I have examined all my notes on the Italian armored departments and also the notes made to the SME in Rome but I have only found conflicting news. The clear thing is that with Circular 4640 of 09/08/1940 which supplemented Circular 4400 of 03/28/1938 entitled Distinctive signs for tanks, the markings to be applied to all tank units of the Royal Army were defined, which I am attaching to you in copy and which provided for "up to 5 platoons per company". The problem, however, is that by re-reading all the reports of the tank crews engaged on various fronts, a different reality emerges, so much so that in the report of the commander of the 3rd tank battalion engaged on the African front in 1940, the graphic attachment of the battalion structure instead shows a different conformation of the unit (out of three platoons per company)(attached). I also found that certainly the L tank battalions operating on the Russian front had 5 platoons even if, however, it does not count since they are units mobilized by Bersaglieri or by the cavalry. To further complicate the matter, however, I also found between the lines of some of the reports of the armored battalions operating in AS phrases referring to the use of "platoons of 3 tanks" referring to the period 1941-1942. My conclusion is to assume that, as often happened in the ranks of the Royal Army, the application of the circular was not univocal and some units applied the reality of the 3 platoons and some that of the 5. After all, also the composition of the battalion which was fixed for the AS in 52 tanks underwent in some cases decreases to 46 and even to 37 which led the units to restructure on the spot on two companies instead of three even if this was not foreseen by the organic tables. However, there is also a fixed point that in the present case the M tank battalions of the Ariete in the period 1941-1942 never exceeded the total consistency of 52 tanks per battalion. Sorry but that's all for now maybe someone will be luckier than me to find certainties that maybe ..... they don't even exist...
All the best
Maurizio