AVANTI SAVOIA! Italian WWII Armor

Italian M13/40

I am fascinated by obscure armies and forces. I have clubmen for the English Civil War, a converted naval artillery crew for the Russian Civil War and lots of partisans for WWII, so it is no surprise that the Italian army in WWII caught my eye. While most people have built Italian armies to fight in North Africa, their primary theater of operation, my miniatures are painted to participate in the European theater, including the USSR, the Balkans and Italy/Sicily. This offers a wide range of potential foes: Soviets, Greeks, partisans, Commonwealth, US and even other Italian armies! Individually brave, ineptly led and insufficiently supported, the Regio Esercito is a challenging force to represent in a wargame. Of course, no infantry-based force is complete without armor to support it, and only a little research was needed to determine what was used and where. There are several companies that make Italian vehicles for WWII in many different scales. The chart below shows which available vehicles participated in the different continental theaters.

ITALIAN VEHICLES IN WWII	SPAIN	AFRICA	BALKANS	USSR	ITALY
508 Staff car	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Lancia 3RO truck	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
AS37 recon/truck	No	Yes	No	No	Yes
Lancia 90/53 ATG/truck	No	Yes	No	No	Yes
SPA Dovunque 35	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Autoblinda Lince Scout car	No	No	Likely 2	Likely 2	Yes
AB41 Armored car	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
SPA-Viberte AS42	No	Yes	Yes	Yes 3	Likely 1
CV35 tankette	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
CV35 tankette (flame)	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No
Semovente 47/32	No	Yes	No	Yes	Yes
Semovente 75/18	No	Yes	Yes	No	Yes 3
Fiat L6/40	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
M11/39	No	Yes	No	No	Yes
M13/40	No	Yes	Yes	No	Likely 4
M14/41	No	Yes	No	No	No
M15/42	No	No	No	No	Yes 5

Key

1. It is likely that these vehicles were used in this theater by Italian forces.

2. It is likely that these vehicles were used in this theater by German forces after the fall of Italy.

3. This vehicle was used in this theater by German forces.

4. This vehicle was used by Italian and German forces. There is photographic evidence of an M13/40 being used by German forces in the Warsaw Uprising in 1944.

5. This vehicle was used by Italians against Germans and by the Germans after the fall of Italy.