Photos WW2 Italian Forces

[BravoZulu]

The retreat of the Italian 8th Army from the river Don, following the Soviet Operation "Little Saturn". 1942

 

[BravoZulu]

Savoia Marchetti SM-79 Sparviero based in Castelvetrano, Sicily, 1942

 

[BravoZulu]

An abandoned Fiat Ansaldo CV33 light tank, left behind after a battle with British armoured cars on the Libyan frontier, 26 July 1940.

 

[BravoZulu]

Bersaglieri inspecting a knocked out Soviet M3S Lee. 1942

 

[BravoZulu]

Swiss and Italian soldiers converse together on the border, 8 November 1940.

 

[BravoZulu]

Flamethrowers in action on the Eastern Front, 1942.

 

[BravoZulu]

Sentryman of the C.S.I.R. (Corpo di Spedizione Italiano in Russia, or Italian Expeditionary Corps in Russia) holding a Carcano 91 rifle with bayonet attached. Winter, 1941, somewhere on the Eastern Front.

 

[BravoZulu]

Bersaglierie in Donetsk, 1941.

 

[SamWell]

Bersaglierie in Donetsk, 1941.
View attachment 484110

Original black and white photo.Just in case

 

[SamWell]

Italian and german soldiers in trenches somewhere at eastern front

 

[JimHPTN]

Italian and german soldiers in trenches somewhere at eastern front
View attachment 487622

The really fascinating thing to me about this photo is the soldier in the rear center of the photo. He has an Italian rifle but a German helmet. My guess, based on the rifle and the rest of the uniform, is that he is Italian. Obviously, however, I could be completely wrong. The soldier to the right of him has a German helmet and what appears to be a Mauser 98k.

 

[SamWell]

Italian POWs at the Eastern front

 

[SamWell]

Italian and german soldiers in trenches somewhere at eastern front

 

[SamWell]

Italian soldiers in a trench on the Eastern Front

 

[BravoZulu]

A pair of Italian Macchi MC.200 "Saetta" ("Lightning") fighters from the 8th Fighter Group take off from an airfield in North Africa

 

[NebrHogger]

I found a large photoset of WW2 Italian aircraft. Not to take up too much space, I'll stick to lesser known types and combat operations.

Breda Ba-65 ground attack aircraft. Plagued by poor performance and underpowered, some were stripped of engines and set out as decoys. A few were sold for export. Iran bought a few... can't recall who else bought any.

Italy sold a few aircraft to Finland where they were generally despised. Same for the Carcano M38 short rifles.

Italy's premiere air assets were their float planes.

Caproni air ambulance

 

[NebrHogger]

Notice the board runway.

 

[NebrHogger]

French types shown were "gifts" from the Luftwaffe who'd captured them in France and hadn't need for them. Italy used them as trainers or for scouting.

 

[NebrHogger]

Duty in N Africa didn't seem so bad to this fellow who's having a miserable day in Albania.

 

[NebrHogger]

In addition to captured French types. Italy received a number of combat aircraft from Germany. They also built aircraft engines under license, but hadn't resources to build very many.

(I had trouble spacing photos with captions)