Italian soldier in North Africa 1941–43 (Warrior, 169)

In "The Italian Soldier in North Africa 1941-1943", authors Piero Crociani and Pier Paolo Battistelli, give a top to bottom look at how the Italian soldiers in this theater were recruited, trained, equipped, and fought. An entry in Osprey Publishing's Warrior Series, the book is 64 pages long and includes copious amounts of pictures and illustrations, and is intended to provide "insights into the daily lives of history's fighting me and women, past and present, detailing their motivation, training, tactics, weaponry, and experiences".Although on average the Italian divisions were not as good as the Germans and British ones, the authors point out why this was initially so, while also showing the improvements they made over time, so that by the end of this period, the better Italian units were every bit as good as their contemporaries. The poor reputation of World War II Italian fighting men that carries forward to this day was cemented in the losses the Italians suffered in 1940, and as the authors show, was a result of many factors: obsolescent/obsolete equipment, very poor leadership both at the national level and within armed forces, a lack of mobility for their armed forces (caused by an inadequate industrial base), as well as wartime and post-war propaganda by the British and Germans. However, the Italians performed better after 1940, although they seldom received the credit they earned.The book is well-organized and well-written, and provides a great deal of information on the Italian armed forces. The descriptions and analysis of the fighting during the desert war clearly show the strengths and weakness of the Italian soldiers, and provide a more balanced portrayal of their true combat capabilities. The authors also show that, due to manpower shortfalls, very few Italians were able to rotate back to Italy, either to be replaced or even for a furlough. Morale, of course, suffered accordingly, but the typical soldier still fought on with good results. The period pictures and illustrations were also interesting, and would be useful to modelers.Within its page count limitations, this book does a good job providing a full view of the Italian soldier in North Africa, from his initial recruitment through his fate even after the allies conquered North Africa. In doing so, it gives the reader a more nuanced view of the fighting, and shows that without large number of Italians fighting at their side, the far less numerical Germans would not have been able to win their spectacular victories in Libya and Egypt, before their eventual defeat. Five stars.

I purchased this book for the pictures and hope of some new information. This is the best over view book on the Italian army in North Africa. It is very hard to find good information on the Italian Army that is not in Italian, This book has information that tells what and why things happen in North Africa with the different units. The pictures were great.Lots of information on Uniforms

This is a much needed volume from Osprey Publishing that "sets right" the Italian contribution and involvement in the North African Campaign. I found this volume to be very enlightening and informative. The artwork is also superb! I have studied the North African Campaign for many years and this book fills a big gap in my collection of resources pertaining to this facet of World War Two. I highly recommend this volume!

Osprey does it again with another great book setting the record straight. Book has great pictures and drawing of uniforms and action pictures. The Italian soldier has been under rated but after reading this book I have come to a different conclusion. This book tells the reader about units and the most interesting is the training program started in North Africa to remedy training defectiveness.

This book cronicles all aspects of the North Afrika campaign from the battles fought to the equipment and weapons used and also details the various uniforms worn by the Italian soldier, which I particularly enjoyed being a military collector in this area. There are many excellent photos in this book which I had never seen before as well as several detailed illustrations. I would highly recomend this book to anyone who is interested in the Italian soldier in wwII, particularly in North Afrika.

A fair assessment of the Italian soldier. Good information on organization on uniforms, organization and infantry tactics. An overview to be sure.

they well done . and a look into the italian infantry in north africa . ww2

Very interesting and well-researched book.

This book was not all I hoped it to be. The first chapters were a bit too much about numbers, division names and rotation order. I know context is important, but it started to drag after a while and I wanted there to be more focus on the smaller picture, the individual soldier.When the author gets there, he is very keen to point out how underappreciated and overlooked the Italians were, without actually providing much to support that. We get to learn how outdated and inadeqate their equipment were, and that the Italian soldiers still fought bravely, despite awful conditions, but we do not get the sense that they accomplished much on the larger scale.Nevertheles, even if it didn't change my view on the Italian soldier in North Africa, like it so desperately wanted, the book picked up halfway through and became a lot more interesting. The colour plates were great too in my opinion. In the end it gets a strong three stars.

Another excellent Osprey book providing useful information on the Italians in North Africa in WWII . Well illustrated with drawings and photos, this is a highly informative book that I would heartily recommend.

Good product, good service, would recommend, five stars.

This is a very well made and interesting book about the Italian troops in Africa, that fought with poor and antiquated weapons, against powerful and modern armies.

learned a lot about the italian army.