1941 1942 Associated articles The Auto-Saharan Companies (Compagnie Auto-Avio-Sahariane) were Italian military units specialised in long range patrols of the Sahara Desert.

Companies were formed around expert soldiers (called "Arditi Camionettisti"), riding AB 41 armored cars and FIAT and Lancia light trucks customized to operate in the desert.

[2][3][4] The enemy who were forty-four strong in two armoured fighting vehicles and five trucks had the advantage of close co-operation with aircraft and of being armed with Breda guns (Auto-avio sahariana).In this victorious skirmish[6] British members of the Long Range Desert Group (LRDG) suffered one man killed and two taken prisoner, included Major Clayton, and the loss of three desert vehicles.

Under Dal Pozzo leadership these units made an incursion inside Egypt and in November 1942 defeated the British raiders in two small skirmishes.

[9] After El Alamein they lost their Libyan troops, but they were enlarged to 5000 men (all Italians) in Tunisia as Saharian Group ("Raggruppamento Sahariano") under the orders of General Alberto Mannerini.

Following the successful experience made by Italian units operating together with the Francoists in the Spanish Civil War, the installation of 20mm Breda machineguns on medium trucks began in 1939.

The standard Italian anti-tank cannon Ansaldo-Bohler 47/32 was used by Saharan motorized units, mainly mounted on revolving platforms on LANCIA 3 RO lorries but also on AS.37 or AS.42.

The vehicles most commonly used by Saharan Companies were the following: Every "compagnia" was supported until November 1942, by 3 Caproni Ca.309 aircraft, nicknamed "Ghibli" (Desert Wind).

[15] The Ca.309 (with a 3 crew) was a low-wing cantilever monoplane with a piston engine fitted to each wing, and was intended to serve as a reconnaissance and ground-attack aircraft.