We are talking about Alpinis, San Marcos and Bersaglieri not any second rate troops.
Please stay realistic and to the topic not all Italian troops were inferior!
8.Manchaster: 1st Line TA
2.KOMR: War Formed (15.01.1940)
3.KOMR: War Formed (01.07.1940 !)
Hardly first line troops.
The rest is also debatable through the lack of training.
We are doing hairsplitting!
The troops which will defending Malta weren't any better then the airborne, Alpinis, San Marco or Bersaglieri!
This troops could land with the support of BB guns and had the possibilioty to land smal tanks, the defenders of Malta weren't anything special only average troops!
No-one is claiming that the malta forces were anythng special, but then, the forces that defested the Italians in Cyrenaica werent special either. And the forces that defended Crete and almost defeated the german airborne and mountain units were the same troops, less their heavy equipment. So this is not about tropp quality, though in the end it is. The Italaians were quite effective fighters, but their organization let them down,as well as other factors, and no amount of elite training could overcome that.
So if the Australians (nothing special) could defeat an Italian fortified defender whilst outnumbered 2:1 on the attack, why couldnt the maltese defenders, whilst operating from dug in positions on the defensive not defeat 3 or 4 times their number of italian attackers. Therir forebears in 1565 certainly did exactly that, and anyone who knows the maltese (as i do) knows just how tough and good soldiers these guys are and were
There were 5000 regulars defending as at the beginning of june. On June 3 the Malta Milita (KOMR) was formed, and by the end of June had over 3000 men enlisted. These were poorly equipped at the start, but trained pretty hard, and gradyually received weappons ober the coming months. There were over 150 pillboxees and additional strongpoints laid around the shoreline, and additional troops being inducted from the local population all the time (one source says about 9000 at peak strength).
In any event malta by August was defended by about 8000 men, 5000 regulars and 3000 volunteers. Very similar numbers to the defenders of 1565.
Im not claimimng that the defenders of Malta were anything special, but then neither was the 6th Aus. It had gattereed its manpower in 1939, but the division only formed in March 1940. It went into action in December, initially defeating over 40000 defenders at Bardia. It again led the assault into Tobruk, where it was again outnumbered by at least 2:1 in troops. There were Bersglieri present at both those battles, and Italian elite units were also present at the debacles of Sidi barrani and Beda Fomm. At Derna, the Australians faced the best Infantry in North Africa at the time, including significant elements of 10th Bersaglieri Regt. There is no question that at Derna, and at Keren, the italians fought tenaciously and at times effectively (read the article and you will see it says that). But they were always poorly led, sometimes because of poor leaders, sometimes because there were not enough leaders in "middle management". Their tactics were poor, and sometimes their equipment and kit was poor. Its a credit to the Italian soldiers that they fought as well as they did.
Italian alpine units were present for the offensive into Greece. Initially this saw 8 divs attacking 1 2/3 greek divs.
The OB for that initial offensive consisted of an Army Corps to each theatre, formed from the existing forces occupying Albania. The stronger XXV Ciamuria Corps in Epirus consisted of the 23rd Ferrara, the 51st Siena Infantry Divisions, the 131st Centauro Armoured Division. In total, this was 30,000 men and 163 tanks. They intended to drive towards Ioannina, flanked on the right by a small brigade-sized "Littoral Group" (Raggruppamento Litorale) of 5,000 men along the coast, and to its left by the elite Julia Alpine Division, which would advance through the Pindus Mountains.
The XXVI Corizza Corps in the Macedonian sector consisted of the 29th Piemonte, the 49th Parma Infantry Divisions, and the 19th Venezia Division, for a total of 31,000 men. It was initially intended to maintain a defensive stance. In total, the force facing the Greeks comprised about 85,000 men under the command of Lt. General Sebastiano Visconti Prasca.
The Greek forces in the immediate area at the outbreak of the war were the 8th Infantry Division, fully mobilized and prepared for forward defence by its commander, some corps troops including the "Pindus Detachment" of regimental size under Colonel Konstantinos Davakis, the 9th Infantry Division (partially mobilized), and the 4th Infantry Brigade in Western Macedonia. The Greek forces amounted to about 35,000 men. so were badly outnumbered from the outset.
Julia Alpine Division showed great promise in this offesnive, but was eventually brought to ground by the greeks, with some difficulty. Once Julias resistance started to collapse, the entire front seemed to also falter. So I dont dispute that the Alpini were better quality trrops, but this is no different to the situation faced by the Knights Hospitaller in 1565. the Ottoman Janissaries numbered about 10000 in the Sultans army, yet were defeated by the unseseasoned levies of malta. in this case the defenders of malta were somewhat better trained and equipped (except for MT) than the 6Aus, which as previously shown had been able to defeat Italaian forces up to twice its own size, including Bersaglieri elite troops. They were to do it again in the following year at tobruk, defending against the germans.
Anyway, really would like these ships you are referring to so i can check their characterisitcs and numbers available.