Yeah I gotta say it's really disheartening to see ~LATE-WAR GERMANS~ for the 6th and 7th time in a row. It's Italy and Africa, can we please have 1943 and some Italian forces?
Basing on @GachiGasm research/file digging there are already some hints for itlian content.
- Bersaglieri: With the Bersaglieri u have the italian "Panzergrenadiers".
- Guastatori: They were the elite assault pioneers of the italian army. They have "invented" the bangalore mines. They were inspired by the german assault pioneer units.
- Folgore: An italian airborne division. Never dropped into combat by air. Famous for their performance during the El Alamein battles.
- L6/40: Italian light tank. As far as i know not used after the armistice by Italy (As far as i know the RSI armored group Leonessa dont had any L6/40). Most of the L6/40 were used by the Wehrmacht at the Balkans (and Normandy?) by the armored police companies. A small number of L6/40 were used by the Panzer-Ausbildungs-Abteilung Süd, a german training unit to prepare new tank soldiers for the italian battlesfields. Perhaps they were used on Sicily by italian mobile groups.
- Semovente 75/18: The italian StuG III. Used by the italian armored divisions until the armistice. After the armistice Semovente 75/18 was used by the german Infantry Divisions in Italy for the organic StuG-units (By KstN any Infantry division should have access to some sort of mobile AT/AI. Some local Semovente were put in use by the german forces in Italy.).
- Cannone da 105: The italian army had a number of 105mm guns. One candidate is the former french Cannone da 105/28. Another one is the Cannone da 105/32, a former astro-hungarian ww1 gun. The last candidate is the german LeFh 18 that was used in small numbers by italian units. SO we will need a picture of the gun to verify the gun.
- Obice da 210: The Obice da 210/22 was a heavy italian artillery gun. Produced in small numbers it was used after the armistice by german Artillerie-Abteilungen (artillery units on corps level).
Likely:
- "Coastal_reserves": Perhaps this are second line italian soldiers from the "coastal defense divisions" of the italian army. They were formed from fascist militia, Carabinieri police and second line rated soldiers. As far as i know they had a bad reputation. The formations disintegrated when they were send into any form of combat.
- "Other Semoventes": With the Semovente 75/18 Relic could add some of the versions of the Semovente. With the Semovente 75/32 and 75/46 u have potent tank destroyers. With the 105/25 u have a great StuH. The 105/25 was liked by the german assault gun soldiers and the germans tried to produce as many 105/25 as possible for the german units in Italy.
Missing:
This are units i think we could see because they were "iconic" for an Italian army or they were important for the italian army:
- Aplini: The Alpini mountain infantry was the elite of the elite. They were some of the best mountain infantry during ww2. So it is no surprise that the last RSI offensive in Italy was done by the RSI Alpini division (Battle of Garfagnana - the italian Battle of the Bulge - 4ª Divisione alpina "Monterosa"). I would think that we could see the Alpini on the axis side because basing on the data mining we have some sort of confirmation for german "Gebirgsjäger" soldiers. So why not addin the italian elite?
- M13/40 - M14/41 - M15/42: THE italian MBT of ww2. Old design, potent against british Cruiser design tanks but weak against Shermans and/or other heavy tanks. With the Semovente Relic had already a M13 chassis so they could add the italian MBTs with a lit more work. They would be a sweet addition for the African Campaign and in MP games they could work as an early tank unit.
- Semovente da 90/53: The italian Marder III. Glass canon tank. The italian 90mm AA was the bigger brother of the german 88. Potent gun and liked by italians and germans. Was used on Sicily.
- P26/40 tank: Perhaps the best italian tank design of WW2. It is some kind of italian Panzer IV. Wehrmacht planned to change the engine to a Panzer III engine and keep the tank in production but only the italian Diesel vehicles were finished until the end of the war. It was used in small numbers by the RSI armored unit Leonessa. Most of the P26/40 were used by the Wehrmacht. The 24. SS-Division 'Karstjäger' had the biggest P26/40 unit with 20~22 tanks. Some P26/40 were used by armored police companys on the Balkans.
Rumors are talking about P26/40 at Anzio but i cant conform any P26/40 here.
So at the moment we have some clues for the italian faction/italian part of the CoH 32 armies.