Tanks of the Italian Social Republic

Following the Armistice and the establishment of the Italian Social Republic, rebuilding the army proved to be a difficult undertaking. The Germans were strongly opposed to the idea and only relented -allowing Italian units to be formed and armed -due to the deteriorating war situation. The handful of armored units that emerged were largely the result of individual initiative by a few determined officers and, as a consequence, remained small in scale. The chronic shortage of armored vehicles meant that many units had to rely on a mix of equipment, often salvaged from Royal Army depots. However, in some cases, this deficiency was mitigated through the personal relationships and trust forged between Italian armored unit commanders and German military authorities.