(IDEA) For another alternative squad event!

Today I’m going to talk about a date that can be used to introduce another alternative squadron event: the planned invasion of Malta.

"Operazione C3," as it was known to the Italians, or "Unternehmen Herkules" to the Germans was the code-name given to an canceled plan for the invasion of Malta .

Through air and sea landings, the Italians and Germans hoped to eliminate Malta as a British air and naval base and secure an uninterrupted flow of supplies across the Mediterranean to Axis forces in Libya and Egypt.

a matilda tank of the 1st Independent Troop of the Royal Tank Regiment in Malta

Preparations for the invasion were extensive, including landing rehearsals by the Italians.

Meanwhile, the British garrison sought to further increase its readiness, fully aware of the strategic location they occupied and its importance.

This offers the opportunity to field a wide range of British squads, such as tank crews, assault troops, and riflemen, given that they had approximately 26,000 men and a great variety of regiments at their disposal; personally, I think the most notable would be the 2nd Battalion, Royal Irish Fusiliers (Princess Victoria's) Regiment.

On the Italian side, the situation was the same; with more than 65,000 men diverted for the planned operation, it was to be a joint Italian-German effort, with their air, land, and naval forces working together, so this makes possible a great range of german luftwaffe troops and italian troops.

Italian soldier during training and preparations for the later cancelled Operazione C3

Personally, I think this operation involved a large number of Italian troops; although the participation of German Fallschirmjägers was also planned, given the current state of Enlisted and the alternative squads, I believe an Italian unit is more appropriate for the event. (please darflow, italian assaulters)

Some of the Italian units scheduled to take part in the landing were the 1st Infantry Division "Superga," the 4th Infantry Division "Livorno," the 20th Infantry Division, the 26th Infantry Division "Assietta," and the 54th Infantry Division "Napoli."

In addition to these divisions, plans were made to include an armored group, approximately 2000 Marines from the "San Marco" unit, and 4,000 Blackshirts from the Landing Blackshirt Battalions Group (the soldier in the foreground is one of them); I think a Blackshirt unit would be quite interesting as a rifle or assault squad.

Armoured support for the invasion comprised sixty-four Italian semovente 47/32 and eight heavier semovente 75/18 (darflow please)  self-propelled guns plus thirty L3 tankettes.

 Additional armour intended for Herkules included 2.Kompanie/Panzerabteilung z.b.V.66 (zur besonderen Verwendung "for special use"), a German unit commanded by Hans Bethke and partly equipped with captured Russian tanks. Ten assorted kv-1  and KV-2 heavy tanks were available. At least ten Italian motozattere (landing craft) were modified with reinforced flooring and internal ramps to carry these vehicles. Other tanks in the unit included captured Russian T-34 medium tanks, up-armoured German light tanks (five VK1601and five VK1801) plus twelve German PZ.IV Gs armed with 75 mm guns.

so, we can also get vehicle squads!!!

Before I get told to fuck off for not specifying what kind of soldiers I want as alternative squads: I didn't specify any because it's just a suggestion, and the decision is up to someone else, not me, so...

I decided not to delve too deeply into the history and unit details, as it would have become lengthy and probably boring.

Cheers!

For the british units, i used this source http://warships1discussionboards.yuku.com/sreply/239551/Looking-for-OOB-on-British-Army-194043

picture from In guerra sul mare by Erminio Bagnasco and Maurizio Brescia