Can someone explain me what was so good about the Alpinis. I know they're good for mountains but, i need more information on how they were trained, how they fought etc.
Have you had a quick look here? Alpini - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia I didn't think they were that good as in June 1940 when they attacked France they were soundly beaten.
Yup the Alpes Maritimes . Divisione No 1 "Superga" suffered 2000 cases of frost-bite and 600 men reported missing or captured. Source After The Battle Blitzkrieg In The West pages 577 to 581 Oops , sorry the Superga were a normal Infantry Division not Alpinis. Here's something about the Alpinis from that book. Sorry it's a bit blurred, it's not your eyes...honest.
I thought so, because Alpinis were very very good on the Mountain...Basically Italy's Mountain Special Forces
As with the rest of the Italian army, given modern weapons and solid leadership, I am sure they would have performed outstanding feats. Mountain troops from the various countries have done what normal troops would give up on.
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!!
Your english is just fine Jack. Regarding the Itallian divisions, were they all rasied within a particular region?
Normal infantry division had geographical names but troops were raised from all italy, only alpini had a regional recruitment. battalion's names took origins from the valley where soldiers live
Hi JAck, it's nice to hear positive stories for a change about some Italian units in WWII. My Brother-in-Law is Italian and would appreciate knowing more. PS Welcome to the site and best regards--C.
Hey Jack. You may want to check out the various threads I have posted about the Italian military in the North Africa and the Mediterranean - World War II Forums Forum .
There is an excellent paper titled The Italian Army in WWII on the web which explains the immense handicaps the Italian Army operated under in World War II. The readers of this thread will almost certainly find it interesting. It also covers the Alpinis divisions Italy raised in some depth which is reproduced here: ALPINI DIVISIONS a. General—The Alpine division, designed to operate above 6000’, was different from the mountain infantry division. It was an elite unit made up of men native to Italy’s mountainous regions, and was ideally suited for waging war in the Alps surrounding Italy’s northern borders, The standard of physique and training was high and the artillerymen were expert in the manhandling of pack artillery. The regiments had their own detachments of artillery, engineers, and auxiliary services permanently attached. This made the regiment self-supporting and capable of independent action for a considerable period. Decentralization did not stop at regiments; Alpini battalions and companies were detached from their parent units and regrouped with artillery units into regroupments. This procedure was made easier by the existence of independent transport right down to company organization. b. Composition. The Alpine division consisted of a headquarters, two Alpine regiments, one Alpine artillery regiment, one mixed engineer battalion, one chemical warfare company, one supply section, and one medical section, decentralized to regiments. The table of organization provided for two reserve battalions (one for each infantry regiment). In practice replacements were drawn from the depot of the division as required. No allowance was therefore made for reserve battalions. Pack mules provided transportation. A large sanitation unit was required due to disposal problems in rocky terrain. c. They saw little combat in that role though. There was some use in the invasions of France in 1940 and Yugoslavia in 1941. After that they mostly performed occupation duties. Three of them were sent to the Soviet Union to fight in the Caucasus Mountains, but instead ended up in the unending Russian Steppe, where they were ill suited and were virtually annihilated. There were six Alpini divisions.
