The Italian Army 1940-45 (2): Africa 1940-43

Osprey Men at Arms #349

by Philip Jowett, Stephen Andrew (Illustrator)

At its peak the Italian Army contributed 2.5 million troops to the Axis war effort during World War II (1939-1945). In addition to its major role in North Africa, Italy's army invaded, and later bore the main burden of occupying, the Balkan countries. Italy also sent 250,000 men to fight on the Russian Front. In this second book of a three-part study Philip Jowett covers the organisation, uniforms and insignia of the Italian troops committed to both the North African campaign, and the often neglected East African fighting of 1940-41, including the colourful colonial units. Stephen Andrew's meticulous colour plates illustrate a wide range of uniforms.

Genres: Military History, History, World War II, Italy, 20th Century

48 pages, Paperback

First published January 25, 2001

About the author

Philip S. Jowett was born in Leeds in 1961 and has been interested in military history for as long as he can remember. His first Osprey book was Chinese Civil War Armies 1911–49, and since then he has published numerous other titles for Osprey including, The Russo-Japanese War 1904–05, Japan's Asian Allies 1941–45 and Armour in China 1920–1950. He lives in North Lincolnshire, UK.

Reviews

[Hamish Sidgwick · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very much a technical guide type book by Osprey, and a good one. I was perhaps disappointed that the book was not super in depth overall, which is less the fault of the book and more the issue that I have spent some time now researching the Italian army during this period, and a lot of the information provided in this book is at more of an introductory level. In that capacity, as an introductory book, I believe this book is grand. I should also note that even still, I learned a few things from the book as well, and the illustrations are great as always from Osprey.

[Michael Eklund · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nice overview of the Italy's armys uniforms. Part 2 with mostly North and East Africa uniforms.

[Michael Dorosh · Rating 4 out of 5]

A reviewer at amazon complains of a lack of primary research, but is it not possible the author found better sources than the "official histories". Official histories of any nation often get details wrong.

My purpose for buying this book was to get a basic handle on Italian military organization at the formation level, as well as an understanding of the rank system. In combination with some web research, I found this book fit the bill rather nicely, in addition to giving a good sketch history of Italian participation in the Second World War.

The sidebar articles are excellent and I really like the direction this series is taking with regards to the black and white artwork on the sidebars - nice and crisp, well laid out, Volume 1 has a table of blackshirt insignia, as well as standard Italian Army rank insignia, with designations IN ITALIAN and not those annoying British or American "equivalents" which really aren't. A great study of divisional employment and schedule of their coloured collar patches is well done as well.

Volume 2 has insignia tables for colonial troops as a sidebar, as well as a divisional schedule as in Vol 1 but with specific information on the African theatre, plus a repeat of the rank insignia sidebar - but with shoulder straps for officers shown instead of sleeve badges as in the first volume. Excellent use of space!

Can't speak for accuracy of research, but rank and order of battle info seem to jive with online sources.

[Michael Romo · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book, part of the Men-at- Arms series by Osprey publishing, details the uniforms of the Italian army in Africa during World War Two. Richly illustrated by Stephen Andrew this book is an invaluable resource.