Foreign Artillery in Italian Service WWII

This information provided by Arturo Filippo Lorioli

I have compiled a fairly detailed list of the Artillery pieces of foreign origin is service with the Italian Army during WW2. It can give You a fair idea of the logistical nightmare in our army, and offers some nice scenario for the most exotical-loving players! (gives some info about the Artillery in service in some "minor" army too).

GERMANY (all of them paid: no gifts from the Germans!!!)

• 88L56 AA (several element of this gun were produced on license from the Ansaldo for the Germans even before the war. Several btys used in Noth Africa in AT role, the others in Italy for AA duties)
• Skoda 75L50 AA (the "Trieste" div. used some in AT role in North Africa).
• 20L113 AA (some quad too)
• 37L98 AA
• 37L45 AT (some had been used during the Spanish Civil War too. A few, captured from the Ethiopians in 1936, were used against the Commonwealth in Africa
• Orientale Italiana in 1940)
• 50L60 AT (48 of them, left by the Germans in Aegean Islands and Balkans when
• the Italian took over garrison duties there in 1943)
• 75L46 AT (with ARMIR Italian Army in Russia)
• 75L34 AT (if I remember well the name was PAK 97/38, former French guns
• mounted on German carriages, with a swiss Solothurn muzzle-break. They had HC
• rounds. 48 were used in Russia and several others in Tunisia)
• Skoda K35 105mm
• 149L28 Howitzers
• AT-Rifles mod.38

Then we had a HUGE ammount of captured "prize of war" guns, and other guns captured by the Germans and sold to Italy. A "War-Prize Artillery Specialist Bn" was formed at Nettunia to test the "foreign" guns, repair them and re-write the fire tables.

GREECE:

• 20L113 and 37L98 AA (german production)
• Bofors 80L48 AA
• 75L17 mod 19 Mountain Guns (french production)
• 75L19 mod 28 Mountain Guns (french production)
• Danglis 75mm mod.06/09
• Krupp 75L27 mod.04 (former WW1 Turkish Army!!! Almost identical to our 75L27 mod 06)
• Schneider 85L33 mod 25
• Schneider 105L29 mod 25
• Skoda 100L22 (almost identical to our 100L17, used same ammo)

BELGIUM:

• Vickers 75L46 (or 75L49? I found both names) AA
• Krupp 75L27
• FRC-SA 47mm mod 32 AT

NETHERLAND:

• Krupp 75L27
• Boehler 47L32 AT (licensed version of our 47L32, but with muzzle-break. Used in Tunisia and Sicily).

POLAND:

• Skoda 100L22 (over 400 pcs!)
• 105mm mod 29
• AT-Rifes M35 (given to the "Folgore" para div.)

YUGOSLAVIA:

• Skoda 100L22
• Skoda 76L32 mod 28
• Skoda 100L23 mod. 28
• Skoda 47mm mod 37 and mod 38 AT
• Skoda 37L48 mod 37 AT
• Skoda 77L28 mod 5/32
• Skoda 77L40 mod 28
• Skoda 75L15 mod 28 Mountain Guns

RUSSIA:

• 76L15 mod 27
• 122L45 mod 31/37
• 152L28 mod 37 (8 btys)
• 45mm mod 32 AT (used by the Horse Artillery Rgt "Voloire". Several captured ones had already been used during the Spanish Civil War)

GREAT BRITAIN:

• AT-Rifles Boys (2 ATplatoons in Africa Orientale Italiana)
• 87.6L27 mod 281 (former German army)
• 25lb (some btys captured in summer 1942 were still in service in Tunisia)
• I've seen a photo of a captured 114mm, but don't guess that we got more than a few of them.

FRANCE

• SA 47L50 mod 37 AT
• Hotchkiss 25mm mod 34 AT (used in North Africa by Bersaglieri and infantry)
• 75L51 mod 32 AA (auto-loaders!)
• 75L32 mod 1897 AA (over 25 btys!)
• 90L50 mod 26
• 75L17 mod 19 Mountain Guns
• 75L19 mod 28 Mountain Guns
• 65L18 mod 1906 Mountain Guns
• 105L11 mod 19 and 28 Mountain Guns (extensively used in Russia)
• Lahitolle 90L25 mod 1888 (rigid carriage!)
• Da Bange 80L20 mod 1878 (rigid carriage!)
• Da Bange 90mm mod 1877 (rigid carriage!)
• GPF 155L36 (handed down by the Germans in the Balkans)
• St.Chamond 155L46 (handed down by the Germans in the Balkans)
• Schneider 155L25 mod 1870-14 (handed down by the Germans in the Balkans)
• Schneider 155L25 mod 1918 (handed down by the Germans in the Balkans)
• Schnneider 155L14 mod 17
• Schneider 220L32 mod 17
• St.Chamond 155L16 mod 15
• 105L15 mod 35B and 34/5
• 75L34 mod 1897
• 3 x ALVF 340l25 mod 12 Railway Guns
• 4 x Batignoles 240L27 mod 17 Railway Guns
• 12 x ALVF 199L29 mod 70/93 Railway Guns
• 50mm mod 37 Mortars
• Brandt 60mm mod 35 Mortars (we had also 130 impounded pcs made under license by Ansaldo for Ecuador in the highly unusual calibre of 63.5mm!)
• Stokes-Brandt 81mm Mortars (handed down by Germans from fromer Austrian Army
• stocks).

Some further notes about WW2 Italian Arty.

The "Effetto Pronto" HC rounds were made for the 47L32, 65L17, 75L18 and 75L32, 77L28, 100L17 and 105L28 guns. From mid 1942 a fully-automatic fire version of the Solothurn AT rifle was in service. During Summer 1943 it was decided to start mass production of a copy of the russian Katjusha 120mm MRL, the production license was acquired from Germany for the 75L46 AT gun and the 105mm FH18 howitzer, and it was decided to modify our 90L53 AA guns so that they could use German 88mm ammos. Of course, too little too late ...