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Armed forces of Italy at the beginning of World War Two
Written by Sakhal
With these assets Italy entered a conflict which would force its soldiers to fight in the African deserts, in the Greek mountains and in the Russian steppes, besides the countryside of their homeland.
ARMY
The 10th June 1940, in the metropolitan territory and in overseas lands (Albania, the Aegean Islands, Libya and East Africa), the Italian Army was constituted by three army groups, nine armies, twenty-four army corps, seventy-three divisions (fifty-seven infantry divisions, five alpine divisions, three fast divisions, three armored divisions, three self-transported divisions and two motorized divisions), two Libyan divisions and four alpine groups. In total, the mobilized Italian Army was composed of 44,250 officers and 1,157,000 troopers. However, the 10th June 1940 there were 53,000 officers and 1,580,000 troopers enlisted. The difference comprises the personnel of territorial services, anti-aircraft defense and magazines, who completed the large units with an ensemble of 6,000 officers and 160,000 troopers.
The West Army Group, commanded by the Prince of Piedmont and deployed in the western Alps, was constituted by the 4th Army, commanded by General Alfredo Gozzoni and deployed from the Great Saint Bernard Pass to Mount Granero, and the 1st Army, commanded by General Pietro Pintor and deployed from Mount Granero to the sea. The whole force of the West Army Group comprised 12,500 officers and 300,000 troopers, arranged into twenty-two divisions, three alpine groups, one autonomous alpine regiment and two fast groups, with a total of 193 battalions (113 infantry battalions, five bersaglieri battalions, forty-seven alpine battalions and twenty-eight Black Shirt battalions) and four squadron groups. The armament comprised thirty light tanks, 2,949 artillery pieces (1,922 small-caliber pieces, 1,008 medium-caliber pieces and nineteen large-caliber pieces), 2,487 45-millimeter mortars, 664 81-millimeter mortars, 4,271 machine guns and 5,163 automatic rifles. The East Army Group, commanded by General Camillo Grossi and deployed in the eastern Alps, was constituted by the 2nd Army, commanded by General Vittorio Ambrosio and deployed from the town of Tarvisio to the town of Fiume, the 6th Army (known as the Army of the Po River), commanded by General Mario Vercellino and deployed in the Po Valley, and the 8th Army (which was still in formation), commanded by the Duke of Bergamo and deployed in the provinces of Veneto and Romagna. With the exception of the 6th Army the other two were reduced to the sixty percent of their overall size. The whole force of the East Army Group comprised 8,500 officers and 195,000 troopers, arranged into twenty divisions and one alpine group, with a total of ninety-four infantry battalions, twenty-one bersaglieri battalions, five alpine battalions, thirty cavalry squadrons and twenty-four Black Shirt battalions. The armament comprised 490 tanks, 946 artillery pieces (618 small-caliber pieces and 328 medium-caliber pieces), 1,790 45-millimeter mortars, 400 81-millimeter mortars, 3,048 machine guns and 4,715 automatic rifles. The South Army Group, commanded by Marshal Emilio de Bono, had at its disposal the troops who had been transferred to southern Italy and Sicily (respectively, the 3rd Army, commanded by General Carlo Geloso, and the 12th Army Corps, commanded by General Augusto de Pignier). With the exception of the troops deployed in Sicily, who had received some reinforcements, the rest were reduced to the sixty percent of their overall size. The whole force of the South Army Group comprised almost 3,000 officers and 65,000 troopers, arranged into seven divisions, forty-two infantry battalions and fourteen Black Shirt battalions. The armament comprised 300 artillery pieces (180 medium-caliber pieces and 210 small-caliber pieces), 882 45-millimeter mortars, 210 81-millimeter mortars, 600 machine guns and 1,890 automatic rifles. The 7th Army, commanded by the Duke of Pistoia and deployed in the Piedmont, in the area between the towns of Acqui and Asti, was the reserve of the High Command. The divisions were reduced to the sixty percent of their overall size and the whole force comprised 2,200 officers and 42,000 troopers, arranged into four divisions, twenty-four infantry battalions and eight Black Shirt battalions. The armament comprised 240 artillery pieces (120 medium-caliber pieces and 120 small-caliber pieces), 504 45-millimeter mortars, 120 81-millimeter mortars, 320 machine guns and 1,080 automatic rifles. The High Command of the Armed Forces in Albania, commanded by General Sebastiano Visconti Prasca, was constituted by five divisions (three infantry divisions, one alpine division and one armored division), with a total force of 2,250 officers and 57,000 troopers, besides 11,000 Albanian troopers. Besides the divisions, there were two cavalry regiments in Albania. The whole force was arranged into twenty-two infantry battalions, three bersaglieri battalions, five alpine battalions and ten squadrons. The armament comprised 180 light tanks, 194 artillery pieces (sixty medium-caliber pieces and 134 small-caliber pieces), 423 45-millimeter mortars, 110 81-millimeter mortars, 709 machine guns and 1,021 automatic rifles. The High Command of the Armed Forces in North Africa, commanded by Air Marshal Italo Balbo, was constituted by the 5th Army, commanded by General Italo Gariboldi and deployed in Tripolitania, and the 10th Army, commanded by General Mario Berti and deployed in Cyrenaica Marmarica. The whole force comprised 8,900 officers, 184,000 national troopers and 28,495 Libyan troopers, arranged into twelve metropolitan divisions (nine of the Army and three of militias) and two Libyan divisions, besides the Saharian group, commanded by General Sebastiano Gallina. The armament comprised 340 tanks, 1,885 artillery pieces (270 medium-caliber pieces and 1,535 small-caliber pieces), 455 45-millimeter mortars, eighty-three 81-millimeter mortars, 465 machine guns and 3,795 automatic rifles. The Armed Forces of the Aegean Islands, commanded by General Cesare Maria de Vecchi, were constituted by the "Regina" infantry division, with a total force of 916 officers and 24,150 troopers. The armament of the division comprised, besides the armament of the forts, thirty artillery pieces, 126 45-millimeter mortars, thirty 81-millimeter mortars, 270 automatic rifles and eighty machine guns. The Armed Forces of the Italian East Africa, commanded by Viceroy Amadeo de Aosta, were constituted by two national divisions, sixteen national battalions, three tank companies, twenty-nine colonial brigades, seventeen autonomous colonial battalions, eight colonial squadron groups and twenty-two company groups, with a total force of 5,990 officers, 68,000 national troopers and 182,000 colonial troopers. The armament comprised forty-eight tanks, 811 artillery pieces (ninety-seven medium-caliber pieces and 714 small-caliber pieces), fifty-seven 45-millimeter mortars, seventy 81-millimeter mortars, 3,300 machine guns and 5,300 automatic rifles.
Italian Fiat M14/41 medium tanks ready to take action in the area of El Agheila, Libya, during the North African Campaign of 1940-1942.
NAVY
The Royal Italian Navy comprised 576 units of every type (with the exception of aircraft carriers) with a total displacement of 620,000 tonnes. Regarding this weight the Royal Italian Navy was the fifth largest war fleet in the world, after those of the British Empire (2,100,000 tonnes), United States (1,700,000 tonnes), Japan (1,150,000 tonnes) and France (800,000 tonnes); therefore, it entered a war against two navies - the British and the French ones - which together amounted to 2,900,000 tonnes, which was almost five times its weight. Out of the aforementioned 576 units, 226 belonged to the auxiliary navy (support ships, school ships, cable ships, tanker ships, mine sweepers, tug boats and other types). Besides, another fifty-five units were not suitable for being regarded as combat units, for they presented a very reduced combat capability. Among these fifty-five units there was a cruiser (San Giorgio) launched in 1905, which had been deployed in North Africa as a floating battery; two tiny cruisers (Bari and Tarento); sixteen gun boats assigned to the surveillance of ports and thirty-three torpedo boats from the First World War. The force of effective combat value comprised 295 units with a total displacement of 388,000 tonnes, distributed as follows: two 25,000-ton battleships (Cesare and Cavour) with a main armament of ten 320-millimeter cannons and a top speed of 27 knots, launched in 1911 but wholly modernized before the outbreak of the war; seven 10,000-ton cruisers (Trieste, Trento, Bolzano, Zara, Fiume, Gorizia and Pola) armed with eight 203-millimeter cannons and endowed with a top speed of 36 knots; twelve 5,000-to-8,000-ton light cruisers (Giussano, Barbiano, Colleoni, Bande Nere, Díaz, Cadorna, Montecuccoli, Attendolo, Eugenio di Savoia, Duca D'Aosta, Duca degli Abruzzi and Garibaldi) armed with eight or ten 152-millimeter cannons and endowed with a top speed of over 37 knots; ninety-four escort units including destroyers and torpedo boats, the former with a displacement of about 1,600 tonnes and an armament of four 120-millimeter cannons, and the latter with a displacement of about 700 tonnes and an armament of 100 or 102-millimeter cannons; 117 submarines of diverse class and age, ranging from very old 350-ton coastal units to modern 1,300-ton oceanic units. It should be recalled that at the beginning of the conflict two newly constructed 35,000-ton battleships (Littorio and Vittorio Veneto), with a main armament of nine 381-millimeter cannons and a top speed of 30 knots, were about to enter active service (which happened in September 1940), besides another two modernized battleships (Caio Duilio and Andrea Doria), which had been launched in 1913.
View towards the bow of the battleship Andrea Doria. This ship and her twin Caio Duilio had been originally built as dreadnought battleships in 1912-1916 and extensively modernized in 1937-1940.
AIR FORCE
The 10th June 1940 the Royal Italian Air Force had in Italy, Albania and the Aegean Islands 1,796 combat aircraft: 783 high-altitude bomber aircraft, 594 fighter aircraft and attack aircraft, and 419 reconnaissance aircraft. Regarding types and models, it was composed this way: as bomber aircraft, 403 Savoia-Marchetti SM 79, 132 Fiat BR 20, 104 Savoia-Marchetti SM 81, sixty-one Cant Z 506 (seaplane), thirty-eight Cant Z 1007 and Cant Z 1007 bis, and forty-five Caproni Ca 310; as fighter aircraft, fighter-bomber aircraft and attack aircraft, 202 Fiat Cr 42, 177 Fiat Cr 32, eighty-nine Fiat G 50, seventy-seven Macchi-Castoldi MC 200, thirty Breda Ba 88, twelve Breda Ba 65 and seven Meridionali Ro 44; as land-based reconnaissance aircraft, 207 Meridionali Ro 37, forty-two Caproni Ca 309 and nineteen Caproni Ca 311; as naval reconnaissance aircraft, 109 Cant Z 501 and forty-two aircraft of various types operating from ships. Besides, the Air Forces of Libya and East Africa had, respectively, 314 and 350 effective aircraft, which were ready for being employed immediately. However, these numbers are inferior to the actual ones. The effective aircraft of the metropolitan Air Force alone were at least 3,296, of which 1,332 were bomber aircraft and 1,160 were fighter aircraft and attack aircraft, if taking into account the 1,500 aircraft which were not ready for being employed immediately, because they either had not been yet assigned to the units or were being repaired. Finally, there were about 1,800 aircraft which were either used in flight schools or suitable for military training. In this way, the 10th June 1940 the Royal Italian Air Force, commanded by Chief of the High Staff Francesco Pricolo, had not less than 5,760 aircraft. It was indeed an important number. In that time the Luftwaffe did not have as many aircraft, the Royal Air Force had many less aircraft and the French Air Force was insignificant. The Italian Fascism embraced aviation and regarded it as its favorite weapon. The flights carried out by Italo Balbo and Francesco de Pinedo promoted it to the point of reaching a great fame. However, from the qualitative standpoint the situation of the Regia Aeronautica was not particularly good. It had been a splendid one years before, but at the moment of entering the war many of its aircraft were outdated, as in the case of the Cr 32 and Cr 42 biplane fighter aircraft, the Ro 44 seaplane fighter aircraft, the SM 81 and Cant Z 506 bomber aircraft, and the Ro 37 and Cant Z 501 reconnaissance aircraft. Besides, the governmental committees had accepted very dangerous aircraft such as the Ba 65 and Ba 88 attack aircraft, besides the SM 85 dive bomber aircraft, which were soon sent to the scrapyard. At the same time, the committees did not obstruct the serial production of excellent aircraft such as the Cant Z 1018, a high-altitude bomber aircraft which had the speed of a fighter aircraft. On the wait for the production lines to deliver more technically advanced aircraft types (of which the best would not be seen until 1943 and then only in few exemplars), the most commendable bomber aircraft was the Savoia-Marchetti SM 79, a veteran three-engine aircraft which had served in the Spanish Civil War, possessed numerous achievements and was very safe in aeronautical terms, but which was poorly armed and incapable of carrying large loads. The Cant Z 1007 bis bomber aircraft was acceptable as well. Among the fighter aircraft, the Macchi-Castoldi MC 200 was the only monoplane aircraft of modern concept, albeit it was armed with only two machine guns versus the eight which the British Supermarine Spitfire had, and endowed with a top speed which was 80 kilometers/hour below that of the Supermarine Spitfire and the German Messerschmitt Bf 109. Regarding the personnel, Italy entered the war with about 84,000 aviators, of whom 3,040 were pilot officers and 11,400 were subofficers, of whom 3,300 were pilots as well.
Albeit the Fascist regime had paid special attention to the aerial weapon, the Italian fighter aircraft, such as the Fiat G 50 shown on this photograph, were generally inferior to their foreign counterparts.
A Fiat RS 14 twin-engine seaplane, generally used for maritime reconnaissance.
ARMY
The 10th June 1940, in the metropolitan territory and in overseas lands (Albania, the Aegean Islands, Libya and East Africa), the Italian Army was constituted by three army groups, nine armies, twenty-four army corps, seventy-three divisions (fifty-seven infantry divisions, five alpine divisions, three fast divisions, three armored divisions, three self-transported divisions and two motorized divisions), two Libyan divisions and four alpine groups. In total, the mobilized Italian Army was composed of 44,250 officers and 1,157,000 troopers. However, the 10th June 1940 there were 53,000 officers and 1,580,000 troopers enlisted. The difference comprises the personnel of territorial services, anti-aircraft defense and magazines, who completed the large units with an ensemble of 6,000 officers and 160,000 troopers.
The West Army Group, commanded by the Prince of Piedmont and deployed in the western Alps, was constituted by the 4th Army, commanded by General Alfredo Gozzoni and deployed from the Great Saint Bernard Pass to Mount Granero, and the 1st Army, commanded by General Pietro Pintor and deployed from Mount Granero to the sea. The whole force of the West Army Group comprised 12,500 officers and 300,000 troopers, arranged into twenty-two divisions, three alpine groups, one autonomous alpine regiment and two fast groups, with a total of 193 battalions (113 infantry battalions, five bersaglieri battalions, forty-seven alpine battalions and twenty-eight Black Shirt battalions) and four squadron groups. The armament comprised thirty light tanks, 2,949 artillery pieces (1,922 small-caliber pieces, 1,008 medium-caliber pieces and nineteen large-caliber pieces), 2,487 45-millimeter mortars, 664 81-millimeter mortars, 4,271 machine guns and 5,163 automatic rifles. The East Army Group, commanded by General Camillo Grossi and deployed in the eastern Alps, was constituted by the 2nd Army, commanded by General Vittorio Ambrosio and deployed from the town of Tarvisio to the town of Fiume, the 6th Army (known as the Army of the Po River), commanded by General Mario Vercellino and deployed in the Po Valley, and the 8th Army (which was still in formation), commanded by the Duke of Bergamo and deployed in the provinces of Veneto and Romagna. With the exception of the 6th Army the other two were reduced to the sixty percent of their overall size. The whole force of the East Army Group comprised 8,500 officers and 195,000 troopers, arranged into twenty divisions and one alpine group, with a total of ninety-four infantry battalions, twenty-one bersaglieri battalions, five alpine battalions, thirty cavalry squadrons and twenty-four Black Shirt battalions. The armament comprised 490 tanks, 946 artillery pieces (618 small-caliber pieces and 328 medium-caliber pieces), 1,790 45-millimeter mortars, 400 81-millimeter mortars, 3,048 machine guns and 4,715 automatic rifles. The South Army Group, commanded by Marshal Emilio de Bono, had at its disposal the troops who had been transferred to southern Italy and Sicily (respectively, the 3rd Army, commanded by General Carlo Geloso, and the 12th Army Corps, commanded by General Augusto de Pignier). With the exception of the troops deployed in Sicily, who had received some reinforcements, the rest were reduced to the sixty percent of their overall size. The whole force of the South Army Group comprised almost 3,000 officers and 65,000 troopers, arranged into seven divisions, forty-two infantry battalions and fourteen Black Shirt battalions. The armament comprised 300 artillery pieces (180 medium-caliber pieces and 210 small-caliber pieces), 882 45-millimeter mortars, 210 81-millimeter mortars, 600 machine guns and 1,890 automatic rifles. The 7th Army, commanded by the Duke of Pistoia and deployed in the Piedmont, in the area between the towns of Acqui and Asti, was the reserve of the High Command. The divisions were reduced to the sixty percent of their overall size and the whole force comprised 2,200 officers and 42,000 troopers, arranged into four divisions, twenty-four infantry battalions and eight Black Shirt battalions. The armament comprised 240 artillery pieces (120 medium-caliber pieces and 120 small-caliber pieces), 504 45-millimeter mortars, 120 81-millimeter mortars, 320 machine guns and 1,080 automatic rifles. The High Command of the Armed Forces in Albania, commanded by General Sebastiano Visconti Prasca, was constituted by five divisions (three infantry divisions, one alpine division and one armored division), with a total force of 2,250 officers and 57,000 troopers, besides 11,000 Albanian troopers. Besides the divisions, there were two cavalry regiments in Albania. The whole force was arranged into twenty-two infantry battalions, three bersaglieri battalions, five alpine battalions and ten squadrons. The armament comprised 180 light tanks, 194 artillery pieces (sixty medium-caliber pieces and 134 small-caliber pieces), 423 45-millimeter mortars, 110 81-millimeter mortars, 709 machine guns and 1,021 automatic rifles. The High Command of the Armed Forces in North Africa, commanded by Air Marshal Italo Balbo, was constituted by the 5th Army, commanded by General Italo Gariboldi and deployed in Tripolitania, and the 10th Army, commanded by General Mario Berti and deployed in Cyrenaica Marmarica. The whole force comprised 8,900 officers, 184,000 national troopers and 28,495 Libyan troopers, arranged into twelve metropolitan divisions (nine of the Army and three of militias) and two Libyan divisions, besides the Saharian group, commanded by General Sebastiano Gallina. The armament comprised 340 tanks, 1,885 artillery pieces (270 medium-caliber pieces and 1,535 small-caliber pieces), 455 45-millimeter mortars, eighty-three 81-millimeter mortars, 465 machine guns and 3,795 automatic rifles. The Armed Forces of the Aegean Islands, commanded by General Cesare Maria de Vecchi, were constituted by the "Regina" infantry division, with a total force of 916 officers and 24,150 troopers. The armament of the division comprised, besides the armament of the forts, thirty artillery pieces, 126 45-millimeter mortars, thirty 81-millimeter mortars, 270 automatic rifles and eighty machine guns. The Armed Forces of the Italian East Africa, commanded by Viceroy Amadeo de Aosta, were constituted by two national divisions, sixteen national battalions, three tank companies, twenty-nine colonial brigades, seventeen autonomous colonial battalions, eight colonial squadron groups and twenty-two company groups, with a total force of 5,990 officers, 68,000 national troopers and 182,000 colonial troopers. The armament comprised forty-eight tanks, 811 artillery pieces (ninety-seven medium-caliber pieces and 714 small-caliber pieces), fifty-seven 45-millimeter mortars, seventy 81-millimeter mortars, 3,300 machine guns and 5,300 automatic rifles.
Italian Fiat M14/41 medium tanks ready to take action in the area of El Agheila, Libya, during the North African Campaign of 1940-1942.
NAVY
The Royal Italian Navy comprised 576 units of every type (with the exception of aircraft carriers) with a total displacement of 620,000 tonnes. Regarding this weight the Royal Italian Navy was the fifth largest war fleet in the world, after those of the British Empire (2,100,000 tonnes), United States (1,700,000 tonnes), Japan (1,150,000 tonnes) and France (800,000 tonnes); therefore, it entered a war against two navies - the British and the French ones - which together amounted to 2,900,000 tonnes, which was almost five times its weight. Out of the aforementioned 576 units, 226 belonged to the auxiliary navy (support ships, school ships, cable ships, tanker ships, mine sweepers, tug boats and other types). Besides, another fifty-five units were not suitable for being regarded as combat units, for they presented a very reduced combat capability. Among these fifty-five units there was a cruiser (San Giorgio) launched in 1905, which had been deployed in North Africa as a floating battery; two tiny cruisers (Bari and Tarento); sixteen gun boats assigned to the surveillance of ports and thirty-three torpedo boats from the First World War. The force of effective combat value comprised 295 units with a total displacement of 388,000 tonnes, distributed as follows: two 25,000-ton battleships (Cesare and Cavour) with a main armament of ten 320-millimeter cannons and a top speed of 27 knots, launched in 1911 but wholly modernized before the outbreak of the war; seven 10,000-ton cruisers (Trieste, Trento, Bolzano, Zara, Fiume, Gorizia and Pola) armed with eight 203-millimeter cannons and endowed with a top speed of 36 knots; twelve 5,000-to-8,000-ton light cruisers (Giussano, Barbiano, Colleoni, Bande Nere, Díaz, Cadorna, Montecuccoli, Attendolo, Eugenio di Savoia, Duca D'Aosta, Duca degli Abruzzi and Garibaldi) armed with eight or ten 152-millimeter cannons and endowed with a top speed of over 37 knots; ninety-four escort units including destroyers and torpedo boats, the former with a displacement of about 1,600 tonnes and an armament of four 120-millimeter cannons, and the latter with a displacement of about 700 tonnes and an armament of 100 or 102-millimeter cannons; 117 submarines of diverse class and age, ranging from very old 350-ton coastal units to modern 1,300-ton oceanic units. It should be recalled that at the beginning of the conflict two newly constructed 35,000-ton battleships (Littorio and Vittorio Veneto), with a main armament of nine 381-millimeter cannons and a top speed of 30 knots, were about to enter active service (which happened in September 1940), besides another two modernized battleships (Caio Duilio and Andrea Doria), which had been launched in 1913.
View towards the bow of the battleship Andrea Doria. This ship and her twin Caio Duilio had been originally built as dreadnought battleships in 1912-1916 and extensively modernized in 1937-1940.
AIR FORCE
The 10th June 1940 the Royal Italian Air Force had in Italy, Albania and the Aegean Islands 1,796 combat aircraft: 783 high-altitude bomber aircraft, 594 fighter aircraft and attack aircraft, and 419 reconnaissance aircraft. Regarding types and models, it was composed this way: as bomber aircraft, 403 Savoia-Marchetti SM 79, 132 Fiat BR 20, 104 Savoia-Marchetti SM 81, sixty-one Cant Z 506 (seaplane), thirty-eight Cant Z 1007 and Cant Z 1007 bis, and forty-five Caproni Ca 310; as fighter aircraft, fighter-bomber aircraft and attack aircraft, 202 Fiat Cr 42, 177 Fiat Cr 32, eighty-nine Fiat G 50, seventy-seven Macchi-Castoldi MC 200, thirty Breda Ba 88, twelve Breda Ba 65 and seven Meridionali Ro 44; as land-based reconnaissance aircraft, 207 Meridionali Ro 37, forty-two Caproni Ca 309 and nineteen Caproni Ca 311; as naval reconnaissance aircraft, 109 Cant Z 501 and forty-two aircraft of various types operating from ships. Besides, the Air Forces of Libya and East Africa had, respectively, 314 and 350 effective aircraft, which were ready for being employed immediately. However, these numbers are inferior to the actual ones. The effective aircraft of the metropolitan Air Force alone were at least 3,296, of which 1,332 were bomber aircraft and 1,160 were fighter aircraft and attack aircraft, if taking into account the 1,500 aircraft which were not ready for being employed immediately, because they either had not been yet assigned to the units or were being repaired. Finally, there were about 1,800 aircraft which were either used in flight schools or suitable for military training. In this way, the 10th June 1940 the Royal Italian Air Force, commanded by Chief of the High Staff Francesco Pricolo, had not less than 5,760 aircraft. It was indeed an important number. In that time the Luftwaffe did not have as many aircraft, the Royal Air Force had many less aircraft and the French Air Force was insignificant. The Italian Fascism embraced aviation and regarded it as its favorite weapon. The flights carried out by Italo Balbo and Francesco de Pinedo promoted it to the point of reaching a great fame. However, from the qualitative standpoint the situation of the Regia Aeronautica was not particularly good. It had been a splendid one years before, but at the moment of entering the war many of its aircraft were outdated, as in the case of the Cr 32 and Cr 42 biplane fighter aircraft, the Ro 44 seaplane fighter aircraft, the SM 81 and Cant Z 506 bomber aircraft, and the Ro 37 and Cant Z 501 reconnaissance aircraft. Besides, the governmental committees had accepted very dangerous aircraft such as the Ba 65 and Ba 88 attack aircraft, besides the SM 85 dive bomber aircraft, which were soon sent to the scrapyard. At the same time, the committees did not obstruct the serial production of excellent aircraft such as the Cant Z 1018, a high-altitude bomber aircraft which had the speed of a fighter aircraft. On the wait for the production lines to deliver more technically advanced aircraft types (of which the best would not be seen until 1943 and then only in few exemplars), the most commendable bomber aircraft was the Savoia-Marchetti SM 79, a veteran three-engine aircraft which had served in the Spanish Civil War, possessed numerous achievements and was very safe in aeronautical terms, but which was poorly armed and incapable of carrying large loads. The Cant Z 1007 bis bomber aircraft was acceptable as well. Among the fighter aircraft, the Macchi-Castoldi MC 200 was the only monoplane aircraft of modern concept, albeit it was armed with only two machine guns versus the eight which the British Supermarine Spitfire had, and endowed with a top speed which was 80 kilometers/hour below that of the Supermarine Spitfire and the German Messerschmitt Bf 109. Regarding the personnel, Italy entered the war with about 84,000 aviators, of whom 3,040 were pilot officers and 11,400 were subofficers, of whom 3,300 were pilots as well.
Albeit the Fascist regime had paid special attention to the aerial weapon, the Italian fighter aircraft, such as the Fiat G 50 shown on this photograph, were generally inferior to their foreign counterparts.
A Fiat RS 14 twin-engine seaplane, generally used for maritime reconnaissance.
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Article submitted: 2026-04-07
Article updated: 2026-04-07
E-mail:
Website: Military History
Article submitted: 2026-04-07
Article updated: 2026-04-07
