"Bad equipment": My grandfather was a German soldier but he had to drive an Italian tank (Fiat, I think). The tank broke down all the time and he missed a lot of battles, spending his time in repair shops instead. Back then he was so ashamed of this that he often didn't even mention driving a tank at all when he met friends or relatives, because they would immediately ask if he drove a Panther or a Tiger or something. But later on he became very thankful. And I am thankful too, maybe I owe my life to this small, ill-designed and poorly constructed tank.
@@donbrashsux The Italian trucks were actually okay, as for tanks...the Italians did not keep up with advancements in tank design, that is on those guys not FIAT.
@@ChairmanMo FIAT had monopoly on the Italian tanks design, and it's a well known fact that that's one of the reason they didn't really feel the need to improve the tanks much
I have 4 relatives who fought in WW2 as part of the italian army. One fought in Albania and then in Russia as part of the Alpine divisions. He lost in life in Russia in 1943. Another one fought in Albania and survived the war. Another one again had quite an eventful experience. He fought in Egypt where he was taken prisoner in December 1940. Later on, when the Axis forces advanced again into Egypt, he was freed alongside other italian and german POWs. After several months he was sent back to North Africa, where he was taken prisoner again in Tunisia in 1943, when the last Italo-german forces were defeated. This time he was sent to Australia, to a prisoner camp. He came back home only in 1947. Poor dude was traumatized because he shot an english soldier who was captured and later died due to the injury, during a fight in Africa. Being a strong believer in christian values he always wondered whether god would have forgiven him. Last relative who fought in the war was very lucky. I dunno where he fought or if he fought at all, but at some point after Italy signed the peace with the allies he, alongside many italian soldiers, was taken prisoner by the german soldiers and sent to a prison camp in Austria. Near the end of the war some prisoners tried to escape, also killing some german guards in the attempt. Some managed to flee, but unfortunatly my relative was captured and sent back to the camp. He and some others were about to be executed, and the german officers asked them if they had a last wish. He asked for a cigarette and started smoking. While he was smoking a german officer arrived at the camp driving a car and started announcing something in german. The german troops started yelling stuff but the other prisoners didn't understand what was going on, until someone who knew german translated and said peace with germany had been signed and war was over. The soldiers just forgot about the execution and let the prisoners go. My relative felt so lucky that he went to german soldier who was supposed to shoot him and asked him the bullet that he was about to shoot. The soldier agreed and gave it to him, my relative kept it with him for all his life as some sort of lucky charm. I still have it in my library to this day
My brother in law's father was an Australian soldier guarding a group of Italian prisoners in North Africa when one yelled out 'hey Bill'. It was a guy he went to school with from an Italian family, he went back to Italy for a holiday and was drafted into the Italian army. True story.
@@EmergencyChannel Many nations, including Great Britain, Russia, China (just to name a few) consider Anyone who was once a Citizen, or of their Nationality, to Always Be A "Citizen" and Subject To Their Laws! They don't recognize an individuals ability to reject citizenship and/or for an individual to become a citizen of another nation. While those nations do reserve the right to Strip an individual of citizenship, it is a rare punishment; because they reserve the ability to Claim legal jurisdiction over those persons. This was a factor of the Anglo-American War of 1812. More relevant, the Chinese Communist government (similar to other Chinese regimes before) asserts that ALL Ethnic Chinese are Subjects of the Chinese Communist Government! Even individuals whose families have lived outside of China for Hundreds of Years, or even more than a Thousand Years. (Such as ethnic Chinese who live in Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia, the USA, etc.)
@@EmergencyChannel Incorrect. A friend of my mothers husband was visiting family in Italy and was conscripted into the army. Even though he was a US citizen since he was born in Italy they took him. This happened a lot.
@@EmergencyChannel we have dual citizenship, actually 61 million lives in italy, with italian passport in foreign state another 52 million!! Argentina has 65% italian ancestor, Uruguay even more! btw, you should read about US marines, how many of them was italian native, btw. the italian population saved a lot of British soldier, or hide them from the germans, they loved the ally more then the german
Trouble was, it wasn't that the Italians COULDN'T fight, but rather they WOULDN'T fight,,,! At least in North Africa, where they surrendered continually and massively.
@@roybrowning2685 I am sure there were many good Italians in the war. Nevertheless, they did surrender in droves, and lost half their navy in an English torpedo bomber attack at Taranto in one day.
My paternal Grandfather was a soldier in the Italian army in North Africa. My maternal Grandfather was an 8th Army Desert Rat. They both got on like a house on fire.
@Benito Mussolini Perhaps you're not familiar with the British expression "to get on like a house on fire"? It means to get on with each other really well. Mr Michaels' grandparents may have had the odd row, but it would have been quickly patched up with laughs and backslapping! (Sorry, Mr Michaels - I'm making assumptions about your relatives!!!)
British Field Marshal Slim of Burma fame was said to be "tolerant of most things but he would never allow Italian jokes in his presence." He fought against them in Abyssinia. General O'Connor who led Operation Compass respected the Italians as he fought with them during World War 1.
@Dalle Smalhals Kinda. O'Connor was fluent in Italian and when he was later captured he was sent to an Italian POW camp in Florence. Its commandant General Chiappe later helped O'connor escape after the Italian armistice and Chiappe paid for it after when the Germans occupied Florence by being sent to a SS camp and summarily executed.
Didn't know about this episode. Thanks. My Italian grandpa fought in North Africa at the Kasserine Pass. Some of the initial Axis successes against the US Army there were actually Italian ones I think - even if this has seldom been recognized. There is a very good book written by an American on the Tunisian campaign.
@@Ismet44 Richard O'Connor had along with Lieutenant-General Philip Neame VC, Major-General Sir Adrian Carton de Wiart VC, Air Marshal Owen Tudor Boyd, and New Zealander brigadiers, James Hargest and Reginald Miles had previously escaped but all but James Hargest and Reginald Miles were recaptured. O'Connor had fought alongside the Italians in WW1 and been awarded the Silver Medal of Military Valor by the Italians.
@Dalle Smalhals What are you even doing here? There's people here posting interesting historical info related to the video above and all you can muster is some "Yeah, and?..and?..".
@@MarkFeltonProductions Hello Dr. Felton, Have you had occasion to visit Italy yourself? To visit any of the sites/places where these incidents happened?
It was German propaganda as well. A former colleague who was in the Hitler Youth recounted a joke circulating at the time in Germany. “Did you hear about the new Italian tank? It also has a forward gear” (translation). It was funny enough that he still remembered it 35 years later.
As an Italian I have to admit apart from the various problems during the war, that this propaganda a little encouraged by the Italian government allowed us to unload all the faults of WW2 on Germany, and for various reasons we had better treatment at the end of the war, especially from moral point of view. To say that in a war the faults are divided between winners and losers, and that no one is ever totally innocent, this is a separate matter. To say that in WW2 Europe has lost everything as a whole, the winners are only on paper, the obtuseness of peoples unfounded brothers by religion and history has allowed to new non-European powers to take the opportunity of global dominance.
@@giorgio9731 You are very intelligent, the ww2 was a war against the whole Europe to replace the primacy of the European continent with the American and Soviet-Asian ones. It was certainly not a war against Germany.
It is the first time I believe that I hear a renown historian speaking well of the Italian army in 1939-1943. I praise Mr Felton. My grand father fought the Italians on the Mont Cenis in 1940 and always reported they were fighting courageously, attacking the fort he served in uphill with little chance of success. And they were average alpine troops, not the Bersagliere. Hearing the comments post war, my grand father had the impression he fought a full regiment of Arditi!
My father was a young Officer on the French Front in 1940, 7th Infantry Cuneo Division! Maybe your grandfather and my father they fought against each other.. Vive la France and Vive l’Italie! 🇫🇷🇮🇹
@@skeena59 true, but like de chasseurs alpins. Elite I agree but maybe not when static fights occur. All the Elite they can be when caught in an ambush by the Taliban and beaten to a pulp unfortunately :( I consider their elite side fantastic out of combat (crossing mountains in all conditions to catch the enemy unprepared for instance) but when engaged in a static position they are as elite as any experienced infantry troop.
I read all the stories about Italian 'cowardice' then (some 30 years ago) read the history of the 2nd Battle of El Alamein and how the Ariete (132nd) Armored Division basically fought nearly to the death at some 20:1 odds holding off the British 8th Army for an entire day allowing the rest of the DAK and Italian 20th Corps to retreat. Nothing cowardly about it. It should also never be overlooked that most of the Italian armed forces operated without appropriate stocks of fuel (and Germany wasn't sharing) which compounded things.
"Others gave up without a fight". My grandfather was there. He told me years ago that they had a 90 mm AA gun with only 10 shells. They shot all they got and then tried to defend the position with their rifles but they had low ammo, too. So they simply gave up after some hours of fight. We still have a photo of him sitting in front of an american soldier who took him in pow.
Yeah, with their equipment and logistical support there isn't much else to do. Still your grandfather showed a tough attitude which is all one could ask for from these soldiers.
Good lord if I was in that situation I would not even bother to fight and just surrender. This is just hideous...even the Red Army soldiers despite the horrific tyranny they fought under at least got a regular supply of bread, vegetable soup, cigarettes, a daily ration of vodka, canned meat, proper clothing and a working gun with plenty of ammo.
@Marlin Williams basically true for most Italians. But you have to consider the situation of Italy at the time. My grandfather was from Sardinia and was part of one of those "static regiments" along the coastline. Most of the Italian immigrants in the USA were from south italy or sicily. At the time, most sardinians, except those in greater cities like Cagliari, really didn't know anything about the world outside and basically italian as language was considered as second language after Sardish. They just fought for the king, not for Mussolini, not for the Kingdom of Italy. Just for the king. They gave their best but at the end, just understanding how useles the situation was, they gave up, knowing that one day they had to go back home to their families, who need them too.
@Marlin Williams I remember that in the PBS documentary on the Italian Americans; they said something like that. A lot of the soldiers in the Italian Army did not want to fight the Americans because they knew that there was a chance that they could be shooting an Italian American who still had relatives back in Italy or they could god forbid killed or injured someone who was a friend of a friend or something like that.
Still remember the first video. It was about a uboat going to Argentina. I remember he would call it by name like u 239 instead of a generalized name and I knew he did his research. I think he was around 50k subs at the time
Oops part two General Mark Clark: ' Where are the enemy, they're setting up an ambush. We won't move till we know exactly where they are! ' 5 months later US navy: we can unload at anxious without being shelled by the german field guns now. Yeay!! '
My father fought with the Eight Army in the Western Desert during WW2. He had a high regard for the Italian soldier & told me once that the Italian soldiers almost beat them in a couple of battles. It was only the Germans retreating that saved the British forces as the Italians kept fighting in a hopeless position until ordered to withdraw by Rommel himself.
I know this does not copare and it is mostly anecdotal, but I was in a few pub fights with italians, both on my side and on the opposing. Those guys never know when to quit and fight like lions no matter the odds. Respect to our friends in Italy! 🇮🇹 P.S.: despite the blows and bloody noses, we would always end up being friends and buying each other drinks:)
Yes, just look at the 4 ENR divisions trained by Germany in 1944, superb divisions. One of them Littorio, held the western mountain passes against the allies until the end of the war, for example.
@wargent99 aha okay if you say so ....the normal soldiere Certaintly had no desire to sit in a dirt whole every night for 360 days a year But OK EVERY GERMAN WAS A NAZI I GET IT
I was told a story by an Italian veteran. He said when he and his crew were sent to pick up his new tank, they found the armour had fallen off. The armour was attached with nuts and bolts which had worked themselves lose during the voyage from Italy to Africa. So before they could do anything, they had to reattach the plates. For some strange reason he said he never had much confidence in the protective abilities of his tank.
@@ChairmanMo I read that there were two reasons for the that. First, the Italians had not learned the methods or machinery for welded steel. The second was that they felt that riveted steel plates could be quickly replaced when damaged.
Finally someone who don' t trashtalk about italians in WW2 and tell history how it should be, not like so many that are just blinded by Hollywood movies or random """"historian"""" youtubers. Bravo and keep up your documentaries, i love them!
Italy adopted the French Adrian helmet in WW1, and was soon producing a version of their own by the wars end, in construction, it resembled more the later French 1926 model, a single stamped bowl with brim and a seperate comb attached. In WW2 these were used for 2nd line units like those encountered in Sicily .
My maternal grandfather fought alongside the Italians as part of the Afrika Korps, and I know he rated them as getting great and courageous allies, whilst thinking incredibly highly of the British and ANZACs whom he was captured by in Tunisia 1943. It was always a strange feeling growing up with grandfathers on both sides of the war, but I learned a lot about how much respect they had for one another and that led me to become a better person in many ways. It certainly led to my love of channels like this where I can see a great historian in pursuit of the truth. I love learning from here.
Due to age gap and location I'd never had the chance to speak with them but the Poles on my Grandma Martha's side were in East Prussia during WW-1 and fought on the German side while Grandpa Martin her husband fought on the allied side during the War in Haller's Army.
The Italians and also Spanish volunteers fought well in Russia during the war . I could be wrong but I think the last horse cavalry charge of WW2 was by the Italians against a Russian artillery position - which they took . Brave lads .
The Spanish had some volunteers on both sides in Russia. The fascist blue division fought well at first but was then heavilly mauled and withdrawn. On the other hand some communist veterans of the republican side of the Spanish Civil War fought well for the Soviets.
@@VersusARCH the Blue Division fought well right up to the end. They were heavily mauled around Leningrad, but won nevertheless ( look for Battle of Krasny Bor) and were then retreated by Franco when it became evident Axis started loosing the war. Still, many of those very same Spaniards join the SS and fough right up to end, around the Reichtag and among other latin/christian fascist: the SS "Charlemagne" division. Spanish republicans on soviet side also distinguished themselves, some of them even flew as pilots for the VVS, being veteran airmen from Spanish Civil War ( fascists had one such units too on the Eastern Front: the "Escuadrilla Azul")
For the life of me, I cannot understand why someone would dislike Dr. Felton’s material. Pure history without bias; what we need more of. They’ve got to be trolls. Thank you again Mark!
For one, the lack of citations means that it is suspect from the get go in the eyes of actual historians. That is why you see comment urging people to patronize channels like TimeGhost and Military History Visualized, both of which cited their sources...
@Loredan who says history has to be entertaining? Sure it is entertaining, but is it factual? Does it use primary sources or reputable secondary sources? That is where historians draw the line...
My great grandfather fought in the Charge of the Savoia Cavalleria at Izbushensky one of the Royal Italian Armies finest hours. He was part of a cavalry charge which routed a numerically superior Soviet force while sustaining few casualties. Considered one of the last great cavalry charges. He told me they would sing Imperial Roman Army chants as they went into battle. He would escape to Colombia after WW2 with other Italians. He had alot of memorabilia of Soviet,German and Royal Italian pieces.
Salve! I'm an American cowboy and cavalry nerd/reenactor and have been studying the Savioa Cavalleria for the last year in order to recreate the uniforms, equipment, and horse tack of the regiment. I would love to be able to pick your brain on the subject sometime. You are very lucky to have that connection to such an elite unit.
As Italian I thank once again Dr. Mark Felton for his historical researches and films: they are always well balanced as only a British man might be. I am particularly grateful to Dr Mark Felton for the history about the Italian Army in Japan, after the 8th of Semptember 1943, when suddenly the Japanese Army because ... how to say... not friendly to Italy... that was a completely unknown story to me... I believe that the greatest achievement of European Union, among many failures (first of all the elephantiac bureaucracy) is the fact that nowadays no European man of whatsoever country would ever imagine or think about an European war among European states. Europe is the lighthouse of the Western Civilization and persons like Dr Mark Felton or our Italian historian Dr. Alessandro Barbero are the new Heroes of our Common Memory. Let all remember, what Marco Tullio Cicerone said already couple of thousand years ago: *Nescire autem quid ante quam natus sis acciderit, id est semper esse puerum* Which means, more or less: "ignoring whatever happened before you were born, it means to be always a baby". Thank you very Dr Felton!
I am reading t his in February, 2022, with a Russian army on the borders of Ukraine. I bet a lot of European men are thinking about a European war tonight.
@@robg9236 hi Rob, be fair, he speaks about EU, even non mentioning UK is out. Pongo must be a kind soul citing latin classics nobody knows or cares anymore on the web. Of course war might break between EU and Russia, or even, who knows, between EU and UK!
Many thanks for this video. My father was Lieutenant in Divisione Livorno, 33th Regiment.. he told me a lot of memories about the Battle of Gela. I’m always proud of him. Two years ago I went with my family to Sicily for holidays and.. sure, we were not so far from Gela, so we went to see around the sites of the Battle. With us a sicilian friend, very passionate about Second World War history, in particular of Operation Husky. It was a very emotional visit for me.
The Italian military suffered from three problems. The first problem was their equipment. With a few exceptions their equipment was either antiquated or poorly designed. Logistics, while the Italians actually had a very good truck made by Fiat there just wasn't enough of them. Leadership, the fat cats at the top just weren't up to the task. Lower ranked officers were usually pretty good and the troops when abley lead and reasonably equipped performed as well as any other Army in World War II. As for the morale issue the Italians just didn't have their heart and the war fighting on the Axis side.Add to that the Germans treated them like a redheaded stepchild and you have a recipe for disaster.
Another great forgotten bit of history shared by Mark Felton. The Italians did get a bum rap in history. Their elite naval commando units certainly gave the Royal Navy a hard time!
My father flew in an RAF Beaufort torpedo bomber squadron stationed on Malta in early '42. He said he was very impressed with the courage displayed by the Italian aircrews that flew over the Island. He said they had to fly through some pretty horrendous flak and although they'd lose numerous aircraft during these raids they'd just close up the gaps in their formations, stay on course and keep going.
Remember this at El Alamein, germans run when they understood how overwhelming where the odds, the italians fight until certain units lost 95% of their complements, and only surrender when they where out of water/ammo.
@@keithschur5728 They tried nonetheless, on foot, in the Libyan desert, with Allies pursuing at their back... Few did it, many died, many surrendered, some fought... And died.
@@keithschur5728 Even with weak or no motorization the remnants of the Folgore (the Italian elite paratroopers) and Pavia Infantry, after knocking down alone almost one third of the total number of tanks the British lost at El Alamein, regrouped, formed the Nembo Unit. Regained contact with the rest of the Axis troops and fought in the Tunisian campaign. A great example of commitment and determination.
History We don't get to know anywhere else .Most soldiers from every nation fought bravely and many died unrecognized for their valiance and none more so than the Italians . This has to be probably one of the Best Channels on RUclips , Facts ! Not Speculation or Hype . Thanks Mark , Stay Safe & Stay Well !
Mark, a great irony here is that some 1.5 Italian-Americans served in US forces during WWII, some 10% of the total, many of them first generation like a few of my uncles. So likely there were some in Patton's forces in this very battle. At that time, our family had members on both sides of the ocean in both the Italian army and the US Army and Marines. My father's first cousin, Carmine Pirro, a US Naval Seal, went MIA on the beach at Anzio in early 1944, not far from his parents home town. Reflect on the irony of this. My uncle Pasquale was killed on Luzon in 1945 as a member of the 35th US Infantry Regiment. I appreciate the suffering of the victims of the War, and such dark forces unleashed left little option. But let's not forget that this is no longer a way to resolve our problems in an interdependent world at the level of existential crises we now face. I challenge you to post in your stories here some examples where nonviolent tactics and heroism were also effective in some instances during the war. These stories deserve to come to the light.
Its so refreshing to see videos like this that actually show Italy and her military might instead of just memes and jokes. Thank you for this, please keep it up 👍🏽🇮🇹
My dad was in a mechanized infantry battalion under Patton. He was in North Africa and in Sicily. But he never talked about those experiences, not a single word. So the only insight I have into those battles is second hand. Thanks for a good presentation, Mark.
@A C H how should they have taken Malta? Even crete was a close call with huge loss of paratroopers and planes, and Malta had more and better prepared defences...
My father was actually there in Sicily as part of the U.S. 7th Army, so some of those machine gun bullets raking the tanks might have come from his 30-cal Browning (he was a squad leader, and gunner, of a 5 man machine gun squad).
Thank you Mr Felton, for having the decency of saying what can be easily heard in this video. Your kindness and honesty are an excellent match to your competence and skill as an author and videographer. Cheers and take care,
Well done Mark. As a retired US Army Armor officer and Vietnam combat veteran I never knew this and can always count on you to teach me something with every video you make sir. Take care and God bless.
Mark Felton has a video about an Italian tank commander who served in the German army and was a tank ace commanding a Tiger I tank. It is scary what an Italian tanker can do if he was not given a piece of trash like the R-36.
Have read many accounts from Canadian and other regiments that fought across Italy in WW2, including a history of the famed First Special Service Force. The fighting was brutal and daunting and it was a toss up as to which were the tougher opponents, the Germans or the Italians.
My US Marine unit was temporarily sharing an outpost in Iraq with an Italian Carabinieri unit. Super nice guys, interesting equipment, better rations which gladly traded for. One our guys was from Italy and spoke the language too. It felt good to represent the US with honor and professionalism.
yeet the CV33 could slaughter an whole infranty reggiment if well supported watch how the japanese massacred the chinede army with their waves of armored cars and tankette
Although the 37mm at gun would not have been very useful against panthers the panthers would have still been just as vulnerable to bazooka fire (not to mention the mechanical problems)
The biggest problem with the Italians wasn't their lack of bravery, poor equipment, or iffy feelings about being aligned to Germany, it was the extremely poor leadership from the officer corps which would not break from the ww1 battlefield tactics. The Italians performed well under German leadership even up to the end of the war in northern Italy
poor equipment was a major issue, if you had a good army with good morale and good leadership fighting another army with equal leadership and morale but your equipment is largely infeior you are doomed to fail, italy equipment of ww2 was mostly from ww1 or interwar peroid that was largely poor or outdated.
@@spitfire8790 I would disagree, war gamers and armchair generals like to micro analyze the details of equipment but in the end it's the soldiers using the equipment in an effective manner that makes the biggest difference and the leadership of the officer corps is critical to that effectiveness. Case in point would be that the only thing that the British had a decided advantage over the Italians in equipment was light Mg's, and in aircraft quality and yet they routed the vastly more numerous Italian armies in North Africa despite supply issues and only a small RAF presence. While the Italians suffered from poor morale much of the blame for that can also be attributed to poor leadership
Professor Felton always goes above & beyond with his history of WW2 . Thank you Professor for your shear brilliance particularly in covering areas like the Italian combat academy with wrechet equipment yet totally fighting hard against the allies?
It cannot be overstated how brave they were to keep going in the face of naval artillery rounds landing around them. In the same battle a column of far superior German Tiger tanks was repulsed by gunfire from the cruiser USS Savannah.
tiger were slower, bigger and fatter target while the italian tank was faster and smaller, one of its main advantages but keeps breaking down and couldnt go face to face to british/american armour or infantry armed with anti tank rifle/PIAT
@@spitfire8790 I wonder how can someone be so dumb to watch a whole documentary on an action and not even understand Italians were using French war prize Renault tanks slow as a turtle? What are you talking of?
You say: "Some Italian soldiers wore French helmets". Actually, those are Adrian helmets of French design, that were standard Italian equipment in the Italian Army in Wolrd War One and until the Thirties.
One thing I really like about Felton's videos is that you give credit and always mention the presence of minor countries (ex. Italy, Canada, Australia etc.) instead of lumping them in with bigger powers. I appreciate the academic honesty and it adds a lot to your integrity.
My Grandpa was part of the 🇨🇦 forces that liberated Italy. He would never discuss the war. I only knew he had enlisted underage by a few years & he drove a jeep. (And that after the war he would not eat corned beef under any circumstances !) Videos like this help give me an idea of the general circumstances he was possibly in.
The Italians were let down by circumstances that aren't their fault; circumstances many nations in the war suffered from at various times, if only people bothered to read up on such things a bit more. In my case, one of my favourite generals, Wavell, has his amazing achievements in Africa seriously discounted because the Italians aren't taken seriously as an opponent for him, when in reality his achievement was pretty astonishing.
What part of "only total morons don't go over on defense when having zero intelligence of the enemy"? No wonder the entirety of the Sicilian Population switched sides. Good indeed great credit goes towards "Smiling Albert" Kesselring who knew total military insanity when he saw it and would ultimately order a very skillful withdrawal in order to mount a (German) defense of the entire Italian Isthmus. Tough choices lay ahead for Italy proper would be an understatement as indeed once the Sicilian Population had been lost "Italy proper" would now be next. "No quarter asked then no quarter given" as the United States Marine Corps would say.
@Jure Herman yeah, a newly formed state against an empire. We fought basically on our own and we won against one of the strongest military forces of the time, while France and Britain strugled to push back Germany. And that's two big army against half, because the other half was in Russia. We fought pretty badly in WW2 but you can't say anything about WW1
Great episode! It shows that the Italian tanks did NOT have 5 gears (1 forward and 4 reverse). I loved the bit about the starting handle, like my dad's Singer car had. Unfortunately, he did not get shot in the head.
I always had a feeling that there was an element of stretching the truth to say the least about the perceived "cowardess" of the Italian Armed Forces. The bravery of Italian Midget Submarine crews is another thing that has been overlooked
Thank you so much, Dr. Felton, I grow tired of the seemingly never-ending disparaging remarks made by both so called 'Historians' and the average Joe alike. I look forward to hearing more stories of WWII Italian valor on your (truly outstanding) channel in future episodes. Much respect, Dr. Felton.
@@skywaycarslimited7860 *Typical uninformed comment via a person with no real knowledge of the Second World War. I'll bet that you actually believe that England could have won the war without help from anyone. lol*
@@skywaycarslimited7860 You must really believe that Churchill was "the man that stood alone against Hitler." He had an Empire behind him of some 450 million persons with resources vastly exceeding the combined resources of Germany and Italy .Yet he had to obtain his courage from Johnny Walker.I wonder if Prof. Felton will one day also dispel this myth.
As always, your objective and even-handed approach to events not only does you credit, it also results in a very informative and educational piece. Thanks Mark.
What a ride. It's a shame that the last guy died. He was one brave tanker. I remember from my time in NATO that the Italians had a reputation of being a little bit crazy. I'm glad we have them on our side now!
There's nothing wrong with your English, and nobody should care about it either. Your English is superior to my Italian (as exemplified on my honeymoon to Italy).
Italy squandered the resources needed to properly upgrade their equipment when they committed so heavily to the Spanish Civil War. They were essential to Franco's victory but that favour was never properly returned.
@@steveperreira5850 It's nothing like that. I'm Italian and even I know that Spain was on it's knees after the civil war. Civil wars are usually much worse as they not only cause death and destruction but they really tear the social fabric of a nation. Spain did a favor to everyone by being neutral as it was one less long coast do defend
@@steveperreira5850 1) Spain was utterly destroyed by Civil War, in a much bigger scale Italy ever was. 2) Both dictators were "Latin" 3) Italy and Spain are not neighbours. Just sayin'....
if Navari survived to tell the tale i think this story would be far more famous, imagine all the suicidaly heroic efforts from combatants on all sides whom don't actually make it through. Thousands of ghosts with no voices to carry them.
Another unknown story from Prof. Felton. as an Italian I am very grateful for your effort in restoring the truth about our soldiers in WWII, It is sad to know many brave men were sacrificed for a wrong cause.
They retreated even more bravely! To call the Italian performance against the Greeks lackluster utterly lacks the proper luster. But Mark is right. They were just unprepared for WW2. Their equipment was obsolete other than the Carcano M38, and that was still a bolt action rifle. They did have mini-flamethrower tanks though! Cuteness factor alone it should have won the war!
Mark, I’d love to here more stories from the invasion of Sicily. It’s a campaign that’s often glossed over, especially here in America. My grandfather participated in the invasion, serving as a sailor aboard the USS Andromeda. I never met him, but my dad tells me that, as an Italian-American, he was very proud of his role in helping to liberate “the old country.” Incidentally his-and my-last name is Messina.
One of my uncles was from the Bronx and spoke Italian fluently, consequently, he was often used to interrogate Italian prisoners. He was interrogating some after the battle for Sicily and found out they were his cousins. He had fought Italians in North Africa and he told us kids that when led well they were excellent troops...
I like so many people always thought the Italian army was a joke. Seems we all seriously underestimated the Italian soldier. Always pictured him with a bottle of wine and some cheese inviting the other side to come dine with them and forget the war. But thinking now, that would have been good idea who wants to fight when you can eat with each other.
Let's remember a couple of guys riding human torpedoes did a reverse Taranto in Alexandria Harbour. And never gave anything away when taken aboard the very ship they had just planted a mine under! Both brave and competent.
I love this. Reminds me of the good old Battlefield series. Low-key effects/music, lots of original footage. No more drama than that which has already been provided by history. Thumbs up =)
Mark, my father-in-law fought in the R.E. in Yugoslavia against Red partisans, and the R.S.I. 3rd Regiment, V Company. He was an officer and never once said anything about low moral, or spoke against Mussolini. He was a solider and did his job. I know through my own research that most officers did not really fight in the front leading their men, but my father-in-law did. Wounded a total of five times leading his men and earned two Silver Medals for Valor and both were stripped from him due to his service with the R.S.I. And they always followed him no matter what. He was honorable and fought a clean war. He improvised, adapted and overcame everything despite the odds against him and his men. Although he was captured by the Germans he held no ill will towards them. He escaped in 43 and continued to fight against who was invading his country and that is about it regarding what is popularly believed. When it was all over, he was tried here in Italy and reduced in rank to Lt. and even-though he was set free he was still harassed by the Red Italian Partisans after the war when he was unarmed. Lucky for him he was not killed. I always like your videos, especially those about the Italians. Too many historians have simply written them off as a bunch of cowards. Thank you for keeping it real.
You should do a similar video on the Livorno Mountain Infantry Division. They assaulted Gela alongside this units and were also targeted by the American naval gun fire, yet they kept going until forced to retreat. Even more amazing, they did it again the day after with aid of the Hermann Goering Division.
My most sincere respect and gratitude for your words about the Italian Army and soldiers during WW2. They honor, gained and defended at an high cost of blood and lives, is attacked on daily bases by everyday historians, ww2 videogames players and illiterate people. I really hate to read such unrespectful comments, especially in regards to those who lost their lives in such brave combats. Thanks for giving back something to their memory.
My grandad was in the 1st Airlanding Brigade at Sicily and later Arnhem. In Sicily his glider crashed (on land) and killed the pilot. I think there was some fighting briefly then he was captured (later “escaping” after the Italian capitulation). Thanks for mentioning them.
"Bad equipment": My grandfather was a German soldier but he had to drive an Italian tank (Fiat, I think). The tank broke down all the time and he missed a lot of battles, spending his time in repair shops instead. Back then he was so ashamed of this that he often didn't even mention driving a tank at all when he met friends or relatives, because they would immediately ask if he drove a Panther or a Tiger or something. But later on he became very thankful. And I am thankful too, maybe I owe my life to this small, ill-designed and poorly constructed tank.
Thanks to the tank, you exists. Did your grandfather live in West Germany or East Germany after the war?
Well if they had Fiat it’s no wonder the equipment was crap..not much has changed in 75 years has it
@@donbrashsux The Italian trucks were actually okay, as for tanks...the Italians did not keep up with advancements in tank design, that is on those guys not FIAT.
@@ChairmanMo FIAT had monopoly on the Italian tanks design, and it's a well known fact that that's one of the reason they didn't really feel the need to improve the tanks much
@@brainyskeletonofdoom7824 When was Fiat given the monopoly?
I have 4 relatives who fought in WW2 as part of the italian army. One fought in Albania and then in Russia as part of the Alpine divisions. He lost in life in Russia in 1943. Another one fought in Albania and survived the war. Another one again had quite an eventful experience. He fought in Egypt where he was taken prisoner in December 1940. Later on, when the Axis forces advanced again into Egypt, he was freed alongside other italian and german POWs. After several months he was sent back to North Africa, where he was taken prisoner again in Tunisia in 1943, when the last Italo-german forces were defeated. This time he was sent to Australia, to a prisoner camp. He came back home only in 1947. Poor dude was traumatized because he shot an english soldier who was captured and later died due to the injury, during a fight in Africa. Being a strong believer in christian values he always wondered whether god would have forgiven him. Last relative who fought in the war was very lucky. I dunno where he fought or if he fought at all, but at some point after Italy signed the peace with the allies he, alongside many italian soldiers, was taken prisoner by the german soldiers and sent to a prison camp in Austria. Near the end of the war some prisoners tried to escape, also killing some german guards in the attempt. Some managed to flee, but unfortunatly my relative was captured and sent back to the camp. He and some others were about to be executed, and the german officers asked them if they had a last wish. He asked for a cigarette and started smoking. While he was smoking a german officer arrived at the camp driving a car and started announcing something in german. The german troops started yelling stuff but the other prisoners didn't understand what was going on, until someone who knew german translated and said peace with germany had been signed and war was over. The soldiers just forgot about the execution and let the prisoners go. My relative felt so lucky that he went to german soldier who was supposed to shoot him and asked him the bullet that he was about to shoot. The soldier agreed and gave it to him, my relative kept it with him for all his life as some sort of lucky charm. I still have it in my library to this day
Wow ! Thanks for sharing this
Cool story
wow impressionante!
Cool story bro
Damn…
My brother in law's father was an Australian soldier guarding a group of Italian prisoners in North Africa when one yelled out 'hey Bill'. It was a guy he went to school with from an Italian family, he went back to Italy for a holiday and was drafted into the Italian army. True story.
Highly doubt that unless he was an Italian citizen.
@@EmergencyChannel He would have had dual citizenship - always enough to end up in a conscript army.
@@EmergencyChannel Many nations, including Great Britain, Russia, China (just to name a few) consider Anyone who was once a Citizen, or of their Nationality, to Always Be A "Citizen" and Subject To Their Laws!
They don't recognize an individuals ability to reject citizenship and/or for an individual to become a citizen of another nation. While those nations do reserve the right to Strip an individual of citizenship, it is a rare punishment; because they reserve the ability to Claim legal jurisdiction over those persons.
This was a factor of the Anglo-American War of 1812. More relevant, the Chinese Communist government (similar to other Chinese regimes before) asserts that ALL Ethnic Chinese are Subjects of the Chinese Communist Government! Even individuals whose families have lived outside of China for Hundreds of Years, or even more than a Thousand Years. (Such as ethnic Chinese who live in Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia, the USA, etc.)
@@EmergencyChannel Incorrect. A friend of my mothers husband was visiting family in Italy and was conscripted into the army. Even though he was a US citizen since he was born in Italy they took him. This happened a lot.
@@EmergencyChannel we have dual citizenship, actually 61 million lives in italy, with italian passport in foreign state another 52 million!! Argentina has 65% italian ancestor, Uruguay even more! btw, you should read about US marines, how many of them was italian native, btw. the italian population saved a lot of British soldier, or hide them from the germans, they loved the ally more then the german
My uncle, who fought in the war, said 'People who say that Italians couldn't fight never fought the Italians'.
Look at their proud navy,under the Mediterranean Sea!
Trouble was, it wasn't that the Italians COULDN'T fight, but rather they WOULDN'T fight,,,! At least in North Africa, where they surrendered continually and massively.
@@roybrowning2685 I am sure there were many good Italians in the war. Nevertheless, they did surrender in droves, and lost half their navy in an English torpedo bomber attack at Taranto in one day.
@@roybrowning2685 non si sono mai arresi in nord africa sono tutti morti e dico tutti!
@@juantomas4813 False. Or better, incorrect.
Mark, for giving the Italians a fair judgment you have my sympathy.
My paternal Grandfather was a soldier in the Italian army in North Africa. My maternal Grandfather was an 8th Army Desert Rat. They both got on like a house on fire.
Interesting. Many years ago i knew a person on my online game that had a similar story. His nickname was quota33 if i Remember correctly
@Benito Mussolini,
˙snoᴉɹnɔ oslɐ ɯɐ I
@Benito Mussolini Perhaps you're not familiar with the British expression "to get on like a house on fire"? It means to get on with each other really well. Mr Michaels' grandparents may have had the odd row, but it would have been quickly patched up with laughs and backslapping! (Sorry, Mr Michaels - I'm making assumptions about your relatives!!!)
one grandfather fought with the axis and one fought with the allies. Thats a mighty big coincidence
@Benito Mussolini they obviously didnt have any
British Field Marshal Slim of Burma fame was said to be "tolerant of most things but he would never allow Italian jokes in his presence." He fought against them in Abyssinia. General O'Connor who led Operation Compass respected the Italians as he fought with them during World War 1.
@Dalle Smalhals Kinda. O'Connor was fluent in Italian and when he was later captured he was sent to an Italian POW camp in Florence. Its commandant General Chiappe later helped O'connor escape after the Italian armistice and Chiappe paid for it after when the Germans occupied Florence by being sent to a SS camp and summarily executed.
Didn't know about this episode. Thanks. My Italian grandpa fought in North Africa at the Kasserine Pass. Some of the initial Axis successes against the US Army there were actually Italian ones I think - even if this has seldom been recognized. There is a very good book written by an American on the Tunisian campaign.
@@Ismet44 Richard O'Connor had along with Lieutenant-General Philip Neame VC, Major-General Sir Adrian Carton de Wiart VC, Air Marshal Owen Tudor Boyd, and New Zealander brigadiers, James Hargest and Reginald Miles had previously escaped but all but James Hargest and Reginald Miles were recaptured. O'Connor had fought alongside the Italians in WW1 and been awarded the Silver Medal of Military Valor by the Italians.
@Dalle Smalhals
What are you even doing here? There's people here posting interesting historical info related to the video above and all you can muster is some "Yeah, and?..and?..".
Basilio Toth , Rick Atkinson, An Army at Dawn
My Father fought the Italians and Germans all the way through Africa and Italy. He very much respected the Italians
My maternal grandfather did the same thing! He absolutely loved Italy and went back for holidays when he was elderly.
@@MarkFeltonProductions Hello Dr. Felton, Have you had occasion to visit Italy yourself? To visit any of the sites/places where these incidents happened?
It was German propaganda as well. A former colleague who was in the Hitler Youth recounted a joke circulating at the time in Germany. “Did you hear about the new Italian tank? It also has a forward gear” (translation). It was funny enough that he still remembered it 35 years later.
As an Italian I have to admit apart from the various problems during the war, that this propaganda a little encouraged by the Italian government allowed us to unload all the faults of WW2 on Germany, and for various reasons we had better treatment at the end of the war, especially from moral point of view. To say that in a war the faults are divided between winners and losers, and that no one is ever totally innocent, this is a separate matter. To say that in WW2 Europe has lost everything as a whole, the winners are only on paper, the obtuseness of peoples unfounded brothers by religion and history has allowed to new non-European powers to take the opportunity of global dominance.
@@giorgio9731 You are very intelligent, the ww2 was a war against the whole Europe to replace the primacy of the European continent with the American and Soviet-Asian ones. It was certainly not a war against Germany.
It is the first time I believe that I hear a renown historian speaking well of the Italian army in 1939-1943. I praise Mr Felton. My grand father fought the Italians on the Mont Cenis in 1940 and always reported they were fighting courageously, attacking the fort he served in uphill with little chance of success. And they were average alpine troops, not the Bersagliere. Hearing the comments post war, my grand father had the impression he fought a full regiment of Arditi!
My father was a young Officer on the French Front in 1940, 7th Infantry Cuneo Division! Maybe your grandfather and my father they fought against each other.. Vive la France and Vive l’Italie! 🇫🇷🇮🇹
Average alpine troops? The mountain troops of Italy are the Alpini, and are reknown and have been recognized as an elite corps for the past 100 years.
@@skeena59 true, but like de chasseurs alpins. Elite I agree but maybe not when static fights occur. All the Elite they can be when caught in an ambush by the Taliban and beaten to a pulp unfortunately :( I consider their elite side fantastic out of combat (crossing mountains in all conditions to catch the enemy unprepared for instance) but when engaged in a static position they are as elite as any experienced infantry troop.
Alpini were and continue to be , an elite. All were recruited locally in the mountainous regions of northern Italy.
I read all the stories about Italian 'cowardice' then (some 30 years ago) read the history of the 2nd Battle of El Alamein and how the Ariete (132nd) Armored Division basically fought nearly to the death at some 20:1 odds holding off the British 8th Army for an entire day allowing the rest of the DAK and Italian 20th Corps to retreat. Nothing cowardly about it. It should also never be overlooked that most of the Italian armed forces operated without appropriate stocks of fuel (and Germany wasn't sharing) which compounded things.
there was no fuel the german scould share
"Others gave up without a fight". My grandfather was there. He told me years ago that they had a 90 mm AA gun with only 10 shells. They shot all they got and then tried to defend the position with their rifles but they had low ammo, too. So they simply gave up after some hours of fight.
We still have a photo of him sitting in front of an american soldier who took him in pow.
Yeah, with their equipment and logistical support there isn't much else to do. Still your grandfather showed a tough attitude which is all one could ask for from these soldiers.
Good lord if I was in that situation I would not even bother to fight and just surrender. This is just hideous...even the Red Army soldiers despite the horrific tyranny they fought under at least got a regular supply of bread, vegetable soup, cigarettes, a daily ration of vodka, canned meat, proper clothing and a working gun with plenty of ammo.
@Marlin Williams basically true for most Italians. But you have to consider the situation of Italy at the time. My grandfather was from Sardinia and was part of one of those "static regiments" along the coastline. Most of the Italian immigrants in the USA were from south italy or sicily. At the time, most sardinians, except those in greater cities like Cagliari, really didn't know anything about the world outside and basically italian as language was considered as second language after Sardish. They just fought for the king, not for Mussolini, not for the Kingdom of Italy. Just for the king.
They gave their best but at the end, just understanding how useles the situation was, they gave up, knowing that one day they had to go back home to their families, who need them too.
@Marlin Williams I remember that in the PBS documentary on the Italian Americans; they said something like that. A lot of the soldiers in the Italian Army did not want to fight the Americans because they knew that there was a chance that they could be shooting an Italian American who still had relatives back in Italy or they could god forbid killed or injured someone who was a friend of a friend or something like that.
ChairmanMo I’m sorry I couldn’t help but laugh because of the supply thing and what happened in ww1
I’m so happy to see this channel almost hit 1 million subs. Been here since day 1. Who else discovered this channel by accident and now love this?
Same I started watching at 150k subs and since I’ve been hooked
Ive been watching since 20k. Love this guy. And yes i randomly stumbled across him.
Been here since 80k.
I cannot wait to see the next release
Still remember the first video. It was about a uboat going to Argentina. I remember he would call it by name like u 239 instead of a generalized name and I knew he did his research. I think he was around 50k subs at the time
History has shown time and again to NEVER underestimate your enemy.
If anything overestimate your enemy
Sometimes overestimating your enemy is bad too.
Recon unit : ' There are No enemy units between us and Rome! '
Random Tv Don’t over overestimate
Oops part two
General Mark Clark: ' Where are the enemy, they're setting up an ambush. We won't move till we know exactly where they are! '
5 months later US navy: we can unload at anxious without being shelled by the german field guns now. Yeay!! '
Its a good thing they didn't and the allies crushed Italy.
"Sir, their weapons are obsolete, their tanks aren't fit for purpose, their morale is low.... But god damn it, they look *fabulous* "
True, very stylish.
My father fought with the Eight Army in the Western Desert during WW2. He had a high regard for the Italian soldier & told me once that the Italian soldiers almost beat them in a couple of battles. It was only the Germans retreating that saved the British forces as the Italians kept fighting in a hopeless position until ordered to withdraw by Rommel himself.
I know this does not copare and it is mostly anecdotal, but I was in a few pub fights with italians, both on my side and on the opposing.
Those guys never know when to quit and fight like lions no matter the odds.
Respect to our friends in Italy! 🇮🇹
P.S.: despite the blows and bloody noses, we would always end up being friends and buying each other drinks:)
Italy also had terrible military leadership,
German generals even said the Italian soldiers performed amazingly with German leaders
Wartrix yea it was Erwin Rommel
Not just any German. They were under Rommel. This kind of things can happen on both sides.
Lions led by donkeys
Bad leadership , cronyism.
Yes, just look at the 4 ENR divisions trained by Germany in 1944, superb divisions. One of them Littorio, held the western mountain passes against the allies until the end of the war, for example.
Rommel thought well of Italian soldiers under his command in North Africa. As long as they were competently led
yes under his command
Bastico would have different opinions on that claim
@wargent99 germans didnt either
Lead or led?
@wargent99 aha okay if you say so ....the normal soldiere Certaintly had no desire to sit in a dirt whole every night for 360 days a year
But OK EVERY GERMAN WAS A NAZI I GET IT
I was told a story by an Italian veteran. He said when he and his crew were sent to pick up his new tank, they found the armour had fallen off. The armour was attached with nuts and bolts which had worked themselves lose during the voyage from Italy to Africa. So before they could do anything, they had to reattach the plates. For some strange reason he said he never had much confidence in the protective abilities of his tank.
Awesome thanks!
The Italian tanks still used riveted armor...ugh.
@@ChairmanMo I read that there were two reasons for the that. First, the Italians had not learned the methods or machinery for welded steel. The second was that they felt that riveted steel plates could be quickly replaced when damaged.
"For some strange reason he said he never had much confidence in the protective abilities of his tank." Haha.
@@ChairmanMo Rivets if they were lucky. Some really were bolted together.
My father was born during the invasion of Sicily and almost lost his life. The hospital was being bombarded as my grandma was giving birth
Bomb baby
Cazzo!
@@stevek343 Burnin down the hospital
Finally someone who don' t trashtalk about italians in WW2 and tell history how it should be, not like so many that are just blinded by Hollywood movies or random """"historian"""" youtubers.
Bravo and keep up your documentaries, i love them!
@dark star look like you enjoy advance war serie from your pfp
Your dogwhistle is a little loud there bud
Lol put enough quote marks on RUclipsrs mate?
"Ferrea mole, ferreo cuore"
"Iron bulk, iron heart"
Italian tankers motto
;)
Italy adopted the French Adrian helmet in WW1, and was soon producing a version of their own by the wars end, in construction, it resembled more the later French 1926 model, a single stamped bowl with brim and a seperate comb attached. In WW2 these were used for 2nd line units like those encountered in Sicily .
Thank you. The more you know.
1917 Romanian forces adopted as well (Adrian helmet)
@@tudorbflorin Like Polish forces too.
And?
John At 5:45, the Italians are not wearing French helmets but WWI Italian ones (Adrian style).
As he says, they were fighting a war they were unprepared for.......That is the first and most deadly mistake you can make......
I've often wondered if Hitler had waited a few more years, built up more equipment/soldiers.
@@rbnhd1976 It is argued that Hitler initiated WW2 to delay the impeding collapse of the German economy...
@@axelpatrickb.pingol3228 100% correct,
Thats like getting married 🤨
@@axelpatrickb.pingol3228 Correct, generals were planning for 1945 to start the war.
This film shows how brave those guys were, knowing their tanks were poor but pressing on despite the ods.
My maternal grandfather fought alongside the Italians as part of the Afrika Korps, and I know he rated them as getting great and courageous allies, whilst thinking incredibly highly of the British and ANZACs whom he was captured by in Tunisia 1943. It was always a strange feeling growing up with grandfathers on both sides of the war, but I learned a lot about how much respect they had for one another and that led me to become a better person in many ways. It certainly led to my love of channels like this where I can see a great historian in pursuit of the truth. I love learning from here.
Due to age gap and location I'd never had the chance to speak with them but the Poles on my Grandma Martha's side were in East Prussia during WW-1 and fought on the German side while Grandpa Martin her husband fought on the allied side during the War in Haller's Army.
The Italians and also Spanish volunteers fought well in Russia during the war . I could be wrong but I think the last horse cavalry charge of WW2 was by the Italians against a Russian artillery position - which they took . Brave lads .
The Spanish had some volunteers on both sides in Russia. The fascist blue division fought well at first but was then heavilly mauled and withdrawn. On the other hand some communist veterans of the republican side of the Spanish Civil War fought well for the Soviets.
True, the charge of the "Savoia Cavalleria" at Izbushensky
The Spanish fought well: they ussualy did, trought out History. And so did the Italians, when well lead.
@@VersusARCH the Blue Division fought well right up to the end. They were heavily mauled around Leningrad, but won nevertheless ( look for Battle of Krasny Bor) and were then retreated by Franco when it became evident Axis started loosing the war. Still, many of those very same Spaniards join the SS and fough right up to end, around the Reichtag and among other latin/christian fascist: the SS "Charlemagne" division. Spanish republicans on soviet side also distinguished themselves, some of them even flew as pilots for the VVS, being veteran airmen from Spanish Civil War ( fascists had one such units too on the Eastern Front: the "Escuadrilla Azul")
True. Savoia cavalry Rgt did. Savoiaaaaa
For the life of me, I cannot understand why someone would dislike Dr. Felton’s material. Pure history without bias; what we need more of. They’ve got to be trolls. Thank you again Mark!
For one, the lack of citations means that it is suspect from the get go in the eyes of actual historians. That is why you see comment urging people to patronize channels like TimeGhost and Military History Visualized, both of which cited their sources...
@Loredan who says history has to be entertaining? Sure it is entertaining, but is it factual? Does it use primary sources or reputable secondary sources? That is where historians draw the line...
Probably Democrats. They don’t like history or facts.
Without bias? lol He has bias about Americans.
@@bloodybones63 yep, he is well known for hating America
My great grandfather fought in the Charge of the Savoia Cavalleria at Izbushensky
one of the Royal Italian Armies finest hours. He was part of a cavalry charge which routed a numerically superior Soviet force while sustaining few casualties. Considered one of the last great cavalry charges. He told me they would sing Imperial Roman Army chants as they went into battle. He would escape to Colombia after WW2 with other Italians. He had alot of memorabilia of Soviet,German and Royal Italian pieces.
Se vuoi raccontarmi la sua storia mi scriva un e-mail
Salve! I'm an American cowboy and cavalry nerd/reenactor and have been studying the Savioa Cavalleria for the last year in order to recreate the uniforms, equipment, and horse tack of the regiment. I would love to be able to pick your brain on the subject sometime. You are very lucky to have that connection to such an elite unit.
that is cool as hell man!
He escaped to Colombia - so he was a die-hard Facist, one can assume. Are you?
Blesava Konjina Where did you hear that?
As Italian I thank once again Dr. Mark Felton for his historical researches and films: they are always well balanced as only a British man might be.
I am particularly grateful to Dr Mark Felton for the history about the Italian Army in Japan, after the 8th of Semptember 1943, when suddenly the Japanese Army because ... how to say... not friendly to Italy... that was a completely unknown story to me...
I believe that the greatest achievement of European Union, among many failures (first of all the elephantiac bureaucracy) is the fact that nowadays no European man of whatsoever country would ever imagine or think about an European war among European states.
Europe is the lighthouse of the Western Civilization and persons like Dr Mark Felton or our Italian historian Dr. Alessandro Barbero are the new Heroes of our Common Memory.
Let all remember, what Marco Tullio Cicerone said already couple of thousand years ago:
*Nescire autem quid ante quam natus sis acciderit, id est semper esse puerum*
Which means, more or less: "ignoring whatever happened before you were born, it means to be always a baby".
Thank you very Dr Felton!
Bravo
@@drlaw9312 grazie! :-)
I am reading t his in February, 2022, with a Russian army on the borders of Ukraine. I bet a lot of European men are thinking about a European war tonight.
@@robg9236 hi Rob, be fair, he speaks about EU, even non mentioning UK is out. Pongo must be a kind soul citing latin classics nobody knows or cares anymore on the web. Of course war might break between EU and Russia, or even, who knows, between EU and UK!
Many thanks for this video. My father was Lieutenant in Divisione Livorno, 33th Regiment.. he told me a lot of memories about the Battle of Gela. I’m always proud of him.
Two years ago I went with my family to Sicily for holidays and.. sure, we were not so far from Gela, so we went to see around the sites of the Battle. With us a sicilian friend, very passionate about Second World War history, in particular of Operation Husky.
It was a very emotional visit for me.
"Italian Armoured Death Ride" sounds like a good name for a band.
Or "Sgt. "D'Angelo's Lonely Hearts Club Band".
Four words is kinda pushing it! 😋
Or a Roller Coaster... 👊🏼 💥 😂
Italian “Sabaton”
I got DIBS!!!
The Italian military suffered from three problems. The first problem was their equipment. With a few exceptions their equipment was either antiquated or poorly designed. Logistics, while the Italians actually had a very good truck made by Fiat there just wasn't enough of them. Leadership, the fat cats at the top just weren't up to the task. Lower ranked officers were usually pretty good and the troops when abley lead and reasonably equipped performed as well as any other Army in World War II. As for the morale issue the Italians just didn't have their heart and the war fighting on the Axis side.Add to that the Germans treated them like a redheaded stepchild and you have a recipe for disaster.
If you had to bail out your ally on every front they fought on, you’d treat your ally like a redheaded stepchild too.
A recipe, little truth and most BS. Bad taste, do not like it.
@Finnish bear putz
In short, they sucked eggs.
....nñ9⁰
That Chad R35 that got nearly to the beach was pretty heroic. Remember they were defending their homeland.
Another great forgotten bit of history shared by Mark Felton. The Italians did get a bum rap in history. Their elite naval commando units certainly gave the Royal Navy a hard time!
That driver of Navarri's tank had some brass ones. He had to know he would be killed restarting that tank.
He would be killed not restarting that tank too, though.
Early version of ISIS...
Italians carved countless statues, ISIS blew their own ones up. Completely incomparable..
My father flew in an RAF Beaufort torpedo bomber squadron stationed on Malta in early '42. He said he was very impressed with the courage displayed by the Italian aircrews that flew over the Island. He said they had to fly through some pretty horrendous flak and although they'd lose numerous aircraft during these raids they'd just close up the gaps in their formations, stay on course and keep going.
That is not only discipline but bravery
....fact
Refreshing to have the Italian Military as a subject on your channel. Perhaps some stories related to the Japanese Military. Great story..thank you.
I wonder if we could fit in more Romanian, Hungarian and Slovak WW2 history
@@Diamonddogusa That is a great suggestion!
by coincidence I was wondering the other day if Mark would cover more Italian campaigns.
Remember this at El Alamein, germans run when they understood how overwhelming where the odds, the italians fight until certain units lost 95% of their complements, and only surrender when they where out of water/ammo.
COWARDS! They must have fought till death with bare hands and teeth.
They couldn’t retreat because they were leg infantry while the Germans were motorized
@@keithschur5728 They tried nonetheless, on foot, in the Libyan desert, with Allies pursuing at their back... Few did it, many died, many surrendered, some fought... And died.
@@keithschur5728 Even with weak or no motorization the remnants of the Folgore (the Italian elite paratroopers) and Pavia Infantry, after knocking down alone almost one third of the total number of tanks the British lost at El Alamein, regrouped, formed the Nembo Unit. Regained contact with the rest of the Axis troops and fought in the Tunisian campaign. A great example of commitment and determination.
@@keithschur5728 what about ariete tank division?
History We don't get to know anywhere else .Most soldiers from every nation fought bravely and many died unrecognized for their valiance and none more so than the Italians . This has to be probably one of the Best Channels on RUclips , Facts ! Not Speculation or Hype . Thanks Mark , Stay Safe & Stay Well !
Mark, a great irony here is that some 1.5 Italian-Americans served in US forces during WWII, some 10% of the total, many of them first generation like a few of my uncles. So likely there were some in Patton's forces in this very battle. At that time, our family had members on both sides of the ocean in both the Italian army and the US Army and Marines. My father's first cousin, Carmine Pirro, a US Naval Seal, went MIA on the beach at Anzio in early 1944, not far from his parents home town. Reflect on the irony of this. My uncle Pasquale was killed on Luzon in 1945 as a member of the 35th US Infantry Regiment. I appreciate the suffering of the victims of the War, and such dark forces unleashed left little option. But let's not forget that this is no longer a way to resolve our problems in an interdependent world at the level of existential crises we now face. I challenge you to post in your stories here some examples where nonviolent tactics and heroism were also effective in some instances during the war. These stories deserve to come to the light.
They weren’t officially SEALs until 1962. Before that they were “frog men” or underwater demolitions units, among other names.
I always found it interesting that a very big portion of our army at the time was German, Italian, and Japanese immigrants or sons of immigrants.
5:43 The helmets were not French but rather (Italian) WW1 issue. The "Coastal Divisions" (Divisioni Costiere) were issued very old equipment.
Its so refreshing to see videos like this that actually show Italy and her military might instead of just memes and jokes. Thank you for this, please keep it up 👍🏽🇮🇹
Thank you Mark Felton, in the name of many italian soldiers who fights with honour.
The driver got out to re-start the tank with a crank-handle while under fire...!
An earlier example of ISIS...
My dad was in a mechanized infantry battalion under Patton. He was in North Africa and in Sicily. But he never talked about those experiences, not a single word. So the only insight I have into those battles is second hand. Thanks for a good presentation, Mark.
Proof that any tank can be a 'Tiger' when the other side has almost nothing to stop it.
Bazookas were more than enough for these.
All german tanks were tigers or panthers 🤣
@@alexander1485 The Americans mistook Panzer 4s for Tigers everytime.
“The German soldier has astonished the world; the Italian Bersagliere has astonished the German soldier”
-Erwin Rommel/someone who wasn’t Erwin Rommel
Jag
V
It's a fake statement, Rommel never mentioned the Bersaglieri
Achyuthan Sanal Do you have a source for that quote?
@A C H how should they have taken Malta? Even crete was a close call with huge loss of paratroopers and planes, and Malta had more and better prepared defences...
My father was actually there in Sicily as part of the U.S. 7th Army, so some of those machine gun bullets raking the tanks might have come from his 30-cal Browning (he was a squad leader, and gunner, of a 5 man machine gun squad).
Most probably .50 cal machineguns holes
@@ray.shoesmith Yep.
@@DavidHuffTexas 🤔
Thank you Mr Felton, for having the decency of saying what can be easily heard in this video. Your kindness and honesty are an excellent match to your competence and skill as an author and videographer. Cheers and take care,
Well done Mark. As a retired US Army Armor officer and Vietnam combat veteran I never knew this and can always count on you to teach me something with every video you make sir. Take care and God bless.
The two man crew was enough to make this a horrible tank and the fact that the Italians still managed to use it well is a great feat
Mark Felton has a video about an Italian tank commander who served in the German army and was a tank ace commanding a Tiger I tank. It is scary what an Italian tanker can do if he was not given a piece of trash like the R-36.
love you Mark!! I'm an Italian American and love learning about this stuff.
So am I!
You had me at Italian armored death ride.
Have read many accounts from Canadian and other regiments that fought across Italy in WW2, including a history of the famed First Special Service Force. The fighting was brutal and daunting and it was a toss up as to which were the tougher opponents, the Germans or the Italians.
My US Marine unit was temporarily sharing an outpost in Iraq with an Italian Carabinieri unit. Super nice guys, interesting equipment, better rations which gladly traded for. One our guys was from Italy and spoke the language too. It felt good to represent the US with honor and professionalism.
The Italians called their own tanks “self propelled coffins.”
Nope they called sardines cans (probably not even true) the CV33 also known as L3/35 (a tankette armed with 2 LMG)
yeet the CV33 could slaughter an whole infranty reggiment if well supported
watch how the japanese massacred the chinede army with their waves of armored cars and tankette
Cool story. But even if they had Panthers, I don't see how a handful of tanks could capture and hold a town without logistics and infy.
Yup lack of coordination
Edit: and objectives
it seems to me it is obvious that they just wanted to buy Time, well aware of paying for it with their blood
well, the sheer massive weight of their balls made the light tanks already as heavy as panthers.
Although the 37mm at gun would not have been very useful against panthers the panthers would have still been just as vulnerable to bazooka fire (not to mention the mechanical problems)
ahhh a squad player i see ;)
The biggest problem with the Italians wasn't their lack of bravery, poor equipment, or iffy feelings about being aligned to Germany, it was the extremely poor leadership from the officer corps which would not break from the ww1 battlefield tactics. The Italians performed well under German leadership even up to the end of the war in northern Italy
poor equipment was a major issue, if you had a good army with good morale and good leadership fighting another army with equal leadership and morale but your equipment is largely infeior you are doomed to fail, italy equipment of ww2 was mostly from ww1 or interwar peroid that was largely poor or outdated.
@@spitfire8790 I would disagree, war gamers and armchair generals like to micro analyze the details of equipment but in the end it's the soldiers using the equipment in an effective manner that makes the biggest difference and the leadership of the officer corps is critical to that effectiveness. Case in point would be that the only thing that the British had a decided advantage over the Italians in equipment was light Mg's, and in aircraft quality and yet they routed the vastly more numerous Italian armies in North Africa despite supply issues and only a small RAF presence. While the Italians suffered from poor morale much of the blame for that can also be attributed to poor leadership
I heard the Italians were exceptional gunners as well. Good Pilots too.
Professor Felton always goes above & beyond with his history of WW2 . Thank you Professor for your shear brilliance particularly in covering areas like the Italian combat academy with wrechet equipment yet totally fighting hard against the allies?
It cannot be overstated how brave they were to keep going in the face of naval artillery rounds landing around them. In the same battle a column of far superior German Tiger tanks was repulsed by gunfire from the cruiser USS Savannah.
tiger were slower, bigger and fatter target while the italian tank was faster and smaller, one of its main advantages but keeps breaking down and couldnt go face to face to british/american armour or infantry armed with anti tank rifle/PIAT
@@spitfire8790 I wonder how can someone be so dumb to watch a whole documentary on an action and not even understand Italians were using French war prize Renault tanks slow as a turtle? What are you talking of?
You say: "Some Italian soldiers wore French helmets". Actually, those are Adrian helmets of French design, that were standard Italian equipment in the Italian Army in Wolrd War One and until the Thirties.
Nothing like a German helmet
@@unnamedchannel1237 no its not like a german helmet because its not a german helmet. lol
@@colinlutrario748 WOOSH!
Many of those "French helmets" were Italian helmets from WWI. Italian helmets were made from once piece as the French were made from three pieces.
The Decima (X) MAS, Decima Arditi, Paracadutisti, San Marco, even their Bersaglieri were to be feared and respected.
Don’t forget . Paracadutisti Folgore
@@colinshock And Nembo
One thing I really like about Felton's videos is that you give credit and always mention the presence of minor countries (ex. Italy, Canada, Australia etc.) instead of lumping them in with bigger powers. I appreciate the academic honesty and it adds a lot to your integrity.
My Grandpa was part of the 🇨🇦 forces that liberated Italy. He would never discuss the war. I only knew he had enlisted underage by a few years & he drove a jeep. (And that after the war he would not eat corned beef under any circumstances !) Videos like this help give me an idea of the general circumstances he was possibly in.
The Italians were let down by circumstances that aren't their fault; circumstances many nations in the war suffered from at various times, if only people bothered to read up on such things a bit more.
In my case, one of my favourite generals, Wavell, has his amazing achievements in Africa seriously discounted because the Italians aren't taken seriously as an opponent for him, when in reality his achievement was pretty astonishing.
When properly led, the Italians fought well.
Their biggest mistake was Mussolini.
What part of "only total morons don't go over on defense when having zero intelligence of the enemy"? No wonder the entirety of the Sicilian Population switched sides. Good indeed great credit goes towards "Smiling Albert" Kesselring who knew total military insanity when he saw it and would ultimately order a very skillful withdrawal in order to mount a (German) defense of the entire Italian Isthmus.
Tough choices lay ahead for Italy proper would be an understatement as indeed once the Sicilian Population had been lost "Italy proper" would now be next. "No quarter asked then no quarter given" as the United States Marine Corps would say.
@E ZA history says nothing about today
Oh so like... any troops..
@Jure Herman yeah, a newly formed state against an empire.
We fought basically on our own and we won against one of the strongest military forces of the time, while France and Britain strugled to push back Germany.
And that's two big army against half, because the other half was in Russia.
We fought pretty badly in WW2 but you can't say anything about WW1
Great episode! It shows that the Italian tanks did NOT have 5 gears (1 forward and 4 reverse). I loved the bit about the starting handle, like my dad's Singer car had. Unfortunately, he did not get shot in the head.
Thank you, Sir, for the respectful explanation about the Italians.
I always had a feeling that there was an element of stretching the truth to say the least about the perceived "cowardess" of the Italian Armed Forces. The bravery of Italian Midget Submarine crews is another thing that has been overlooked
Thank you so much, Dr. Felton, I grow tired of the seemingly never-ending disparaging remarks made by both so called 'Historians' and the average Joe alike. I look forward to hearing more stories of WWII Italian valor on your (truly outstanding) channel in future episodes. Much respect, Dr. Felton.
you are in for a hell of a wait then mate
@@skywaycarslimited7860 *Typical uninformed comment via a person with no real knowledge of the Second World War. I'll bet that you actually believe that England could have won the war without help from anyone. lol*
@@skywaycarslimited7860 You must really believe that Churchill was "the man that stood alone against Hitler." He had an Empire behind him of some 450 million persons with resources vastly exceeding the combined resources of Germany and Italy .Yet he had to obtain his courage from Johnny Walker.I wonder if Prof. Felton will one day also dispel this myth.
Here before Mark reaches 1M Subs!
13k new subscribers in one week. Pretty good!
As always, your objective and even-handed approach to events not only does you credit, it also results in a very informative and educational piece. Thanks Mark.
Much appreciated!
What a ride. It's a shame that the last guy died. He was one brave tanker. I remember from my time in NATO that the Italians had a reputation of being a little bit crazy. I'm glad we have them on our side now!
What kind of crazy?😂
Hi Dr. Felton, I'm Italian and this is one of my favourite war stories... Thank you so much for this amazing video! 👍👋
P.S. sorry for the bad english
There's nothing wrong with your English, and nobody should care about it either. Your English is superior to my Italian (as exemplified on my honeymoon to Italy).
@@SeverityOne Thank you, happy someone studies Italian!
@@umbertonecci7802 Non posso parlare Italiano, ma, che bella lingua! Che bella paese!
It’s really great to hear more about the Italians and about the stuff they did which seems to be glossed over.
Italy squandered the resources needed to properly upgrade their equipment when they committed so heavily to the Spanish Civil War. They were essential to Franco's victory but that favour was never properly returned.
@@steveperreira5850 It's nothing like that. I'm Italian and even I know that Spain was on it's knees after the civil war. Civil wars are usually much worse as they not only cause death and destruction but they really tear the social fabric of a nation. Spain did a favor to everyone by being neutral as it was one less long coast do defend
@@steveperreira5850 1) Spain was utterly destroyed by Civil War, in a much bigger scale Italy ever was. 2) Both dictators were "Latin" 3) Italy and Spain are not neighbours. Just sayin'....
Franco probably advised Mussolini to stay out of Germany's war. If he did, then the favor was properly returned.
@Peter Laughton utter tosh
churchill wasnt even PM at the declaration of war
Spanish army is using italian, stuff dont know why...Marconi,pieralisi,fiat,hipanosuiza, iveco...etc,etc ist made in Spain quite now... capicci?
I love everything about this RUclips channel, keep it up!
if Navari survived to tell the tale i think this story would be far more famous, imagine all the suicidaly heroic efforts from combatants on all sides whom don't actually make it through. Thousands of ghosts with no voices to carry them.
Another unknown story from Prof. Felton. as an Italian I am very grateful for your effort in restoring the truth about our soldiers in WWII, It is sad to know many brave men were sacrificed for a wrong cause.
Despite everything the Italian Army fought bravely.
Yes, they did. It's sad to see the same tired old cliches again and again in the comments.
"La parola d'ordine è una sola: VINCERE. E PERDEREMO!"
CREDERE.
OBBEDIRE.
ARRENDERSI.
Sadly it seems a lot of folks focus on the pacific and North Africa and European theaters and overlook the Mediterranean
They retreated even more bravely! To call the Italian performance against the Greeks lackluster utterly lacks the proper luster.
But Mark is right. They were just unprepared for WW2. Their equipment was obsolete other than the Carcano M38, and that was still a bolt action rifle. They did have mini-flamethrower tanks though! Cuteness factor alone it should have won the war!
@Randy Mi what do you mean Mussolini did such a great job definitely
Dr. Felton's Channels are easily some of the greatest educational tools on the internet
Mark, I’d love to here more stories from the invasion of Sicily. It’s a campaign that’s often glossed over, especially here in America. My grandfather participated in the invasion, serving as a sailor aboard the USS Andromeda. I never met him, but my dad tells me that, as an Italian-American, he was very proud of his role in helping to liberate “the old country.” Incidentally his-and my-last name is Messina.
This channel is a gold mine!
One of my uncles was from the Bronx and spoke Italian fluently, consequently, he was often used to interrogate Italian prisoners. He was interrogating some after the battle for Sicily and found out they were his cousins. He had fought Italians in North Africa and he told us kids that when led well they were excellent troops...
I like so many people always thought the Italian army was a joke.
Seems we all seriously underestimated the Italian soldier.
Always pictured him with a bottle of wine and some cheese inviting the other side to come dine with them and forget the war.
But thinking now, that would have been good idea who wants to fight when you can eat with each other.
Italian frogmen were way ahead of the allied in WW2
After Italy fell in WW2 , some of the frogmen fought for the ALLIES some were given medals for there work.
@@walboyfredo6025 Oh yeah that wasnt too uncommon. I believe Mark even made a vid about Italian troops signing up after surrender.
Let's remember a couple of guys riding human torpedoes did a reverse Taranto in Alexandria Harbour. And never gave anything away when taken aboard the very ship they had just planted a mine under! Both brave and competent.
Ancestors of the SBS, SEALS, LRRPS...
I love this. Reminds me of the good old Battlefield series. Low-key effects/music, lots of original footage. No more drama than that which has already been provided by history. Thumbs up =)
Thank you SO MUCH for your high-quality documentaries. Much better than anything on television these days. Thank you, such a bright light!
Mark, my father-in-law fought in the R.E. in Yugoslavia against Red partisans, and the R.S.I. 3rd Regiment, V Company. He was an officer and never once said anything about low moral, or spoke against Mussolini. He was a solider and did his job. I know through my own research that most officers did not really fight in the front leading their men, but my father-in-law did. Wounded a total of five times leading his men and earned two Silver Medals for Valor and both were stripped from him due to his service with the R.S.I. And they always followed him no matter what. He was honorable and fought a clean war. He improvised, adapted and overcame everything despite the odds against him and his men. Although he was captured by the Germans he held no ill will towards them. He escaped in 43 and continued to fight against who was invading his country and that is about it regarding what is popularly believed. When it was all over, he was tried here in Italy and reduced in rank to Lt. and even-though he was set free he was still harassed by the Red Italian Partisans after the war when he was unarmed. Lucky for him he was not killed. I always like your videos, especially those about the Italians. Too many historians have simply written them off as a bunch of cowards. Thank you for keeping it real.
Your father was a brave and honorable man who did his duty.
Thanks for covering parts of war that are generally "forgotten" on purpose
Another example of Italian bravery is the Siege of Giarabub.
When I see a Mark Felton video I can’t click any quicker
Yes
ghost 1828 do you click as fast as a blitz krieg?
Tiger 1 fast as Goering eats
ghost 1828 woah man, that’s way to fast
And you can't spam it with a mindless comment any quicker too, right?
You've got to appreciate the fact that the allies took help from the american mafia to establish a connection with the Sicilians..
I'am austrian and my advise is as follows - never underestimate the alpini
Danke schoen
@@zampieritto Di niente, onora il coragioso nemico !
Hey Mark I just got this notification its says it has been up 3 minutes and you already have 850 views that's pretty damn good buddy. Cheers
You should do a similar video on the Livorno Mountain Infantry Division. They assaulted Gela alongside this units and were also targeted by the American naval gun fire, yet they kept going until forced to retreat. Even more amazing, they did it again the day after with aid of the Hermann Goering Division.
The story of little obsolete Italian tanks taking on bigger enemy tanks....is pretty much the entire Italian Ww2 experience.
My most sincere respect and gratitude for your words about the Italian Army and soldiers during WW2. They honor, gained and defended at an high cost of blood and lives, is attacked on daily bases by everyday historians, ww2 videogames players and illiterate people. I really hate to read such unrespectful comments, especially in regards to those who lost their lives in such brave combats. Thanks for giving back something to their memory.
Prof Felton is that rare English Historian. He is not afraid to tell the truth.
My grandad was in the 1st Airlanding Brigade at Sicily and later Arnhem. In Sicily his glider crashed (on land) and killed the pilot. I think there was some fighting briefly then he was captured (later “escaping” after the Italian capitulation). Thanks for mentioning them.