Project Italy WW2: Chain of Command army list for the standard italian divisions outside Africa Settentrionale (North Africa)

After my list for the different structured platoons of the "Livorno", "Superga" and later "Friuli") was ready it's now time for an army list for the remaining Metropolitan (in Italy itself, or stationed in Albania, Greece and so on) divisions.

This includes the fanteria costiera (Coastal Divisions) and camicie nere (Blackshirt).

In contrast to the organisation of the British, Americans and Germans, it is much more difficult and time-consuming to obtain reliable information for Italian army units, the sources I have used are listed at the end of this post.

In 1943 there was a reorganisation of many of the infantry divisions outside Africa Settentrionale (North Africa) but without touching the structure of the infantry platoons itself - they stayed with two squads per platoon.

But as now there were much more SMGs available, the fucilieri were issued 3 SMG per squad - one for the leader and two for the riflemen.

For the information regarding the historical support weapons used please look at:

https://utgaards-blog.blogspot.com/2025/01/project-livorno-chain-of-command-army.html

For the complete list just click on the picture of the list above.

Used and recommended sources

"LE SQUADRE DELLA FANTERIA"; Scuola di applicazione di fanteria", Turin 1943

Official document of the infantry schools dating from 1943, containing the structure and deployment of an infantry squad.

„Tactical Structure in World War II. Italy. Infantry“; Leland Ness, 2 May 2023

Firstly he used original Italian sources that were captured by Germany 1943 and in turn captured by the Americans who microfilmed the sources before being returned to Italy.

And secondly he visited the Ufficio Storico, the Italian Army's historical office located in Rome.

For up-to-date information regarding the weapons of the Regio Esercito I strongly recommend:

„Le armi della fanteria italiana“; Filippo Cappellano and Nicola Pignato.

Colonel Dr. Filippo Cappellano is the chief of the Italian Army Historical Branch (Ufficio Storico SME) and his detailed description of the Brixia M35 mortar, its handling technical data, but also information on its tactical use in combat was very enlightening.

A good starting point too is the handbook based on the gathered informations by the US Military, dating from August 1943, which is freely available as PDF:

"TME30-420. Handbook on the Italian Forces."