Photos WW2 Italian Forces

[BravoZulu]

One of the first (and few) Reggiane Re.2001 adapted for night fighting and equipped with two Mauser 20mm cannons under the wings

 

[BravoZulu]

OTD in 1943, Sicily. A group of Italian POWs and their mascot dog awaiting evacuation

 

[BravoZulu]

Tank crewmen inside their M11/39. Probably late 1940

 

[NebrHogger]

20mm guns on the Re.2001 was a great idea. Italian fighters were always undergunned - even with 8mm Breda MGs.

 

[BravoZulu]

Reparto "G" (Unit "G") special sabotage unit of the San Marco Regiment in North Africa, 1942.

 

[BravoZulu]

Italian troops fighting on the streets near Stalino, now Donetsk, 1941

 

[NebrHogger]

This Italian officer is so dedicated to being squared away, he's getting a manicure!

 

[BravoZulu]

A soldiers final moments with his mother before his departure to Africa; likely to participate in the upcoming invasion of Ethiopia. Naples, 23 September 1935.

*putting this one here as there is no other appropriate thread*

 

[BravoZulu]

Bersaglieri on motorbikes in Durrës after the city fell to the Italians. Albania, 7 April 1939.

 

[BravoZulu]

Semovente L. 40 da 47/32 on the move in 1943

 

[BravoZulu]

Mortar team on the Eastern Front in 1942

 

[BravoZulu]

272 Squadron RAF Bristol Beaufighter turns away after a strafing ocean liner SS Rex in the Bay of Capodistria on September 8th 1944

Following the outbreak of war, both Rex and Conte di Savoia continued regular Mediterranean cruises as if totally unaffected by events to the north. In the end, Italian liners proved to be among the final ships trading on a commercial basis. Their voyages ceased in the spring of 1940 and they were returned to Italian ports for safekeeping, with Rex laid up at Genoa, but after the city was bombed, the Italian Line decided to move it to Trieste. To prevent German forces from using the liner to blockade the harbor entrance, Rex was moved near Pula, where she lay for some time.

On 6 September 1944, Rex was spotted under tow south of Trieste, by a Royal Air Force (RAF) pilot, and showed a slight list.

On 8 September 1944, she was attacked in the Bay of Capodistria (now Koper, Slovenia), south of Trieste by 12 Bristol Beaufighter aircraft of 272 Squadron RAF, escorted by nine North American P-51 Mustang aircraft assigned to the 52nd Fighter Group, USAAF. She was listing and on fire after being struck by 59 RP-3 rockets and numerous 20 mm cannon-shells. A second attack, later that day, by 12 more Beaufighters of 39 Squadron RAF and 16 Squadron, South African Air Force, resulted in her turning over and sinking in shallow water.

 

[santana]

Original Color Pictures of Italian Troops on maneuvers - 1940
LIFE Magazine Archives

 

[NebrHogger]

Great images of vintage Italian kit! Thanks!

 

[uktabber]

Great images of vintage Italian kit! Thanks!

YES, Very Cool mate.........Thanks for posting these!!

 

[TIGREDELAIRE]

very, very elegant uniforms for maneuvers!

 

[BravoZulu]

Alpini mountain troops during the invasion of Greece, October 1940.

 

[BravoZulu]

Armoured division Ariete on the attack, Western Desert, 10 June 1942

 

[BravoZulu]

Soldiers of the 9th Infantry Division "Pasubio" fighting in the industrial area of Gorlovka, Ukrainian SSR, during Operation Barbarossa. Early November 1941

 

[BravoZulu]

Marines with gas masks. They are a part of the Tientsin garrison in China during the mid 1930s