Hans Posted March 5, 2003 Share Posted March 5, 2003 Some time ago mention was made of the Italian cavalry charge in Russia. While discussing that on a listserve devoted to Italian military history the following note was made... ........ already summarized the circumstances and development of the Isbuscenskij charge, the memory of this battle as "the last cavalry charge" is not correct. 54 days later, on October 17th, 1942, many miles west of Isbuscenskij, the Italian 14th Cavalry Regiment, Alessandria Cavalrymen, trapped in a valley near the village of Poloj, Croatia, launched a night charge through 3 consecutive Yugoslav partisan lines blocking their way to safety. They succeeded, though not without the loss of 68 dead, 61 wounded and 170 horses. An accompanying artillery battery had 12 dead and one wounded, the Regiment's light tanks squadron 2 dead and 2 wounded, and a Blackshirt infantry battalion joining the desperate fight had several casualties as well. Yugoslav losses are unknown but they must have been high. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
A.E.B Posted March 6, 2003 Share Posted March 6, 2003 Hans I remember hearing that Italian cavalry made a charge across a frozen lake in late 1942/early 1943, against a Russian infantry battalion that was blocking the route of retreat of the Italian armies after the Russians broken them outside Stalingrad. I'm at work, but if I get a chance I'll get later when I get home. Regards A.E.B 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kanonier Reichmann Posted March 6, 2003 Share Posted March 6, 2003 Originally posted by Hans: Some time ago mention was made of the Italian cavalry charge in Russia. While discussing that on a listserve devoted to Italian military history the following note was made... Has much space been allocated to this website? Just curious. Regards Jim R. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hans Posted March 6, 2003 Author Share Posted March 6, 2003 Kanonier ...mainly full of surrender terms....no actually Italian military history has some high points-but it does look a little pale versus the likes of the Germans and English. I believe the Italians like to think that in the last two world wars they didn't do well but they did better than the French and were on the winning side in both! 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
von Lucke Posted March 6, 2003 Share Posted March 6, 2003 Originally posted by Hans: ...and were on the winning side in both! Yup: They joined the Axis when they were ahead, and then switched to the Allies when it became obvious who the final winners would be. Can't beat that sort of pragmatism. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rokossovski Posted March 7, 2003 Share Posted March 7, 2003 The Italians performed a bit of a similar switch in the First World War as well. Before the war they were allied to Germany and Austria-Hungary, but chose not to enter in 1914. When they did join in the fighting the following year, they (of course) entered as one of the Entente powers - having been lavishly bribed with promises of Austro-Hungarian territory. Pragmatic indeed, but having held up their end of the bargain, Italy was not granted much of what they had been promised. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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