Hi to all!


I'm starting to write in this forum 'cause i really appreciate the preparation and the culture of all the members, especially about Italy at war. Is the first place (in english) where i read that italian soldiers were bad equipped and bad leaded instead italians are spaghetti-eater, cowards and bla bla bla.....


As my first contribution to the discussion i would like to talk about Alpini.
The first thing to say is that the recruitment was on regional scale. So, the sons serve in the same regiment of the fathers (maybe whit the same officers) and the brothers fight together. This generate a strong esprit de corps whit no equal in any italian formation. An example of the alpini behavior in combat was the russian campaign in 1942. 3 Alpini divisions, Tridentina, Julia and Cuneense were sent to fight in Soviet Union. In Russia, instead of being deployed in the Caucasus mountains as expected, the Alpini were tasked with holding a front on the plains of the Don river. As a result of this disastrous strategic decision, troops armed, trained, and equipped for mountain warfare were pitted in the plains against tanks and mechanized infantry, to counter which they were neither equipped nor trained. Despite this, the Alpini held the front until January 1943 when, due to the collapse of the Axis front, they were encircled by the advancing Soviet Army. The Alpini were able to break the encirclement and fight their way towards the new line of the front established after the Axis retreat (in the battle of Nikolajewka). Only about one third of the Tridentina division (4250 survivors of 15000 troops deployed) and one tenth of the Julia (1200/15000) were able to survive this odyssey. The Cuneense division was annihilated.


Sorry for my very bad english!!