Hello commander!
We are back with some more news about the Tribute to the Liberation of Italy expansion. Like the busy bees we are, our much-appreciated Strike Team is currently hard at work testing and helping us fine-tune our latest offering. We can’t tell you - yet - when the expansion will launch (read the full reason at the bottom of this post… *wink*).
Instead, today we take to the sky with the two new Aces featured in our upcoming expansion. Rather uniquely, we have our high-scoring pilots squaring off from the same nation. These daring flyboys fought for two different sides during the war: Mussolini’s Aeronautica Nazionale Repubblicana (ANR, or National Republican Air Force) and the Allied Aviazione Cobelligerante Italiana (ACI, or Italian Co-belligerent Air Force).
Let’s welcome to the stage ANR’s Tenente Ugo Drago and ACI’s Sergente Maggiore Teresio Martinoli.
If you want to read more about the airpower included in the Tribute to the Liberation of Italy expansion, check out this detailed DevBlog here.
Ugo Drago
Lieutenant (Tenente) Ugo Drago is our first Ace, fighting for the Axis ANR. He started as a biplane pilot on the CR.42 Falco, scoring his first confirmed kill during the Greek-Italian War where he shot down a Greek biplane fighter. Three weeks after this feat, he single-handedly fought off five enemy biplanes, escaping by the skin of his teeth.
Transferring to a Macchi C.200 and deployed in North Africa in 1941, by the end of the year he had flown 150 missions. When the Armistice was signed in 1943, he didn’t directly join the RSI. Instead, he tried to contact his family but was arrested by the Germans, who pressured him hard to fly in the Luftwaffe. He refused, and as a result, was shipped to a prison camp in Germany. On the way, he escaped. When hearing of Mussolini’s air force, the ANR, he reappeared. Immediately reinstated as a pilot officer, he flew first on the G.55 Centauro before transferring to a German Me-109.
He ended his World War II career with 17 claimed kills, 4 of which he achieved by flying biplanes.
In Steel Division 2, Ugo Drago is featured with the G.55 Centauro.
Teresio Martinoli
Much like his Axis counterpart, Sergeant Major (Sergente Maggiore) Teresio Martinoli started as a biplane pilot for the Regia Aeronautica, once more in the cockpit of a CR.42 Falco fighter. He claimed his first three victories at the beginning of Italy’s entry into World War II in 1940, including a French bomber over Tunisia. He followed his first kill by shooting down an RAF Gloster Gladiator later in the year over Egypt.
He too transferred to the Macchi C.200, flying fighter sweeps over Malta, during which he claimed four British planes in just two months. He claimed a further four in 1942 before rotating back to North Africa, where he shot down four more. Defending Sicily during the Allied invasion in 1943, after the Armistice he joined the Aviazione Cobelligerante Italiana (ACI). He flew missions against the Luftwaffe over the Balkan, where he fought and shot down at least one more plane.
Martinoli’s total of 22 kills painted on his plane included four different nations, from both sides: France, UK, USA and Germany. During the war, Martinoli shot down an eclectic array of planes, from Gloster Gladiators to Hawker Hurricanes, Spitfires, P-38 Lightning, a B-17 Flying Fortress, and even a Junkers Ju 52. On August 23rd, 1944, he died in an accidental crash while converting on P-39 Airacobra.
In Steel Division 2, Teresio Martinoli is featured with the C.205V Veltro.
Other news
In case you missed it, we have recently released two new free Reinforcement Packs: the new Kostriza map and Lucky 13, bringing two free divisions to our game.
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1810030/Steel_Division_2__Reinforcement_Pack_12__Kostritza/
If you want to read more about the Axis Panzerdivision Tatra and the Allied Task Force Butler, be sure to check out this blog post here.
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1810031/Steel_Division_2__Reinforcement_Pack_13__Lucky_13/
Until next time
That’s it for this week. We know you might be clamoring for more details about our upcoming Tribute to the Liberation of Italy expansion and the Nemesis: Raid on Drvar DLC, but you need to hang on tight a little bit longer.
What we can do is lift the tip of the veil on something else though. We have been hard at work on our secret project, and we are getting ready for a big call to arms in the very near future! Things are moving fast, so keep a very close eye on our Steam forums and Eugen forums, or check our Facebook and Twitter channels. Looking for an online game in the meantime? Visit the kick-ass Discord server or Reddit page.
New battlefields lie around the corner, commander. Get ready!
