User blog comment:Dark is Near/Blackshirts vs Gestapo/@comment-4661256-20130504012134

El Alamein's "WWII" Edges:

 Melee: Buttstroking vs. Dress Dagger:  If the Blackshirts don't have a signature blade, it means they won't be worrying about how to function in close combat - the Gestapo can use the butts of their guns as weapons too, and with too many options at your disposal, you can falter and make a bad decision. Plus, the buttstroking techniques of a modern military tend to be more forceful and lethal than more think, and a rifle butt has more reach than a dinky little dagger.

Edge: Blackshirts

 Handguns: Beretta vs. Walther:  Not a big difference here, especially if the Beretta is patterened after the Walther. Pistols have a slow reload in general, so the Beretta isn't harmed too severely in that respect. Yeah, the Walther is concealable, but ... meh. The Beretta is more reliable, and that one extra round per mag gives it a tiny advantage here. It doesn't really count for much. Both teams bring in really mediocre handguns.

Edge: Blackshirts

 Submachine Guns: Beretta Model 38 vs. MP40:  The Beretta has a faster rate of fire, meaning you can force your opponents to keep their heads down under a heavier concentration of bullets. The Beretta also has 50 m extra effective range, which is a nice range cushion to allow the Blackshirts the opening volley as the fighting gets closer-up. As far as automatic weapons go, 2 bullets don't make a lot of a difference, so the MP40's 32 rounds don't count for much. The Beretta (surprisingly) beats out the MP40 here.

Edge: Blackshirts

 Rifles: Carcano vs. K98:  The Carcano has one extra round per mag than does the K98, and as far as bolt-actions go, that means one extra potential kill. It did have longer range too, but the K98's compatibility with telescopic sights and its extremely high reliability make it a better choice for precision in a long-range engagement.

Edge: Gestapo

 Automatics: Breda vs. STG:  This comparison shows the ultimate failure of the Italian war machine during WWII - they had good pistols and small arms, but those don't win battles. Heavy machine guns and other big armaments do, and the Breda's a piece of crap with a trigger. The fact that it's an LMG severely limits its mobility and really negates its range advantage. The STG, alternately, is much more mobile given it's an assault rifle, and it's more versatile and won't fall to pieces like the Breda. Easy win for the Gestapo.

Edge: Gestapo

WINNER: GESTAPO

For a second I was gonna vote for the Blackshirts, but then I came to my senses. The Blackshirts were just a bullying paramilitary used to get Mussolini to power. The Gestapo were just as nasty and just as quick to bully, but they had the funding, training, equipment, and ruthlessness to back up their sinsiter operations. The Night of the Long Knives was orchestrated to remove top officials Hitler didn't trust, and the Gestapo rampaged across Germany and killed nearly 200 people overnight. Mussolini's Blackshirts crumpled under an Allied North African advance. It has nothing to do with their performance as warriors - the Italians were very brave and determined fighters - but the German engineering and military leadership of that era is simply superior to that of the Italians of that era.