209th Coastal Division (Italy)
The 209th Coastal Division was an infantry division of the Royal Italian Army during the Second World War. The division was stationed in the Apulia coastal region of southern Italy.
Coastal divisions were second line units, usually formed from men in their forties and fifties and intended to perform non-combatant and second line duties. Recruited locally, they were often commanded by officers called out of retirement. Their equipment was also second rate. The Prime Minister of Italy, Benito Mussolini, had hoped to obtain large quantities of arms and equipment from the disbanded Vichy French army, but this often proved to have been sabotaged or else arrived with no ammunition.
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