Quote:
Originally Posted by zastava128
And by the way, I think a couple of tanks are missing from spob04: M13/40 & M14/41. Do you know anything about this? I mean, I know the Germans used them, so it's weird the RSI's OOB has the more modern M15/42 (unit 6) while the Germans get the older models...
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Like Don said, I don't think they are in the German OOB, but if you meant that they used them historically, that is certainly true at least to some extent. There weren't many of those older models left in Italy in 1943, since most of them were shipped to North Africa. The last batches of M14/41 produced were in fact also the last Italian tanks delivered to Tunisia. The ones that remained were used as training vehicles for the re-building Italian armored divisions (Ariete II in particular). It appears that most of them were actually M13/40 models. They ended up in German hands after the armistice, but I have no information about their use by the Germans, since I don't have the book you mentioned.
I do know that the M15/42 was the most modern vehicle the Germans allowed the RSI to keep, while the Germans took the assault gun versions (
Semovente M42 75/18 and M42 75/34) to their own use, as well as all the M43 chassis assault guns. Of course the Germans used the M15/42 as well for anti-partisan duties in the Balkans. The RSI used theirs similarly against Italian partisans. They did not see much, if indeed any, combat against the Allies.
(By the way, the Semovente M40 75/18 in the RSI OOB4 should definitely not be there; only 60 were made in 1941 and all except possibly the prototype were lost in North Africa. Also, the RSI did not operate any German made AFVs. The ones that were delivered to the
Regio Esercito before the armistice went straight back to German units after the armistice.)