I propose to diversify the purely urban gameplay
Stalingrad natural maps with the participation of Italians. (you can also add Hungarians and Romanians).
P.S. Here is a short article about how the Italians took part in the Battle of Stalingrad (English Wikipedia version).
Battle of Stalingrad
The situation for the Italian troops along the Don River remained stable until the Soviets launched Operation Saturn on 11 December 1942. The aim of this operation was the annihilation of the Italian, Hungarian, Romanian, and German positions along the Don River. The first stage of Operation Saturn was known as Operation Little Saturn. The aim of this operation was the complete annihilation of the Italian 8th Army.
The Soviet 63rd Army, backed by T-34 tanks and fighter-bombers, first attacked the weakest Italian sector. This sector was held on the right by the Ravenna and Cosseria infantry divisions. From the Soviet bridgehead at Mamon, 15 divisions—supported by at least 100 tanks—attacked these two divisions. Although outnumbered nine-to-one, the Italians resisted until 19 December, when ARMIR headquarters finally ordered the battered divisions to withdraw. By Christmas both divisions were driven back and defeated after bloody fighting.
Meanwhile, on 17 December 1942, the Soviet 21st Army attacked and defeated what remained of the Romanians to the right of the Italians. At about the same time, the Soviet 3rd Tank Army and parts of the Soviet_Union hit the Hungarians to the left of the Italians.
The Soviet 1st Guards Army then attacked the Italian center which was held by the 298th German, the Pasubio, the Torino, the Prince Amedeo Duke of Aosta, and the Sforzesca divisions. After eleven days of bloody fighting against overwhelming Soviet forces, these divisions were surrounded and defeated and Russian air support resulted in the death of General Paolo Tarnassi, commander of the Italian armoured force in Russia. General Enrico Pezzi, commander of the Italian Air Force in Russia, was also killed during the airlift to a besieged Italian garrison in Chertkovo
On 14 January 1943, after a short pause, the 6th Soviet Army attacked the Alpin] divisions of the Italian Mountain Corps. These units had been placed on the left flank of the Italian army and were until then still relatively unaffected by the battle. However, the Alpini position had turned critical after the collapse of the Italian center, the collapse of the Italian right flank, and the simultaneous collapse of the Hungarian troops to the left of the Alpini. The Julia Division and Cuneense Division were destroyed. Members of the 1 Alpini Regiment, part of Cuneese Division, burned the regimental flags to keep them from being captured. Part of the Tridentina Division and other withdrawing troops managed to escape the encirclement.
On 21 January, Italians caused a friendly fire incident when NW of Stalingrad they met with a retreating party of the German 385th Infantry Division, during which a group of their troops blew up with their hand grenades the command vehicle of Generalmajor, having mistaken it for a Soviet armoured car, killing the general inside.
On 26 January, after heavy fighting which resulted in the Battle of Nikolajewka, the Alpini remnants breached the encirclement and reached new defensive positions set up to the west by the Germans. But, by this time, the only operational fighting unit was the Tridentina Division and even it was not fully operational. The Tridentina Division had led the final breakout assault at Nikolajewka. Many of the troops who managed to escape were frostbitten, critically ill, and deeply demoralized.
Overall, about 130,000 Italians had been surrounded by the Soviet offensive. According to Italian sources, about 20,800 soldiers died in the fighting, 64,000 were captured, and 45,000 were able to withdraw. When the surviving Italian troops were eventually evacuated to Italy, the Fascist regime tried to hide them from the populace, so appalling was their appearance after surviving the Russian Front.
