Legio,dont think we Brits take any notice of rubbish in the newspapers no one buys them much these days in any case,down playing the enemy is a part of war and war stinks but after all these years i think those interested can see through it,as for here in the UK most people have not the least interest in history of any sort i asked my sixteen year old nephew what a ME 109 was,no idea a Spitfire,some sort of plane he said so you see no one worth the time is laughing at Italy its just a nice place to go on holiday to and i have an Italian brother in law P.S. we have a lot of Roman Forts and a Wall near where i live.
@@thitran1362 so true Like in most Arab armies today is how it was in Fascist Italy. The soldiers who were often the best and most qualified werent the ones getting the rank and leading the men but rather the Generals would get that rank through political favoring and family ties and were often not qualified for there rank but got the rank because of their social status and loyalty to the Leader....its sad But The modern Syrian Army finally snapped out of that type of running an army and do have qualified loyal men leading the way as Colonels and Generals. And they are Sunni generals Alewite generals Shia generals Druze General (RIP Zehrredine) and other faiths. They are a non secular Arab Army and they are battle hardened and the Russians taught them well. Israel is shitting a brick cus who knows once Assad takes back all of Syria. He will have the men and power to take back the occupied Golan Heights by force cus obviously diplomacy AND a UN charter mandate saying that Israel MUST leave the occupied Golan Heights and are on Syrian Land ILLEGALLY doesnt work!
@Alex Foster Only uneducated commie supporters would say that. If you read proper history and not hear what fake news says you will know more. It was in fact Russia who committed war crimes and was leading in the role of being the country doing most genocide.
4 года назад
@Alex Foster comi I say it the way i like it ok scholom goldbank
This is wonderful, I read a book called "Sacrifice on the Steppe" about Alpini in the USSR, incredible feats of bravery and human decency from Italians on the front. Grazie for the upload x
questo fa i complimenti agli italiani per il loro coraggio ed il comportamento umano con i prigionieri e tu lo insulti... non è neanche americano ma inglese, sei proprio un fallito.
Just read the book it was good but I wish it had expanded more on the military operations and the wider italian army not just the alpini. And in my opion it put down the Italians from southern Italy that made up the majority of the army and made out that the fascists stayed at home when in fact the most fierce and bravest where the blackshirt in the legions of "M" battalions.
My grandfather partecipated at the russian campaign and he was captured by the russian, he told me during the whole time in captive he was treated well by the russian people, they knew italian soldiers had a good spirit
io ho conosciuto Mons. Arrigo Pintonello, Cappellano Militare Capo durante la guerra (CSIR/ARMIR); siccome era completamente rimbambito vent'anni fa (era della classe 1908, d'altronde) non ho potuto raccogliere nessuna testimonianza da lui: solo un aneddoto in cui disse che si fosse sfamato ''di polpette di neve ghiacciata''.
Il mio era un bersagliere catturato in russia e riuscito a scappare dal gulag dopo essere scappato con i suoi compagni si è fatto dalla Russia alla Sicilia a piedi ci ha messo 5 anni
Adanos My great grandfather was also an Italian soldier.Although none of my family knows much about his ww2 service.Do you know anywhere maybe I could access Italian ww2 documents.His name was Giuseppe Rosso.
@@francesca_415 i'm italian and this thing is such bs. All nations have their own culture. Don't hate the germans, hate the politicians. Such ignorance here my god
My mother's uncle went missing in combat on the Don. His body was never found again. My mothers uncle was called Vincenzo Di Martino. He served in a mortar brigade. This is ALL I can do to keep a memory of him alive how ever insignficant this may be. He gave his life for a lost cause but he gave it. And for that I feel a sense of humility. I served in the Italian army as a conscript in 84 and even then I thought of my mothers Uncle. VIVA ITALIA ! This is for you Vincenzo Di Martino !
Brings tears to my hear as I am half slavic and half Italian.... We are brothers and fought each other.... My heart goes to all the fallen from both sides...
My cousin, on my father's side, fought in Russia with the Italian Army. His name was Guido Lombardi. They said he was very proud to serve under Mussolini. He was reported missing in action and never seen again. I remember the family discussing his fate back in the early 1960s, and they conjectured that he was probably killed by a direct hit from an artillery shell. But no one knows. Maybe he was killed in battle, maybe he froze to death, or maybe he was taken prisoner, and died in the Russian prison camp. The Red Cross could find nothing. He is lost forever to the four winds.
Italian population and soldiers never wanted a war. They demonstrated huge balls and human spirit towards anyone else because they knew what hard times were. The poor living condition and simple life made them not the best warriors but the best soldiers, humanly and morally speaking. My grandfather was sent to that front after Greece, and he used to tell us how the russians and italians got so well along, no matter the circumstances. I think the italians and russians on a human prospective understood each other and shared the same values.
I served in the US Army as I am born in America,but all of my Grandparents are from Italia.I had family fight on both sides during ww2 as is the case in America,nonetheless God bless America and Italia,and all of my Italian brothers everywhere !!!
My grandfather was drafted into the Italian army - former blacksmith who would work on repairing weapons and vehicles. He was captured twice by the Soviets, and escaped both times. The first time he escaped, the Soviets had captured a few thousand Italians and ran a single strand of barbed-wire around them in a field, with a guard stationed every so often. His captain, had learned Russian after a few years, asked one of the guards for a favor. Russian said "sure" thinking he'd ask for a cigarette. Instead, the captain asked to release him and his 25 men. The Russian looked at him for a while and said "sure... meet me here at 9pm when I start my next shift". The captain rounded up all his men and said if we stay, we die. If we go, we may die - it's your choice. The guard may very well gun us all down with his machine gun to get a medal. Lo and behold - at 9pm - the Russian let them pass and they escaped into the night. To this day - no one knew why the Russian let them go.
We have to admit: all the testimonies by the Italian veterans in Russia tell that Russians treated them fairly and humanely. Not just the POWS but even the soldiers in retreat. Alpini Sergeant (and later writer) Mario Rigoni Stern relates in his memoir of Russia that it was common that peasants came out from the izbas to donate retreating Italian soldiers with food and cloths.
Two brother of my grandmother and one of my grandfather from the same town went to war in Russia and I heard with my ears that they were saved thanks to the Russian paesants that give them food and help. One of them had on foot frozen, two of them returned in Sardinia alive.
@@albertomura7445 My great grandfather was one of the soldiers in the Russian front he was awarded a medal of honor for saving a sergeant by carrying him to safety, he himself was saved by a Russian woman who sheltered him.
purtroppo conosco poco la sua storia non oso immaginare come ci è riuscito , una delle cose che so che prese la medeglia al valor militare al suo ritorno si chiamava Oscar Gnan caporal maggiore della Divisione Julia
Итальянские солдаты не чувствовали ненависти, и офицеры думали, что освобождают русский народ от большевизма. Они не знали, что у Гитлера были гораздо худшие планы.
My uncle Carlo, a cavalryman from the Savoia Cavalleria, was awarded that same decoration when he fought in Montenegro. I recall as a kid looking at it in awe as it hanged along the framed letter of commendation signed by some top brass from his division. He was a broken man, the war screwed him up for good.
Exactly. I am from Alpine troops recruitment zone, and I saw the last veterans. A lot of stories on how the local population saved the lives of many soldiers during the winter retreat and how they were impressed because of the same images of Our Lady in the simple village homes, like in ours. War is ugly.
BUllshit. This mafia propaganda and spin - you just want to have your spaghetti and feel good too. The Italains INVENTED FASCISM! and invaded countries before 1939 and Greece and Yugoslavia in 1940. THe Italian people were WAY MORE fascistic than the Germans were. They just weren't as capable as the Germans. That's all.
Karneles the Konsiderate I mean You can't say "germans" ( Obviusly just a part) were less bad than italians. These 2 countries were under a dictatorship and i dont think "germans" invented nazism or "italians" fascism. Just a part of people invented it and other people couldn't do much to stop that
Charming interview, can you even imagine a German soldier singing with Russian prisoners? Strange though, as a member of a vast fascist/nazi invasion, to complain that the soviet union only cared about arms production. Their very presence there basically proves the USSR right for doing so...
I am in Russia right now and i would like to say that people in Russia is so nice and they are very polite people too. That’s why i don’t want to go back to america.......people there are very rude & racist..... In Russia i feel so peacefully living here.
Quando mio zio andò in Russia con l’Armir era nella divisione Pasubio nel 79 reggimento Roma, artiglieria, nella zona del Don detta Il cappello frigio... risultò disperso dal 30 novembre 1942. Aveva 19 anni...
noi russi sappiamo chi ha servito Hitler e chi ci ha ucciso (28 milioni di russi uccisi), ma non vogliamo ricordare il male, ma vogliamo essere amici) con te)
@@giarenella we - Russians know who served Hitler and helped Hitler kill the Russians 28 million people (but we don't like to remember evil - we have such a saying - "whoever remembers something bad - to gouge out his eye") we want to be friends, it's so simple
Da Italiano del sud sono orgoglioso di questi miei padri che si sono comportati da valorosi e da uomini bisognerebbe farla conoscere ai ragazzi delle scuole la storia dei soldati Italiani sul fronte Russo. Io credo che siano stati traditi due volte la prima da chi li ha mandati li la seconda da chi poteva ma non ha voluto fare ritornare i moltissimi soldati che erano stati fatti prigionieri
No, almost every were bad soldiers. During Barbarrosa operation many were worried about drink and sleep than fight. One example was the history that Leon Degrelle told in his book SS Waffen war in Russia. He said the italians dont made night guards, recon patrols and fight bad. A group of italians occupied a village and didnt post guards in night and the cossak calvary captured them without shot a bullet and killed them all the next day with ice water. After that many italians fight along with the german infantry and tanks because on their own were very bad soldiers.
I can't believe, even Italy didn't treat captured enemies like subhumans(Something the Germans and Japanese did). I have high respects for these soldiers even if people still continue to joke about their country switching sides in the second world War. They at least had empathy 💓
It is well known and historically documented from both sides, italian and russian, but italian troops sooner or later were forced to bring to Germans their prisoners and then the Russian prisoners enconuntered their doom being enslaved as forced labourers or sentenced by Germans without any mercy... 🤔
It varied from unit to unit. Some units were made up of more human being than others, and were lead by compassionate reasonable people. Others were lead and made up by people who hated the enemy or their people to the core. Only difference with countries like japan and Germany or Russia was that there was massive pressure from their political system to demonize the average enemy soldiers and not even treat them as humans.
Ho letto il libro “Tutti i vivi all’assalto” do Alfio Caruso che racconta in detagli tutti i combatimenti della rittirata delle truppe del Don. É un libro spettacolare che raccomendo a tutti che vogliono sappere di píu lá storia del CSIR... Grazie per il vídeo! Saluti del Brasile!
@Alexandre Manetta Allora ti consiglio di leggere "il sergente nella neve" di Mario Rigoni Stern. Lui è stato un sergente maggiore in Russia, e racconta le scene che lui medesimo ha vissuto. È un testimone diretto. Oppure anche Bedeschi "centomila gavette di ghiaccio" . Anche lui un reduce.
My father in law fought on the Don as an Alpino. He was from the province of Parma. Only about 10% of his division made it back to Italy. His brother was also in the Italian army but after the Italian surrender of 1943 he, along with many other Italian soldiers, was made a prisoner of the Nazis. He died at the work camp at Dachau. 10 years after the war my father in law came to America with his wife, and his little son and daughter. Years later I married the daughter. My father was also Italian born and raised. My mother's family was Italian American and of course they all fought for America. So in our family we had decorated combat veterans from both sides. Everybody got along fine.
John i was born in a Pit Village in North East England,there were two Ice Cream Shops both Italian owned one by a man called Reay and the other Vallenti,during the war Reay a friend of my father just went on as normal Valenti got himself interned on the Isle of Man (not a bad place to be in truth) according to Reays wife he made his mouth go,the thing is Vallentis son was fighting in the Western Desert under Montgomery,war is so stupid is it not,the Shop owned by the long dead Reay only closed a few years ago.
A war where you are drafted against your will is probably the worst thing about it. If you where a partisan you where sure to fight where you believed in, in the army that was true sometimes as well but in cases it was just for money and because they simply had to fight because of the fascist government punishing them otherwise.
Iam an Australian italian. Italian on my father's side.,both my grandfather's fought in ww2. My Italian grandfather was a blackshirt who fought in East Africa and my aussie grandfather fought in North Africa part of the 9th Australian division. My farther was a member of the fascist youth and came to Australia in the 50's. My aussie grandfather was not to happy at the start of his daughter going out with a italian but always said the italian soldiers he dealt with where easy going and did there duty under server hardship with poor weapons, food, tanning and leadership. But always smiled even when surrendering!!.
I've read the first hand account of a Belgian who served with the SS on the eastern front from 1941 to 1945. I remember one passage where he wrote that a village with Italians was surrounded and cut of by Soviets in a blizzard during the winter of 1941-1942. The Soviets had made them all undress in the middle of the village after which they poured freezing water on them from the well. The SS found them a couple of days after all frozen stiff in weird positions.
Yes i have heard that,war is a strange thing i think otherwise decent people lose their minds,i knew a Veteran who lying wounded on the desert was about to be bayoneted by two Italian soldiers when a German Doctor saved him,its easy to label these men but who knows their state of mind or what they may have gone through in the hours before,many soldiers did bad things and had to live with it for the rest of their lives.
The video is mostly good, but just that opening phrase is incorrect...there weren't more Southerners than Northerners in Russia. The Alpini were nearly all from the North, but also most regiments of the infantry division sent to Russia were from northern regions. The theathre were there were more Southerners was North Africa in the earlier part of the war, as Mussolini thought that people from Southern Italy would better stand the warm climate in that region and ordered divisions mostly recruited in the South to be used there.
Nando Passante Southern Italians fought and died on all fronts in ww2 including Russia. They also fought and died in huge numbers during the first World War. This degrading of Southern Italians is a northern thing,or should I say German.
@@Francesco-bm1pr Italians from all Italy, from Aosta Valley to Sicily, fought and died in all fronts and in all wars fought by Italy. (In World War I, by the way, the Italian region that suffered the greatest number of military deaths was Lombardy. Know why? Simply because it's the most popolous region of Italy. Each region, from north to south, lost the same percentage of soldiers killed). Nobody is disparaging southerners; I am simply pointing out a factual error.
@@icunowlibra Surely, there were people from all over Italy (like in every other campaign): but your map proves my point: North (Lombardy, Piedmont, Veneto, Emilia, Liguria, Trieste, Val d’Aosta, Trentino Alto Adige), 42.930 Center (Tuscany, Umbria, Marche, Lazio, Abruzzo, Molise), 9446 South (Campania, Apulia, Lucania, Sicily, Sardinia, Calabria), 11.278 So, as you can see, in Russia those from the northern regions outnumbered those from the southern regions by nearly four to one; and were about two-thirds of the overall number.
Nando Passante Africa does not begin south of Rome. It would be interesting to find out overall the ratio of Southern Italians in the army in ww2, I always believed that southern Italians joined the army because of lack of work. It is a sad fact that Northern Italians have always looked down upon southern Italians even today, yes the south after all these years still has many social problems the Northern league party only dropped the northern part to attract more votes. Sadly I belive Italy was more united under mussolini than it had ever been.
@@Francesco-bm1pr It is possible that in peacetime, more southerners join in the army because of lack of work, but in wartime there was no such choice: in both world wars Italy, like most other countries, practiced the draft. Every man of military age was called up for compulsory service, regardless of region of origin. The ratio of southern Italians in the army during WWII is therefore almost certainly more or less equal to the ratio of southern Italians in the entire Italian population.
icunowlibra just an interest in WW2 history! There's nothing better than firsthand accounts. How lucky are we to be able to hear what these soldiers experienced
The fact that the Soviet Union fought essentially against the whole of Europe. And French, Czech, Hungarian, Italian, Finnish and many other legions fought against the Soviet Union.
Due to the fact that the USSR had a lot of resources, it was necessary to attack all of Europe? And all these deaths were justified by the struggle for resources? Today, the United States as the Nazis destroyed the state for resources one at a time, or how Hitler wanted all at once.
TheValentino975 The Soviet Union was planning on attacking Europe first. They mobilized massive Army's on the border of Poland with Germany. Hitler attacked first.
Yes, so says Western propaganda)))) Please note that when Hitler attacked the USSR he easily destroyed not trained military units and aerodromes. That is, the troops of the USSR at the beginning of the war, was completely not ready. Tells the whole story about this, that Hitler had little difficulty in it for a few months. Well, as the Soviet Union could be planning attacks on Europe if the military were on leave? And all military units had poor military equipment and was not in operational condition. In the ideology of the Russian people there is no such thing as to grab someone's territory. The entire territory of Russia was built from the fact that Russia constantly attacking Europe and Asia, but after the victory of Russia we take the territory as a sign of reparation. There in the West today rinse the brains of generations of people and in 20 years the West will have to say that Stalin attacked Hitler and the whole of Europe. Borders of Russia is very huge and to protect them is very difficult for this Russia does not need foreign territory. By the way why Russia needs to attack Europe if there is no recusou?????????????????????? I'm very sorry, the West is growing a new generation of mentally disabled people, which although again be sent to fight against Russia. Every 100 years, Europe gets in the teeth from Russia, apparently to them it has not taught anything.
In fact, the EU is becoming a very dangerous place. There is some social experiment on a huge relocation of the population from the South. And as a result are terrorist attacks, one after the other. The goal of the globalists send the EU into the stone age because they represent greater competition USA in technology. Their task is to push the war Russia and the EU that we destroy each other and failed, and then came the second plan to destroy the EU terrorists. The US bombed the middle East and sent a crowd of refugees in the EU and there is not to make anyone of them a terrorist. The terrorists were under the guise of refugees and they soon completely destabilisateur the EU. Let's hope that the EU will begin to make the right laws to tighten policies against refugees. And the most effective way to rebuild their country and they return home. I hope our countries will strengthen the friendship, not enmity.
Blaming the axis leaders because of problems and conditions that even they didn't know how to fix at the time! There was no reason to betray the axis, the allies weren't on your side as well and killing Mussolini without questioning was VERY suspicious!... The war against the Soviet Union was never suppose to happen, that is the one thing that should have never happened! Well, at least in the end there is now peace for humanity in a way...
Thank you for putting English subtitles up not all of the Italian Documentaries have them,it is good to hear the Veterans tell their story and a warning to all of us not to worship idiot Politicians,i would like to add that although it may at the time have been necessary not all of us accept the propaganda that the Italians were ineffective in the Second World War i spoke to many British Veterans and they would soon put you right in that respect,the thing was that for many but not all their harts were not in the war or the alliance with Germany.
@@HansPeter_ Actually, Italy has never switched sides ... Italian Kingdom fought against Germany in the last 19 months of the war because the Germans still occupied a part of the Italian territory after italian capitulation ... but Italy was considered a co-belligerent country bi anglo-americans, and not an ally! After the war, Italy was treated as a defeated country, and had to sign a very tough peace treaty, so the story of the "change of sides" is a myth...
I still see that British propaganda still holds on to those who have not read modern or any books at all for that matter. The Italians fought gallantly, with the exception of the 10th army, which mostly aside from2 divisions and individual black shirt units from the others surrendered a little too fast. If u guys get a chance, read more modern books. Antony beevor gives a reason why we still buy into this opinion, because that would mean the English were at least equal to(if not more so) as poorly as a fighting army even with slightly superior equipment, it was done for home front reasons and to prop up American support for supplies at the time to belittle the Italians, that and Italy's equipment and overall officer corps and lack of grand strategic policy. That and Mussolini spread his forces to thin on to many fronts. The Italians though generally fought with extreme distinction in certain areas of operation, and only were rolled over by the late dec. Counter thrusts of the 8th army on the don wing, which was more so for lack of armor then anything.
My uncle was sent to Russia in ww2 ! He was part of the CSIR (corpo spedizione ITALIANA in Russia ) ! He was very badly equipped and very badly commanded ! The Germans didn't give a fuck about Italians and never helped once when Italians where in danger or asked for support ! My uncles cause of death is still unknown and his body was never found ! He probably died of hypothermia during the cold winter or he might have been killed in action !
I read a Stavka Report on enemy capability,Germans always battle ready,the Romanians respected for their toughness but the Soviets were very surprised how the Italians could hold their formation together during a retreat the were very impressed by this.
Stefano Cozzi - Thank you for you're story. I am Italian-American and my grandfathers brother was in the 29th Infantry regiment during WW2. He assaulted Omaha beach on D-DAY. He was killed 4 days later somewhere in Normandy. Lots of respect to you're uncle.
Stefano Cozzi - Thank you for you're story. I am Italian-American and my grandfathers brother was in the 29th Infantry regiment during WW2. He assaulted Omaha beach on D-DAY. He was killed 4 days later somewhere in Normandy. Lots of respect to you're uncle.
The Italian Soldiers at the Russian Front suffered badly from the cold, from deficient weapons , and no appreciation from their German allies, that they were there to help. The Italians that were taken prisoner by the Russians were brutalized, were starved, and sent to a Siberian Death Camp. Very few Italian POW's survived the Siberian hardship to go home at the end of the war. The Italian soldier was brave in the face of hardship we can scarcely comprehend. I've heard these sick jokes about Italians lack of motivation on the battlefield, I found that the Italian soldier was superb when well led. The rank and file Italian soldier stood tall in the Russia campaign, but there were no leaders in the Italian Army like Rommel, like our Patton, and like Montgomery. That was their main problem in WW II, lack of great leadership at the command level.
@@icunowlibra quite true messe was one the best ww2 generals.the only problem is that the Anglo Saxon think of only theirs so all the Germans, English or. Americans were great or were serving the orders whereas the Italians were according to them not very good at fighting.this is a joke, the Anglo Saxon sphere was one the most coward ethnicity that had fought in wars.
Finalmente un soldato che ha servito la sua patria fino alla fine. Anche al ritorno dal fronte russo. E il traditore non era Mussolini, ma quasi tutti i generali italiani come Badoglio. Grandi invece i generali Graziani e Messe! Viva l'Italia, la vecchia Italia 🇮🇹
The anecdote about the former soldier, then partisan, is the history of both my grampas: one lost a brother in Russia and the other a dear friend there. They were sick of the fascists and still in anger. Neither of them were communists, but one went to the Ossola valley with his Alpine hat (Taurinense) and the other joined Milan Gap.
My uncle was Italian cavalry in WWI and captured by the Austrians. In WWII he was with a mechanized cavalry. He was captured by the Russians. He then was able to work with the Russians as a medic/orderly until he could escape and returned to Italy. He lived into his 90’s. I have his medals.
During the retreat, the Italians wanted to get on the few remaining vehicles and the Germans were unable to make him understand that, if you wanted to survive, you had to use the few trucks and crawlers to transport only food, fuel and weapons ... the German drivers were many small ladies Merkel, but the italians refused to understood as today.
Purtroppo stanno scomparendo tutti i testimoni di questa tragedia. Ho avuto, ed ho ancora, la fortuna di incontrare personalmente molti di questi sopravvissuti alla ritirata. Alcuni hanno patito le pene del gelido inverno russo altri son stati un pò più fortunati...
Ciao Icunowlibra, ho scoperto tardi l'Armir, la ritirata ed i reduci della campagna russa. Inoltre nella mia professione quando trovo un reduce spesso non è in grado di intraprendere un discorso logico e fluido. Molte volte non hanno la minima intenzione di parlarne ed altre non riescono a parlare proprio. Alla fine molti di loro mi/ci lasciano per l'ultima destinazione... Ciao Ico. P.S. lavoro in Ospedale
Dove è possibile trovare una testimonianza scritta che parla di questi depositi nelle retrovie in Russia pieni di materiali mai consegnati ai soldati al fronte? Chi può indicarmi un riferimento bibliografico? Grazie.
Enrico Montermini Puoi leggere "Il sergente nella neve" o "Centomila gavette di ghiaccio". Entrambi i libri sono stati scritti da veterani, che raccontano di aver marciato davanti a depositi pieni di rifornimenti dati alle fiamme.
***** In quel contesto aveva senso. Gli alpini si stavano ritirando, sono passati davanti ai depositi, ma non avevano nè il tempo nè i mezzi per prendere qualcosa; perciò hanno bruciato tutto per non lasciarli ai russi.
Una delle strategie di base contro un'invasione ed una ritirata è la tattica della terra bruciata. Nella Guerra vera qualsiasi risorsa è utile, anche una semplice capanna di legno o una cassa d'acqua....specialmente in un'ambiente naturale "ostile" come la russia o gli scenari desertici. Quindi il NON lasciare le risorse al nemico è una strategia abbastanza logica, specialmente quando non si ha il tempo di "raccoglierle".
After all Italy bled for Germany they turned their backs on them. Even to this day refusing to trial the men who committed atrocities on Italian citizens.
Sergio Some of them where socialists but that was a lot closer to communism back then.. then it is right now although not completely the same, granted. Are there any other ideologies you want to tell me about that the partisans followed?
@@DivergentStyles Social democrats, anarcho-liberals, hell even libertarians. You probably wouldn't see an entire partisan militia with these ideologies, but the greatest thing about human beings is their ability to have their own opinions and still form friendships. Some French resistance groups were communists, yes, but there were also people fighting for democracy. Yet I can assure you that not every fighter in each group in these groups shared the exact same opinion or ideology as their comrades.
Ci siamo fatti rispettare anche coi pochi mezzi che avevamo. I soldati Italiani hanno combattuto con onore per la patria, la patria li ha fatti combattere per un ideale sbagliato!
I ever visited Salò, so i understand what the meaning RSI. It is STILL means Republic Socialist Italia. So, until Mussolini died.....HE IS SOCIALIST. Thing that makes me didn't understood is Italian Commie. They are Communist but PRO AMERICANISM, doing capitalism and against their own people by keep standing in OUTSIDERS ALIENS RIGHTS with idea HUMANITY. Forgot, eh?
@@deanmo3599 In russia italians were left by the germans so they can run away and then got encircled by the soviets. It was a miracle that they could break out of it.
One is an ancient and one of the greatest civilizations in human history. The other is a barbarian who built nothing in antiquity and rejoices in wrecking what others have built.
Grande intervista, e massimo rispetto per il soldato, solo non capisco la litania ricorrente (in tutte le interviste) dei "soldati italiani poco equipaggiati, mandati a soffrire freddo e fame in Russia". Come se russi, tedeschi, ungheresi e romeni combattessero al caldo e non morissero rigidi e congelati, come se combattessero a pancia piena, come se non avessero problemi di rifornimento. Sembra sempre che gli italiani sono stati gli unici ad aver sofferto la guerra.
I dati di fatto parlano di una realtá sconfortante per l'equipaggiamento. I soldati della CSIR e poi ARMIR avevano uniformi invernali a mala pena validi per un inverno padano, assolutamente insufficiente per i -40 della steppa russa. Con l'eccezione delle divisoni alpine piú preparate per l'inverno la situazione era drammatica. Le armi poi erano antiquate a cominciare dal fucile, Il Carcano Mod. 91con caricatore da 6 colpi, appena sufficiente pr la I guerra era scadente per la seconda, assenza quasi totale di mezzi di trasporto come camion, assenza di carri armati, corpo aereo esiguo. I Tedeschi erano meglio equipaggIati dei nostri a livello di uniformi (anche se non come i sovietici) ma avevano armi individuali nettamente superiori, per non parlare di carri armati, artiglieria e mezzi di trasporto. I Rumeni e gli Ungheresi crollarono quasi subito, dopo il primo urto sovietico, molto prima delle nostre truppe. Ergo, mettere l'accento sull'equipaggiamento non é sbagliato. Rappresenta la veritá non solo per il fronte russo ma anche per tutt gli altri dove i soldati Italiani sono stati impiegati. Poche eccezioni (anche se non completamente equipaggiati) sono gli Alpini, la Folgore e il San Marco.
Quello che dici è vero, e non si può negare. Come hai esordito giustamente, questi sono dati di fatto. Non dico che l'esercito italiano si sia comportato male in russia. Tuttavia secondo me si sente troppo spesso parlare di questi problemi utilizzandoli come scusanti, senza guardare all'enorme sacrificio dei tedeschi e dei russi, i quali leggendo testimonianze dal fronte hanno subìto disgrazie e sofferenze ben peggiori, ed hanno tenuto duro. Non dico che questo sminuisca gli italiani, solo bisognerebbe limitare le "lamentele" a fronte della enorme disgrazia che è stata la seconda guerra mondiale ed il fronte orientale in particolare.
Certamente Russi eTedeschi, che hai citato (ma anche Americani e inglesi) hanno combattutto con convinzione, coraggio e sopportato grandi sacrifici. Ma lo hanno fatto perché credevano in quella guerra: i tedeschi per imporre la supremazia della razza, I sovietici per difendere il suolo di Santa Madra Russia. Ma noi Italiani, fin dall'inizio, non credavamo in quella guerra. I nostri soldati che avevano combattutto 18 anni prima contro gli Austro Tedeschi non capivano perché si trovavano ad aggredire la Grecia (paese amico), la Francia e la Gran Bretagna (ex alleati), la Russia (paese lontanissimo), gli Stati Uniti (paese a forte emigrazione italiana). Mancavano le motivazioni che invece avevavo consentito la riscossa italiana dopo Caporetto e che vide i soldati del Regio Esercito fermare sul Piave gli Austro Ungarici e Tedeschi. In quei giorni del novembre del 1917 il soldato Italialno dato per spacciato, dopo un arretramento di 100 Km, stupí gli alleati quando, da solo, fermó un'avanzata che sembrava sul punto di farla crollae. Li c'erano le motivazioni. Tutto il il popolo Italiano si compattó dietro l'esercito e il cambio di comando a Diaz (un generale intelligente) permise la vittoria. Nella seconda guerra, tutto questo mancava, e, a parte l'ubriacatura italiana per la guerra lampo, gli italiani si resero conto che stavano combattendo una guerra ingiusta. Se a tutto questo aggiungiamo l'assoluta mancanza di armi ed equipaggiamento moderni che non permettevano una lotta pari col nemico, ecco spiegato il disastro. I russi erano equipaggiati da capo a piedi, cosi come i tedeschi, gli inglesi e gli americani. Se confronti i carri armati italiani con quelli del nemico, beh il confronto é impietoso. Lo stesso vale per armi individuali e aerei. Combattere in queste condizioni era veramente missione impossibile. Detto questo, si puó dire che alcune divisoni, nonostante questo, combatterono con valore, come la Folgore e la Centauro in Africa del Nord, gli Alpini in Russia, la Marina militare e i nostri piloti che riuscirono comunque a compiere il loro dovere. La fanteria purtroppo, a parte alcune eccezioni, non poteva reggere il conronto con le altre fanterie e per questo motivo cedette dopo i primi importanti scontri. Un'ultima nota a merito delle nostre truppe é che non si resero responsabili di crimini di guerra nonostante fossimo alleati di un certo Adolf Hitler (a differenza di tedeschi e sovietici). Sono riportati casi individuali in Grecia e Yugoslavia, ma si contano sulla delle dite delle mani e riguardano principalmente la lotta anti partigiana che avvenne in quei territori (casi di attacchi partigiani contro truppe regolari italiane)
Non sono d'accordo con te su alcuni punti. Il primo (nell'ordine in cui hai scritto) è quello che riguarda le motivazioni. Tedeschi e Russi combattevano con le stesse motivazioni degli italiani, cioè il fatto di essere coscritti e quello del patriottismo.In tutti gli eserciti c'era chi non ci credeva e chi avrebbe disertato volentieri, tanto che per esempio molti russi combattevano ubriachi per trovare il coraggio. Secondo quello dei crimini di guerra. Gli italiani, contrariamente alla fama di buoni, si sono macchiati in realtà di molti crimini di guerra in tutta la penisola balcanica, grecia compresa, nordafrica, più in Russia, non meno dei tedeschi. Solo che l'aver firmato un armistizio ha alleggerito la propaganda anti italiana post bellica (contrariamente a ciò che è successo ai tedeschi, che sembrano gli unici mostri di una guerra sanguinosa e criminale da parte di tutti).
Non si tratta di essere o meno d'accordo. Si tratta da fatti storici e questi dicono, da tutte le fonti che i soldati tedeschi combattevano per un idale in cui credevano fino in fondo. Lo si é visto in tutti i campi di battaglia. Come ti ho gia detto i Sovietici combatterono per non soccombere e per difendere la loro terra. Quindi in questi casi le motivazioni erano fortissime. Non fu cosi per i nostri soldati del 40-45. Se non se convinto basta che tu legga o ascolti le testimonianze dei reduci. Non é vero che gli Italiani si macchiarono di crimini di "non meno dei tedeschi". La tua é un'affermazione assolutamente senza fondamento. Lo dimostra, tanto per citare un piccolo esempio, il fatto che quando i sovietici catturavano i soldati Italiani, questi venivano inviati in prigionia a differenza dei tedeschi che a centinaia venivano fucilati sl posto. Ci sono testimonianze di reduci Italiani che cercavano di nascondere i soldati tedeschi dandogli il loro cappotto. Questo perché gli Italiani rispettarono i civili e soldati russi progionieri, sempre. Citami casi di crimini in Russia visto che affermi ce ne furono da parte Italiana. Aggiungo che in alcuni casi soldati italiani e tedeschi si spararono addosso (in Polonia) proprio perche i nostri non accettavano le fucilazioni tedesche di civili. Per quanto riguarda la Gecia e la Jugoslavia ho gia detto come andarono le cose. Basta documentarsi.
yes sir The Italians had some great weapons and great planes. To think if they would have prepared another 3 to 5 years with support .Ww2could have been extended enough time for Germany to perfect their new weapons, and maybe nukes.
Indeed, Italian weapons were not as bad as people thinks ... actually the main problem of Italy in ww2 was the ability of the Italian industry at the time to produce a sufficient quantity of good weapons and good equipment in a short time. The military campaigns in Ethiopia and Spain had been a success, but the Italian army was extremely worn out and in 1939 Italy had only 10 well-armed divisions! A few months before the outbreak of WW2, according to Mussolini himself, the Italian industry would have needed at least another 4 years to reconstitute the Italian military capacity of 1935 ... for this reason Mussolini did not enter the war immediately, he did it only in 1940 because he thought the war was almost over...tragic mistake!
First of all that guilty short sight. Turning his head away from the big facts. Not being able to go beyond his finger. Of course now he recalls the evening soup and the songs, forgetting, or worst not being full aware, to be there as part of an invasion army with the goal to submit other people. He speaks as an official. And becouse of this he should feel lucky to make it and getting back. Becouse the russians were very tollerant and friendly with common soldiers POWs, the tragic victims of Mussolini's regime. But with the officials, the ones responsible for the transmission chain of fascist diktat toward the base, with those the russian had no hesitation nor pity. With a pistol at hand they found their way to the final justice.
Avevo un zio che e sparito in Russia durante la seconda guerra. C'e qualche d'uno che conosce qualche departamento militare che potrebbe assistare ricerchare documenti dell suo servizio? Io sono Italo-Australiano
Nel tempio di Cargnacco a Udine , nella cripta dove c'è scritto ...CI RESTA SOLO IL NOME .... ci sono tanti registri su cui , in ordine alfabetico , sono registrati i nomi di tutti i soldati morti o dispersi sul suolo Russo . Di mio zio ad esempio sta scritto ... Metelli Primo artigliere reggimento a cavallo morto nel lager ospedale 3947 di Pizalji il 23aprile1943.🇮🇹
Complimenti, bellissimo. Finalmente un documentario oggettivo su un momento della storia del nostro paese. Privo di faziosita', rispettoso dei nostri soldati e delle loro grandi qualita' e capacita' umane..
quindi i magazzini pieni di vestiario invernale e cibo.... e al fronte sofferenza a causa di un equipaggiamento non idoneo! Pare chiaro il tradimento di qualche dirigente politico e militare di alto livello italiano...
@@chapiit08 I've looked again. I could have sworn there were a lot more. I saw a few. Have you checked the comments with over 40 replies. That usually a sign.
@@walnzell9328 Well, people have the right to express their opinion, it's up to the individual to filter what it's suitable to his/her particular taste and/or inclinations.
They were mostly southern Italian soldiers?that is plain vicious slander!. Southerners and Northerners do not love each other, fair enough, But claiming that Northern-Italians were not in Russia is a bloody lie. Shame on you old man. My grandpa fought with the Armir in the Don, Donetsk and Voronezh and with him thousands of other Lombards, Venetians, Emilians, Piedmotese Friulians etc. Check your fact before you speak. The ARMIR was composed by, 2nd Mountain Infantry Division Sforzesca from Novara(Piedmont ),3rd Mountain Infantry Division Ravenna from Alessandria (Piedmont), 5th Infantry Division Cosseria from Imperia (liguria),, 156th Infantry Division Vicenza from Vicenza (Venethia), 2nd Alpine Division Tridentina from Meran (Südtirol)3rd Alpine Division Julia from Udine(Friaul), 4th Alpine Division Cuneense from Cuneo( Piedmont) 52nd Motorised Division Torino from Turin (Piedmont), 9th Motorised Division Pasubio from Verona (Venethia), 3rd Cavalry Division Amedeo Duca d'Aosta (which I myself ignore where they came from) where were all those "mostl Southerners" that you claim, you filthy liar? e lo scrivo in inglese solo xke voglio che lo capiscano in piu tanti possibile.
icunowlibra+ interesting map indeed. it makes more or less 42.000 Cisalpine missing against 18.000 odd southern Italians missing. This is more than twice as much.If this map is accurate,it proves that the old fellow in the interview is a wee liar. Where did you get this map?
Now then, this man literally says : "also in Russia, soldiers from the North of Italy not many. Soldiers from the South of Italy many. Therefore the suffering was mostly on the Southern Italian population."This is a serious lie and insult to all the fallen in Russia, Cisalpines and Southerners who fought, died together and never came back from Russia. What this gentleman claims is plain and simple lie. .If then, someone else cut and pasted this video, then he is guilty himself, by implying a different meaning to this man's words and twisting their true message. Words have a precise meaning and the first video's claims are offending the memory of our fallen in Russia. Both Cisalpine and Southerners. I believe I've spoke my mind. Goodbye
giadamino Solo gli ignoranti definiscono così i meridionali , poi è ovvio che ci siano meridionali nullafacenti e stupidi , ma è lo stesso per i settentrionali e per tutto il mondo. Alla fine siamo tutti Italiani e neanche gli Indipendentisti Veneti e i Neo-Borbonici riusciranno a dire il contrario
Con tutto il rispetto ma nemmeno al signore che parla Mussolini non gli diede le scarpe,le invio in Russia con le scarpe di cartone,senza mezzi,senza una catena di comando efficace,e poi per cosa?
People may joke about the Italians and French but they had more balls than today's jokers on the internet acting like tough guys.
+Legio XXI Rapax The Daily Mail is a rag, not a newspaper. Not even good enough to clean one's ass.
Legio,dont think we Brits take any notice of rubbish in the newspapers no one buys them much these days in any case,down playing the enemy is a part of war and war stinks but after all these years i think those interested can see through it,as for here in the UK most people have not the least interest in history of any sort i asked my sixteen year old nephew what a ME 109 was,no idea a Spitfire,some sort of plane he said so you see no one worth the time is laughing at Italy its just a nice place to go on holiday to and i have an Italian brother in law P.S. we have a lot of Roman Forts and a Wall near where i live.
the reason why Italians and French did badly is because of their idiot generals. The generals are too dumb to give their men a chance to shine
Thats so true that its sad 😢
@@thitran1362 so true Like in most Arab armies today is how it was in Fascist Italy. The soldiers who were often the best and most qualified werent the ones getting the rank and leading the men but rather the Generals would get that rank through political favoring and family ties and were often not qualified for there rank but got the rank because of their social status and loyalty to the Leader....its sad But The modern Syrian Army finally snapped out of that type of running an army and do have qualified loyal men leading the way as Colonels and Generals. And they are Sunni generals Alewite generals Shia generals Druze General (RIP Zehrredine) and other faiths. They are a non secular Arab Army and they are battle hardened and the Russians taught them well. Israel is shitting a brick cus who knows once Assad takes back all of Syria. He will have the men and power to take back the occupied Golan Heights by force cus obviously diplomacy AND a UN charter mandate saying that Israel MUST leave the occupied Golan Heights and are on Syrian Land ILLEGALLY doesnt work!
I respect and bow for our italian brothers who fought a war they didnt want it. From romania wirh love.
@Alex Foster Only uneducated commie supporters would say that. If you read proper history and not hear what fake news says you will know more. It was in fact Russia who committed war crimes and was leading in the role of being the country doing most genocide.
@Alex Foster comi I say it the way i like it ok scholom goldbank
@Alex Foster yes
@ cum me! 🤣
And finished the was with their 4 feet on the groun
This is wonderful, I read a book called "Sacrifice on the Steppe" about Alpini in the USSR, incredible feats of bravery and human decency from Italians on the front. Grazie for the upload x
questo fa i complimenti agli italiani per il loro coraggio ed il comportamento umano con i prigionieri e tu lo insulti... non è neanche americano ma inglese, sei proprio un fallito.
YoungBritLad - I just ordered the book. Grazie amico
YoungBritLad - amazing book. those poor men suffered so much but kept their humanity through it all
Just read the book it was good but I wish it had expanded more on the military operations and the wider italian army not just the alpini. And in my opion it put down the Italians from southern Italy that made up the majority of the army and made out that the fascists stayed at home when in fact the most fierce and bravest where the blackshirt in the legions of "M" battalions.
GeorgeRomney69420 oh man I forgot I posted this but the response has been really positive. Glad you enjoyed it sir!
My grandfather partecipated at the russian campaign and he was captured by the russian, he told me during the whole time in captive he was treated well by the russian people, they knew italian soldiers had a good spirit
io ho conosciuto Mons. Arrigo Pintonello, Cappellano Militare Capo durante la guerra (CSIR/ARMIR); siccome era completamente rimbambito vent'anni fa (era della classe 1908, d'altronde) non ho potuto raccogliere nessuna testimonianza da lui: solo un aneddoto in cui disse che si fosse sfamato ''di polpette di neve ghiacciata''.
My fought in Afrika.
Il mio era un bersagliere catturato in russia e riuscito a scappare dal gulag dopo essere scappato con i suoi compagni si è fatto dalla Russia alla Sicilia a piedi ci ha messo 5 anni
Adanos My great grandfather was also an Italian soldier.Although none of my family knows much about his ww2 service.Do you know anywhere maybe I could access Italian ww2 documents.His name was Giuseppe Rosso.
@@papapepperoni3916 se mi dai la provincia e il corpo posso
Italians singing with Russians: It takes a human to recognize a human. . .
Both are cultured people. Not like Germans who feel they have to assert themselves by force to feel important.
@Fabian Kirchgessner he’s not stupid he’s right.
@@KienyejiChicken right👍🏼 germans have to assert themselves by force to feel
important ahahahhaah so TRUE
@@francesca_415 i'm italian and this thing is such bs. All nations have their own culture. Don't hate the germans, hate the politicians. Such ignorance here my god
@@bepinkfloyd814 you’re right but i just expressed my own opinion
My mother's uncle went missing in combat on the Don. His body was never found again. My mothers uncle was called Vincenzo Di Martino. He served in a mortar brigade. This is ALL I can do to keep a memory of him alive how ever insignficant this may be. He gave his life for a lost cause but he gave it. And for that I feel a sense of humility. I served in the Italian army as a conscript in 84 and even then I thought of my mothers Uncle. VIVA ITALIA ! This is for you Vincenzo Di Martino !
Brings tears to my hear as I am half slavic and half Italian.... We are brothers and fought each other.... My heart goes to all the fallen from both sides...
@@icunowlibra straight from our heart brat , fratello
Bravo!!!
Si dovremmo volerci bene come buoni vicini.
No more brotherly wars , no more !
My cousin, on my father's side, fought in Russia with the Italian Army. His name was Guido Lombardi. They said he was very proud to serve under Mussolini. He was reported missing in action and never seen again. I remember the family discussing his fate back in the early 1960s, and they conjectured that he was probably killed by a direct hit from an artillery shell. But no one knows. Maybe he was killed in battle, maybe he froze to death, or maybe he was taken prisoner, and died in the Russian prison camp. The Red Cross could find nothing. He is lost forever to the four winds.
Most wounds were death sentence, as nothing could be done for the wounded. It seems that was the fate of many.
Italian population and soldiers never wanted a war. They demonstrated huge balls and human spirit towards anyone else because they knew what hard times were. The poor living condition and simple life made them not the best warriors but the best soldiers, humanly and morally speaking.
My grandfather was sent to that front after Greece, and he used to tell us how the russians and italians got so well along, no matter the circumstances. I think the italians and russians on a human prospective understood each other and shared the same values.
It's not true we wanted war and we wanted to win
@@matteopelleriti4254 shut up pussy kiddo.
@@bluesoul7163 what's wrong with you?
@@okguimacedo?
@@bluesoul7163 why do you respond Matteo with "pussy kido"
Fantastic interview! Don't stop posting them!
I served in the US Army as I am born in America,but all of my Grandparents are from Italia.I had family fight on both sides during ww2 as is the case in America,nonetheless God bless America and Italia,and all of my Italian brothers everywhere !!!
Go back to Italy
My grandfather was drafted into the Italian army - former blacksmith who would work on repairing weapons and vehicles. He was captured twice by the Soviets, and escaped both times. The first time he escaped, the Soviets had captured a few thousand Italians and ran a single strand of barbed-wire around them in a field, with a guard stationed every so often. His captain, had learned Russian after a few years, asked one of the guards for a favor. Russian said "sure" thinking he'd ask for a cigarette. Instead, the captain asked to release him and his 25 men. The Russian looked at him for a while and said "sure... meet me here at 9pm when I start my next shift". The captain rounded up all his men and said if we stay, we die. If we go, we may die - it's your choice. The guard may very well gun us all down with his machine gun to get a medal. Lo and behold - at 9pm - the Russian let them pass and they escaped into the night. To this day - no one knew why the Russian let them go.
sounds more like a bullshit story
@@belayzenica Not a bs story it often happened throughout history.
@@belayzenica It may be bullshit, or it may not be. I wouldnt dismiss it.
@@belayzenica Another 12 Year old on the internet that has to be a troll and a heartless asshole
chiil My great grandfather escaped a German POW camp.
We have to admit: all the testimonies by the Italian veterans in Russia tell that Russians treated them fairly and humanely. Not just the POWS but even the soldiers in retreat. Alpini Sergeant (and later writer) Mario Rigoni Stern relates in his memoir of Russia that it was common that peasants came out from the izbas to donate retreating Italian soldiers with food and cloths.
Yes I agree, I have a Stern book on the matter....The Sergeant in the Snow, I believe it was called,
Two brother of my grandmother and one of my grandfather from the same town went to war in Russia and I heard with my ears that they were saved thanks to the Russian paesants that give them food and help. One of them had on foot frozen, two of them returned in Sardinia alive.
@@albertomura7445 My great grandfather was one of the soldiers in the Russian front he was awarded a medal of honor for saving a sergeant by carrying him to safety, he himself was saved by a Russian woman who sheltered him.
il fratello di mio nonno fu catturato a Stalingrado e deportato in un gulag in siberia , riuscendo a scappare ci mise 3 anni per tornare a casa
Omar Pregnolato invece il mio bisnonno ha combattuto nella fazione Russa
totale rispetto per entrambe le parti
vorrei conoscere la storia di come è scappato e ritornato a casa, cosa ha passato in quei 3 anni e tutto ciò che ci sta dietro.
purtroppo conosco poco la sua storia non oso immaginare come ci è riuscito , una delle cose che so che prese la medeglia al valor militare al suo ritorno si chiamava Oscar Gnan caporal maggiore della Divisione Julia
pizdabol
Мой дед воевал против них в Сталинграде. К итальянцам было хорошее отношение, они не считали нас недолюдьми.
Итальянские солдаты не чувствовали ненависти, и офицеры думали, что освобождают русский народ от большевизма. Они не знали, что у Гитлера были гораздо худшие планы.
I'm Italian and this is one of the best videos I ever seen
My great grandfather fought in Greece, Albania and Russia in the Julia division.
Viva L'Italia 🇮🇹🇮🇹🇮🇹
My uncle Carlo, a cavalryman from the Savoia Cavalleria, was awarded that same decoration when he fought in Montenegro. I recall as a kid looking at it in awe as it hanged along the framed letter of commendation signed by some top brass from his division. He was a broken man, the war screwed him up for good.
My grandfather's father goes from Italy to Russia and he is missing from December 22, 1942. Thanks for the video.
One of my ancestor died two days later (24 Dec 1942) around Ivanowka, he was in the 9th Alpini, Aquila bataillon.
Bellissima intervista, complimenti anche per il montaggio.
Italian soldiers had a human attitude for Red Army POW.
Most horrible were Finns,Hungarian, Croats,Germans .
yes we italians were forced to fight against our friends. we did not like germans, but admired Russian people.
+zhukhov2 I was born in Crimea.little city on a shore.
fortress was build by Roman legions.
cheers we all friends .
Buddha's blessings.
Exactly. I am from Alpine troops recruitment zone, and I saw the last veterans. A lot of stories on how the local population saved the lives of many soldiers during the winter retreat and how they were impressed because of the same images of Our Lady in the simple village homes, like in ours. War is ugly.
BUllshit. This mafia propaganda and spin - you just want to have your spaghetti and feel good too.
The Italains INVENTED FASCISM! and invaded countries before 1939 and Greece and Yugoslavia in 1940.
THe Italian people were WAY MORE fascistic than the Germans were.
They just weren't as capable as the Germans. That's all.
Karneles the Konsiderate I mean You can't say "germans" ( Obviusly just a part) were less bad than italians. These 2 countries were under a dictatorship and i dont think "germans" invented nazism or "italians" fascism. Just a part of people invented it and other people couldn't do much to stop that
Charming interview, can you even imagine a German soldier singing with Russian prisoners? Strange though, as a member of a vast fascist/nazi invasion, to complain that the soviet union only cared about arms production. Their very presence there basically proves the USSR right for doing so...
I am in Russia right now and i would like to say that people in Russia is so nice and they are very polite people too.
That’s why i don’t want to go back to america.......people there are very rude & racist.....
In Russia i feel so peacefully living here.
While you are a foreigner they are polite
Quando mio zio andò in Russia con l’Armir era nella divisione Pasubio nel 79 reggimento Roma, artiglieria, nella zona del Don detta Il cappello frigio... risultò disperso dal 30 novembre 1942. Aveva 19 anni...
Marco Urraro - Fucking nazi pig!!! Russia forever!!🇷🇺👊
@@ВасилийКлименко-н9у ...
Onore a i nostri soldati ❤🇮🇹
Tutti eroi.
Great interview !
My great grandfather fought in Albania Greece and Africa, respect for the Italian vets🇮🇹
Same for me,but they died in Russia,honour for your great grandfather!
noi russi sappiamo chi ha servito Hitler e chi ci ha ucciso (28 milioni di russi uccisi), ma non vogliamo ricordare il male, ma vogliamo essere amici) con te)
@@giarenella we - Russians know who served Hitler and helped Hitler kill the Russians 28 million people (but we don't like to remember evil - we have such a saying - "whoever remembers something bad - to gouge out his eye") we want to be friends, it's so simple
MORE OF THESE STUFFS PLEASE!!!
Da Italiano del sud sono orgoglioso di questi miei padri che si sono comportati da valorosi e da uomini bisognerebbe farla conoscere ai ragazzi delle scuole la storia dei soldati Italiani sul fronte Russo. Io credo che siano stati traditi due volte la prima da chi li ha mandati li la seconda da chi poteva ma non ha voluto fare ritornare i moltissimi soldati che erano stati fatti prigionieri
Forse con i mongoli potevano fraternizzare più simili ai meridionali italiani.
Italians had skilled soldiers, but bad tactics and equipment.
we had bad commanders and bad weapons ,but even Mr. Adolf had tactics that were not very proffesional.
Wtf
No, almost every were bad soldiers. During Barbarrosa operation many were worried about drink and sleep than fight. One example was the history that Leon Degrelle told in his book SS Waffen war in Russia. He said the italians dont made night guards, recon patrols and fight bad. A group of italians occupied a village and didnt post guards in night and the cossak calvary captured them without shot a bullet and killed them all the next day with ice water. After that many italians fight along with the german infantry and tanks because on their own were very bad soldiers.
@@alfredothepathfinder3069 You don´t know what are you speaking about. Stupid nazi reading garbage of a liar and criminal like Degrelle.
Utterly false, don’t know if is projecting, cope or just bad education due a propaganda that is keep destroying your country
My great grandfather was one of those that came from North Italy, his feet froze in Russia
Thank you for this great video! Keep posting such content!
I can't believe, even Italy didn't treat captured enemies like subhumans(Something the Germans and Japanese did). I have high respects for these soldiers even if people still continue to joke about their country switching sides in the second world War. They at least had empathy 💓
It is well known and historically documented from both sides, italian and russian, but italian troops sooner or later were forced to bring to Germans their prisoners and then the Russian prisoners enconuntered their doom being enslaved as forced labourers or sentenced by Germans without any mercy... 🤔
unfortunately even us italians did horrible things during ww2, like every other nation
It varied from unit to unit.
Some units were made up of more human being than others, and were lead by compassionate reasonable people.
Others were lead and made up by people who hated the enemy or their people to the core.
Only difference with countries like japan and Germany or Russia was that there was massive pressure from their political system to demonize the average enemy soldiers and not even treat them as humans.
Switched what we were invaded by Americans helped by Italo American Mafia open a book please ahahahaha
Ho letto il libro “Tutti i vivi all’assalto” do Alfio Caruso che racconta in detagli tutti i combatimenti della rittirata delle truppe del Don. É un libro spettacolare che raccomendo a tutti che vogliono sappere di píu lá storia del CSIR...
Grazie per il vídeo!
Saluti del Brasile!
@Alexandre Manetta Allora ti consiglio di leggere "il sergente nella neve" di Mario Rigoni Stern. Lui è stato un sergente maggiore in Russia, e racconta le scene che lui medesimo ha vissuto. È un testimone diretto. Oppure anche Bedeschi "centomila gavette di ghiaccio" . Anche lui un reduce.
My father in law fought on the Don as an Alpino. He was from the province of Parma. Only about 10% of his division made it back to Italy. His brother was also in the Italian army but after the Italian surrender of 1943 he, along with many other Italian soldiers, was made a prisoner of the Nazis. He died at the work camp at Dachau. 10 years after the war my father in law came to America with his wife, and his little son and daughter. Years later I married the daughter. My father was also Italian born and raised. My mother's family was Italian American and of course they all fought for America. So in our family we had decorated combat veterans from both sides. Everybody got along fine.
John i was born in a Pit Village in North East England,there were two Ice Cream Shops both Italian owned one by a man called Reay and the other Vallenti,during the war Reay a friend of my father just went on as normal Valenti got himself interned on the Isle of Man (not a bad place to be in truth) according to Reays wife he made his mouth go,the thing is Vallentis son was fighting in the Western Desert under Montgomery,war is so stupid is it not,the Shop owned by the long dead Reay only closed a few years ago.
Cheers from Parma, fella.
Your comment sent shivers down my spine.
A war where you are drafted against your will is probably the worst thing about it. If you where a partisan you where sure to fight where you believed in, in the army that was true sometimes as well but in cases it was just for money and because they simply had to fight because of the fascist government punishing them otherwise.
Iam an Australian italian. Italian on my father's side.,both my grandfather's fought in ww2. My Italian grandfather was a blackshirt who fought in East Africa and my aussie grandfather fought in North Africa part of the 9th Australian division. My farther was a member of the fascist youth and came to Australia in the 50's. My aussie grandfather was not to happy at the start of his daughter going out with a italian but always said the italian soldiers he dealt with where easy going and did there duty under server hardship with poor weapons, food, tanning and leadership. But always smiled even when surrendering!!.
I've read the first hand account of a Belgian who served with the SS on the eastern front from 1941 to 1945. I remember one passage where he wrote that a village with Italians was surrounded and cut of by Soviets in a blizzard during the winter of 1941-1942. The Soviets had made them all undress in the middle of the village after which they poured freezing water on them from the well. The SS found them a couple of days after all frozen stiff in weird positions.
Yes i have heard that,war is a strange thing i think otherwise decent people lose their minds,i knew a Veteran who lying wounded on the desert was about to be bayoneted by two Italian soldiers when a German Doctor saved him,its easy to label these men but who knows their state of mind or what they may have gone through in the hours before,many soldiers did bad things and had to live with it for the rest of their lives.
That belgian was Leon Degrelle, he was general of the Wallonian SS division.
The video is mostly good, but just that opening phrase is incorrect...there weren't more Southerners than Northerners in Russia. The Alpini were nearly all from the North, but also most regiments of the infantry division sent to Russia were from northern regions. The theathre were there were more Southerners was North Africa in the earlier part of the war, as Mussolini thought that people from Southern Italy would better stand the warm climate in that region and ordered divisions mostly recruited in the South to be used there.
Nando Passante Southern Italians fought and died on all fronts in ww2 including Russia. They also fought and died in huge numbers during the first World War. This degrading of Southern Italians is a northern thing,or should I say German.
@@Francesco-bm1pr Italians from all Italy, from Aosta Valley to Sicily, fought and died in all fronts and in all wars fought by Italy. (In World War I, by the way, the Italian region that suffered the greatest number of military deaths was Lombardy. Know why? Simply because it's the most popolous region of Italy. Each region, from north to south, lost the same percentage of soldiers killed). Nobody is disparaging southerners; I am simply pointing out a factual error.
@@icunowlibra Surely, there were people from all over Italy (like in every other campaign): but your map proves my point:
North (Lombardy, Piedmont, Veneto, Emilia, Liguria, Trieste, Val d’Aosta, Trentino Alto Adige), 42.930
Center (Tuscany, Umbria, Marche, Lazio, Abruzzo, Molise), 9446
South (Campania, Apulia, Lucania, Sicily, Sardinia, Calabria), 11.278
So, as you can see, in Russia those from the northern regions outnumbered those from the southern regions by nearly four to one; and were about two-thirds of the overall number.
Nando Passante Africa does not begin south of Rome. It would be interesting to find out overall the ratio of Southern Italians in the army in ww2, I always believed that southern Italians joined the army because of lack of work. It is a sad fact that Northern Italians have always looked down upon southern Italians even today, yes the south after all these years still has many social problems the Northern league party only dropped the northern part to attract more votes. Sadly I belive Italy was more united under mussolini than it had ever been.
@@Francesco-bm1pr It is possible that in peacetime, more southerners join in the army because of lack of work, but in wartime there was no such choice: in both world wars Italy, like most other countries, practiced the draft. Every man of military age was called up for compulsory service, regardless of region of origin. The ratio of southern Italians in the army during WWII is therefore almost certainly more or less equal to the ratio of southern Italians in the entire Italian population.
Great Uncle here goes my thoughts to you 🇮🇹
Thank you for uploading this
icunowlibra just an interest in WW2 history! There's nothing better than firsthand accounts. How lucky are we to be able to hear what these soldiers experienced
Great video, thank you for sharing
Un mio pro-zio fu l'unico sopravvissuto della sua compagnia, si salvo solo perché venne aiutato da dei contadini russi
My great-grandpa actually fought in Russia, and in Greece too.
The fact that the Soviet Union fought essentially against the whole of Europe. And French, Czech, Hungarian, Italian, Finnish and many other legions fought against the Soviet Union.
TheValentino975 The Soviet Union was twice the size of Europe and had major resources.
Due to the fact that the USSR had a lot of resources, it was necessary to attack all of Europe? And all these deaths were justified by the struggle for resources? Today, the United States as the Nazis destroyed the state for resources one at a time, or how Hitler wanted all at once.
TheValentino975 The Soviet Union was planning on attacking Europe first. They mobilized massive Army's on the border of Poland with Germany. Hitler attacked first.
Yes, so says Western propaganda)))) Please note that when Hitler attacked the USSR he easily destroyed not trained military units and aerodromes. That is, the troops of the USSR at the beginning of the war, was completely not ready. Tells the whole story about this, that Hitler had little difficulty in it for a few months. Well, as the Soviet Union could be planning attacks on Europe if the military were on leave? And all military units had poor military equipment and was not in operational condition. In the ideology of the Russian people there is no such thing as to grab someone's territory. The entire territory of Russia was built from the fact that Russia constantly attacking Europe and Asia, but after the victory of Russia we take the territory as a sign of reparation. There in the West today rinse the brains of generations of people and in 20 years the West will have to say that Stalin attacked Hitler and the whole of Europe. Borders of Russia is very huge and to protect them is very difficult for this Russia does not need foreign territory. By the way why Russia needs to attack Europe if there is no recusou?????????????????????? I'm very sorry, the West is growing a new generation of mentally disabled people, which although again be sent to fight against Russia. Every 100 years, Europe gets in the teeth from Russia, apparently to them it has not taught anything.
In fact, the EU is becoming a very dangerous place. There is some social experiment on a huge relocation of the population from the South. And as a result are terrorist attacks, one after the other. The goal of the globalists send the EU into the stone age because they represent greater competition USA in technology. Their task is to push the war Russia and the EU that we destroy each other and failed, and then came the second plan to destroy the EU terrorists. The US bombed the middle East and sent a crowd of refugees in the EU and there is not to make anyone of them a terrorist. The terrorists were under the guise of refugees and they soon completely destabilisateur the EU. Let's hope that the EU will begin to make the right laws to tighten policies against refugees. And the most effective way to rebuild their country and they return home. I hope our countries will strengthen the friendship, not enmity.
Great job! Very interesting, I hope he's doing fine currently
Blaming the axis leaders because of problems and conditions that even they didn't know how to fix at the time! There was no reason to betray the axis, the allies weren't on your side as well and killing Mussolini without questioning was VERY suspicious!...
The war against the Soviet Union was never suppose to happen, that is the one thing that should have never happened! Well, at least in the end there is now peace for humanity in a way...
Thank you for putting English subtitles up not all of the Italian Documentaries have them,it is good to hear the Veterans tell their story and a warning to all of us not to worship idiot Politicians,i would like to add that although it may at the time have been necessary not all of us accept the propaganda that the Italians were ineffective in the Second World War i spoke to many British Veterans and they would soon put you right in that respect,the thing was that for many but not all their harts were not in the war or the alliance with Germany.
@Waxel Punkt. The germans didn't shoot italians because they weren't worthy. They shot them because they switched sides.
@@HansPeter_ Actually, Italy has never switched sides ... Italian Kingdom fought against Germany in the last 19 months of the war because the Germans still occupied a part of the Italian territory after italian capitulation ... but Italy was considered a co-belligerent country bi anglo-americans, and not an ally! After the war, Italy was treated as a defeated country, and had to sign a very tough peace treaty, so the story of the "change of sides" is a myth...
Another very good book is “Sergeant of the snow”.
@Rob Frohwein written by Mario Rigoni Stern . Excellent book. A diretc witness as major sergeant in Russia.
Greetings.
Italians did not want to fight the Russians, Italian soldiers helped many Russian civilians with an open heart.
I still see that British propaganda still holds on to those who have not read modern or any books at all for that matter. The Italians fought gallantly, with the exception of the 10th army, which mostly aside from2 divisions and individual black shirt units from the others surrendered a little too fast. If u guys get a chance, read more modern books. Antony beevor gives a reason why we still buy into this opinion, because that would mean the English were at least equal to(if not more so) as poorly as a fighting army even with slightly superior equipment, it was done for home front reasons and to prop up American support for supplies at the time to belittle the Italians, that and Italy's equipment and overall officer corps and lack of grand strategic policy. That and Mussolini spread his forces to thin on to many fronts. The Italians though generally fought with extreme distinction in certain areas of operation, and only were rolled over by the late dec. Counter thrusts of the 8th army on the don wing, which was more so for lack of armor then anything.
My uncle was sent to Russia in ww2 ! He was part of the CSIR (corpo spedizione ITALIANA in Russia ) ! He was very badly equipped and very badly commanded ! The Germans didn't give a fuck about Italians and never helped once when Italians where in danger or asked for support ! My uncles cause of death is still unknown and his body was never found ! He probably died of hypothermia during the cold winter or he might have been killed in action !
I read a Stavka Report on enemy capability,Germans always battle ready,the Romanians respected for their toughness but the Soviets were very surprised how the Italians could hold their formation together during a retreat the were very impressed by this.
Stefano Cozzi - Thank you for you're story. I am Italian-American and my grandfathers brother was in the 29th Infantry regiment during WW2. He assaulted Omaha beach on D-DAY. He was killed 4 days later somewhere in Normandy. Lots of respect to you're uncle.
Stefano Cozzi - Thank you for you're story. I am Italian-American and my grandfathers brother was in the 29th Infantry regiment during WW2. He assaulted Omaha beach on D-DAY. He was killed 4 days later somewhere in Normandy. Lots of respect to you're uncle.
Because Italy basically always asked the germans for help
My grandfathers died there
I too salute your grandfather!
My Great Grandfather was captured in Russia and survived Siberia
The Italian Soldiers at the Russian Front suffered badly from the cold, from deficient weapons , and no appreciation from their German allies, that they were there to help. The Italians that were taken prisoner by the Russians were brutalized, were starved, and sent to a Siberian Death Camp. Very few Italian POW's survived the Siberian hardship to go home at the end of the war. The Italian soldier was brave in the face of hardship we can scarcely comprehend. I've heard these sick jokes about Italians lack of motivation on the battlefield, I found that the Italian soldier was superb when well led. The rank and file Italian soldier stood tall in the Russia campaign, but there were no leaders in the Italian Army like Rommel, like our Patton, and like Montgomery. That was their main problem in WW II, lack of great leadership at the command level.
@@icunowlibra quite true messe was one the best ww2 generals.the only problem is that the Anglo Saxon think of only theirs so all the Germans, English or. Americans were great or were serving the orders whereas the Italians were according to them not very good at fighting.this is a joke, the Anglo Saxon sphere was one the most coward ethnicity that had fought in wars.
very important for me to see this, because i'm italian, thank you !!!
Anyone have any idea what the music is that plays at the beginning of the video, and then again at 5:23?
@@icunowlibra Much obliged.
Finalmente un soldato che ha servito la sua patria fino alla fine. Anche al ritorno dal fronte russo. E il traditore non era Mussolini, ma quasi tutti i generali italiani come Badoglio. Grandi invece i generali Graziani e Messe! Viva l'Italia, la vecchia Italia 🇮🇹
Even then people knew the dangers of communism and socialism, and the absolute threat they are to free societies and the human race in general.
when was this interview shot? Also are these interviews part of a edcoumentary? If yes where can I get it from?
Many thanks
A fine Documentary and a fine man,so few of them left now all credit and respect to you for recording his story.
Peace, we are all sons of Europe after all
The anecdote about the former soldier, then partisan, is the history of both my grampas: one lost a brother in Russia and the other a dear friend there. They were sick of the fascists and still in anger. Neither of them were communists, but one went to the Ossola valley with his Alpine hat (Taurinense) and the other joined Milan Gap.
My uncle was Italian cavalry in WWI and captured by the Austrians. In WWII he was with a mechanized cavalry. He was captured by the Russians. He then was able to work with the Russians as a medic/orderly until he could escape and returned to Italy. He lived into his 90’s. I have his medals.
During the retreat, the Italians wanted to get on the few remaining vehicles and the Germans were unable to make him understand that, if you wanted to survive, you had to use the few trucks and crawlers to transport only food, fuel and weapons ... the German drivers were many small ladies Merkel, but the italians refused to understood as today.
Purtroppo stanno scomparendo tutti i testimoni di questa tragedia. Ho avuto, ed ho ancora, la fortuna di incontrare personalmente molti di questi sopravvissuti alla ritirata. Alcuni hanno patito le pene del gelido inverno russo altri son stati un pò più fortunati...
Ciao Icunowlibra, ho scoperto tardi l'Armir, la ritirata ed i reduci della campagna russa. Inoltre nella mia professione quando trovo un reduce spesso non è in grado di intraprendere un discorso logico e fluido. Molte volte non hanno la minima intenzione di parlarne ed altre non riescono a parlare proprio. Alla fine molti di loro mi/ci lasciano per l'ultima destinazione...
Ciao Ico.
P.S. lavoro in Ospedale
Lembra muito meu nono 🇧🇷🇮🇹
Dove è possibile trovare una testimonianza scritta che parla di questi depositi nelle retrovie in Russia pieni di materiali mai consegnati ai soldati al fronte? Chi può indicarmi un riferimento bibliografico? Grazie.
Enrico Montermini Puoi leggere "Il sergente nella neve" o "Centomila gavette di ghiaccio". Entrambi i libri sono stati scritti da veterani, che raccontano di aver marciato davanti a depositi pieni di rifornimenti dati alle fiamme.
grazie
***** In quel contesto aveva senso. Gli alpini si stavano ritirando, sono passati davanti ai depositi, ma non avevano nè il tempo nè i mezzi per prendere qualcosa; perciò hanno bruciato tutto per non lasciarli ai russi.
Una delle strategie di base contro un'invasione ed una ritirata è la tattica della terra bruciata.
Nella Guerra vera qualsiasi risorsa è utile, anche una semplice capanna di legno o una cassa d'acqua....specialmente in un'ambiente naturale "ostile" come la russia o gli scenari desertici.
Quindi il NON lasciare le risorse al nemico è una strategia abbastanza logica, specialmente quando non si ha il tempo di "raccoglierle".
Very interesting.
After all Italy bled for Germany they turned their backs on them. Even to this day refusing to trial the men who committed atrocities on Italian citizens.
Legio XXI Rapax Besides Italian partisans were not only communists,learn your history.
Sergio Some of them where socialists but that was a lot closer to communism back then.. then it is right now although not completely the same, granted. Are there any other ideologies you want to tell me about that the partisans followed?
@@DivergentStyles Social democrats, anarcho-liberals, hell even libertarians. You probably wouldn't see an entire partisan militia with these ideologies, but the greatest thing about human beings is their ability to have their own opinions and still form friendships. Some French resistance groups were communists, yes, but there were also people fighting for democracy. Yet I can assure you that not every fighter in each group in these groups shared the exact same opinion or ideology as their comrades.
Lol. Italy bled for Germany? Germany saved them in Greece and Yugoslavia.
@@alfredothepathfinder3069 In Greece, yes, not in Yougoslavia.
What's the name of the song being played?
ruclips.net/video/75P0QGi3RO0/видео.htmlsi=Zw8rD1pgYkgKVKAj
can i translate it to portuguese and post in my channel?
thanks
Ci siamo fatti rispettare anche coi pochi mezzi che avevamo. I soldati Italiani hanno combattuto con onore per la patria, la patria li ha fatti combattere per un ideale sbagliato!
Mussolini had to remain socialist, and he had to line up with the Soviet union not with fkng Hitler
I ever visited Salò, so i understand what the meaning RSI. It is STILL means Republic Socialist Italia. So, until Mussolini died.....HE IS SOCIALIST. Thing that makes me didn't understood is Italian Commie. They are Communist but PRO AMERICANISM, doing capitalism and against their own people by keep standing in OUTSIDERS ALIENS RIGHTS with idea HUMANITY. Forgot, eh?
Respect for the veterans... from Greece. Italians were much better people than the Germans
No.there are coward and liar!
@@deanmo3599 In russia italians were left by the germans so they can run away and then got encircled by the soviets.
It was a miracle that they could break out of it.
@@deanmo3599 that's the typical description of Germans or Anglo-Saxon
@@deanmo3599 come back to study
One is an ancient and one of the greatest civilizations in human history. The other is a barbarian who built nothing in antiquity and rejoices in wrecking what others have built.
Grande intervista, e massimo rispetto per il soldato, solo non capisco la litania ricorrente (in tutte le interviste) dei "soldati italiani poco equipaggiati, mandati a soffrire freddo e fame in Russia". Come se russi, tedeschi, ungheresi e romeni combattessero al caldo e non morissero rigidi e congelati, come se combattessero a pancia piena, come se non avessero problemi di rifornimento. Sembra sempre che gli italiani sono stati gli unici ad aver sofferto la guerra.
I dati di fatto parlano di una realtá sconfortante per l'equipaggiamento. I soldati della CSIR e poi ARMIR avevano uniformi invernali a mala pena validi per un inverno padano, assolutamente insufficiente per i -40 della steppa russa. Con l'eccezione delle divisoni alpine piú preparate per l'inverno la situazione era drammatica. Le armi poi erano antiquate a cominciare dal fucile, Il Carcano Mod. 91con caricatore da 6 colpi, appena sufficiente pr la I guerra era scadente per la seconda, assenza quasi totale di mezzi di trasporto come camion, assenza di carri armati, corpo aereo esiguo. I Tedeschi erano meglio equipaggIati dei nostri a livello di uniformi (anche se non come i sovietici) ma avevano armi individuali nettamente superiori, per non parlare di carri armati, artiglieria e mezzi di trasporto. I Rumeni e gli Ungheresi crollarono quasi subito, dopo il primo urto sovietico, molto prima delle nostre truppe. Ergo, mettere l'accento sull'equipaggiamento non é sbagliato. Rappresenta la veritá non solo per il fronte russo ma anche per tutt gli altri dove i soldati Italiani sono stati impiegati. Poche eccezioni (anche se non completamente equipaggiati) sono gli Alpini, la Folgore e il San Marco.
Quello che dici è vero, e non si può negare. Come hai esordito giustamente, questi sono dati di fatto. Non dico che l'esercito italiano si sia comportato male in russia. Tuttavia secondo me si sente troppo spesso parlare di questi problemi utilizzandoli come scusanti, senza guardare all'enorme sacrificio dei tedeschi e dei russi, i quali leggendo testimonianze dal fronte hanno subìto disgrazie e sofferenze ben peggiori, ed hanno tenuto duro. Non dico che questo sminuisca gli italiani, solo bisognerebbe limitare le "lamentele" a fronte della enorme disgrazia che è stata la seconda guerra mondiale ed il fronte orientale in particolare.
Certamente Russi eTedeschi, che hai citato (ma anche Americani e inglesi) hanno combattutto con convinzione, coraggio e sopportato grandi sacrifici. Ma lo hanno fatto perché credevano in quella guerra: i tedeschi per imporre la supremazia della razza, I sovietici per difendere il suolo di Santa Madra Russia. Ma noi Italiani, fin dall'inizio, non credavamo in quella guerra. I nostri soldati che avevano combattutto 18 anni prima contro gli Austro Tedeschi non capivano perché si trovavano ad aggredire la Grecia (paese amico), la Francia e la Gran Bretagna (ex alleati), la Russia (paese lontanissimo), gli Stati Uniti (paese a forte emigrazione italiana). Mancavano le motivazioni che invece avevavo consentito la riscossa italiana dopo Caporetto e che vide i soldati del Regio Esercito fermare sul Piave gli Austro Ungarici e Tedeschi. In quei giorni del novembre del 1917 il soldato Italialno dato per spacciato, dopo un arretramento di 100 Km, stupí gli alleati quando, da solo, fermó un'avanzata che sembrava sul punto di farla crollae. Li c'erano le motivazioni. Tutto il il popolo Italiano si compattó dietro l'esercito e il cambio di comando a Diaz (un generale intelligente) permise la vittoria. Nella seconda guerra, tutto questo mancava, e, a parte l'ubriacatura italiana per la guerra lampo, gli italiani si resero conto che stavano combattendo una guerra ingiusta. Se a tutto questo aggiungiamo l'assoluta mancanza di armi ed equipaggiamento moderni che non permettevano una lotta pari col nemico, ecco spiegato il disastro. I russi erano equipaggiati da capo a piedi, cosi come i tedeschi, gli inglesi e gli americani. Se confronti i carri armati italiani con quelli del nemico, beh il confronto é impietoso. Lo stesso vale per armi individuali e aerei. Combattere in queste condizioni era veramente missione impossibile. Detto questo, si puó dire che alcune divisoni, nonostante questo, combatterono con valore, come la Folgore e la Centauro in Africa del Nord, gli Alpini in Russia, la Marina militare e i nostri piloti che riuscirono comunque a compiere il loro dovere. La fanteria purtroppo, a parte alcune eccezioni, non poteva reggere il conronto con le altre fanterie e per questo motivo cedette dopo i primi importanti scontri. Un'ultima nota a merito delle nostre truppe é che non si resero responsabili di crimini di guerra nonostante fossimo alleati di un certo Adolf Hitler (a differenza di tedeschi e sovietici). Sono riportati casi individuali in Grecia e Yugoslavia, ma si contano sulla delle dite delle mani e riguardano principalmente la lotta anti partigiana che avvenne in quei territori (casi di attacchi partigiani contro truppe regolari italiane)
Non sono d'accordo con te su alcuni punti. Il primo (nell'ordine in cui hai scritto) è quello che riguarda le motivazioni. Tedeschi e Russi combattevano con le stesse motivazioni degli italiani, cioè il fatto di essere coscritti e quello del patriottismo.In tutti gli eserciti c'era chi non ci credeva e chi avrebbe disertato volentieri, tanto che per esempio molti russi combattevano ubriachi per trovare il coraggio. Secondo quello dei crimini di guerra. Gli italiani, contrariamente alla fama di buoni, si sono macchiati in realtà di molti crimini di guerra in tutta la penisola balcanica, grecia compresa, nordafrica, più in Russia, non meno dei tedeschi. Solo che l'aver firmato un armistizio ha alleggerito la propaganda anti italiana post bellica (contrariamente a ciò che è successo ai tedeschi, che sembrano gli unici mostri di una guerra sanguinosa e criminale da parte di tutti).
Non si tratta di essere o meno d'accordo. Si tratta da fatti storici e questi dicono, da tutte le fonti che i soldati tedeschi combattevano per un idale in cui credevano fino in fondo. Lo si é visto in tutti i campi di battaglia. Come ti ho gia detto i Sovietici combatterono per non soccombere e per difendere la loro terra. Quindi in questi casi le motivazioni erano fortissime. Non fu cosi per i nostri soldati del 40-45.
Se non se convinto basta che tu legga o ascolti le testimonianze dei reduci. Non é vero che gli Italiani si macchiarono di crimini di "non meno dei tedeschi". La tua é un'affermazione assolutamente senza fondamento. Lo dimostra, tanto per citare un piccolo esempio, il fatto che quando i sovietici catturavano i soldati Italiani, questi venivano inviati in prigionia a differenza dei tedeschi che a centinaia venivano fucilati sl posto. Ci sono testimonianze di reduci Italiani che cercavano di nascondere i soldati tedeschi dandogli il loro cappotto. Questo perché gli Italiani rispettarono i civili e soldati russi progionieri, sempre. Citami casi di crimini in Russia visto che affermi ce ne furono da parte Italiana. Aggiungo che in alcuni casi soldati italiani e tedeschi si spararono addosso (in Polonia) proprio perche i nostri non accettavano le fucilazioni tedesche di civili. Per quanto riguarda la Gecia e la Jugoslavia ho gia detto come andarono le cose. Basta documentarsi.
Any one knows what's the tittle of the song starting at the 3min mark ???
Mio nonno tornò.....
Angelino De Sortes -artiglierie della 90°conpagnia autonoma -
90° Reggimento,5°Divisione di fanteria "Cosseria"......
Reduce....
❤️
yes sir The Italians had some great weapons and great planes. To think if they would have prepared another 3 to 5 years with support .Ww2could have been extended enough time for Germany to perfect their new weapons, and maybe nukes.
Indeed, Italian weapons were not as bad as people thinks ... actually the main problem of Italy in ww2 was the ability of the Italian industry at the time to produce a sufficient quantity of good weapons and good equipment in a short time. The military campaigns in Ethiopia and Spain had been a success, but the Italian army was extremely worn out and in 1939 Italy had only 10 well-armed divisions! A few months before the outbreak of WW2, according to Mussolini himself, the Italian industry would have needed at least another 4 years to reconstitute the Italian military capacity of 1935 ... for this reason Mussolini did not enter the war immediately, he did it only in 1940 because he thought the war was almost over...tragic mistake!
First of all that guilty short sight. Turning his head away from the big facts. Not being able to go beyond his finger. Of course now he recalls the evening soup and the songs, forgetting, or worst not being full aware, to be there as part of an invasion army with the goal to submit other people. He speaks as an official. And becouse of this he should feel lucky to make it and getting back. Becouse the russians were very tollerant and friendly with common soldiers POWs, the tragic victims of Mussolini's regime. But with the officials, the ones responsible for the transmission chain of fascist diktat toward the base, with those the russian had no hesitation nor pity. With a pistol at hand they found their way to the final justice.
Avevo un zio che e sparito in Russia durante la seconda guerra. C'e qualche d'uno che conosce qualche departamento militare che potrebbe assistare ricerchare documenti dell suo servizio?
Io sono Italo-Australiano
Grazie per la risposta. Provero'.
Nel tempio di Cargnacco a Udine , nella cripta dove c'è scritto ...CI RESTA SOLO IL NOME .... ci sono tanti registri su cui , in ordine alfabetico , sono registrati i nomi di tutti i soldati morti o dispersi sul suolo Russo .
Di mio zio ad esempio sta scritto ...
Metelli Primo artigliere reggimento a cavallo morto nel lager ospedale 3947 di Pizalji il 23aprile1943.🇮🇹
I am from slovenia we were under italian ocupation in ww2.
sorry about that:-( Italy committed terrible crimes in ex Yugoslavija. I love my county but it has to be said
@@fabiocinus8225 I dont feel resentment against italy.
Red Army bulletin n°630, 8th February 1943
"the only force that can regard itself as undefeated on Russian soil is the Italian Alpini corps"
What is the name of the song which begins around 2:50?
+icunowlibra thank you
+icunowlibra ah now problem, thanks for finding the right one.
Complimenti, bellissimo. Finalmente un documentario oggettivo su un momento della storia del nostro paese. Privo di faziosita', rispettoso dei nostri soldati e delle loro grandi qualita' e capacita' umane..
the brother of my grandfather was AN italian soldier that fight agains Russia in ww2
Very Hread of miracle of Saint Anne by writter Spike Lee!
great story, the war was silly and should never happened..touched by the humanity shown by Italian army..bTW what was the fate of Mongol POWs?
Italian army in Soviet Union. Correct this title
If you pause at 2:56, you can actually see a Russian prisoner that looks Asian, he's most likely Siberian.
with a hint of Mongolian
Looks like more japanese
Questo signore ha poi partecipato alla repubblica di saló...
quindi i magazzini pieni di vestiario invernale e cibo.... e al fronte sofferenza a causa di un equipaggiamento non idoneo!
Pare chiaro il tradimento di qualche dirigente politico e militare di alto livello italiano...
Mio padre combattè in Albania e Gracia, ritornò ammalato ,
Musica min 3.20 melodia Splendida .
@Waxel Punkt. wao grande !
E min 2.50 ?
la traduzione in inglese non va bene
icunowlibra in parecchie parti... anche significative.... la traduzione in inglese non è per niente fedele alle parole che vengono dette...
I miei zii che abitavano nel Nebraska, cugini di mia madre,combatterono con gli americani
So many neo-fascists, neo-communists, and anti-Semites in the comments. Why must all history videos about war be like this?
What????? I haven't come across any politically inclined nor racist comments? Are you sure you are posting in the right video comment section?
@@chapiit08 I've looked again. I could have sworn there were a lot more. I saw a few. Have you checked the comments with over 40 replies. That usually a sign.
@@walnzell9328 Well, people have the right to express their opinion, it's up to the individual to filter what it's suitable to his/her particular taste and/or inclinations.
@@chapiit08 I suppose that's true. I just hope none of them step away from their keyboards and act on them.
@@walnzell9328 Oh, there will always be people who act out as long as we walk this planet at least.
They were mostly southern Italian soldiers?that is plain
vicious slander!. Southerners and Northerners do not love each other, fair enough, But claiming that Northern-Italians were not in Russia is a bloody lie. Shame on you old man. My grandpa fought with the Armir in the Don, Donetsk and Voronezh and with him thousands of other Lombards, Venetians, Emilians, Piedmotese Friulians etc. Check your fact before you speak. The ARMIR was composed by, 2nd Mountain Infantry Division Sforzesca from Novara(Piedmont ),3rd Mountain Infantry Division Ravenna from Alessandria (Piedmont), 5th Infantry Division Cosseria from Imperia (liguria),, 156th Infantry Division Vicenza from Vicenza (Venethia), 2nd Alpine Division Tridentina from Meran (Südtirol)3rd Alpine Division Julia from Udine(Friaul), 4th Alpine Division Cuneense from Cuneo( Piedmont) 52nd Motorised Division Torino from Turin (Piedmont), 9th Motorised Division Pasubio from Verona (Venethia), 3rd Cavalry Division Amedeo Duca d'Aosta (which I myself ignore where they came from) where were all those "mostl Southerners" that you claim, you filthy liar? e lo scrivo in inglese solo xke voglio che lo capiscano in piu tanti possibile.
The Infantry units were mostly from the south. The Alpini were all from the norther areas of Italy.
icunowlibra+ interesting map indeed.
it makes more or less 42.000 Cisalpine missing against 18.000 odd southern Italians missing. This is more than twice as much.If this map is accurate,it proves that the old fellow in the interview is a wee liar. Where did you get this map?
Now then, this man literally says : "also in Russia, soldiers from the North of Italy not many. Soldiers from the South of Italy many. Therefore the suffering was mostly on the Southern Italian population."This is a serious lie and insult to all the fallen in Russia, Cisalpines and Southerners who fought, died together and never came back from Russia. What this gentleman claims is plain and simple lie. .If then, someone else cut and pasted this video, then he is guilty himself, by implying a different meaning to this man's words and twisting their true message. Words have a precise meaning and the first video's claims are offending the memory of our fallen in Russia. Both Cisalpine and Southerners. I believe I've spoke my mind. Goodbye
Bepi Visintainer Ma che importa, c'erano entrambi...ma alla fine siamo comunque tutti italiani...
giadamino
Solo gli ignoranti definiscono così i meridionali , poi è ovvio che ci siano meridionali nullafacenti e stupidi , ma è lo stesso per i settentrionali e per tutto il mondo.
Alla fine siamo tutti Italiani e neanche gli Indipendentisti Veneti e i Neo-Borbonici riusciranno a dire il contrario
Forza Italia 🇮🇹
Con tutto il rispetto ma nemmeno al signore che parla Mussolini non gli diede le scarpe,le invio in Russia con le scarpe di cartone,senza mezzi,senza una catena di comando efficace,e poi per cosa?
Bet the Russians were Frightened.