DucaDiVizzini wrote:
I can also post accounts:
Germany [...] offered Italy 12 tanks [Panzer IVs] to form the nucleus of a new armored division. These were used to train Italian crews while Italian dictator Benito Mussolini was deposed, but were retaken by Germany during its occupation of Italy in mid-1943.
From
Panzer IV: The workhorse of the Panzerwaffe by Bob Carruthers
The 1ª Divisione Corazzata Camicie Nere 'M' (1st Blackshirts Armoured Division 'M') was officially formed on 25 June 1943 [...]. The division core strength was to be the German-supplied AFVs. These included 12 x Panzer III Ausf N tanks (with the short-barrelled 7.5cm gun), 12 x Panzer IV Ausf G (with the long 7.5cm gun), and 12 x Sturmgeschütz III asault guns (with the long 7.5cm). In addition, 24 x 8.8cm dual-purpose AA/AT guns, and 24 flamethrowers, were also to be supplied.
However, despite the support of German instructors, the lack of experienced personnel -in particular of tank and SP-gun crews, after the heavy losses in North Africa- greatly delayed the division's training and actual formation. By the time that Mussolini was deposed on 25 July 1943 the division had not yet reached operational status, which may explain why it did not react to these events. Nevertheless, the Italian Army staff naturally considered it completely unreliable, and took precautionary measures. Since, during this hiatus between Mussolini's downfall and the announcement of Italy's capitulation to the Allies, the units could not be disbanded without alarming the Germans, they were reorganized, with many MVSN officers being replaced by Army ones. On 15 August 1943 the division was officially renamed 136ª Divisiones Corazzata Legionaria Centauro II, still deployed east of Rome. After the Italian surrender of 8 September 1943 many of the Eastern Front veterans joined the Germans, who also took back every single piece of equipmente and every tank and weapon that they supplied only a few months previously.
From
Italian Army Elite Units & Special Forces 1940-43 (Osprey's Elite 99) by P. Crociani & P.P. Battistelli
This last book also includes the first picture I posted with the following caption:
Summer 1943. Crews from the "Lioness" Tank Regt of the 1st Blackshirts Armd Div 'M" during training with one of its dozen German Pzkw III Ausf N tanks, mounting a short-barrelled 7.5cm gun for infantry support. The divisional insignia is clearly visible on the spaced turret armour. (P.P. Batistelli Collection)
Now, there are sources and then there are sources. But I think an image is definitive, much more so when the sources are contradictory.
Regards.