(b). The concept was born during the Ethiopian War and was called binary owing to the incorporation of only two infantry regiments instead of the old three-regiment organization. A Fascist Militia legion of two battalions was attached to some infantry divisions partly to increase the number of infantry in the division and partly to include Black Shirt troops with regular Army units. The legion was, however, described as an independent unit to be used as shock troops. During the Albanian campaign, the weakness of the binary division became evident. Divisions that had suffered heavy losses had to be reformed with whatever infantry was available, sometimes even by merging with another division.
(c). The table of organization of an infantry division provided for two reserve battalions. In practice, however, reinforcement was from reserve units, which were held under GHQ to the theater of operations for allotment to units as required, or from the depot of the division.
(d). The table of an organization called for an 81-MM mortar battalion of 27 Mortars (three companies of 9).
(e). A few divisions were given machine-gun battalions.
Assault & Landing Division: The assault and landing division, adopted in 1941 in anticipation of the intended invasion of Malta, assumed a special organization different from that of an ordinary infantry division. Increased mobility was obtained by the decentralization of heavy support weapons (AT guns and 81-MM mortars) from regimental to battalion control and of light 
support weapons (machine guns and 45-MM mortars from battalion to company control, late 1941, and affected three ordinary infantry divisions. Expanded engineer and assault engineer assets (a battalion of each), as well as a rock climber battalion, were added to this type of division for combined operations. The invasion never took place, and the units were used as ordinary infantry. Three divisions were affected.
Motorized Infantry Division: Italian Motorized infantry divisions were like those in most other countries, designed to work together with the armored divisions. Two were pre-war formations, part of the Armored corps that also comprised two armored divisions.
Three others were wartime conversions. As Italy could not support the number of motorized divisions needed for mobile warfare in North Africa, semi-motorized divisions were created instead. The organization of these units was similar to that of ordinary infantry divisions except that the regiments had only two battalions instead of three and had additional motorized transport. TO&E charts are quite sketchy regarding the amount and type of vehicles provided and leave the impression that whatever was available was used.
Truck-Borne Infantry Division: (a). The European type or Divisione Fanteria Autotransportabile, or lorries infantry divisions, were an attempt at solving the problems the Italians had with a lack of motor vehicles to motorize their infantry divisions to the level demanded by modern warfare. The eight divisions differed little from ordinary infantry divisions except that they may have had motorized artillery, no Black Shirt legion, and two divisional mortar battalions in the field if not on paper. The motor transport needed to carry it entirely was not allotted to the division but was drawn when required from the Intendance at corps level. The division retained a good proportion of animal transport, which enabled it to operate, when grounded, in Horsed or Mule’s columns. Animal transport could theoretically be lifted and transported by rail or motor transport.
(b). The North African type or Divisione Autotransportabile Tipo Africa Settentriole, semi-motorized Italian infantry divisions, were organized for the North African theater as a stop-gap measure when the Italians did not have enough motor vehicles, nor gasoline, to convert them into actual motorized divisions. Ten divisions are thought to have been raised, but the number is a bit uncertain.
Mountain Infantry Division: (a). Certain infantry divisions were designated as mountain infantry in an attempt to better adapt regular infantry divisions for operations in mountainous regions. These differed from Alpini divisions and were infantry divisions specially adapted for mountain warfare. They had the ordinary composition of an infantry division but had more animal transport. All the guns of the artillery regiment could be transported in horse-drawn wagon loads or on pack animals. Personnel were not specially trained in mountain warfare but were for the most part recruited from mountain districts. The division was not intended to operate at a higher altitude over 2000-M. b. As the war went on, and there was no need for infantry adapted to mountain warfare, attempts were made to convert most of the nine divisions to truck-borne infantry divisions.
Alpini Division : (a). General – The Alpine division, designed to operate above 2000-M, was different from the mountain infantry division. It was an elite unit made up of men native to Italy’s mountainous regions and was ideally suited for waging war in the Alps surrounding Italy’s northern borders. The standard of physique and training was high and the artillerymen were experts in the manhandling of pack artillery. The regiments had their detachments of artillery, engineers, and auxiliary services permanently attached. This made the regiment self-supporting and capable of independent action for a considerable period. Decentralization did not stop at regiments; Alpini battalions and companies were detached from their parent units and regrouped with artillery units into Task Forces. This procedure was made easier by the existence of independent transport right down to the company organization.
(b). Composition. The Alpine division consisted of a headquarters, two Alpine regiments, one Alpine artillery regiment, one mixed engineer battalion, one chemical warfare company, one supply section, and one medical section, decentralized to regiments. The table of organization provided for two reserve battalions (one for each infantry regiment). In practice, replacements were drawn from the depot of the division as required. No allowance was therefore made for reserve battalions. Pack mules provided transportation. A large sanitation unit was required due to disposal problems in rocky terrain.
(c). They saw little combat in that role though. There was some use in the invasions of France in 1940 and Yugoslavia in 1941. After that, they mostly performed occupation duties. Three of them were sent to the Soviet Union to fight in the Caucasus Mountains but instead ended up in the unending Russian Steppe, where they were ill-suited and were virtually annihilated. There were six Alpini divisions.
Mobile Cavalry Division (Celere): The major Cavalry & Bersaglieri operations at the end of World War Two against a collapsing enemy in difficult terrain had been very successful. This final campaign had been the one that greatly influenced Italian planners. The main components of the Celere divisions were two horsed cavalry regiments and one cyclist Bersaglieri regiment. The cavalry regiments were virtually mounted infantry. The Bersaglieri regiment had collapsible bicycles and could be truck-borne if necessary. The artillery regiment had two motorized batteries and one pack battery. The division included a light tank squadron. This semi-motorized division was designed primarily for warfare in terrain, which, though mountainous, permitted the use of such units in a reconnaissance, exploitation, or support role. Armament was sacrificed to this end, and the division was not designed for defense. There were three Celere divisions. They were never used as envisioned. There was a Celere corps during the invasion of Yugoslavia, but it was kept in reserve. Later one division was sent to the Soviet Union, one was robbed of its mobile artillery and kept in Yugoslavia in an anti-partisan role, and one was in the process of conversion to an armored division. Not very favorable results for an organization formed with such high hopes.
Armored Division : The Italians originally planned to have armored brigades as their largest armor units, but the study of the successful German Panzer Divisions encouraged them to form divisions. The armored division, as designed before the war, was a mixture of light and medium tanks. It was incapable of more than light assault. The Italian armored division changed radically in composition under German influence with improved tanks; the introduction of self-propelled guns and heavier divisional supporting weapons. The composition of the armored division was as follows: one headquarters, one tank regiment of three battalions, a truck-borne Bersaglieri regiment, one support and antitank battalion, one artillery regiment (six batteries, two of which were self-propelled), one mixed engineer battalion, one supply section, and one medical section. Six armored divisions were planned; only 2 and part of a third were formed and planned for deployment in the Alps, in France, and Yugoslavia. The divisions went to North Africa and the Soviet Union. These armored divisions have often been misread. The one campaign for which they had prepared, against Yugoslavia, was relatively successful. In the other campaigns, the Italians fought for losing causes. The armored divisions were the only mechanized elements of a barely motorized army. They were lost fighting to support units that were hopelessly out of date on a modern battlefield. It was not the failure of mechanization that doomed the armored divisions, but the political-industrial failure to create at least a motorized army. Italy had neither the industrial base nor the raw materials to be a major power in the modern industrial war.
Airborne Division: Despite the fact that the Italians had experimented with parachutes just at the end of World War One, the military kept a skeptical attitude towards the practicality of deploying large airborne units on the rough terrain which constitutes the largest part of the Italian territory. On the other hand, airdrops were seen as means to infiltrate recon and sabotage teams behind enemy lines. German successes and the planned invasion of Malta brought about a rethinking and formation of airborne divisions consisting of a headquarters, two parachute infantry regiments, a parachute artillery regiment, and a parachute Guastatori battalion as well as a parachute signal company. Two divisions saw service; one more was forming. The Air Force had the Loreto Battalion and later formed the Arditi Distruttori airborne assault battalion. It was later reconstituted as the Assault Regiment Duci d’Acosta. The airborne divisions were used as ordinary infantry.
Air Landing Division: The concept was for an infantry division to be specially trained and equipped to be moved with an aircraft. They were to disembark on airfields that had been secured by airborne troops. The 80.La Spezia-Air-Landing Division was the only infantry division so trained, and like the Italian airborne divisions, it was formed with the sole aim of taking part in the invasion of Malta. As this invasion never took place, the division ended up on the front line, fighting as ordinary infantry, and came to an end in Tunisia.
Coastal Division: The Italian Coastal divisions were hurriedly organized during 1943 when the Axis troops in Africa were being crushed by the Allies, and an Allied invasion had to be expected at any time. They were organized by grouping the troops of the Coastal Brigade sectors, some 80 Blackshirt battalions, 50 territorial battalions, and a hodge-podge of other units. Some were given naval gun elements to defend critical sectors of the Italian coast. There was no uniform organization, and as a consequence of their hodge-podge nature, low-quality equipment, and low morale, they had a very poor combat value. Most saw no combat, however, as the armistice was reached before the Allies got anywhere near them. There were 26 such divisions.
Depot Division: The Italian Depot divisions were much like the German Field Training (Feldersatz) divisions. They were composed of the replacement battalions of the active regiments. They trained while being used for garrison duty, mostly in Yugoslavia. This is likely why, in addition to having low priority in equipment, they did so poorly against the partisans there. The 8.March-Training division was formed to consolidate replacements for the 8.Army, that campaigned in the USSR. There were 10 such divisions.
Non-Divisional Units (GHQ): The Italian army, like all other armies, utilized non-divisional units at Army and Corps levels to reinforce certain divisions when needed. Orders of battle reveal the existence of such units as Grenadier (infantry) regiments, Cavalry regiments and squadrons, Black Shirt battalions and Legions, medium artillery regiments, Bersaglieri regiments and battalions, an armored brigade, battalions and companies, and machine gun battalions.
There were also AT companies, colonial infantry brigades, heavy artillery battalions, and batteries, mountain artillery battalions, Alpini battalions, and a camel artillery battery. During the war, Assault Pioneers known as Guastatori (destroyers) were organized into battalions. They were patterned after similar German units and the Assault Engineer School was organized by Oberst Steiner in March 1940. Formations included Corps engineer regiments, mining regiments, pontoon regiments, railway regiments, workshop units, and carrier pigeon lofts. Also included were bridging companies, pontoon battalions, a ropeway battalion, a balloonist section, an electrical mechanics’ company, a firefighting company, a mining battalion, a camouflage battalion, and others.
Chemical troops: Chemical troops were responsible for chemical warfare in all forms. Organized into the Chemical Regiment, several separate companies and platoons were assigned to corps and divisions as required. There were chemical battalions and flame-throwing battalions. The war brought the establishment of chemical mortar groups. They made no use of chemical warfare but had planned to use the 81-MM mortar, artillery shells, and toxic smoke candles. Truck-borne and knapsack sprayers were devoted for decontamination.
Commissariat Service: The Commissariat Service distributed supplies in bulk to the tactical organizations. Where line soldiers handled storage and issue. The provision of rations, forage, clothing equipment, barracks, and fuel, and the removal and recovery of these materials when damaged or unserviceable was also under the Commissariat jurisdiction.
Transport Service: The Transport Service was divided into rail, water, air, and ordinary transport units. Ordinary included motor vehicles, wagons, and pack and cable railway. Motor transport groups were divided into two or more companies, which were then divided into sections of 24 vehicles each.
Raggrummenti: There also existed Adhoc formations known as Raggrummenti (tactical organizations of flexible size and mission) that had no fixed establishment. One, for example, was made up of four tank battalions; another of five colonial infantry battalions.
Frontier Guard: The Frontier Guard was part of the quasi-military/quasi-police Royal Carabinieri. They were light forces charged with border security. Organization varied.
Other Organization: Organization was complicated by the existence of Fascist Militia, Royal Carabinieri, Railway Militia, Port Militia, Post and Telegraph Militia, Forestry Militia, Highway Militia, Antiaircraft, and Coast Defense Militia, Frontier Militia, and the Royal Finance Guard. Most of these militiamen proved to be somewhat more suited to strutting about infancy regalia than to serve as soldiers.
Tactics: The war of rapid decision required deep penetration into the enemy rear, but Italian tactics were unsuited to producing that penetration. The prewar doctrine also apparently had nothing to say about the subject of surprise and assigned rapid exploitation of opportunities to soft-skinned motorized forces and armored divisions equipped with the 3.5-ton tankettes.
Antitank Unit: Artillery had the primary responsibility for the AT protection. They were supposed to use field guns in this role. The infantry had a secondary responsibility. Infantry weapons included infantry support guns, antitank companies, and a rather optimistic antitank rifle.
Armored Unit: The 1938 manual enumerated clearly defined tasks for the various tank units. It differentiated between tanks that were to be used to support infantry, Celere, and motorized units and those that were part of the armored division. Supporting tanks gave fire support to the appropriate unit and dealt with strong points and other centers of resistance. Armored divisions were, however, maneuver elements in which the tank was the main weapon. All units in the armored division supported the tanks in their attack. The division either maneuvered against the flank of the enemy or, if that was not feasible, bade an overwhelming attack against his line. Whether the tanks were in an armored division or supporting the infantry, they should be used in mass.
Artillery and AT guns protected the tanks against other tanks and hostile artillery. The instructions for tank units cooperating with Celere units differed only in their use in reconnaissance.
