Order of the hundred musketeers

I read that this medal was given during WW2 to only ca. 100 Italian soldiers. However not much info in the net. Anyone know more/pics?

Thanx!

 

Axis History Forum • View topic - Skorzeny's awards


Perhaps this is the medal?

 

"Croce degli Arditi"- Italia Militaria

I don't think that the 'musketeer' Medal.

 

From what I can find the 'moschettieri del Duce' is also known as the M legion or Legione M




Legione "M" Guardia del Duce - Sito Ufficiale


another page :

http://www.mymilitaria.it/Liste_02/moschettieri_medaglia.htm

 

the last link is exactly what you were looking for I think

 

I think so,too! Thank you very much! Also great pics of the M division men I presume.

 

The M division was an armoured division, numbered 134 after Centauro (131), Ariete (132), and Littorio (133), partly equipped with German equipment and raised in May 1943 from regular army and MVSN units. The M units raised by the RSI were not division strength.
134ª Divisione corazzata "M" - Wikipedia

The Arditi were a WW1 special group of trench assault troops disbanded after the war, many veterans later joined the fascist movement. But not WW2 at all.
IIRC their official symbol was the skull biting the knife.

 

Did the M division have Tigers? I can see they had Pz III and IV´s and StuG´s...

General Cerica in Deakin´s book "The brutal friendship" claims they had 36 Tigers but that seems quite high a figure to me.

 

There is a story about "Italian tigers" and some Italian tankers did train for tiger.

I think the 36 Tigers of the M division were probably just planned, though there are many mentions of them on the net. Even the other panzers, and those are confirmed as some pictures of them exist, were eventually taken back by the Germans and didn't fight with Italian crews.
The ufficio storico book I have quotes the vehicles of the M division as comming from SS stocks not army so confirming the M was a very "political" unit, my idea is the Tigers were in the pipeline but when the division was renamed Centauro II after the overthrow of Mussolini, and took a less political connotation by diluting the MSVN component the Germans lost interest in delivering them.