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Common Myths about the Italian Army most Casual Historians Believe [WW2]
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- Опубліковано 18 сер 2024
- The Italians (along with the French) are the butt of pretty much every joke. This has left a lot of people with a distorted view of what the Italians were ACTUALLY like in WW2. In this episode of The Front, we are going to clear that up.
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Chapters
0:00 Introduction
0:55 Cowardice and low morale of Italian Soldiers in World War 2
4:54 Poor soldiers of Italy during World War 2
7:52 Poor leadership of the Italian Army during World War 2
9:31 Conclusion
In fact I have always respected italian soldiers. In the time of Warsaw uprising near the city was a devision of italian soldiers who were ordered to attack polish resistance but italians refused to do that because a lot of polish resistance members were civilians also womens and children. Later those soldiers were killed for not obeying the order. They stayed loyal to theirs ideals. In Warsaw there is a special grave of these soldiers to honor them.
forgive me, wouldn't you have more details to give me?
yes i want more details too
They were soldiers of the king, loyal to Italy, not some paramilitary political fanatics like the fascists
The Italo-Polish relations are lovely even in war.
@@stefanogalliano5634 during the warsaw uprising the only Italian armed forces in the area were fascists ... so it is the fascists who refused to intervene
My uncle served in North Africa with the British 8th Army. He told me the Italian anti-tank gunners were some of the best.
How old are you?
@@cristianbalan518 he probably 60
@@cristianbalan518 65.
Through all the things historians said about the Italians learning it for yourself you can find some amazing things and this stuff I never knew about
Many of my great uncles, Grandfather and many more people i knew who where dessert rats told me the exact opposite.
italy *fights a civil war, resulting in torn families, and further north- south divide, to free italy from mussolini*
people: haha italy switch side.
It's worth pointing out that other countries also fell out of love with fascism and crossed the battlefield. Romania did exactly what Italy did. The Yugoslav Chetniks were perhaps less led by idealism, but they too switched sides. Finland terminated its alliance of convenience with Germany when their survival no longer depended on it.
Abandoning an ally like Nazi Germany is nothing to be ashamed of.
@@RobMacKendrick
The shame part is that we had the Nazis as allied in the first place.
@@magnumopus1628 Fair point.
@@magnumopus1628 mostly because everyone at the time thought germany was gonna win the war so mussolini wanted to hop on the victory bus sooner rather than later, even though italy wasn't ready at all. Also germans didn't hold the italians in high regard at all. They were shitty allies. My grandfather was taken prisoner by the germans in the beginning of the war for unknown reasons and came back home at the end. He was 25 years old and already had all white hair because of those years in a german concentration camp. Needless to say he couldn't even hear the word "german" or anything related to them.
@@RobMacKendrick are we the bads? :) ua-cam.com/video/hn1VxaMEjRU/v-deo.html
So my mum's last name is Randazzo and her family comes from the same place, San Cono in Sicily, so I asked my grandma and turns out Rosario Randazzo was my grandpa's cousin. She even told me there is a statue of him in his hometown. Just... What a brave man.
Pensa scoprire un parente lontano da un video in inglese sul tubo ahahah
Signor Randazzo
-Benigni
My last name is petrizzo
Presente!
Germany: Don't worry Italy, the war will start in few years
Also Germany: *START THE WAR 2-3 WEEKS LATER*
Sono sempre stati la nostra rovina.
@@hyoscyamusgorgonius7456 si diciamo che ci siamo anche un po' rovinati da soli
@@giulioborghi651 colpa di Mussolini, che ha fatto entrare in guerra un paese letteralmente non pronto
aCTunG
@@giulioborghi651 beh per un certo senso meglio così no?...
The worst enemy for the italian soldier is not the target he’s shooting at in front if him, but the officer that stands behind him.
Exactly. Shit leadership, shit results.
True during WW1 Italian officers were the most brutal and had the record for executions of soldiers
A facc du cazz se c’hai ragione
Si, seriamente
Bella li cazzo
My father fought against the Italians in Libya and Egypt as a battery Sargent major, he got annoyed when people accused the Italians of cowardice he said they were very brave and some of their units were outstanding soldiers.
As an Italian, I want to say only a thing: two of my ancestors went to fight in Russia during WW2, one came back to Sicily mostly on foot, and the other went to Norway with the intention to sail back home, but instead started a family there. Just saying. By the way, great video.
Edit: I'm really happy to see so many italians and foreigners sharing their family's stories about the second world war. Our elders went through too much, and probably fought against each other... War is always terrible. Thank you all for sharing
Il migliore amico di mio nonno morì in Russia
@@chernobill6839 è triste pensare che un giovane ragazzo pieno di speranze sia morto in guerra, ed a cosa potesse pensare in quei momenti tuo nonno... è per questo che mi infastidiscono quelli che su internet scrivono che gli italiani in guerra erano idioti, quando in realtà i nostri nonni hanno sofferto forse di più rispetto a gente di altre nazioni vicine. Figurati che uno di questi miei prozii ritornò in Sicilia coperto da poco più dei suoi pantaloni e da una maglietta di lana. Dell'altro credevano fosse morto in battaglia, finché degli uomini alti e biondi non hanno bussato a casa di mio nonno dicendo di essere nostri cugini... almeno siamo fortunati a non dover combattere chissà dove
@@esti-od1mz anche io sono siciliano, magari i nostri nonni si sono anche conosciuti
@@chernobill6839 All'epoca mio nonno era troppo giovane, ma magari i miei prozii avranno incontrato tuo nonno. E chi lo sa? I siciliani partivano dagli stessi porti. Sono dell'agrigentino, comunque
I cugini di mia nonna sono morti durante la ritirata di Russia, penso congelati
Nobody:
That Italian guy who kept firing the machine gun after losing an arm: *'tis but a scratch.*
absolute chad
@@tomo366 Right the weight of that man's balls must have been immense
A scratch? Your arms come off!
Then we’ll call it a draw
Brits: *Look you stupid bastard you got no arms left
!*
That Italian guy: *Yes I have.*
Brits: *Look!*
Italian guy: *Just a flesh wound.*
The problem with the Italian army wasn't soldier incompetence, it was high command incompetence. The Italian army was under equipped and a majority of the Italian generals were selected by loyalty, not military strategy (they still had some good generals tho).
And I don't know how true this is but I heard another contributing factor was that Italy wasn't very industrilized, so Italy couldn't pump out enough war supplies to compete with the other major powers.
@@aguy8736 That was another contributing factor as well
An army of donkeys lead by a lion is better than an army of lions lead by a donkey. The Italians were on the wrong side of this quote.
@@captaindak5119 Agreed
@@aguy8736 corruption played an important role, the infamous breda 30 was a total mess and a clear example, buying mg42-34 projects from the germans would have been cheaper and better. Low industrialisation played as you suggest another important role, if the germans waited a decade attacking poland and starting the war maybe our industries would've catch up. But the biggest problem of our armies were the leaders, dumb fuckers, that didn't deserve the role they coverd.
Italy actually didn't do too badly in WWI considering the Austro-Hungarians held the high ground. Italian troops finally defeated the A-H Empire at Vittorio Veneto in 1918.
As a rule, Italian soldiers have historically been made of steel when defending their homeland or Italians elsewhere, but not so determined when ordered to occupy others. I for one see no dishonour in that.
Not at all actually. I madly respect the ones who helped the greek when these were subjected to famine and then helped them rebelling against the nazi, that is not a show of weakness, it is a show of will strenght and most importantly...
Humanity
The entire Italian army with few exceptions disintegrated to a numerically inferior German army in 43 when Italy 'switched sides'. Most leaders fled or surrendered and most troops simply deserted.
Ofcourse one is more likely to defend their own homeland and that is true for Italians too, however in ww2 the Italian army did not defend their homeland to the same extend that Germans or Russians did. (night and day really)
Some of the Italian occupation forces in Yugoslavia and greece fought very brutal anti partisan actions.
The Italian soldier as a whole in ww2 was poorly equipped, poorly trained and poorly led. Although there were isolated successes I think it is fair to say that the Italian army and the soldiers (which constitute the army) as a whole was ineffective and incompetent, whether at home or abroad.
That should not be understood as an insult to individual Italian soldiers though.
@@Difcarwhen I was young I had the pleasure of meeting a ww2 Italian veteran during remembrance Day at my old school here in Italy he recounted to my class how one day when in a bar in a city they had occupied he heard from the radio of Italy change of side and how no one in the base was able to communicate neither with Rome nor any other superior leaving the base without command, and how the German troops to which they were allied to that point said they would escort them back to Italy without any notice from their superior's they were unable to understand the situation and followed German command without resistance, obviously they were taken as prisoners later he found that the king had escaped Rome and likewise many of the commander's at the same time Mussolini tried to establish a separated command center to combat the American "invasion" the Italian force was divided in soldiers who were close to Mussolini new command center and received commands contradictory to the king announcement of switching sides and soldiers who did not have any command. Excuse me for the lack of a more precise vocabulary I'm still not fully proficient in English and don't know the correct military terms
@@Difcar Honestly Sir, I don't think you know so much on that part of history, on the Italian Army and on the Italian situation after 1943. I would not leave such comments before documenting myself on such a topic. However, you can have your own opinion, it is not so important anyway ;).
@@franzbiberkopf9179 Although you are being polite your comment doesn't amount to much more than "you are wrong". OK, what exactly was wrong? :)
Every WW2 faction in myths: *literal cowards*
Every WW2 faction in reality: *brave and bold chads*
But many had incompetent leadership
Just saying, but the country of Britain had more morale then the British troops fighting
@@captaindak5119 te lo posso confermare
@William Underwood not saying they weren't. But Britain itself was being constantly bombed for close to a year.
@@dakufaust what?
Imagine having over 3,000 years of history starting from the Etruscans to civilizing most of europe through Rome, founding cities like Paris, London, etc as you conquer places like Greece, Egypt, and Carthage. Acts as a cultural superpower especially during the Renaissance only to be mocked in the mid 1900s because of one war that was extremely over exaggerated against Italy.
Sadly...Omnia fert aetas.
@ Roma Invicta
Dai su.. ormai dai gloriosi tempi dell’Impero era cambiato tutto...
1600 anni di divisione e di chiesa cattolica hanno fatto si che il nostro paese si frammentasse in deboli frammenti di territorio..
Blame mussolini and the cowardly generals who didn’t spend an hour in the trenches. Honour be to the Italian soldiers and partisans who stood their ground against the odds.
The Alpini digging tunnels in the rocks at 3000m altitude with -30c, the folgore fighting the armoured divisions with molotovs and no water supplies.
Actually two wars
@@nikolababic3490 3 wars lost (but 1 it was in coalition) upon 24 fought since the Italian Unification, to WWII.
92% rate of success, isn't so bad ;)
@@solinvictus1234 I like Italy, have family there, like your culture but dont potray it as military power, since Garibaldi it never was. And Italians only attacked undeveloped countries like Libya or countries that were already occupied like France. Cultural powerhouse- fuck yeah, but not militaristic
"ghiovanni messe"
You did your best, and we appreciate it
Yes
Poteva andarsi a cercare la pronuncia ma vabbe lasciamo stare
@@waffleman2934 ahahahaha vabbè oramai
@@asiaalbarello14 non è accettabile 😔ghiorghi
Giovanni Messe, l'unico Maresciallo d'Italia meritevole di lode. Unico in mezzo ad una massa di ufficiali infingardi, incompetenti e leccaculo. Pensare che non ha fatto un giorno di Accademia Militare. Si arruolò come allievo sottufficiale nei primi del '900, salì tutta la scala gerarchica per meriti di guerra, fino ad arrivare al grado apicale. Amatissimo dai suoi uomini per le sue doti umane, fu collocato a riposo nel '47. Grande uomo e grande comandante, l'unico che i Tedeschi ci invidiavano. Il buon Indro Montanelli ebbe a dire che un Generale d'armata italiano, nella Wehrmacht avrebbe potuto essere al massimo un Colonnello dell'intendenza, tranne Messe ,che non avrebbe sfigurato sotto ogni bandiera.
My name is Giovani Giorgio, but everyone calls me Ghiorghio.
Hahahahahaha
No vabbe ahahaha
Stavo cercando questo commento
F
Hahhahhahahha
It was a swordfight where the italian guy was given a knife.
Italians with a knife on his hand basically invented the modern Special Forces (WWI Arditi Troops) but yeah, i know what you mean
A top 3 comment
How is it getting roasted by lamar?
D E E P
*a fruit knife to be precise😂
They fought like lions, but were led by donkeys
And the equipment was shit, stupid generals...
@@p_filippouz thank God Mussolini was a complete IDIOT at choosing generals. Otherwise we might still be under Fascist rule.
@@inserisciunnome improbabile, anche se Mussolini avrebbe scelto generali che ne sapevano di tattiche, non saremmo riusciti lo stesso a produrre quantità industriali di materiali, carri, armi ecc. Sì, forse avremmo potuto avanzare verso Suez nel 1940 e conquistare la Grecia un po' più velocemente (e ripeto forse) però con la mentalità di Hitler avremmo perso lo stesso la guerra
@@thattommy5421 se Mussolini avesse avuto generali competenti al suo fianco, penso che avrebbe capito che andare il guerra al fianco della Germania sarebbe stato un suicidio. Fino a quel momento, gli stati uniti stessi rispettavano Mussolini per la sua efficacia nel ripulire la Sicilia e la Sardegna di mafiosi e gang criminali, compito che loro non erano riusciti a compiere. Quindi, se Mussolini non avesse dichiarato guerra troppo presto, è possibile che sarebbe riuscito a modernizzare l'esercito senza che nessuno gli andasse contro. Oppure potrei stargli dando troppo credito io.
@@inserisciunnome è stato Hitler a dichiarare guerra troppo presto, Mussolini glielo aveva fatto presente che l'Italia non era pronta, gli aveva chiesto un paio di anni e tonnellate di risorse per combattere una guerra in modo efficiente, però dato che iniziò nel '39 e vedendo i suoi successi in Polonia ed in Francia, Mussolini credeva che la guerra sarebbe finita velocemente, e così entrammo nel' 40
Polish Cavalry: Obviusly we don't charge enemy armor, we are not mad!
Italian Cavalry: Weakness disgusts me.
There's actual footage of Polish calvary charging German tanks lol
The devil commander be like: PATHETIC
@@wiedzmin8204 bruh thats propaganda
@@localmilkman3917 So you're saying to me, a Polish guy, who went through the polish school system and saw the footage, from the Polish government which paints us in a badlight, is propaganda. Interesting.
@@wiedzmin8204 BRO EVEN YOUR OWN PEOPLE WLNT CHARGE THE TANK FFS THEY WERE CHARGING INF BEFORE THE TANKS COME INTO THE SCENE AND REPORTER ARRIVED
Enemies: camping in a fort
Luigi Giorgi: "Push"
Soldier: "Sir, there's 19 of them inside"
Giorgi: "Charges in alone and starts spamming hand grenades"
A tipica cod tactic
Spam is the only way
warzone pro
"ok, we have 400 hand granade, and they have a bunker, Luigi, what we do?"
Luigi "I take them... And spam like the are rice at a wedding party!!!"
Immaginati la quantità di esplosivi che aveva con sé, se fosse stato colpito con un proiettile l italia sarebbe stata la prima nazione ad avere un suo cittadino sulla luna
Chad The Front: Italy wasn’t actually a bunch of cowards
Virgin historians who have gathered all of their knowledge from reddit: ItAlY? HahAha, swiTch SiDes
What makes me mad is that they actually think italy switched sides in both world wars, they are not memeing...
Potential history and other shitposters....
Whats wrong with being virgin
Am Redditor, been a victim of this. Initially, that's what happened on the outside. But when you analyze it deep down, there's much more to switching sides. I mean, Italian soldiers are chads tbh (being descendants of the ultra-chad Romans help, I guess), it's just most of the time the top brass screws them, so the troops and field commanders had to go above and beyond their limits just to fight for their own country
How many world wars have you won Germany!
My great grandfather was lieutenant in the 132nd Armoured Division “Ariete”, he fought in El Alamein until all the tanks of his battalion were destroyed, then he managed to escape on foot and find his way back to Italy to keep on fighting, this time tho against the regime as a partisan.
"Enemy tanks broke through south of Ariete Division. Thus, Ariete surrounded, located 5 kilometers north-west of Bir-el-Abd. Ariete tanks are fighting."
-Ariete Division's last radio message
ONORE A LUI 🇮🇹
AVANTI SAVOIA!
or something
Whilst Rommel and the Germans were bravely running away - sorry "retreating" - thanks to having stolen all the Italian transport they could obtain, who remained at El Alamein fighting until extinction? Why, Ariete, the premier Italian armoured formation (plus the Folgore).
@@PsilocybinCocktail They took the term to the end quite literally and I can respect that
Brivido... Mio nonno era della Julia ha fatto grecia e Russia, ne parlava poco... Comunque finalmente un video straniero che non sputa sul Regio. Questo gli fa onore
"And the Italians have shown the world what they could do. They are the bravest troops in the Allied Armies! Italy has been fighting her own war all along and deserves all the credit in the world”. WWI Ernest Hemingway
Meanwhile in Germany: " I am ashamed of our ancestors "
We have pizza
Meanwhile, at Versailles:
"Cool, can we have Dalmatia and some German colonies that you promised?"
"Yeah, uhm, well, no"
Haukichi Shimoi: "the italian army, and more specifically in the Arditi corps, are the ones that the most incarnate and take to the extreme the true spirit of the samurai and The true meaning of the bushido, that a lot of modern guys from our time have long forgott or lost... The Arditi are like the spiritual successor of the shogun sworn samurai, that in face of danger run toward the enemy and give they're life, not for the governament or the ruling class, but for all the compatriot"
A small citation from "A Samurai in Fiume", this was a letter wrote to the emperor from Harukichi, a japanese professor of Philosophy and Letters that was in Naples and decided to enlist in the italian army and fought side by side with the Arditi
@@valerianocosta5976 thats beautiful
You missed another great Italian officer. Lt Amedeo Guillet, leader of the askari mounted bands in Italian East Africa. He charged a british armored division on horseback with swords, handguns and grenades. He kept fighting his own private guerrilla after the armistice, dismissing the uniform and adopting both arabic clothing and an arabic alias, Amhed Abdallah Al-Redai, keeping british troop on their toes (he even went in the British outpost and gave informations on the whereabouts of "Amedeo Guillet", as his arabic peasant persona, walking away with a monetary reward, which he used to fund his war). He died in 2010 at 101, even Death was afraid of him.
How come both men named Amedeo in East Africa had such balls of steel?
On one hand you have Lt. Guillet, whom was nicknamed "Cummandar As Shaitan" due to his luck (and daring), on the other you have the gentleman viceroy, the Italian Iron Duke, Prince Amedeo of Savoy-Aosta.
As an Italian I appreciated very much your depiction of our army's bravery,
Thank you.
Your army was and is brave. In context of ww2, your weapons could have used a little more work. Though infrastructure was mostly to blame for that. Either way, with the weapons they were given, aside from the masterpieces produced by Beretta, its brave enough just to fight with half the malfunctioning arsenal they were given. I'm looking at you breda 30 light machine gun.
@@markmulder9845 we got fucked by our own machinery and equipment in world war 2
Un altro italiano vedo
mi stanno sanguinando le orecchie per come pronunciava i nomi
@@nicolo2851 pure a me
My grandmother drove around Italian pow’s to work on farms in Australia during ww2. She always said how lovely and charming they were. Many of them returned to Australia after the war.
Same with Canada. Many Germans and Italians wanted to stay here after the war because we were so nice and cheerful
We had some working on the farms where I live in the U.K. The Wurzels of Italian decent still commemorate them and there's a statue cast by the PoWs on the hills above Wells.
same in the states
You might have a little Italian in you???
@@aussiecue I'm half Italian, my Italian family actually owns a pasta company, it's called Scotti
To those who speak of Italy's cowardice in WWII, I can only recall the battle of Culqualber. When 2900 men, without ammunition, resisted fiercely for over a month to the assault of 23000 British supported by a hundred planes. Finally immolating himself in a charge with bayonets. Without ever giving up.
And the casualties of the brits were even superior to the italian one
It should also be noted many of the Italians there were only military police too aside from a blackshirt battalion who fought alongside the Italian Askari.
They were Carabinieri, Italians and Ascari
Some english officers said that the Battle of Cheren was worst than Montecassino. The Italian soldiers were fighting with no hope to receive helps from Italy, not the same for english army
this video : "italians are brave, not cowards"
my great-grandfathers : "I'm gonna sell gelato in Africa"
Imma need to know more about this my guy
three generations later, young italians were known to sell gelato in germany.
and nope; im not even kidding.
I want to buy his gelato
Young italians are best known for*
Lá, fixed
Based
Italian soldier 1: *Loses his fucking arm*
Italian soldier 1, 2 minutes later: Hand me another round!
Italian Soldier 2: Dude what the Fuck!
E da quando gli italiani parlano inglese?
And since when Italians speak English?
Wait, i'm italian speaking English, what the fuck xD
haha
Italian 1: JUST GIVE ME THAT FUCKING ROUND
You give me a round, round, give me a round now! They're still not down, give me a round, round, ROUND! :D
haha and then that italian soldier woke up and began to cry again because his dream wasn't true
Ignorant people who believe in memes and anti-italians watching this video: "i'll ignore that".
@Янко Янков surely 2 or 3 events do not describe the entire performance of an army. But, if witnesses, ppl who fought in the WW2 and relevant historical carachters told that we were very brave and tenacious, well, i think that we did good. What did you think, that we were eating spaghetti and playing mandolino on the front rather than fighting?
@Янко Янков aahhh🤦🏻♂️, however it's my fault, i should know that in 2020 if you don't write "ironic" in a post, someone will take you seriously. Anyway, i went to check the history of Bulgaria in WW1 and OMG what a beautiful performance! "1/4 of the population in war being outnumbered" but still the biggest and most powerfull army in the Balkans; "Bulgaria had nothing" but Peter Ganchev signed an agreement with German Empire that allowed Bulgaria to have all the supplies it wanted from the germans; Bulgaria won against 3 newborn and weak countries (which had to fight against two empires too!); after 1916, with Stambolijski's jailing, people started to hate the war and when Radoslov resigned, desertions in the bulgarian army spread. Beautiful performance, Bulgaria is literally the "Italy" of the Balkans in WW1.👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻
Ghiorghi?1?!?!?!?
Yeah k but then let's also stop digging into the narrative that italians are somehow profusely hated/bullied for their (supposedly) unrecognized exceptionalism, 'cause we are neither more hated (the world looks at what good we have with admiration already) or more exceptional than others...
@@shinkiro403 sure, you are right. But here we are not speaking about hating italians: we are speaking about joking on them. Yes people all around the world surely don't hate us like other ethnicities, but be considered that sort of human joke, with mustaches, big nose, the undershirt and who makes every time that gesture (the "what do you want" one) is a little annoing; once is funny, twice is less funny and at the third time "hai rotto il cazzo eh". The particular thing is that the anti-italians i'm speaking about are italians who live in Italy and hate their own nation.
My grandfather was one of the veterans of El Alamein ... he returned without two toes, Shell Schock till the end ... he die on the 1989, after his death we found a sheet given to him by the army to honor him for the his courage and his comilitoni. he never talked to anyone about this sheet ... because there in Africa he saw many young people die .. and he wanted to forget it ... Honor to you GRANDFATHER.
You should check the history of Amedeo Guillet, the italian soldier who fought a tank with a sword.
Wait *what.* i think i lost something. I need to see this story right now.
Amedo Guillet, the man who makes Lawrence's legend seems a child story (respectfully speaking).
Chad version of mad Jack
What?
And Luigi Durand De la Penne dragging the bomb on alone on the bottom of the Alexandria harbour till it reached the Valiant.
Legend has it that if you listen very carefully in the Alexandria's harbour you can still hear the curses and blasphemies of Durand De la Penne coming out of the water
The Italian Army actually performed well under proper leadership. One notable example was Petrikowka against the USSR. Rommel himself once said “The German soldier has impressed the world, and the Italian Bersaglieri has impressed the German soldiers”
Dont use Rommel he will throw him under the bus with the examples that have proven to have holes in them. . . . Rommel was in no way a good guy, but the issue is some want to make him the opposite he was predominantly a soldier and many of the accusations of war crimes sided with only a few testimony and due to the fact that Germany wasnt big on showing war crimes its hard to say that it was or was not possible. But one can not make the claim their thoughts are the truth. . . .
I think it was the bersaglieri that rommel was talking about, they were Italian special forces that were very well equipped and capable especially by Italian standards
@@bambihall169 he wasn't saying that rommel was a good person he is just saying what rommel thought about Italian soldiers
@@midamulti-tool yes, Rommel said: "The German soldier has impressed the World, the Italian Bersagliere has impressed the German soldier"
@@midamulti-tool never said Rommel was a bad person. I also never said he was a good person.
My Nonno was in the Regina Marina in Albania and was an internee because he refused to fight with the Nazi after the armistice. He barely survived the camp and it’s the only reason I exist today. Thanks for spreading some truth.
My grandfather too, but he was a 21 years old private in Greece, afther the armistice his commander choose to surrender to the Allies with his men, but intercepted by an SS battalion and took to the Concentration camp in Birkenau.
After the soviets cleared Birkenau he returned in Italy in 1948, because they keep three years in captivity only because he, and the remain of his friends were italians.
He spoke about this only when he fell ill some years ago.
I wish I asked more, but he wanted to forget that time, he only said about his captivity that when he came back he was almost blind and couldn't stand without help
*Regia Marina (just correcting if someone doesn’t know it and want to search it, I know it was probably the auto corrector)
Nicholas, yet the partisans killed more of our Italian soldiers than the nazis did.
@@iketanikoichiro3519 and the Nazis killed more of the Italian people than the Italian partisans did. Way more. Not even comparable more
Your grandfather was a really brave guy
“Cowards” cried the people in front of a computer
Ci manchi Saddy
Or the people in the UK behind a desk or a pub's bar.
I live on earth, I'm Italian. My adopted place of living is in Australia. I have always been pacifist minded. Two people I know both Italians are unlike me; call them out as cowards and they will have you running forever...Not joking. Remember I'm a pacifist.....
As an Italian, I'm very disappointed that a lot of people didn't watch this video. The Italian army's reputation in world War 2 is very bad. To everyone who says: " Italy changes side in world Wars when the situation is bad" I say : " UK can't win a word war without USA help".
GLORIA ALL'ITALIA È AI SUOI EROI!
"Italy was in basically exhausted from war after they were put into the war without being ready, not being able to match with the Allied powers technological, and industrial might, and had lots of internal division splits"
Redditors: *haha Switching sides go brrrrrrrr*
I'm frof Italy and when I see this kind of memes I just roll my eyes
@@ettorefalanga6754 X MAS e Arditi, i guerrieri più feroci che l'Italia abbia mai avuto durante i due conflitti mondiali
@@ettorefalanga6754 anche io
and they switched sides. the reasons behind it do not change the fact they did
@@narratorjack7868 i think the fact that there was a civil war and the fact of being invaded by the allies it's a pretty good reason.
P.S. they didnt switch sides btw, as i said they got invaded by allies and the partisans and surrendered.
Nobody:
Me as an italian: SI PRONUNCIA GI-O-R-GI NON GHI-O-R-GHI
Edited: 2448 like minchia
Il problema è che per loro GI è GHI ;p lol
Gee-or-gee
@@PickBit non capisco come riesca a pronunciare luigi correttamente ma non giorgi lol
@@notmichael2430 da super mario, il gioco
Dannazione, fobbiamo fare un altro gioco con nomi Italiani per farli capire al resto del mondo
My grandfather fought in Russia. He used to talk about the suffering they had to face, like cold. He miraculously survived, being even awarded with an iron cross for stopping a Russian peloton advance with a machine-gun, left alone on the first line, shooting with anger because of his best friend falling dead beside him. During Italian retreat he had to take a train at 12.00 to come back in Italy with a friend of him. Walking across the railway he met another friend who asked him to jump on the train at 11.00. He accepted, being sure to meet again with the other one at the end of the journey. The first train leaved, the second never came back, stopped by a Russian raid. And so did my grandfather's friend, who's body never came back to Sardinia. Many years after the end of the war, my father took him to meet another Sardinian soldier who fought on that side. He had to take the second train just like the other friend, but when he saw the Russian army coming he managed to escape by running west. And so he did for the following month, eating grass, walking every night and sleeping on natural caves at daylight, pointing west. After a month he managed to reach the rearguard and finally find a way home. Italians where really bad equipped, but surely they didn't lack bravery
The ARMIR never get spotted outside Italy
My father in law was an Italian Alpine Soldier (Alpino). He was on the Don River in Russia during the the battle of Stalingrad in WW2. Of his Divisions numbering 30,000 only 3000 returned. After the Italian surrender many Italian soldiers were imprisoned by the Germans. His brother Aldo was sent to the slave labor camp at Dachau and died there. My father in law then joined the Partisans and fought the Germans. in 1955 he took his family to America. I married his beautiful daughter. He was a brave and more importantly a very good man.
Alpini.
Finally a serious video about REAL italian performance
My dad was in the Jugoslav Partizans in WWII. He served alongside Italian troops who came over to the communists in 1943. He reckoned they were some of the toughest & courageous soldiers he ever saw in combat
Traitors
Fiume italiana!
Your dad is a great man i hope he is alive and he continue think this
traitors
Yes the people denouncing these men as traitors are no doubt totality correct!
It would have no doubt been Much better to keep fighting for Facism alongside their erstwhile German allies for the glory of the Reich after Mussolini is hanging from a rope, because lost causes are so damned sexy.
Viva il Duce!
My grandad used to say: "Italian soldiers leaded by Germans could've conquer the world"
Yeah it's true
Yeah it’s not that they had bad leaders, it’s because of that bald prick that neutralized every good one that was indeed a political enemy, D’Annuzio should have had the power not Mussolini but we know how that story went
@@Marco-1997 ah, vedo che anche sei un grande fan di D'Annunzio
@@TesticoloGonfioGaming fan non proprio perché come sappiamo tutti non penso fosse molto simpatico nei suoi modi e nelle sue azioni a causa della sua personalità particolare, ma riconosco ciò che ha fatto e il suo amore per la patria, in fondo sono esistiti molti “condottieri”(come avrebbe preferito Gabriele) nella storia che non erano uomini perfetti ma che avevano un “buon e sano” seguito, però sono molto ansioso di vedere il film sui suoi ultimi anni “Il Cattivo poeta”
My grandad used to say the same thing. "Soldati Italiano e Officiale Tedeschi" He used to tell me that the Italian officers sold themselves out too quickly whenever adversity arrived.
I have to admit I felt a punch in my heart every time you pronounced an Italian surname, but you would probably feel the same if you heard me saying Edinburgh, so I respect you for trying
Also mentioning Massachussets and Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch!
jingle bell, jingle bell, jingle all the waaay... aluasfadidisturaindeopensanta slay, HEY!
si ma esiste google. insomma, solo noi italiani ci facciamo lo sbattimento di andare a controllare l'esatta pronuncia?
Everyone: haha Italy switched sides again
Romania: *laughs in vampire*
LITTERALY
Go to learn some history
@@duckyduck7977 ??
This meme:
Me, a Romanian: A surprise to be sure, but a welcome one!
@@dovahgwyn_ relateable
“The remnants of the Folgore division put up resistance beyond every limit of human possibility.”
BBC, November 1th 1942 about El-Alamein
This Is a fake news.
Created by Major Giovanni Verando, former chief of staff of Folgore division.
He wrote a report in 1947 with this lie.
Two fascists newspapers, "il borghese" and "l'asso di bastoni" reprise the Verando' report and made it popular into the neo fascist scene
@@metalmikefreeman Interesting, thank you. Do you have a link to the report so I can take a look? My use of the quote was not to spread "fake news" but as a nod to the Folgore. Regardless of its veracity, the Folgore's performance deserves respect
@@metalmikefreeman C'è un posto dove non ti trovo ? Continua così mike
@@metalmikefreeman Ti riferisci al fatto che l'abbia detto la BBC o al fatto che la Folgore non abbia combattuto fino alla morte?
@@metalmikefreeman grande Metal Mike!!!non ne possiamo più di questi dementi!!!
The Italians like the French have gotten far too much of a bad wrap for their performance in WW2 despite centuries of not millennia of military prowess
in the case of Italy as an unified country, is about 155 years old of expertise, as for France is about 800 years, truth is that Italy and France had a type of WW1 mentality in their commander officer, Italy had the worst because most chiefs of staff and leaders were fascist that had little to zero experience, except some cases, for example one of the most famous generals of Mussolini's fascist regime was Cadorna, that was one of the most stubborn generals of ww1 on the Austrian front, his stubbornness lead to the "disfatta di caporetto" "the Caporetto debacle" due his inability to believe that the Austrian and the Germans were preparing a mass charge on the Vittorio Veneto's front. in Italy we say "It's a Caporetto" when we see a complete debacle or a fail so massive that is an all-front defeat, so by this you can see that the problem wasn't the Italian army, but the mentality of the generals and the new type of war that was required to perform, but at least the Italian navy was one of the strongest in the Mediterranean sea
@@LucanThorneLT è stato sotituito da diaz per fortuna, altrimenti non so quanti altri danni e quante altre fucilazioni sarebbero avvenute :/
@@LucanThorneLT Vero, anche se non ho praticamente mai sentito nessuno dire una cosa del genere.
It is because Americans only know 2nd World War and nothing else, it is their only thing to debate in history cause their lack of will to learn World history
@@LucanThorneLT Yeah, but Italian states were active long before and they certainly did not consider themselves part of another cultural tissue or history other than Italian one.
The winners always write history so it makes sense we’ve never heard of some of these people.
I agree. There’s a hidden chapter, among many others, on Cassino’s battle (Jan-May 1944) history book: Maroc batallions of French troops sent to rape civilians.
unfortunately many Italians don't know about them either...
No, history is written by historians, you dummy.
@@freedomordeath89Napoleon Bonaparte : History is a set of lies that people have agreed upon even when i M gone i shall remain in people's minds the star of their rights my name name will be the war cry of their efforts the motto of their hopes
@@tiagomonteiro130 Edgy facebook meme-quote.
99% of phrases you find on quote sites and facebook shared memes are false.
It's probable Napoleon never actually said this.
Finding a real source for this quote is impossible.
Some say he said it during the exile in St. Elena, qhile he was writing his OWN propaganda-autobiography, so that would make sense. Basically, he was auto-convincing himself that he could influence his own perceived image by writing an "history book".
Sorry that didnt work.
History is written by historians, not byy politicians. And it's not a set of lies.
Go away edgy kid.
People also seem to forget that the Italians didn't come out of the war with two cities wiped out in atomic hellfire or the whole country broken in half by the Iron Curtain for the rest of the Twentieth Century. That alone is a pretty huge victory.
Being beaten until your body is comparable to mashed watermelons is not at all honorable nor dignified. Better to live another day then be horribly slaughtered, if you catch my drift
@Maximillian Nechiporuk Mashed to a pulp, but eventually nursed back to health
@Maximillian Nechiporuk Mend they did but in different ways, some unorthodox, others of the same cloth as before, albeit one taking a considerable time to mend due an ahem, non agreeing party, wink wink.
@Maximillian Nechiporuk agreed
Italy was effectively back to normal by the 50’s, but it took longer for the others. Also, Italy has no laws politically repressing anyone for Fascist beliefs, which is a win by itself because it is less hypocritical of a democracy to not restrict beliefs.
The italian army was not the most effettive one, but they were not cowards. You should check the history of the Acqui division in Greece: those soldiers refused to surrender to the Germans in 1943 even when their homeland left them alone without reinforcements and supplies. Most of them were executed because they didn't surrender without a fight. My grandpa was one of the lucky survivors of that act of bravery.
That tells me all
In fact, people who said "Italian soldiers are cowards" are in fact, cowards themselves.
Russian joke. Grandfather tells his grandson about the war: I remember how the Germans surrounded us and say that you have only one way to live, to give a blowjob to our commander, or to be shot. grandson: what did they do to you? grandfather: what ... what ... KILLED ...
Hello, i am an Italian guy and at my school there is a big statue of an Italian soldier wit his leg missing , his name it's Enrico Toti.
When war broke out between Italy and the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Toti tried to volunteer for the Italian army but was not accepted due to his injury. Undaunted, he reached the frontline with his bicycle and managed to serve as an unpaid, unregistered, fully non-regulation "civilian volunteer" attached to several units. Forced to leave the combat zone and return home by the Carabinieri (Military Police), Toti stubbornly returned to the front and finally managed to join (still unofficially) the 3rd Bersaglieri Bicycle Battalion. He was killed in the Sixth Battle of the Isonzo. Fatally wounded in a clash, he hurled his crutch at the enemy. Before falling on the ground he shouted: "Nun moro io!" (romanesco vernacular for "I do not die!").[
"Two remarkable features of this Axis debacle were, firstly, that in the end, when the battle had obviously gone against the Axis, the Italians fought better than the Germans. The German morale collapsed completely towards the close of the campaign. Well-armed German units with plenty of ammunition and provisions surrendered in strong defensive positions when they could have fought for many days (weeks or months) longer."
―10th Baron Strabolgi, member of British Parliament, in 1944―
(The Conquest of Italy, Joseph Montague Kenworthy, p. 17, Hutchinson, 1944)
Italy:
*not prepared for war, with no industries, with an economy weak and commanders that use Tactics of ww1*
World:
“ItAly wHy yOu cAn’T bE liKe gErmAny¿”
Man, simply Mussolini wasnt ready for war when hitler attacked poland, in fact mussolini started to doubt about hitler...
@@cipgi7568 then why attacked Greece and yugoslavia
@@ericvonmanstein2112 Mussolini continued on the way of hitler, but well it wasnt a good choice: italian forces were bad organized, with bad guns and technologies,and this brought italy in a bad crysis during war.
Italian people started to doubt about their friends,family; the prices of food and others grew slowly, Until 1943 when allies came in italy...From there people separated themselves: there were families who stayed with axis forces,and others families who stayed with allies.. mafia helped allies too
@@ericvonmanstein2112mussolini tought to leave hitler once he got the entire balkan,and wanted to finish war as soon as possible, but well, he didnt think about making a good organization in the italian army.
@@cipgi7568 yup
To successfully charge an entrenched positions with cavalry, they needed balls of steel, and they actually did it. Nothing can outweigh this argument alone.
And the Italians was only 600 men armed with just Sabers and hand grenades, vs 2.500 Russian with rifles, machineguns, cannons and mortars.
@@solinvictus1234 and the italians actually fucking won that battle
Μy late grandfather who faced Italians in the mountains of Albania with the Greek army. Never spoke ill of them, never called them cowards, they had his respect!
Fun fact:
Italian soldiers train marines.
yep that is true
Sonora cazzata
@@pr88189 informati
@@PP-vp2fu al massimo saresti tu a doverti informare. Confondi dei normali addestramenti bilaterali, che gli USA compiono con qualsiasi loro alleato, con delle "lezioni" che dovremmo impartire loro per chissà quale motivo.
I Marines si addestrano negli USA coi loro istruttori.
A volte le truppe USA di stanza in Italia si addestrano assieme alle nostre.
Altre volte le forze speciali italiane e USA collaborano in addestramento, e si scambiano informazioni e dritte.
Altre volte ancora unità o soldati italiani prendono parte a corsi NATO o delle forze armate USA. Esattamente come fanno come con chiunque altro.
È vero che le forze speciali italiane sono rispettate all'estero, ma per favore non facciamo sempre la figura degli idioti reputandoci superiori alle forze armate della più grande potenza globale, che interviene in ogni teatro da 70 anni.
@@pr88189 esatto, non bisogna confondere le esercitazioni tra eserciti diversi con l'addestramento di forze armate estere... Questa cosa l'ho notata spesso, mi piacerebbe capire se é solo un ingenuità delle persone oppure una voce ( fake news) buttata in giro da qualcuno, boh vabé
“Mancò la Fortuna - Non il Valore” El Alamein 1942 🇮🇹
“Miseed the Luck - not the Valor”
AHHAHAHAAHHA ma credete ancora a ste frasi false come poche? Manco tutto, dai carri armati all equipaggiamento invernale, munizioni armi acqua in Africa. Supporto aereo. Qui non si parla di fortuna qui si parla di completa disorganizzazione, l'unica che che ci fu in abbondanza fu il valore, quello non mancò
@@theskeletons2317 caro mio arrivarci te, perché lui e io lo sappiamo. Ma i fasci No, e lo usano come frase di propaganda senza sapere come andò la storia, e no la guerra non si fa con la fortuna ma con i materiali, dire che mancò fortuna è una mancanza di rispetto per coloro che hanno combattuto in Africa (e se vuoi ti posso girare un link dove i reduci parlano della loro esperienza in Africa, almeno poi mi dici se è solo fortuna). La frase doveva essere più un "Manco tutto ma non il valore". Buon anno e cordialità
@@theskeletons2317 certo io non sono nessuno per cambiare la frase.
Questo è il link:
ua-cam.com/video/MvoFfGgUWkI/v-deo.html
È una testimonianza pesante, dove mettono in evidenza la mancanza di acqua e materiale, ma viene messo anche in evidenza il loro coraggio e anche il loro valore e che hanno combattuto fino all ultimo.
Cordialità e buon proseguimento della giornata
E poi da un certo punto di vista è stata una fortuna che i tedeschi E gli italiani abbiano perso la WW2
@@Ts_FA18 mancava anche equipaggiamento moderno, come ad esempio armi e carri che potevano tenere testa con quelli americani
I'm surprised "side switching" is still referred to. It has been historical consesus for literally decades that it was, in fact, a civil war. I appreciate the video, however, if someone thought a random country, be it italy, or albania, or france, really had "poor soldiers" for arbitrary reasons, it would be pathetic. Of course, every country has amazing performances and not so amazing performances. To think that any country is bad for no reason other than nationality, is irrational, and stupid.
Yeah
That still doesn’t mean the weapons industry for the nation was up to scratch for the war, simple history has a video on this very topic that the Italians just didn’t have the money to support their army.
@DANIEL BIN OMAR - That bravery can only go so far and in the case of the Italians their weapon industry is what broke it because even though the soldiers did follow their orders and occasionally go above and beyond them, if you're being supplied with crap weapons then no matter how brave you are, your equipment will just make whatever you're gonna try be a literal suicide mission, there were only two weapons in the Italian army that would be considered good weapons and both came from the Beretta factory compared to companies like the Breda with their awkward LMG design for comparison.
@DANIEL BIN OMAR - So then you would also like knowing that should that compartment break the entire weapon was then made unusable?
Edit: or even the oil used for greasing its rounds which meant it picked up a lot of dirt and other debris that stick to oily parts?
Don't talk about Italy with that stupid flag as a profile Pic please
“These men were the best-trained Italian soldiers of WW2 and they well deserve a place among the most glorious units in military history. They were called "Lions" by their enemy’s leader Churchill during a speech in the House of Commons in London after the victory at El Alamein.”
101 Italian WW2 victories & counting
“On June 7, 1942, infantry of the Italian X Corps saved Rommel’s 15th Brigade near Gazala, in North Africa, from otherwise certain annihilation. These and numerous other disclosures combine to debunk lingering propaganda stereotypes of the inept, ineffectual Italian armed forces and their allegedly inept commanders and supreme leader. That dated portrayal is rendered obsolete by a true-to-life account of the men and weapons of Mussolini’s War: Volume 1-The Triumphant Years.”
What the Royal Navy did in Taranto on November the 11th 1940 with 1 aircraft carrier and 20 torpedo bombers, the Italian Royal Navy did 1 year later with 1 sub, 6 men with steel balls on 3 manned torpedoes. Nuff said. (both great actions in their own genre, of course)
Italy: charges with horses
Poland :
And they were also good
AND THE WINGED HUSSARS ARRIVE
The fun part is poland charged the ottomans ( from the nord to the south), italy charged the soviets (from west to east)
@@thespartanking1808 not a great tactic i think
@@matteodiazzi2418 Coming down the mountain side
In the Italian anthem there is a part saying "Siamo pronti alla morte!"
That means litterally "We're ready to die!"
'Dov'è la vittoria, che schiava di roma il dio la creò'
'Where is the victory, that slave of rome the god made it'.
Yes, we are
Parla per te. Io diserto sicuramente.
@@testadicondominio6309 È tipico di quelli come te
@@testadicondominio6309 disertare è peggio che un proiettile
My grandfather served in three Italian wars. No one can ever defeat the bravery of the Italian soldier. Not even all the lying false propaganda in the world combined. How do I know this because my father outsmarted 27 German strongholds in World War 2 also, bravery is in our blood!
i hope you dont mind me asking but what was his name i ask because my great gradfather is british and loves to hear war stories from when he fought in ww2
The Italians were allied with Germany until they surrendered to the British and the US. How did your father outsmart the Germans - by giving up?
Family secret in fact he safety broke through 27 of the 47 German strongholds.
No my father outsmarted the Germans that means he fooled them and no he never gave up. He had a very good teacher, who was his father that was in fact in three wars. It also seems to me that the Germans started 2 world wars and couldn't finish or win, big deal for all that arrogance they got a divided nation.
@@prophecyinchristaboveall1825 the Germans didn't start ww1. And they started ww2, but only in the European Theater. However some people (not including me) say Austria also started ww2 simply because Hitler was Austrian.
My Grandfather was in the First Special Service Force "The Black Devils" in World War II. He told me when he was in Italy he was up against The San Marco Marines and he said they were good well trained soldiers He also said for the most part The Italians hated the Nazis and wanted them out of their country
Me,an italian,that open the home Page and find this: I NEED TO WATCH THIS
Same
Mi è capitata la stessa cosa !!
Giovanni probably pulled out a requiem when he's at his best.
Is this GioGio reference
Oh yeah, the British Diavolo had no chance
Imagine italians with stands in the ww2, Mussolini would be Diavolo
The Italians were very tough and combative soldiers. I was told, when I was very young (4 or 5) and my father was teaching at Hadrian's Camp AAC in 1967 or 68, by a bemedalled veteran of several conflicts that if anyone were ever to tell me that the Italian soldier was a coward, then that person was a liar!
He had fought against the Italians at the Battle of Keren in Ethiopia and they were tough professionals but also they could be honourable gentlemanly.
Obviously I had never heard of this Battle but shortly afterwards, by which time my Dad was teaching at the DYRMS near Dover, I had to go to hospital to have my adenoids out. My Mum and Dad bought me a book about battles, one of which was Keren. A remarkable story.
They fought very well but were issued with some obsolete or poor equipment. A good friend of mine, ex RN and British Army, 'Navy John' (Gianni) born and brought up at West Wickham in Rural Kent, us the son of an Italian soldier who fought in Russia!
Being Welsh and from the upland Valleys, I had relatives fight in Spain for the Republic, not exactly a rarity there!
Alicante is a blot on their, the CVT, escutcheon but the memory of the courage of the Brigadistas as shown at Guadalajara, and their comradeship for their fellow soldiers in the Popular Army and the compassion for the Spanish people has survived.
As everything in Italy still nowadays, the real problem is who leads us, non us ourselves.
Same as Brazil
Still our responsibility though.
History is so much more interesting when you study it's nuances for example, the Italian Navy had amazing special forces that the Royal Navy certainly learnt lessons from.
The Decima MAS was in my opinion one of the earliest example of modern special forces. After the Raid on Alexandria (6 men on a secret mission singlehandedly disabled most of the British fleet in Alexandria in one night), the allied command even copied the Italian technology
I agree
P.S.
I love Italy
Which we then used on the Germans ! We taught the Japanese a lesson too, via Taranto (Italy), which they used on the US.
US Navy SEAL was created in the 1961, they trainers was Italian COM.SUB.IN. , former "Decima MAS".
Italian navy was the only Italian force ready to combat in WWII.
Amazing video. I really like when myths such as "Italian cowardice" are busted. The Italians were brave and fought with whatever they could find, for example in the second battle of El Alamein the Italian resisted the British with mostly mines and explosives. The battle was expected to last a bunch of hours but the Italians resisted for entire days.
Also a little note, altought I understand it's more easy to say that Italy changed side, the expression is not entirely correct. When the Italians signed the armistice they just wanted to leave the war to avoid more casualties and the told the Americans to wait a few days before making the armistice official so that the Italians could reorganise and make their soldiers return within their homeland. However the Americans announced the armistice immediately and when the Germans discovered the Italians had surrended they invaded Italy taking the Italians by surprise (there is a scene in a movie that shows how offguard were the Italians taken in which when the Germans attack a bunch of Italian troops their officier call their camp and yells "the Germans have switched side to the Americans!")
So in short Italy was invaded by the Germans as a "neutral" country and if that is considered a change of side it definetely isn't one Italy had intention to do.
By the way another great Italian Leader of WW2 was Amedeo Guillet which once the British conquered Italian Eastern Africa took most of the natives that served under the Italian army and started by himself a guerrilla based on chavarly attacks that lasted until 1942 if I'm not wrong, when he got sick and fled to Yemen to escape capture (during the war he was one of the most wanted men of the British crown)
I can't thank you enough for this video
My grandpa served in the Italian army since 1937, fought in Greece and was baldy injured, but thankfully he survived and continued fighting till 1943,when his unit surrendered to the allies.
He passed away in 2011, was a caring and loving grandpa
While I'm not proud of him serving a fascist regime, I'm proud of him as a soldier and how bravely he fought the war, his courage is not to be taken from him, nor is the one of any other Italian soldier. Hell not even ANY soldier in history, as the bravest thing they did was going to war, willingly of forced, and go trough it the best they could.
As an Italian, I really want to say this:
Fascists are cowards
Not Italians
It requires courage to fight your kinsmen during the resistance.
It doesn't require bravery to flee from the island (Sicily) you were tasked to defend
We never switched sides, there was a civil war between a German puppet state and occupied South
It’s like say that France switches side 2 times
"where are the descendants of the Roman Empire? you have them in front of you"..we will never back down in front of anyone.FOLGORE! 🇮🇹
One of the many ugly things that Fascism did was indeed that of ruining the Roman symbol and linking its violence to the Roman Empire. They used our incredible and beautiful history as a justification to make people go to war for the worst of ideas, blabbering about being Romans just to make people feel proud while sending them to be slaughtered so that some fat fascist in Rome could get richer. Fascists are not Romans, never were, never will be. The Roman Empire is something else, thankfully!
@@pussavia GG
@@pussavia essere specialisti paracudisti militari e con senso patriotico non vuol dire essere fascisti,qua quello che blatera sei tu.
well the descendants are Italians, French, Spaniards, Greeks, Libyans even Germans and more... people often call into question the Roman Empire without realizing that it was not a country, nor an ethnic group, but an idea.
@@icksv5529 those are ethnic groups that came later with the expansion .. it's like going to a Canadian and telling him that he is English anyway, that's not true. But if this statement makes you feel better 🤷🏻♂️
Remember that Italy started its rearming program well before every other European country and disposed all their most modern weaponry in Spain and Ethiopia. In 1940 only the Navy was slightly ready for war, with the two new Littorio-class battleship and the four (questionable) rebuilt old WWI battleship, with lot of fast cruisers & destroyers, but the Air Force, the puppy of the regime, was a formidable air force... only for 1935. The Army was stuck in WWI tactis. The Greece campaing was a disaster for poor pianification and execution, against the fierce Greeks that were fighting in their mountains for their land. My maternal grandpa was a Greek and Yugoslavian campaings veteran, and he never spoke a single word of his war. Never forget the 600.000 Italians soldier taken prisoners (but not like prisoners of war) by the Germans after September 8, 1943 that chosen the prison camp rather than fight for Mussolini. I can remember, in the first half of the '80, the grandfather of one of my classmates, tell us about his years as a prisoner in one of these camps: an old man, in his sixties, crying in front of us, remebering the horrible life condition in that camp... but he, like many others, repeatedly told NO to nazists & fascists.
BS...From Hitler’s own words:
“Others among the German leadership were less critical, most notably Adolf Hitler. In his address to the Reichstag following the conclusion of the Balkan Campaign, Hitler was complimentary to the Greeks for their "extremely brave resistance", but stated that given the Greek logistical situation, German involvement was not decisive in the Greco-Italian conflict: "The Duce... was convinced that a quick decision would be arrived at one way or another in the forthcoming season. I was of the same opinion." He stated that he had no quarrel with Greece (which he had acknowledged as part of the Italian sphere anyway) and that his intervention was aimed solely at the British as he suspected that they planned to set up a threat to his rear in the vein of the Salonika Front
of the First World War: "the German forces, therefore, represented no assistance to Italy against Greece, but a preventive measure against the British." He further noted that by the beginning of April the Albanian campaign against the Italians "had so weakened [Greece] that its collapse had already become inevitable", and credited the Italians with having "engaged the greater part of the Greek Army."
[251]
In his private correspondence in April 1942, Hitler said: "It is equally impossible to imagine what might have happened if the Italian front had not been stabilized in Albania, thanks to Mussolini; the whole of the Balkans would have been set alight at a moment when our advance towards the southeast was still in its early stages."
If I recall correctly, the equipment (tanks at least) that they DID have, that were created earlier, were intended for mountain warfare. They were not heavy hitters.
On another note, my bisnonno (great grandfather) was one of those Italian soldiers inprisoned and put in a german concentration camp.
My grandpa served in the navy deployed in Greece. Never told me one word about low morale. They just felt cheated by the king and the fascist regime
In a nutshell Italian soldiers in ww2 were lions led by sheep.
Yes, pretty much
Just like today. My nation never changes
@@belladesa91 Cambierà, basta avere fede 🇮🇹
@@masterjunky863 con la fede non ci fai un cazzo, con le azioni sì. LA volontà manca visto chi eleggiamo
@@belladesa91 La fede da sola è inutile, ma è necessaria per cambiare davvero le cose. Se tu non credi di poter fare qualcosa non lo farai mai. Questo per dire che l'atteggiamento negativo e pessimistico degli italiani fa solo male.
Its a miracle that they lasted for nearly 3 years, Italy didn't have an industrial base to wage war, officers core was mostly incompetent, their tactics and strategies were obsolete, there was a constant lack of raw materials, add to that the famous Italian organisation, the result is disaster. An average Italian soldier was braver than the British, German on American, he had to be extra brave to fight with the weapons he had. Italian nearly always fought to the last bullet, because they didn't have enough.
The author of this video forgot one the best Italian units of the war, The 10th light flotilla (X MAS), they "invented" the frogman tactics, managed to sunk two British battleships in Alexandria and raided multiple times the anchorage at Gibraltar.
The video was about the Italian Army (Regio Esercito), while the X MAS was from the Navy (Regia Marina)
My apologies :) Linguistic problems, in my mother language Army means the entire armed forces, not just the "land" Army, wasn't paying attention :)
@@ivefabris7690
I had the honour to meet Comandante Andrea Gianoli. He sank a cargo in Gibraltar and was captured because of a fault of the respirator.
He was taken in a prison camp in Great Britain, and managed to escape four times. Always recaptured, the last time as he was about to embark as a clandestine on a ship in Ireland.
He was born in Sondalo, a city close to mine, where he sadly passed away four years ago.
For his action in Gibraltar he earned a silver medal.
After the war he continued to soldier in the Italian Navy special forces.
I knew him as when he retired from the Navy he become the president of our local ex Sailors Association for many years.
@@georgesmith5708 Anche 4 istriani (miei compatrioti) sono stati nella Decima Mas. Licio Visintini (parentino), Spartaco Schergat (capodistriano), Antonio Marceglia (piranese) ed infine Agostino Straulino (lussignano). Oggi nella sua città natale è ricordato solo Agostino Straulino...
"Not only should Tunisia have exploded the myth of Hitler's military acumen, it should have discredited the idea that Germans fought better than the Italians, since Messe's 1st Italian Army held out longer than Arnim's 5th German Army and the DAK, even both groups had about six divisions and faced roughly equal Anglo-American forces. Indeed, Hermann Goring division was the first to be scattered on 7 May, DAK the next to break and surrender on 9 May, with the Italian Spezia division closing the gap created by the German collapse and watching still combat-efficient German units march off into captivity on 11 May. Whether it is significant that the German 90th Light division was the first to collapse in Messe's 'Italian' Army, there is no doubt that the Italians fought well and held out longest in Tunisia." (The Second World War: The German War 1939-1942, Jeremy Black, Page 265, Ashgate, 2007)”
"The German soldier has stunned the world, the Italian Berglasiere has stunned the German soldier."
-Erwinn Rommel
Well no
Italian bersaglieri were one of the best
@@Ts_FA18 Look up Rommel quotes...it's in there...PROVE IT'S UNTRUE. And it was the Italians that made Rommel and never given a bit of credit.
@@spaniardsrmoors6817 Rommel after the second battle of el alamein (after the retreat) asked his men "what happened to the Italians" I doubt he knew of the actions of the Bersaglieri at el alamein, this is what a historian "Marco Cimmino" says. since no, rommel never said it
ah and since you talk so much, the germans rescued the italian troops after compass, who significantly lacked any advanced war armaments or the food itself
E dato che spari cazzate così sonore scommetto pure che sei italiano, quello che deve difendere ľ Italia anche nelle cause perse
@@Ts_FA18 "Not only should Tunisia have exploded the myth of Hitler's military acumen, it should have discredited the idea that Germans fought better than the Italians, since Messe's 1st Italian Army held out longer than Arnim's 5th German Army and the DAK, even both groups had about six divisions and faced roughly equal Anglo-American forces. Indeed, Hermann Goring division was the first to be scattered on 7 May, DAK the next to break and surrender on 9 May, with the Italian Spezia division closing the gap created by the German collapse and watching still combat-efficient German units march off into captivity on 11 May. Whether it is significant that the German 90th Light division was the first to collapse in Messe's 'Italian' Army, there is no doubt that the Italians fought well and held out longest in Tunisia." (The Second World War: The German War 1939-1942, Jeremy Black, Page 265, Ashgate, 2007)”
Germany when Italy changes sides: Aryan status revoked.
@Tranhoang Long laughs in japanese
@Tranhoang Long they were aryans, but a different subgroup from germans
we didn't change sides, we got a civil war instead
Hitlers views were inspired by H.S. Chamberlain, on where he states that Germany, France and Britain were the only true aryans, and that the Italians were nothing but subordinates to them. Albeit he says this to somewhat defend himself, as Chamberlain himself was a British expat residing in Germany. He was also somewhat delusional, as he states that anti Semitic-beliefs are disgusting, yet later on in a book he reveals his hatred for Jews. Hitler somewhat twisted Chamberlains views to his own liking. Also, Hitler would use anyone, as long as they served hitlers purpose. This is shown by the earlier years of hitlers political career where many of his para military organization members were homosexuals, namely Ernest Rohm, the leader of the SA in the early 20s and 30s.
Hitler did classify them as Aryans, mainly because they were very advanced in ancient times, but also because they do have some German blood. They had the same Aryan status as the French.
Kinda sad how 100-150 people who didn’t get to go back home is relatively low for the war.
My father was in the Folgore back in the 80s, still to this day they have brutal training and cold blood.
Italian soldier: *loses arm*
Also Italian soldier: *tis but a scratch*
The Italian soldier: welp... Franco give me some more Bullets!
Every virgin memer needs to see this video right now
Yes
I haven't seen any meme? What are those memes about?
And why it s a trend to make fun of a nation over a war? Ppl are stupid nowadays
@@gherlealoris1191 Basically ignorant people continue to say that we "switched side" during ww2 while instead it was a civil war...
And yes, there are people that judge countries only by stupid decisions took in ww2, look at France for example, who is the most successful military power in the whole of the world's history but surrendered stupidly in ww2 and now keeps getting called the "surrenderland" because of that
@@1905sam Holly shit that sucks man... i could never judge a country by those decisions... i lived in Italy 7 years i was even born there and i can say that is a beautifull country and shouldn't made fun off by some stupid decisions.. even my actual country is made fun of dumb shit and i can relate to what it feels like to be made fun of just bcs of your country.
Mhe, most western countries surrendered in hours, days or weeks. It tooks the full industrial might of three of the worlds superpowers to defeat an underdeveloped and unindustrialzed nation as Italy in three years. Just the conquest of Sicily by The Allies took longer than the German defeat of France. Just be grateful they would not be facing the Italy of the 1960s in terms of industrial output in the 1940s, one can only imagine at the horrible loss of life.
You forgot to mention the Xma MAS; grand-parents of our navy seals, scuba divers placing mines and bombs in enemy ports, launching manned torpedoes to enemy ships (yes, they bailed out; they weren't suicidal like japanese)
The italian viewpoint on the battle of El Alamein shows an incredible and quite reckless amount of boldness.
Surprisingly, even during the retreat.
An Other great Italian Soldier was Amedeo Guillet, nicknamed "the Devil Commander ".
He was considered immortal by his soldiers, He attacked his enemies like Terminetor face-to-face with a Machine Gun , killing them all, He led a chivalry charge against British Tanks and Made a "personal war " against the British Empire. Really Incredible.
And the Duke of Aosta too was an Heroic Commander loved by his men and respected by già enemies.
And also italian Heroic Defenses in the Battles of Culquaber and Giarabub.
Good video by an Italian 👍
I’m Italian I’m proud of my army but i hate when dumb fake historians spit on it even if they would piss themselves if they were in situations like those of Italian’s soldiers and I’m happy that someone decided to talk about it seriously and not based on memes
Good soldiers bad officers
I am a German it gets worse, everybody thinks my grandfather was some ss man and not some man defending his some like all others in war
@@beng7654
I kinda know what you mean, man.
It's also statistically impossible that every german was a nazi. Many soldiers were fighting just because their nation sent them at war or for their family's sake.
"I'm italian and my grandpa fought in wwii".
I'm almost sure that you already got the wrong idea.
He actually turned 16 in 1944 and he was in an occupied small town in the mountains of northern Italy. To defend those 4 houses he called home he was given a rifle and, while he usually helped with exchanging orders food and ammos for the resistence, happened he had to fight for keeping his hometown free from fascist (and later german) control.
The italian Civil war was already ongoing and he just did what he tought was due to his family.
When I just mention that, as said, "my grandpa fought in wwii", people immediately think he was some kind of fascist.
Guys, he was basically a kid who was given the burden to defend his hometown from something I doubt he fully comprehended. What are we talking about?
Also 2 of my great grandpas fought in wwi. One of them in 1916 was almost killed by an austrian (or german, i don't remember) handgranade that exploded a dozen of meters behind him and he remained on the field (no man's land) wounded for two days in like an unconscious state before waking up and having the mental and phisical strenght to crawl back behind italian lines.
God only knows how he did it.
They later removed more than a hundred pieces of metal from his back and arms but they left 4 pieces that hit the vertebral column in fear he could have become unable to move if those were removed. Remaining alive was basically nothing less than a miracle and he got some medals because he helped other soldiers escaping a hard situation right before he was wounded (old trick of the helmet on the top of the rifle to distract enemies while other soldiers fled in the opposite direction until he was the only one left).
Without his survive I would nor be here because he was like 20 and was not married yet.
When I hear this things about "italians not being good soldiers" in wwi I genuinely get quite pissed off.
This guys just like to talk about things they mostly do not comprehend. They don't care about the people that lived those moments and their stories.
They care only about how good was the equipment, their victories and this kind of stuff...
(Edit: small corrections in spelling)
@@stefanomartello3786 my family has German Jewish heritage and labelled a “mischling” my grandfather was no Nazi he fought hard to defend his wife and home from the Bolsheviks who were pillaging their way through the east to Berlin he earned medals for being wounded in the East and then another I believe for fighting in Berlin where he lost his leg he suffered from terrible night terrors my father said he woke up terrified that the Russians were coming and was looking for his gun frantically which my father had hidden, my grandfather just as yours was a young man fighting in poor circumstances. I spoke to a Russian guy who’s grandfather fought on the East and into Berlin and it became rather clear to me that most of us would follow in our grandfather’s footsteps if not even out of duty but because of what happens when enemy army’s march through our lands. I am glad your grandfather survived.
@Sean Lander ua-cam.com/video/uWXB1Jq9E5U/v-deo.html
Bir El Gobi Battle:
The attacks continued; between 4 and 7 December the British XXX Corps was rejected seven times with heavy losses. The thirst and lack of supplies weakened the Italian units, which however continued their relentless resistance against the enemy. Aid was requested from the Italian-German superior command, and General Rommel himself was informed of the courageous resistance of the Italian units that continued to hold the stronghold.
Who's braver?? A British or American soldier who confronts a German with training and equipment of equal or better quality, or the under-equipped and hastily trained Italian who fights to the end knowing full well he was pretty much cooked from the start?!
All the allies had to say for Italy to surrender is: if you dont surrender I'll put pineapple on pizza
Breaking the Geneva Convention is not a joke SMH
Well it is effective tho
How about putting ketchup on pizza
To far their buddy
@@edwardough07 heresy, do not even dare to do that
For those who are wondering, Italy never switched sides. Not during WW1, and certainly not during WW2
Hmm IDK about that one chief.
@@TheFront I do. Many people forget that Austro-Hungary was never our ally. As for WW2, the king kicked out Mussolini and sided with the allies. Thus, civil war
To clarify what davidundpanzer said: Italy was actually allied with German Empire and Austro-Hungarian. Yet Italy was not obliged to declare war on the Entente as the pact was of defensive nature(the pact with Germany on ww2 was Offensive) and Austria attacked Serbia first.
And before choosing to seal the Pact of London and support the Anglo-French they actually tried to negotiate their non intervention in the conflict demanding the Sud Tirol and Istria.
On the other hand in the Treaty of Versailles they didn't receive the territories promised by the British and this caused the vision of the "Vittoria Mutilata" of the war. That must be said contributed to the rise to power of the Fascist party in Italy
Must too be remembered that Italy fought all his 3 Indipendence Wars against Austria-Hungary during the 19th century...and was really a fragile and young alliance between them.
PS: Sorry for the overstretched comment
@@danielelanza2441 👏
It's sad seeing non-italian people making more interesting and respectful documentaries than the Italian themselves. Great work.
Oh, by the way, it's pronounced "Joe-vanni", not "Ghiovanni". Lol
If people did so they’d be called fascists for glorifying ww2 or anything related to it
Well my dad was Italian -American he fought in WW2 in the U.S. Army Air Corps and earned a Purple Heart when his plane was shot down over Northern Italy He risked his life by changing his clothes to civilian clothes so he could go into town Because he could speak Italian and get food and stuff they needed to survive.He was able to save the rest of the crew who hid out in the woods if it wasn't for him they would likely have all been dead . He Told me a story about one night when he was at a bar in a little town in Italy and a German officer came in who could also speak Italian they sat and drank beer and spoke about things all in Italian at the end of the conversation when my dad got up to leave the German officer said in English "Good luck Rosario" He knew my dad was an American and he still let him go lucky for me or i might not be here today !!!!
Also let's discuss the fact that they made really nice planes and also their small industry really managed to mass produce pretty much anything without many resources.
They also had a really good navy. In terms of ship quality yes but it’s actual performance was lacking
@@thegoosegaming4337 performance matters more than equipment though.
@@thegoosegaming4337 was their navy plagued by incompetent leadership?
@@captaindak5119 the Italian navy was attacked at Taranto which inspired pearl harbor. Basically crippled at the start of the war
also it's a bit hard to operate a navy in full strength properly if you simply don't have enough fuel to do so, and that was very much Italy's case
As an Italian, I appreciate greatly this video: while not denying the many flaws in the Italian Army in WW2, it was about time somebody began to debunk a bunch of annoying myths. Anyway, I'd like to point out another three popular WW2 myths and a couple of maybe little mistakes that do not disprove your point in any way, though.
The latter are the quotes from Rommel about the Bersaglieri and from Churchill about the Folgore. There is no actual evidence they said that. The quote from Rommel is not depicted in any of his diaries and the speech from Churchill should have been held in the Hall of Commons in a day when the Hall of Commons was NOT reunited. These quotes are most likely italian propaganda. A little maybe misconception is to consider Folgore and Bersaglieri as spec-ops forces: they were more like specialized infantry, but were used as normal infantry (the only combat drop by Folgore Paratroopers prior to 8th September 1943 was in fact over Cefalonia, in 1941, while in El Alamein they were used as normal infantry). Real italian spec-ops unit were the likes of X Reggimento Arditi (10th Arditi Regiment) for the Army, A.D.R.A. ("Arditi Distruttori della Regia Aeronautica", Royal Air Force Arditi Destroyers) for the Air Force and Xa Flottiglia M.A.S. (10th M.A.S. Fleet) for the Navy.
Now for the myths:
1) The Switching Sides affair. Although Italy actually switched sides, many believe that Italy did it to WIN the war. That's not the case. Italy did it because she LOST the war. It was not to avoid the defeat, it was a consequence of defeat. It appears (although I have no certain source for it, so don't take as an absolute word) that Badoglio asked to sit at the winners table after the end of the war: Churchill answered him he was lucky that allies didn't split Italy in half like they did with Germany. Some italians argue that "the enemy was now the Germans and the Fascists so Italy won": this is completely subjective and has no legal value. The Kingdom of Italy, the only legitimate italian government recognized by the winners after the end of WW2, signed an unconditioned surrender before switching sides: I've never heard of a State who was considered winner after an unconditioned surrender (not even France, since only the Republic of Vichy signed a surrender, while the France Libre exiled government, recognized after war as the only legitimate French government, never claimed to have surrendered). So it's absolutely ridiculous when people say "they won WW2 by switching sides", for the simple fact we did not win.
2) Biplanes and tankettes against Spitfires and Heavy Tanks. It is a common misconception to think Italians fought against Matildas and Spitfires solely with C.V.33 tankettes and C.R.42 planes. Although it is true in some cases, it greatly overestimates the phenomenon. For the tanks and tankettes, C.V.33 fought very briefly against more powerful tanks (mostly Cruiser tanks) and were quickly substituted by M11/39 and M13/40 by the end of 1940: while M11/39 were poor tanks (and in fact their employment was brief to say the least), M13/40 were reasonable tanks, at least until the end of 1941, when their major opponents were Cruisers, Vickers Light Tanks and Crusaders (Matildas were almost never employed against other tanks). They began to be seriously outdated in middle 1942, when the first Grants and, subsequentely, Shermans appeared in Northern Africa: by that time, anyway, they were replaced by various Semoventes (SPGs), which proved, with the 75mm gun, to be a tough time for the enemy tankers, although they were produced in a small number. As for the planes, C.R.42 fought against Spitfires only on the Channel, in a very secondary campaign. In Eastern and Northern Africa, they fought solely against Gladiators and, later, Hurricanes, but they were almost substituted by C.200s by the end of 1941 and used until 1943 as night fighters. The last kill by a C.R.42, against a P-38 in 1945, was by a biplane in a German Squadron, with a German pilot. Against Spitfires and Hurricanes, the most common italian fighters were C.200s, C.202s, C.205s and Reggiane Re.2001: aside C.200, a good but unstable and poor armed plane, all of the others were pretty decent fighters.
3) The cardboard boots. It is common, especially in Italy (because of some post-war antifascist propaganda), to think that soldiers were sent in Russia with boots which featured cardboard bottoms. This is simply ridiculous. Not only because said boots still exist in some museum and it's perfectly visible their bottoms are made of nailed leather, and not only because even the memorialistic books the "cardboarders" refer to, the excellent "Il Sergente nella Neve" (Sergeant on the Snow) by Mario Rigoni Stern and "Centomila Gavette di Ghiaccio" (100000 Tin Cans of Ice) by Giulio Bedeschi, talk about leather and not cardboard, but even because of logic: try to march a whole winter in Russia with boots made of cardboard. They wouldn't last two hours: if italians went in Russia with cardboard boots and did not end up all dead, frozen or prisoners in the very first day of march (which they obviously didn't), well, let me say that said cardboard was the finest in the Solar System since the invention of cardboard. This misconception was born with some veterans, maybe politically involved or maybe just shocked, who used the "cardboard" as an euphemism to say that, in the cold snow, after being not properly dried, the boots cracked like they're made of cardboard... as any other leather boot that was not maybe russian and finnish.
Sorry for the long reply, but I felt like I had to add some other common yet ridiculous misconception about the army in which my grand-grandfather served during both World Wars. This, as I said, does not want to disprove your point in any way, and I agree with almost everything you said.
Keep up the good work!
Ahh... finalmente qualcuno che sa rispondere con cognizione in causa. Bravo!
@@davidfiorini6416 Grazie. Aiuta anche il fatto che, fortunatamente, i pregiudizi nel video siano pochi, facilmente smontabili e di minore importanza, quindi rispondere è anche più facile senza dover fare eccessive ricerche.
gran commento, bravo
Italy after 8 September experienced the civil war. Italians against Italians, fascists against partisans and both suffered Nazi occupation and barbarism. The history of Italy in the second war is very complex and difficult to understand for those who were not born and raised in this country, for those who have not heard the stories of those who lived those tragic years. For the other countries we are only spaghetti and mandolin but this is not the case at all because the Italian in the supreme moment knows how to give his life for his people and for his country. Detaching from the Germans was not cowardice but great courage, the Italian soldiers knew well what would happen the real cowards were the officers. Sardinia, Corsica, Greece and elsewhere the Italian soldier knew how to defend himself and others at the cost of his own life.
An important detail:
In recent times, the paratroopers from the Folgore, trains and prepare the US paratroopers of the Airborne Brigades too. Source: my best friend who's serving under the 21st Jaguars company, Folgore, 8° Sappers Bataillon.