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- Jul 10, 2016
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At first glance, this pic seems a bit of an enigma. Seen are Italian troops with German equipment and uniform components. Some of the soldiers also seem a bit young.
These are RSI troops = Italian Socialist Republic. After being rescued from captivity by Skorzeny's elite men and whisked away in a Feisler "storch", Benito Mussolini was ill and wanted to retire.
At this point in the war, Hitler was hard-pressed on multiple fronts and needed more men. He threatened Mussolini that he would bomb certain Italian cities if il Duce didn't provide forces for anti-partisan duty in the Balkans.
Mussolini then formed the RSI and recruited to fill the ranks of an army. Pickings were rather slim for recruits then. Inmates from jails and prisons were accepted into the ranks as were actual children as seen in the photo. Since so much Italian armament had been seized by German forces after the Italian king surrendered to the allies in 1943, RSI troops were equipped with a lot of German weapons and uniforms. Looking closely at the pic, no Italian weapons can be seen.
It doesn't require much imagination to see how prisoners might be willing to join such a force, but what about the children? Long story short, many joined because they got to eat. The longer the war went on, the more desperate life became for civilians.
This is only a basic narrative of those events. I happened to find the pic in one of my flash drives and though it might be of some small interest here.
These are RSI troops = Italian Socialist Republic. After being rescued from captivity by Skorzeny's elite men and whisked away in a Feisler "storch", Benito Mussolini was ill and wanted to retire.
At this point in the war, Hitler was hard-pressed on multiple fronts and needed more men. He threatened Mussolini that he would bomb certain Italian cities if il Duce didn't provide forces for anti-partisan duty in the Balkans.
Mussolini then formed the RSI and recruited to fill the ranks of an army. Pickings were rather slim for recruits then. Inmates from jails and prisons were accepted into the ranks as were actual children as seen in the photo. Since so much Italian armament had been seized by German forces after the Italian king surrendered to the allies in 1943, RSI troops were equipped with a lot of German weapons and uniforms. Looking closely at the pic, no Italian weapons can be seen.
It doesn't require much imagination to see how prisoners might be willing to join such a force, but what about the children? Long story short, many joined because they got to eat. The longer the war went on, the more desperate life became for civilians.
This is only a basic narrative of those events. I happened to find the pic in one of my flash drives and though it might be of some small interest here.
