Hans Posted August 10, 2003 Share Posted August 10, 2003 Gentlemen What books would you recommend for a CM'er to read about the Italian participation in the battles of WWII. Particularly interested in any personal accounts or unit histories. English language best but Italian always acceptable! Hans 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moon Posted August 10, 2003 Share Posted August 10, 2003 We have a "recommended reading" section open for CMAK HERE . It contains a mix of books about Italy, Africa and Crete. Not comprehensive for sure, but a good way to start your research. Martin 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tooz Posted August 11, 2003 Share Posted August 11, 2003 Most of the books posted on the BFC list are new but there are a few old books to look for in used bookstores. My favorite was "Hollow Legions" by Mario Cervi. "Eritrea '41" by Arthur Swinson is a hard to find book, but then again, I understand that CMAK will NOT focus on this theater. BFC might not, but sure as hell us gamers WILL. "Tobruk", and "El Alamein" by Fred Majdalany are also good. Sadly there does not seem to be many first-person accounts of fighting in the desert by an Italian author. None that I have found, that is. Nothing beats the Australian, New Zealand, and even Indian official publications on this theater for detailed after action reports, albeit these are hard to locate. Instead of going to Barnes & Noble and Borders and shelling out a lot of money I strongly urge you to try the used book stores. There are also huge book fairs that go around the country. My favorite is the annual Mother's Day Book Fair in Timonium, MD, just north of Baltimore. Fairs such as these are a WWII lovers paradise. Happy hunting. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hans Posted August 11, 2003 Author Share Posted August 11, 2003 Thanks Tooz Have Hollow legions on my list for sure. Yes am looking for Italian material Here here on Eritrea, I also plan to do some on the Italian invasion of Greece plus the conflicts in the isles. Thanks for the other suggestions Where are those Italian CM maniacs hiding! 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hannibal Posted August 12, 2003 Share Posted August 12, 2003 osprey has 3 books in their Man at Arms series about the italian army in WW2 . [ August 11, 2003, 10:14 PM: Message edited by: Hannibal ] 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Newbtler Posted August 12, 2003 Share Posted August 12, 2003 Hello, actually I think there really aren't that many books written in English, but there are quite a few in Italian. These are some of the ones in my small collection. For first-person accounts, there are the excellent series: "C'ero anch'io" (I was there too). I have the Albanian-Greek front one, but there are others focusing on the North African and Russian campaigns. These books contains a lot of informations, there are many accounts of veterans, some of them are very extensive and informative. The author is Giulio Bedeschi, edited by Mursia. Visit http://www.mursia.com "Il Ponte di Klisura" - I carristi Italiani in Albania:1940-1941(The Bridge of Klisura - Italian tankers in Albania) is a well written account of an M13/40 captain in the Greek campaign and his unit, with some pictures and good battle reports. Written by Rinaldo Panetta, edited by Mursia (1975) There is the small "Quota Albania" (Hill Albania), by Mario Rigoni Stern (author of the excellent "The Sergent in the Snow"), edited by Einaudi, 1971). This book is about his experience in that campaign. "I cavalieri del fango" (The knights of Mud), written by Vittorio Luoni is a very good book, with some great pictures of in-combat action taken especially in Russia. The book is about the author's experiences in the French,Greek and Russian campaigns as an Officer. Edited by "Ermanno Albertelli Editore" "Tutti vivi all'assalto" (All alive at the assault) is a rather big book about the tragic retreat of the Italian Army in Russia. The author is Alfio Caruso, edited by Longanesi, 2003 (www.longanesi.it) "Folgore!...E si moriva - diario di un paracadutista" (Folgore! And there was death - diary of a para), edited by Mursia. Great book, written by a para during the El-Alamein battle. "Batterie Semoventi alzo zero" by Davide Beretta (Self-propelled Artillery battery, zero in) edited by Mursia too, a good account of a Semovente da 75/18 battery written by his com mander during the El-Alamein battle. "L'Alleato" by Andrea Innocenzi (The Allied)edited by Madeia, decent book written by an artillery officer , commander of a 105/28 unit, during the early battles in the desert. Very good photographs and some maps. There are many others, and you can see some of them on the URLs below. If you go to the Mursia homepage, and click on "Testimonianze" you can see some good books on the Second world war. A great supplier of military books is the "Libreria Militare" (Military Library). Their URL is: http://www.libreriamilitare.com 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hans Posted August 12, 2003 Author Share Posted August 12, 2003 Thanks newbtler JUST what I was looking for 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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