East African Campaign Italian Trucks

[Arthur]

Not much of a WW2 expert so I figured I'd ask here. Spurred in no small measure by James Morris' brilliant Eritrean campaign stuff, I've given in to the Perry WW2 Italians and am wondering what the most common truck types were during the 1940-1941 East African campaigns. More specifically, my questions are the following :

- Even allowing for the fact that motor transport was often in short supply and that mules were commonly used instead of vehicles, what truck types were most likely to be used by the MG and mortar platoons of an infantry battalion's support company ? I imagine quite a variety of models would be seen depending on what was available.

- What was the most common prime mover for the 47mm Canone da 47/32 Elefantino AT gun ? I've read it was originally meant to be towed by an L3 tank but can't find out whether that really was the case in the field.  

All answers welcome, as are suggestions for 1/56 kits compatible with the Perry metal Italians. So far, I've been considering the Empress OM 35 and Perry OM 36 light trucks, and the Company B AS 37 cargo truck. Anything else I might have missed ?  

[Poiter50]

I think the 3 vehicles you mentioned were developed because of the conditions in that area, so they are probably the most lekely ones to be used. The Lancia heavy truck (6 tonner?) and the Fiat Dovunque 3 tonner would have been used there as well. AT towers were probably AS 37s but there would have been arty tractors in some numbers..

[lou passejaire]

IMO, no AS 37 in east african campaign ... AS 37 was designed for saharian use, and issued to Lybia ...
May be some TL37 ( generally towing 75 and 100 mm guns)

for sure OM32 , OM35, OM36 , Fiat 15 ( 21 in use ) , SPA 25 c10, Fiat Dovunque 33 ( 82 in use ) , Lancia RO ( in use in "Autogruppo Pesante di Manovra" ...

i'm
 sure that the elefantino was not towed, except by a mule , been to light ( 277 kg ) ... and mostly broken in 8 packs .

To tow this piece, the tractor OCI-780 CM and the light tank L3 were used, but these projects were soon abandoned as the gun was subjected to braking at the axles spindles and shanks.

PS : si t'avais posé la question en français ma réponse aurait été plus fastoche 

[Arthur]

Certes, mais à Rome, on fait comme les Romains et ici, il est logique de causer anglais puisque nous sommes sur un forum allemand 

On a more multilingual note, cheers for the answers. It seems logical to me that the trucks used in Eritrea should be older and quainter types compared to the North African campaign. Which is fine by me : the quainter the better 

[lou passejaire]

the main reason is that there is a huge difference between Lybian desert and the mountains of Erytrea ...
the trucks used in Lybia, such as the AS 37 were special orders ( AS for Autocarro Sahariano  ) .