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Italian 10th Army 1940

Discussion in 'North Africa: Western Desert Campaigns 1940 to Ope' started by Za Rodinu, Jun 21, 2008.

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  1. Za Rodinu

    Za Rodinu Aquila non capit muscas

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    Fallen eagles: the Italian 10th Army in the opening campaign in the western desert, June 1940 - December 1940.

    The Italian Army developed a sound and unique combined arms doctrine for mechanized warfare in 1938. This new doctrine was called the "War of Rapid Decision." It involved the use of mechanized warfare in the Italian version of the blitzkrieg. This doctrine evolved from the lessons learned in the Italian-Ethiopian War of 1935 to 1936 and the Spanish Civil War of 1936-1939. With Italy's entry into World War II, military operations ensued along the Libyan-Egyptian border between the Italian 10th Army and a much smaller British 7th Army. The Italian Army in Libya outnumbered the British Army in Egypt by a ratio of four to one. The setting seemed to be ideal for the employment of the War of Rapid Decisions. Moreover, Marshal Rodolfo Graziani, who was the commander of the Italian 10th Army in North Africa during its first campaign in the western desert had pioneered this new form of mechanized warfare during the Ethiopian War. Surprisingly, the Italian forces in Libya did not employ their new doctrine, reverting instead to more conventional techniques of "mass." It was Graziani's failure to utilize the doctrine which he had helped to develop that led to Italy's embarrassing defeat in 1941.

    http://cgsc.cdmhost.com/cgi-bin/showfile.exe?CISOROOT=/p4013coll2&CISOPTR=597&filename=591.pdf

    480 kb pdf
     
  2. JackSEWing

    JackSEWing Member

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    actually it was very difficult to start a "rapid decision" campaign in the north african desert. First of all, General Graziani was not an armoured troops general but only a colonial one. It was very skilled to fight guerrilla but not regular troops. second, italian army moves almost only on feet and british units were motorized. you can see that despite numeric superiority we are talking about a fight between men on foot and men on tanks. Only whit an army-air force cooperation (never reached) italian army could defeat british troops
     
  3. Jaeger

    Jaeger Ace

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    Thank you Za. This was an absolute find !!
     

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