Sicily - OOB

[Alex]

Hello All,

First a bit of background on myself. I served in the British Military in a Military Intelligence role and have fought in a number of conflicts. The two areas of World War Two which really grabs my interest are the fight to defend Sicily and the Italian contribution to the Invasion of the USSR up to and including the Battle on the Don River.

One of the things I would really like to have is a full Order of Battle for the combatants during the Invasion of Sicily (Italians, Germans, American & Commonwealth) with a page for each. There are loads around including the one in the Order of Battle section. But initially I would like to see one showing formations in their pure form so not broken down to the assorted Mobile / Tactical Groups down to Company/Battery level and if possible to include the commanders name as quite a lot of the documents about the fighting quite happily switch between for example 3rB Battalion, 30th Infantry and Group X.

Initially this might simple show a basic structure such as:

207 Coastal Division
Commander:
General de Divisione Tom

100 Coastal Infantry Regiment - Colonel Dick
I Battalion
1 Company
2 Company
3 Company - Major Harry
II Battalion
1 Company
2 Company
3 Company
III Battalion
1 Company
2 Company
3 Company
101 Coastal Infantry Regiment
I Battalion
1 Company
2 Company
3 Company
II Battalion
1 Company
2 Company
3 Company
III Battalion
1 Company
2 Company
3 Company
1 Artillery Regiment
I Artillery Group
A Battery (100mm) - Lt Fred
B Battery (100mm)
II Artillery Group
A Battery (75mm)
B Battery (75mm)
III Artillery Group
A Battery (75mm)
B Battery (75mm)


I hope this makes sense and would anyone be interested in helping with this / checking the results?

Alex

 

[Alex]

Hi All,

So moving on. Do people think it's worth having a message for each Corps, each Division or a message for each Nation (which would be huge). I'm leaning towards a message for each Corps and one for Army Level Assets.

Alex

 

[diciassette2000]

It is certainly a beautiful project but I think that just to highlight the structure of the Royal Italian Army in Sicily in 1943 you will need 200 pages excluding the support and logistics units (only the fighting ones) not to mention that the diaries of the territorial units are almost untraceable or completely lost therefore company level reconstructions are almost impossible to reconstruct. In addition, you would like the organic descriptions on a theoretical level or the real ones on paper then dating back to the time of landing and when ??? It would be good to specify this.
All the best
Maurizio

 

[Alex]

Hi Maurizio,
Thank you for the feed back. I was thinking of something along the following lines:


26th (Mountain) Infantry Division “Assietta”
Commander:
Generale di Divisione Erberto Papini
Generale di Divisione Francesco Scotti (8 Jun 1943 - 26 Jul 1943)
Generale di Divisione Ottorino Schreiber (26 Jul 1943 – 8 Sept 1943)

Commanding Officer Infantry:
Colonel Augusto de Laurentiis (20 Apr 1943 - )

29th Infantry Regiment "Pisa"
I Battalion
HQ Company
1 Company
2 Company
3 Company
4 Machinegun Company
II Battalion
HQ Company
5 Company
6 Company
7 Company
8 Machinegun Company
III Battalion
HQ Company
9 Company
10 Company
11 Company
12 Machinegun Company

30th Infantry Regiment “Pisa”
I Battalion
HQ Company
1 Company
2 Company
3 Company
4 Machinegun Company
II Battalion
HQ Company
5 Company
6 Company
7 Company
8 Machinegun Company
III Battalion - Lieutenant Colonel Spinelli
HQ Company
9 Company
10 Company
11 Company
12 Machinegun Company

17th CC.NN. Legion - Console Negroni
XVII CC.NN. Battalion “Cremona”
1st Motorized Machine-Gun Company - Centurione Roberto Grandi
Scouting platoon - Capomanipolo Fausto Maianti
XVIII CC.NN. Battalion “Constantissima”
259th CC.NN. MG Company

25th Artillery Regiment "Assietta"
Artillery Group
Artillery Group
Artillery Group
Artillery Group
Anti-aircraft Battery
Anti-aircraft Battery

26th Mortar Battalion
126th Mortar Battalion
126th Anti-Tank Company
64th Pioneer Company

Regards,

Alex

 

[diciassette2000]

mah I see that among the commanders there are names that date back to April 1943 and others to July of the same year, therefore you would like to do ALL THE DIVISIONAL STORY or limit it to July 1943, also I have seen that some units are examined at company level while others even battalion .... what is the denominator ... the company / battery or the battalion / regiment .........
All the best
Maurizio

 

[Alex]

mah I see that among the commanders there are names that date back to April 1943 and others to July of the same year, therefore you would like to do ALL THE DIVISIONAL STORY or limit it to July 1943, also I have seen that some units are examined at company level while others even battalion .... what is the denominator ... the company / battery or the battalion / regiment .........
All the best
Maurizio

Hi Maurizio,
I see your point so I am interested in the commanders over the period of the fighting so say 10th July - 17th August 1943 so I could remove General Papini.

As for what level am I interested in I suppose it's the lowest level at which the troops would normally fight at so I suppose it would be companies for the infantry, batteries for the artillery. The other elements would normally be attached to other units or generally be trying to get away from the fighting i.e. anti-tank guns attached to an infantry companies. If a platoon commander is known then I would not mind adding them but I'm not going to lose any sleep if it's not known.

Regards,

Alex

 

[diciassette2000]

Ok I understand I will try as much as possible meanwhile on the Italians ......10 July-17th August 1943......company/battery level.....
ALl the best
Maurizio

 

[Alex]

Ok I understand I will try as much as possible meanwhile on the Italians ......10 July-17th August 1943......company/battery level.....
ALl the best
Maurizio

Many thanks Maurizio,

I will try a couple of things on the Forum on the best way to present the data.

Regards,

Alex

 

[Alex]

Test - Test - Test

12th Army Corps Assets

26th (Mountain) Infantry Division Assietta

28th Infantry Division Aosta

Coastal Divisions Assigned to the 12th Army Corps