was developed by SPA-Viberti using the same chassis as the AB 41 armoured car, including its four-wheel steering, but with a 2x4 transmission specifically for desert operations, primarily in a reconnaissance role. Its origins trace back to requests stemming from units operating on the North African front for a long range, highly maneuverable vehicle, similar to those widely used by the highly successful British reconnaissance and raiding force, the Long Range Desert Group (LRDG).
The SPA AS.37 was an Italian military light truck, used during World War II. The AS.37 Autocarro Sahariano was developed from 1937 on the frame of the TL.37 artillery tractor and was especially conceived to be employed in the North African desert. The most significant improvement of this new vehicle was its increased range: 900 km with added water tanks. The A.S.37 could transport 8 men and their equipment in its rear cargo box.
The TL.37 was an Italian military artillery tractor of World War II. It was manufactured by SPA, an Italian car maker that was a subsidiary of Fiat.
Auto-Saharan Companies (in Italian Compagnie Auto-Avio Sahariane were special Italian units of desert warfare operating in Libya and Sahara desert during Second World War. Their military operations took place in Egypt, Libya and Tunisia, until the surrender of Italo-German forces in May 1943.
The Mechanized Brigade "Legnano" was a mechanized brigade of the Italian Army. Its core units were mechanized infantry battalions. The brigade's headquarters was in the city of Bergamo in Lombardy. The name of the brigade commemorates the Lombard League victory in the Battle of Legnano in 1176 and its coat of arms depicts the Monument to the Warrior of Legnano in the centre of Legnano.
Tanks have been employed by the military forces in Italy since their first use in World War I. They have had continued use in wars after and are still used through the modern day. The C1 Ariete is the current main battle tank of the Italian Army.
| Governors |  | |
|---|---|---|
| General History | ||
| Provinces | ||
| Related articles |
| |
| Colonial troops | ||
