Italy - TheHistoryFiles.com

Italian-occupied Corsica WWII

Italian-occupied Corsica refers to the military (and administrative) occupation by the Kingdom of Italy of the island of Corsica during World War II. It lasted from November 1942 to September 1943. After an initial period of increasing control over Corsica, Italian forces started losing territorial control to the local Resistance, and in the aftermath of […]

Aircraft, Italy

ANR and the Bf 109

The Aeronautica Nazionale Repubblicana (ANR) was the airforce deployed by the Repubblica Sociale Italiana (RSI). Although the ANR was organised by the RSI, much of its operational control came from the Luftwaffe. At first, the ANR fighter units (I° Gruppo Caccia and II° Gruppo Caccia) used Macchi C.205s and Fiat G.55s respectively. Notwithstanding the G.55s […]

History, Italy

Blunder in the Mountains-The Italian Invasion of Greece 1940

Greek troops during the spring offensive Introduction The Italian invasion of Greece in October 1940 was one of Mussolini’s major wartime disasters. A totally inadequate Italian army blundered into the mountains of north-west Greece, where it was defeated, thrown back into Albania, only to be rescued by the German invasion of Greece the following year. […]

Italy, Warship

CV Giuseppe Garibaldi

The Italian aircraft carrier ITS Giuseppe Garibaldi (C 551) and the Turkish frigate TCG Gediz (F 495) steam through the Atlantic Ocean while participating in Majestic Eagle 2004. Majestic Eagle is a multinational exercise being conducted off the coast of Morocco. The exercise demonstrates the combined force capabilities and quick response times of the participating […]

Italy, Warship

Italian battleship – Vittorio Veneto

The Vittorio Veneto saw more action than any other Italian battleship, being hit twice by torpedoes and once by bombs. The first modern Italian battleships, the three Vittorio Venetos, were also the last. They displaced some 40,000 tons, were armed with nine 15-inch main battery guns, and their indigenous Belluzo geared turbines gave them the […]

AFV, Italy

Italy’s MBT Ariete

Italy’s MBT is the Ariete, developed beginning in 1982. A half-dozen prototypes were produced by 1984, and the Ariete entered service in 1995. The Italian Army ordered 200. The Ariete weighs about 119,000 pounds, has a crew of four, is powered by a 1,300-hp engine, and has a maximum speed of 40 mph. It mounts […]

Italy

Italian Forces – Post 1943

Decima Mas Group Decima Mas Group all wearing camo smocks with sahariana type yoke over the shoulders. On the smock is worn the Decimas sleeve shield skull with rose over the red X. On their collars they wear the metal Republican gladios and San Marco lion. Tucked in one Maro’s belt is the Italian fighting […]

Italy, Warship

Littorio class Redux

All three Littorio class battleships as photographed by a RAF reconnaissance aircraft on 18 April 1943 in La Spezia’s Darsena Duca degli Abruzzi. Photographic analysts also duly identified the heavy cruiser Bolzano and the ‘Capitani Romani’ class light cruiser Caio Mario (without her bow, which was used to repair her sister-ship Attilio Regolo) in the […]

History, Italy

Cities in Collision I

View of Genoa and its fleet by Christoforo de Grassi (1597 copy, after a drawing of 1481); Galata Museo del Mare, Genoa. Map of Italy in 1494. There was one other significant competitor with which Venice had to deal. Genoa was known to the world as “la Superba,” Genoa the proud. Petrarch had described Venice […]

History, Italy

Cities in Collision II

Fleet Operations in the First Genoese-Venetian War, 1264-1266 Genoa was not quelled by its expulsion from Constantinople. Its traders were dominant in the Black Sea. It held the pre-eminent position in Syria and Palestine. There was never any chance of an enduring peace. In 1350 a Venetian admiral surprised a fleet of fourteen Genoese vessels […]