When you hear the Italian Army of WW2, many people think of the North Africa Campaign,
but did you know that more Italian soldiers served in Europe. Either on different fronts or during occupation of different parts of Europe.
In this video we gonna talk about the Italian army of WW2 in Europe.
We've arrived at a major power, or a major player, during WW2 in Europe.
In this video you will learn about the Mussolini's Italian army of 1940-1943.
Keep watching.
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Let's start!
On paper Italy had a large army.
When Italy entered WW2, with its declaration of war to the Allies on 10 June 1940, it would
count for 1,630,000 men and later would rise to a number of around 2.5 million men.
Italy's army was capable of fighting a war with one campaign, like it was the case during
WW1.
Despite all the hardships Italy's army managed to sustain its struggle against the Austro-Hungarians.
Before the outbreak of WW2 the Italian military had seen action in Ethiopia, Spain and Albania.
After Italy entered WW2 it would find its front in different parts of Europe: the Balkans
and the USSR.
Not to mention North Africa which is beyond the scope of this episode.
This prooved too much for Italy's resources.
When WW2 broke out the Italian Army consisted of 73 divisions made up of 106 infantry regiments;
12 regiments of Bersaglieri (light infantry); 10 regiments of Alpini (mountain troops);
12 regiments of cavalry; 5 tank regiments; 32 regiments of artillery and 19 regiments
of engineers.
As for the division structure: one Italian regiment comprised of two infantry regiments
and one artillery regiment.
This binary type of division turned out to be a major weakness.
On paper Italy showed to have plenty of divisions but in reality these were much smaller.
On top of that only 20 out of the 73 divisions were fully manned and equipped.
Much of Italy's weaponry was absolete: of the near 8,000 artillery pieces around 250
were made after 1930.
Much dated from the First World War.
As for the 700 tanks the vast majority were tankettes: tiny two-man vehicles with armor
too thin to stop enemy bullets.
Newer models were built but still...
“The Italian Army was basically an infantry force with very little mechanisation and a
shortage of the basic requirements for modern war.
Much of the equipment dated back to the turn of the century and the First World War, and
many of even the more modern items were approaching obsolescence.”
So let's take a look at the Italian uniform and weapons.
The basic Italian infantry uniform saw only a few changes during the 1940-1943 period.
The uniform was a mixture of old and new influences.
The continental uniform was a grey-green wool tunic with an open collar; a green-grey cotton
shirt and tie.
Some men worse a turtle-neck sweater underneath the tunic.
The M1933 tunic replaced the M1909 WW1 tunic with a high collar.
A later version, the M1937, was slightly different.
Two later variants in 1940 and 1942 were produced but throughout the war you'd see men with
older tunics.
The newer versions were often made of inferior material.
Officer tunics were of better quality.
The men also had a single-breasted greatcoat which were virtually useless in the cold temperatures
in Greece and later the USSR.
Rank and file men also wore a green-grey woollen cape.
In the snow white coveralls were worn.
When traveling through Europe on its way to Russia Italian general Giovanni Messe bought
Romanian fleece hats for his troops.
Speaking of headgear: the Italian field cap was named the bustina.
The mountain troops (Alpini) wore a brimmed felt hat.
The Bersaglieri had a special hat with black feathers.
These feathers also appeared on their helmets.
Regular infantry had the M1933 steel helmet which replaced the old M1916 Adrian helmet
although some second-line Italian troops in WW2 still wore the obsolete WW1 helmet.
Italian soldiers wore baggy trousers with puttees.
These puttees weren't wrapped all the way up the lower leg, but somewhat half-way you
see.
And to be honest...
It looks ridiculous.
I thought Italians were people of style.
This ain't no style.
It looks more like a vagebond.
It brings me to this enormous dilemma.
Which is worse?
The Italian half-ass-puttee-baggy-trousers-thing ór the Hungarian tapered trousers.
Remember those?
These also looked wretched.
Anyway, I read the puttees often came undone in battle and caused great annoyance among
Italian soldiers.
And that wasn't the only thing.
The Italian soldier had the M1912 hobnailed low ankle boot.
These were often low quality and nicknamed 'cardboard shoes'.
Officers had better quality ankle boots with leather gaiters, or puttees or socks.
Yeah, socks...
Don't get me started.
Let's take a look at weaponry and equipment.
The Italian service rifle was either the M1891 Mannlicher Carcano or the modernised M1891/1938
version.
Italian soldiers had a grey-green leather belt with two leather cartridge pouches supported
by a strap.
They also had a bayonet, knapsack, gasmask, canvas haversack, aluminium waterbottle and
a tent section which could be worn as a poncho or joined with others to make a light tent.
As for ranks.
Here you see the different ranks of the Royal Italian Army.
There was also the Italian Carabinieri: the national gendarmerie of Italy who were recognized
by their bicorne hats.
And we must not forget the Voluntary Militia for National Security (Milizia Volontaria
per la Sicurezza Nazionale; MVSN) a.k.a. the Blackshirts.
Originally the paramilitary wing of Mussolini's National Fascist Party, these men wore the
standard Italian uniform but with a black shirt and tie, hence the name Blackshirts.
Something for a future video perhaps.
As for foreign troops in Italian uniform there existed a Croatian Legion and also units of
Albanian and Cossack volunteers.
The first action of WW2 the Italian Army saw was the invasion of France.
Italy invaded France when the French surrender to Germany was well on its way: 20 June 1940.
In the western Alsp the Itlians attacked and along the Mediterranean coastline.
The Italians didn't make much progress and only captured some villages.
Bad planning and organisation was the cause of this poor performance.
In October 1940 the Italians launched an invasion of Greece from Italian-held Albania.
The Greeks mustered a larger force than expected and put up stuff resistance and the Italians
were driven back into Albania.
Hitler broke the deadlock when invading both Greece and Yugoslavia in April 1941.
After this the Italians occupied a large portion of the country.
The Italians also took part in the Axis invasion of Yugoslavia.
I've made an overview episode of Italy's occupation of parts of Yugoslavia.
Check the link in the top right corner.
When Germany invaded the USSR on 22 Juni 1941 Italian dictator Benito Mussolini didn't hesitate
and pledged his support.
The Italian corps that was sent to the USSR was named: Italian Expeditionary Corps in
Russia (Corpo di Spedizione Italiano in Russia, or CSIR).
One year later the The Italian Army in Russia (Italian: Armata Italiana in Russia; ARMIR)
was set up.
There was the infamous Charge of the Savoia Cavalleria at Izbushensky.
The Italian 8th Army which suffered terrible losses at the Don Front at the end of 1942
where out of an army of 229,000 men, 85,000 were KIA or MIA and 30,000 WIA.
Defence of Italy – That Summer in 1943 the Allied invasion of Sicily took place.
From there the Allies invaded the Italian main land.
In September 1943 Italy surrendered, but that wasn't the end of WW2 for Italy.
What happened after that is beyond the scope of this channel.
Perhaps you have some ideas about Italian WW2-related content you
want me to make.