Italian Army

[Dani]

Quoted from that site:

6.12.1940
Smg. “Bagnolini” attacks and sinks the english cruiser “HMS Calypso” (first italian success in the conflict).

12.19.1941
Smg. " Scire’ " brings to the port of Alessandria (Egypt), the assault team who heavly damage “HMS Valiant” and “HMS Queen Elizabeth” (heroic action of Adm. Luigi Durand de La Penne).

March 1942
Italian Submarines sink several U.S. merchant (68.000 tonn.) close to U.S coasts.

April 1943
“Smg. Da Vinci” and " Smg. Finzi", for the first time, conduct missions in the Indian Ocean.

Italian Submarines WWII Statistics
Active Boats 172
Missions done 1750
Miles done 2.500.000
Days at sea 24.000
Attacks done 173
Torpedos launched 427

Ships sunk from italian submarines
Merchant Ships 132 (665.317 tonn.)
Military Ships 18 (28.950 tonn.)

Italian Submarines lost
Mediterrean Sea 88
Other Sectors 40

[Firefly]

@Erwin Schätzer(argentina)

in the site: "The stories of (Italian) cowardice carried in the British press, like all things else in wartime, were designed for home consumption by civilians."Siege: Malta 1940-1943 by Ernle Bradford.

so confusing,italians are good troops?? i thank they were cowards :?

The Italians in N Africa in 1941 surrendered in droves to the British, hundreds of thousands, the British were so outnumbered they only had 1 guard for about 500 Italians!

[Sturmtruppen]

@Firefly

[quote=Erwin Schätzer(argentina)]in the site: "The stories of (Italian) cowardice carried in the British press, like all things else in wartime, were designed for home consumption by civilians."Siege: Malta 1940-1943 by Ernle Bradford.

so confusing,italians are good troops?? i thank they were cowards :?

The Italians in N Africa in 1941 surrendered in droves to the British, hundreds of thousands, the British were so outnumbered they only had 1 guard for about 500 Italians![/quote]

:lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

[system]

Oh the Irony, I dont think he understands

[Sturmtruppen]

@Bluffcove

Oh the Irony, I dont think he understands

be coward with brits,that`s an irony!!! :lol: :lol: :lol:

[system]

Please mods please, Who ran off lets be honest! he cant talk about cowardice. Mount William.

Please Mods he is suggesting my armed forces are cowardly thats an afront i cant stand here and take when it is clearly the reciprocal that is true.

[Sturmtruppen]

@Bluffcove

Please mods please, Who ran off lets be honest! he cant talk about cowardice. Mount William.

Please Mods he is suggesting my armed forces are cowardly thats an afront i cant stand here and take when it is clearly the reciprocal that is true.

lol, :lol: .

you sound like a boy of two years,- mom! mom!,my brother is hitting me!!-

lol.
you want to disturb the mods with stupid things,just because you want to make the mods my enemies.

please please mods,he said- Oh the Irony, I dont think he understands -
he makes me cry,oh please mods mods!!!

:lol:

[Firefly]

The Italian Military on the whole in WW2 was woefull. In N Africa they were consistently outmanouvered and out fought by a much smaller British Force. The Italians were afrais to venture of the roads and away from the sources of water and stockpiles of food. The British simply outflanked them time and time again, turning up in their rear and forcing their surrender.

Of the units that did do well one was the Ariette, which was part of the force that Rommell commanded. It wasnt so much that the Italians were cowards, its just that they were a mainly conscripted and woefully trained force.

[Sturmtruppen]

@Firefly

It wasnt so much that the Italians were cowards, its just that they were a mainly conscripted and woefully trained force.

the russians had conscript,but they weren`t cowards.

[Man_of_Stoat]

@Erwin Schätzer(argentina)

[quote=Firefly] It wasnt so much that the Italians were cowards, its just that they were a mainly conscripted and woefully trained force.

the russians had conscript,but they weren`t cowards.[/quote]

When faced with a choice between possible death from German bullets and certain death from NKVD bullets, it’s not a hard choice to be brave! Thousands and thousands did cross the lines to surrender to the Germans though, and many Hiwis (Hilfswilligers) were serving in German uniform.

[Walther]

I strongly have to contradict the opinion that the Italian troops were cowardly. IMO, many Italians didn´t really agree with Mussolini´s notions to recreate the Roman empire. So the situation for many Italian soldiers was “WTF am I doing here?”. Another thing was that their equipment was very bad, especially machine guns (Breda 37 anyone?) or the overcomplicated little 40 mm mortar (though the Beretta SMG was very good).
Many Italians chose to hide in the mountains (their country is quite suited to partisan warfare) and to form “Bandas”, armed partisan groups.
After all the Italians managed to do the one thing us Germans didn´t manage to do: getting rid of their dictator by themselves.

Jan

[Sturmtruppen]

@Walther

I strongly have to contradict the opinion that the Italian troops were cowardly. IMO, many Italians didn´t really agree with Mussolini´s notions to recreate the Roman empire. So the situation for many Italian soldiers was “WTF am I doing here?”. Another thing was that their equipment was very bad, especially machine guns (Breda 37 anyone?) or the overcomplicated little 40 mm mortar (though the Beretta SMG was very good).
Many Italians chose to hide in the mountains (their country is quite suited to partisan warfare) and to form “Bandas”, armed partisan groups.
After all the Italians managed to do the one thing us Germans didn´t manage to do: getting rid of their dictator by themselves.

Jan

yes,they could have bad weapons and morale,but when they fought with british soldiers in afrika,they were numbers from 500 vs 20 (for example).

that guys had weapons,no rocks,they were lots of more numbers.

[Voluntary_Escaper]

I recall reading that the notion of Italian cowardice was a myth, perhaps originating in propaganda and bolstered by subsequent British military successes.

The Italians were poorly led and badly employed, but apparently fought bravely at the soldier level in North Africa.

The BEF - poorly led - fled to Dunkirk and narrowly escaped the fate of many Italians in North Africa.

I have no national interest to declare, being a Brit, but it is a shame to denigrate the bravery and sacrifice of individial soldiers with a national stereotype.

[Tsolias]

@Voluntary_Escaper

but it is a shame to denigrate the bravery and sacrifice of individial soldiers with a national stereotype.

Couldn’t agree more.
The thing is that we only discuss the Italian’s army attitude in WWII .

[Sturmtruppen]

@wwt

http://www.comandosupremo.com/ItalianArmy.html

this great site has info about the italian army,thanks wwt!.there you have all about italian army.

[Voluntary_Escaper]

I recall reading that the Ariete division was regarded as one of Rommel’s top 4 divisions during the North Africa campaigns.

It formed the post-Alamein rearguard and was wiped out.

[Sturmtruppen]

@Voluntary_Escaper

I recall reading that the Ariete division was regarded as one of Rommel’s top 4 divisions during the North Africa campaigns.

It formed the post-Alamein rearguard and was wiped out.

one of th four…

[Natxo]

Hello.
Commando supremo is a great website.
Abisinia was not the first big one. Italian army conquered Libia from the Ottoman empire at the beginning of the XX century.
Italian army fought greatbattles in the first world war and that was a big one war, I think.
History has always been madein London or Paris, and the Italian army has been injuriated for his actuations in ww2. The real question is not if the italian army was or was not a really good army. The question is that the Regio Esercito did a good job with the materials which it had.

[Sturmtruppen]

great site,yep

[Enzo_Guy]

Did Mussolini have a personal body guard, I can never seem to find anything on Mussolini’s armies, just stuff on thedictator himself