I guess "completely worthless" may have been a little harsh...
If the Italian army would have been anywhere close to Germany's, then the Allies would have had quite a force to reckon with, not that they didn't have one already. I just saw the lack of a good SAW and apparently no heavy tank as two of their most glaring faults, but I guess leadership and divisions among the men should have been noted as well. Italy had many problems, but at one time, they had some 250,000 men staring down 40,000 British in Africa. The confused Italian retreat that followed caused a lot of men to be killed and captured. At times the Italians fought with a lot of heart and put of fierce resistance, so I guess I see a hint of a war machine. If they just could have got their act together, and better equiped themselves, I believe they had some potential.

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Weapons are cool.