I know everybody takes the piss out of the italians, but i just thought that since the italians are coming into the game it would be nice to see those early Africa battles as a hell of alot of fighting occured between italy and Britain, heres a good website i just found couldnt believe the numerical advantage of the italians over the brits, dont know how the brits ever beat them off?
Against the British Western Desert Force, Graziani was far less resolute this 17 July, 1940. He led the numbers game on the Libyan-Egyptian border. His army of 250,000 faced a British force of barely 30,000. Italy fielded 400 guns to the British 150, and 190 fighters to the British 48. 300 Italian tanks faced only 150 British. On paper, Britain had no chance.
http://www.magweb.com/sample/seuropa/seu55daw.htm
crap tanks?
Why didn't you post out the weakness of the Italian army?
But behind the numbers and glittering Fascist regalia lurked serious weaknesses that Graziani himself knew. The Italian 10th and 5th Armies in Libya marched on foot, while the British rode in trucks. Two of his six divisions were Blackshirt militia outfits, clad in fancy black uniforms but poor soldiers. His army as a whole was badly trained. Officers strutted about like gigolos, neglecting their men. Italian troops had done badly in Spain against Republicans and badly in Ethiopia against tribesmen. Also, Italian divisions had been reduced from three regiments to two, a paperwork shuffle that created more Italian divisions but weakened their strength.
Just as importantly, the Italian forces had poor equipment. Armored cars dated back to 1909. The L3 tank only mounted two machine guns. The underpowered and thinly-armored M11 was little better -- its 37mm gun could not traverse. The heavyweight M13 packed a 47mm gun, but crawled along at nine miles per hour. None could match the British Matilda with its 50mm armor and 40mm gun.
Italian troops were short of antitank guns, antiaircraft guns, ammunition, and radio sets. Artillery was light and ancient.
What do you want to prove?
That still enough Brit and Italian fighting went on to warrant maps of this kind, its just a suggestion, im not trying to prove anything.
oh dear, here comes another flamewar about the italians...
on a lighter not I agree maps like this should be added so we can own those Italians over and over again
*chuckles to self
edited for content. Keep it civil and I wont have to close this thread.
I think those maps would be cool. It would be a similar situation to the early French... A lot of the reasons they did so poorly would not be represented in-game, so I think the Italians would have a better chance.
I'm up for it. The Italian campain and the Italians in Africa were a vital part of the war's outcome.
I really like Italian stuff, alongside the British and French the Italians are one of my favorite armies. True, they suck badly, but some of their stuff like the SMG, Rifles, later war heavy and medium tanks didnt. My Grandad saw action against the Italians when he was in the Royal Engineers, so he saw the damage they could do. I can asure you, the Italians didnt piss about.
NoCoolOnesLeftI'm up for it. The Italian campain and the Italians in Africa were a vital part of the war's outcome. I really like Italian stuff, alongside the British and French the Italians are one of my favorite armies. True, they suck badly, but some of their stuff like the SMG, Rifles, later war heavy and medium tanks didnt. My Grandad saw action against the Italians when he was in the Royal Engineers, so he saw the damage they could do. I can asure you, the Italians didnt piss about.
People are talking about the African battles before the Germans showed up. The Italians perform badly in Africa and were beaten by the African tribemen (it is why Rommel was sent there to help them out). If such a map is created to illustrate the situation it will be the one, in which the British are given superior weapons while the Italian fight with obsolete weapons. It will be another BFV map battle.
Brits, Australians and Indians aren't really tribesmen.