Auto - Saharan Company The Auto - Saharan Companies ( " Compagnie Auto - Avio - Sahariane " ) were Italian military units specialised in long range patrols of the Sahara Desert . The units operated from the late 1930s to the Italian surrender in 1943 . History . The Saharan companies were first formed in 1923 with the purpose of patrolling the space among the Italian forts in the Libyan Sahara desert . In 1938 the five existent companies were reorganized as motorized units with their own aerial support . The companies received new off - road vehicles and a light aircraft section ( manned by " Regia Aeronautica " personnel ) . In March 1941 five new " Compagnie Sahariane " were formed . Two aircraft sections ( " Sezioni Aeroplani " ) were formed in order to operate together with the Saharan companies . Each section had four planes for reconnaissance and liaison , the most effective of which was the twin engined Caproni Ca . 309 " Ghibli " . In concept , the Auto - Saharan Company was similar to the British Long Range Desert Group ( LRDG ) which was created ( as a partial copy ) in 1940 , except that the Company also had the support of its own air arm to assist in long range reconnaissance and ground attack . A small battle with the British LRDG happened on January 31 , 1941 near the oasis of Kufra , in southeastern Italian Libya . The British were intercepted by the " Compagnia Autosahariana di Cufra " in the Gebel Sherif valley . The LRDG had one man killed and three men captured , including Major Clayton , and three trucks destroyed during the battle . The Italians losses were five killed and three wounded , and one truck was abandoned . Four member of the LRDG escaped by walking to safety in ten days with no food and only a water can between them . The patrol arrived back in Egypt on 9 February ; it had covered about , experiencing the loss of six trucks , four by enemy action and two by mechanical breakdowns . One vehicle with a broken rear axle had been towed about before it could be repaired . Total casualties were three dead and three captured . Major Clayton was awarded the Distinguished Service Order . The " Auto - avio - Sahariane Compagnie " fought against the LRDG in 1941 and 1942 , but their activity was reduced because of lack of gasoline . Under Del Pozzo leadership these units did an incursion inside Egypt and in November 1942 defeated the British raiders in two small skirmishes . After El Alamein they lost their Libyan troops , but they were enlarged to 5000 men ( all Italians ) in Tunisia as " Raggruppamento Sahariano " under general Mannerini orders The Mannerini Raggruppamento fought hard in the area of Mareth and Sfax ( Operation Pugilist ) , till the final Italian surrender in Africa in May 1943 . Organisation . In 1940 a " Compagnia Sahariana " , according to regulations , was composed of four platoons ( one HQ , two motorized and one machine guns ) , the strength was 4 officers , 7 NCOs and 32 Italian enlisted together with 77 Libyan enlisted . The company operated with 16 AS37 off - road cars and 3 trucks ( FIAT 634 ) . One of the AS37 in the HQ platoon was equipped with radio in order to maintain real time liaison with the aircraft during operations . In 1942 the organisation of the companies was revised , other than the HQ platoon , a company was made up with one infantry motorized platoon , one machine guns motorized platoon , one 20mm cannons motorized platoon and one 47 / 32 anti - tank cannons motorized platoon . They could rely on 7 off - road vehicles ( AS . 37 or AS . 42 ) and 10 trucks ( LANCIA 3 RO ) . A single company was manned by 5 officers , 3 NCOs , 2 Italian enlisted and 133 Libyan enlisted . Weapons . The most common and versatile weapon used by Auto - Saharan Companies was the " Cannone - Mitragliera Breda " 20mm mod . 35 . Following the successful experience made by Italian units operating together with the nationalists in the Spanish civil war , the installation of 20mm Breda machineguns on medium trucks was begun in 1939 . The gun - carriage , without its legs , was made fast to the vehicle with a pin . During the war the 20mm Breda machineguns utilized different kind of ammunitions , initially were available HE air defence ammunitions and HE piercing ammunitions . At the end of 1942 armor piercing incendiary ammunition was also in use . 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 47 / 32 was able to fire various kind of HE , piercing and piercing - exploding ammunitions . Maximum useful range as an anti - tank cannon was 700 meters , the piercing power at 650 meters with 30 degrees impact angle was 40 mm , at 1600 meters the piercing power was reduced to only 30 mm . Since the beginning of the war , due to the progress in tank design , the usefulness as an anti - tank weapon of the 47 / 32 was very limited , and it proved effective only against light tanks and armoured cars . Vehicles . The vehicles most commonly used by Saharan Companies were the following : Air support . Every " compagnia " was supported until November 1942 by 3 airplanes , model Caproni Ca . 309 and nicknamed " Ghibli " . In Tunisia the " Raggruppamento sahariano " had no air support , but one Ca . 309 , left in Libya because damaged , was repaired and remained active in Africa until May 1943 . 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 . It had 3 × 7 . 7 mm ( . 303 in ) Breda SAFAT machine guns and could drop bombs for up to 330 kg .