From the beginning of WWII Italy had conscription, which meant they had access to unlimited military power.
Italy and Germany were boasting to each other about their military. Mussolini announced in 1934 that he can mobilize 6 Million soldiers, in 1936 he increased the number to 8 million and in 1939 to 12 million. The need for a medium infantry tank urged FIAT and Ansaldo to design a brand new hull in 1938. Army specifications included a 37 mm (1.46 in) gun, two machine-guns and good armor. At first, the M11/39 came with strong influences from the British Vickers Matilda I and Cruiser I. |
The Royal Italian Army was sent to war after Germany defeated France. When the Royal Army entered the war, a campaign against France was set up in the Alps.
The commander of the Italian Royal army was King Vittorio Emanuele III. He was in fact also the commander of the Royal Air Force and the Royal Navy. However the Italian dictator, Benito Mussolini took on most of the military responsibilities. The formation of the Italian Royal Army was a pretty basic formation, the army consisted of 59 infantry divisions. There were numerous colonial formations of troops from Italian Libya and Italian East Africa near the division level. Armies came in below the Army Group. The armies had separate units that were commanded at the army level. The armies were typically composed of two or more corps. The corps were then divided into two or more divisions. A corps is a different name for several kinds of organizations. |
Soldiers On The Battle Field |
Bersaglieri:
They have always been a high-mobility light infantry unit, and can still be recognized by the distinctive wide brimmed hat that they wear Again like the Fucilieri the Bersaglieri wore the same Grey-Green uniform. However, instead of a standard green steel helmet, the Bersaglieri has Cockerel feathers on the helmet. Alpini:
The Alpini divisions was drawn from Italy's mountainous Alpine region and tended to be of superior quality. In addition to being well trained for mountain warfare, they were expert in the handling of pack artillery. The Alpini uniform was pretty much the same as the Fucilieri except it included unique headwear and boots. The Alpini uniform was mostly a Grey-Green colour, since most of the Alpini did their fighting in Europe. Fucilieri uniform: Standard Grey-Green woollen uniform The woollen uniform was the standard uniform for the Italian army. The Each uniform was worn for different battles. Fucilieri was worn during the invasion of France, in Albania, Greece and Yugoslavia and lastly on the Russian front. |
Operation Barbarossa
The Battle Of BritainSome may be surprised to learn Italy participated in the Battle of Britain. In October 1940, Mussolini sent approximately 200 aircraft's, including 73 Fiat BR.20 Stork medium bombers, into occupied Belgium to conduct Italy’s share of the bombing of England. Because of the inferior quality of the Italian aircraft against their British rivals, Italian sorties with just 1,500 pounds of bombs per aircraft, had to be conducted at night in daylight raids. Italian pilots also found British radar a difficult obstacle to overcome. Within four months, the number of Italian BR.20 Storks in the battle had been cut by 25% due to British interceptions. At the unsuccessful conclusion of the Battle of Britain, a total of 54 tons of Italian ordnance had been dropped on England. A total of 883 sorties were completed, in which nine Regia Aeronautica aircraft were lost in combat.
The Germans had a more significant role than the Italians in the Battle of Britain. Check out Germany's page to read about Germany's perspective of the Battle of Britain. Also check out Russia's perspective of the Battle of Britain. Russia was apart of the allied forced so they had a different perspective of the battle than the axis side. |
Italy At The End Of The WarItaly surrendered to the Allies at the end of the Italian campaign. The fascists fought with Germany in Northern Italy against the Allied powers along with the rest of Italy in Southern Italy. The Italians joined the allies. Now Italy celibates April 25 as Liberation Day, a national Italian holiday.
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Liberation Day -1945
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