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This book covers all classes and types of small arms, from pistols
to heavy machine guns, known to have been used by the Italian
partisans during WWII. It provides a brief history of the origin
and development of the partisan movement in Italy following the 8
September 1943 armistice between Italy and the Allies and
subsequent occupation of the northern portion of the country by
Germany. There are many relevant examples of correspondence between
partisan units relating to acquisition, distribution, use,
maintenance, and problems encountered with the various types of
small arms available. The majority of the pages of this book are
dedicated to a complete, thorough, and extensive coverage of each
individual type of weapon known to have been used by the partisans,
including specifications, supported by current as well as vintage
photographs showing the weapons in use by the partisans.
This is the first comprehensive work, in either English or Italian,
to address Italian small arms used during World War I and World War
II. It describes each weapon and covers the developmental history
and use of all Italian designed and produced pistols, rifles,
submachine guns and machine guns used during both conflicts, as
well as prototype weapons and foreign weapons used by the Italians.
Other appendices cover bayonets, accoutrements, markings,
ammunition, small arms manufacturing facilities, Italian small arms
designers, production summaries, and collector's notes. It includes
many previously unpublished photographs and background information
on small arms producers, ammunition production facilities, and
designers. In addition to the new material, it also corrects
previously published errors about Italian weapons.
This book begins by examining a number of factors relating to the
Italian army's performance in the desert, including assessments of
the Italian soldier, leadership, training, organization and
structure, equipment, the supply situation in North Africa, the
ability of the Italian air force to support ground operations, and
an appreciation of Italo-German relations in North Africa. The book
then describes the combat operations of Italian forces in the
desert beginning with the early Italian advance from Libya into
Egypt in September 1940 and ending with the final Italian surrender
to the Allies in Tunisia in May 1943. The extensive appendices
focus heavily on organization and equipment, with tables comparing
Italian, British and German armor and artillery in the desert.
Taken as a whole, this book presents an account of Italian ground
operations in North Africa, from the time of their initial
trouncing at the hands of the British Western desert Force in early
1941, through the see-saw battles of 1941 and 1942 when the
combined Italo-German forces battled with the British, through the
decimation of the Italian forces during the El Alamein battles in
late 1942, and finally with the retreat to Tunisia and surrender of
all Axis forces there in May 1943. This book is the first
English-language work to address in a systematic way the
contributions of the Italian army to the North African campaign,
and challenges the conventional wisdom that the German Afrika Korps
was the pre-eminent Axis force in the desert.
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