Bersaglieri Italiani della Seconda Guerra Mondiale, 1939–1945

Recensione dei Figurini MIRLITON di 20 mm

Italian Bersaglieri wearing the distinctive black cockerel-feather plumes sul elmetto d’acciaio. Bersagliere were first established in Piedmont in 1836 by General Marmora, they were fanteria leggera riflemen trained in expert marksmanship. Prior to prima guerra mondiale, each of the 12 Italian army corps received an elite Bersaglieri reggimento as corps troops. These regiments consisted of quattro battaglioni, one of which was a Bersaglieri bicycle fanteria battalion. After prima guerra mondiale, the Bersaglieri regiments were converted entirely to bicycle fanteria, ed in the 1930s they were further upgraded to reggimenti di fanteria motorizzata. Regimental organization changed from quattro to tre battaglioni, the first of which was a Bersaglieri fanteria motociclista battalion. During la seconda guerra mondiale, Italian armoured divisions consisted of an armoured reggimento, a Bersaglieri reggimento, an artillerie reggimento, an engineer battalion, e divisional support troops.

In the wake of the Allied landing in Sicily on 10th luglio 1943, Italian fieldmarshal Badoglio led a successful coup realisto against Mussolini on luglio 25th. The Duce was imprisoned at the Hotel Campo Imperatore on the Gran Sasso, a mountain in the Abruzzes 2.172 metri above sea level. Badoglio formed an interim government, e he formally surrendered to the Allies on 3 settembre. After the Italian Armistice more than 700,000 Italian troops behind German lines were disarmed, transported alla Germania ed interned there.

On 12 settembre, German gliderborne assault troops freed Mussolini at the Gran Sasso, e returned him to Upper Italia where he formed a new fascist republic, the Repubblica Soziale Italiana. After several months of negotiations, the Duce received permission to raise quattro fanteria divisions from "Badoglio Truppen" interned nella Germania. These units fought on the Eastern Front, e they were involved in the terrible partisan war which raged in Upper Italia. The new fascist regiments continued to wear Italian uniforms ed equipaggiamento, con the addition of German Einheitsmütze caps e berets in various colours. In 1945 the elmetto d’acciaio tedesco officially replaced the elmetto italiano.

Contenuto

12 soldatini in 10 Poses – 23.5 mm pari a 169 cm di altezza

Ufficiale
Guidon-bearer
Grenadier
Bersaglieri mitragliere No. 1
Bersaglieri mitragliere No. 2
Mitragliatrice pesante da 8 mm Breda in Sandbagged Emplacement
Bersaglieri advancing con mitragliatrice leggera da 6,5 mm Breda
Bersaglieri advancing
Bersaglieri running (2)
Bersaglieri kneeling, tirante (2)
Bersaglieri kneeling

Valutazione

Excellent choice of subject. Elite Bersaglieri riflemen motorizzata made up the fanteria element of the 131st Centauro, 132nd Ariete, e 133rd Littorio armoured divisions. Additional battaglioni Bersaglieri were sometimes attached to armoured reconnaissance units at the divisional level.

Beautifully sculpted soldatini. The Bersaglieri are slender, e they are more compatibile con 1:72 scale plastic troops than many of their metal comrades. The poses are anatomically e historically correct; these are lively soldatini which will be fun to paint. None of the poses are exaggerated, they are all suitable for wargaming purposes e dioramas.

Excellent detail in the uniforms ed equipaggiamento, even the figure bases are textured, e there are small rocks on some of them.

Half of the soldatini are specialist types, including mitraglieri pesante e leggera, granatiere, ufficiale e guidon-bearer command figurini. This is an excellent starter set for anyone interested in this chapter of Italian history. Giocatori Wargame will want to flesh out their units by adding more riflemen from the separate expansion boxes also available.

The Breda Mod.1937 HMG is a superb model, complete con tripod, gunner, caricatore, ed a sandbagged emplacement. Assembly instructions are not included, ed it is not immediately apparent how the gun should be mounted on the tripod. The tripod attaches to the sandbags con due legs forward ed one back. The gunner attaches to the rear of the sandbagged emplacement. With these tre parts in place, the HMG itself can be glued to the gunner’s hands e to the tripod. The manufacturer showed this model at the Kulmbach soldatini show nella Germania, 07th - 10th agosto 1997: The barrel had been drilled open, ed a puff of white cotton smoke was stuck into it. The base of the smoke was painted red e yellow to represent a jet of flame. This small detail added colour to the vignette, ed it made the model stand out nicely.

Excellent facial features, every man is a character. Separate head would have made these soldatini even more versatile, modellers are always tempted to add variety to their units.

The kneeling ed advancing Bersaglieri are standard troop types which can be used again ed again. The kneeling man may be converted to a radio operator o cannoniere anticarro.

Good casting quality, crisp detail, e little flash. Some of the soldatini show no visible mould lines at all, even the typical line across the elmetto is minimal ed it will be easy to scrape off con a scalpel. One of the soldatini had a defective rifle barrel, e the easiest way to fix this was to convert the weapon to a Beretta Modello 3A SMG. We cut the rifle back to the figure’s left hand, drilled the remaining barrel open, ed inserted a short piece of 0.6 mm pianowire to act as the SMG barrel.

Cast in white metal containing lead, not suitable for kids under 12 years of age.

At 28 cm diameter, the elmetti Bersaglieri are still noticeably larger than those of soldatini in scala 1:72, but overall compatibility is very good. By comparison, ESCI Alpini mountain troops scale out approximately 3 inches taller, e their weapons are a little thinner.

Il mitragliere leggero carries his weapon in an unusual way, con both hands very near the end of the stock. This position would be rather uncomfortable, ed it looks like there may be un soldatini caricatore who can help the mitragliere carry the weapon. One interesting feature of the mitragliere is that he has the M.1933 gasmask out of its carrier bag.

No painting instructions. Modellers e giocatori wargame will have to refer to colour drawings of Italian Bersaglieri to paint these soldatini correctly. Painting information on the unit guidon may be particularly difficult to find. It would have been a nice touch if Humbrol colour reference numbers had been printed on the back of the box cover to identify the gray-green uniform ed equipaggiamento colour. Asked about the Italian uniform colours, Mr. Grazzini of MIRLITON recommended Vallejo Model Colours No. 979 o No. 897 as the most suitable model paints. Apparently, the Humbrol colour equivalent is 75 Matt Bronze Green.

Utilizzo Storico

Bersaglieri in temperate uniform (gray-green)
- Invasion of the Balkans, 1941–1943
- Invasion of Russia, 1941–1944
- Italian Campaign, 1943
- Italian Partizan War, 1944
- Eastern Front (Badoglio Truppen della Wehrmacht tedesca), 1945

MIRLITON Bersaglieri offer a nice range of suitable poses, e they have the armi pesanti which are required for simulation games. This boxed set is a great starting point for a collection of Italian fanteria types, ed it may be used to supplement figure ranges from other manufacturers which are less well equipped con specialist troop types. MIRLITON deserves praise for offering 20 mm soldatini in convenient boxed sets, this a far better distribution method than the outmoded single figure selection frequently required of giocatori wargame e collezionisti di soldatini. It is hoped that the MIRLITON range of Bersaglieri will eventually include troopers con motociclette e motocarrozzette. Another valuable addition would be Bersaglieri platoon boxes con all the soldatini ed armi required to build an historic formation.

MIRLITON Modellismo

Domande più frequenti

Per ulteriori informazioni, per favore contatta la redazione di Rivista Military Miniatures nel Miniatures Forum.

Soldatini Italiani della Seconda Guerra Mondiale

– Pubblicato: 19.08.1997 – Aggiornato: 05.06.2007
© 1997-2011 by IDL Software GmbH, Darmstadt, Germania. Tutti diritti reservati.