1.
Italy
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Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a unitary parliamentary republic in Europe. Located in the heart of the Mediterranean Sea, Italy shares open land borders with France, Switzerland, Austria, Slovenia, San Marino, Italy covers an area of 301,338 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate and Mediterranean climate. Due to its shape, it is referred to in Italy as lo Stivale. With 61 million inhabitants, it is the fourth most populous EU member state, the Italic tribe known as the Latins formed the Roman Kingdom, which eventually became a republic that conquered and assimilated other nearby civilisations. The legacy of the Roman Empire is widespread and can be observed in the distribution of civilian law, republican governments, Christianity. The Renaissance began in Italy and spread to the rest of Europe, bringing a renewed interest in humanism, science, exploration, Italian culture flourished at this time, producing famous scholars, artists and polymaths such as Leonardo da Vinci, Galileo, Michelangelo and Machiavelli. The weakened sovereigns soon fell victim to conquest by European powers such as France, Spain and Austria. Despite being one of the victors in World War I, Italy entered a period of economic crisis and social turmoil. The subsequent participation in World War II on the Axis side ended in defeat, economic destruction. Today, Italy has the third largest economy in the Eurozone and it has a very high level of human development and is ranked sixth in the world for life expectancy. The country plays a prominent role in regional and global economic, military, cultural and diplomatic affairs, as a reflection of its cultural wealth, Italy is home to 51 World Heritage Sites, the most in the world, and is the fifth most visited country. The assumptions on the etymology of the name Italia are very numerous, according to one of the more common explanations, the term Italia, from Latin, Italia, was borrowed through Greek from the Oscan Víteliú, meaning land of young cattle. The bull was a symbol of the southern Italic tribes and was often depicted goring the Roman wolf as a defiant symbol of free Italy during the Social War. Greek historian Dionysius of Halicarnassus states this account together with the legend that Italy was named after Italus, mentioned also by Aristotle and Thucydides. The name Italia originally applied only to a part of what is now Southern Italy – according to Antiochus of Syracuse, but by his time Oenotria and Italy had become synonymous, and the name also applied to most of Lucania as well. The Greeks gradually came to apply the name Italia to a larger region, excavations throughout Italy revealed a Neanderthal presence dating back to the Palaeolithic period, some 200,000 years ago, modern Humans arrived about 40,000 years ago. Other ancient Italian peoples of undetermined language families but of possible origins include the Rhaetian people and Cammuni. Also the Phoenicians established colonies on the coasts of Sardinia and Sicily, the Roman legacy has deeply influenced the Western civilisation, shaping most of the modern world
2.
Italian Army
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The Italian Army is the land defence force of the Italian Armed Forces of the Italian Republic. The armys history dates back to the unification of Italy in the 1850s and 1860s, during the Cold War the army prepared itself to defend against a Warsaw Pact invasion from the east. Since the end of the Cold War the army has seen extensive peacekeeping service and combat in Afghanistan, the headquarters of the Army General Staff are located in Rome, at the back of the Presidential Palace. The army is a force of active-duty personnel, numbering 99,042 personnel in 2016. The Italian Army originated as the Royal Army which dates from the proclamation of the Kingdom of Italy following the seizure of the Papal States and the unification of Italy. In 1861, under the leadership of Giuseppe Garibaldi, Victor Emmanuel II of the House of Savoy was invited to take the throne of the independent kingdom. Italian expeditions were dispatched to China during the Boxer Rebellion of 1900, the Italian Royal Armys first real taste of modern warfare was during World War I. Most of the actions were fought in northern Italy and the Royal Army suffered many casualties, Italian discipline was also harsher, with punishments for infractions of duty of a severity not known in the German, French, and British armies. On paper, the Royal Army was one of the largest ground forces in World War II, though in reality it could not field the numbers claimed, due to their generally smaller size, many Italian divisions were reinforced by an Assault Group of two battalions of Blackshirts. Reports of Italian military prowess in the Second World War were, almost always and this perception was the result of disastrous Italian offensives against Egypt and the performance of the army in the Greco-Italian War. Both campaigns were ill-prepared and executed inadequately, Italian medium M11, M13, M14 and M15 tanks were at a marked disadvantage against the comparatively heavily armed American Sherman tanks, for example. There were too few weapons, obsolete anti-tank guns. When the Soviet offensive Operation Saturn began on December 12,1942 the Italian 8th Army was quickly crushed, in North Africa, the Italian 132 Armored Division Ariete and the 185 Airborne Division Folgore fought to total annihilation at the Second Battle of El Alamein. Although the battle was lost, the resistance of the Italian soldiers at the Battle of Keren in East Africa is still commemorated today by the Italian military. After the Axis defeat in Tunisia the morale of the Italian troops dropped, the sagging morale led to the overthrow of Italian dictator Benito Mussolini by King Victor Emmanuel III of Italy 15 days later. The Italian Co-Belligerent Army was the army of the Italian royalist forces fighting on the side of the Allies in southern Italy after the Allied armistice with Italy in September 1943. The Italian soldiers fighting in this no longer fought for Benito Mussolini as their allegiance was to King Victor Emmanuel and to Marshal of Italy Pietro Badoglio. The kingdom was replaced by a Republic in 1946 and the Royal Army changed its name to become the Italian Army, initially five infantry divisions were active, including the newly renamed Infantry Division Friuli
3.
Alpini
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The Alpini, are an elite mountain warfare military corps of the Italian Army. They are currently organized in two brigades, which are subordinated to the Alpine Troops Headquarters. Established in 1872, the Alpini are the oldest active mountain infantry in the world and their original mission was to protect Italys northern mountain border with France and Austria. In 1888 the Alpini deployed on their first mission abroad, in Africa, during World War II, the Alpini fought alongside the Axis forces, mainly across the Eastern Front and in the Balkans Campaigns. After the end of the Cold War, the Italian Army was reorganised in the 1990s, three out of five Alpini brigades and many support units were disbanded. Currently, the Alpini are deployed in Afghanistan, in 1872, Captain Giuseppe Perrucchetti published a study in the May edition of the Military Review. In the study, he proposed to assign the defence of mountain borders of the recently established Kingdom of Italy to soldiers recruited locally, indeed, thanks to their knowledge of the surroundings and personal attachment to the area, they would be highly capable and better motivated defenders. Perrucchetti drew heavily on the work of Lieutenant General Agostino Ricci, five months after Perrucchettis article, the first 15 Alpini companies were formed by Royal decree no.1056. The units became active on October 15,1872, making the Alpini the oldest active Mountain Infantry in the world, at first the Alpini were organized as a militia, capable of defending Italy’s northern mountainous borders. Austrias surrender in the Austro-Prussian War of 1866 resulted in Italy annexing the province of Venetia, prior to gaining the new northern borders, homeland defence was based on the so-called Quadrilatero strategy. That outdated strategy, however, ignored the geopolitics of the new Italian Kingdom and it called for primary defence of the Po Valley region farther to the southwest, but left the Alpine region undefended. Recruiting Italys mountain valleys locals and organising them into a corps was indeed an innovative idea. They possessed superior knowledge of mountain territory and greatest adaptability to Alpine conditions, at the beginning, the mountain regions were divided into seven military districts, each commanded by an Officer and home to at least two Alpini companies, each consisting of 120 personnel. Soldiers were equipped with the Vetterli 1870 rifle, in 1873 nine more companies were added, thus totalling 24. In 1875, the companies doubled in size, having 250 soldiers and 5 officers, on November 1,1882, the Alpini organisation doubled in size to 72 companies and a total of 20 Alpini battalions. The latter plus 8 Alpini mountain artillery batteries were now organized into six numbered Alpini regiments, Special Bn. and Fourth Bn. were issued blue tufts. Soldiers of the Mountain Artillery units were issued a green tuft with a patch in the middle onto which the number of the battery was written in golden numbers. On June 7,1883, the green flames collar patch was introduced, the Cappello Alpino, with its black raven feather, was also introduced at that time
4.
Saluzzo
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Saluzzo is a town and former principality in the province of Cuneo, Piedmont region, Italy. The city of Saluzzo is built on a hill overlooking a vast, iron, lead, silver, marble, slate etc. are found in the surrounding mountains. It has a population of approximately 17,000, Saluzzo was the birthplace of the writer Silvio Pellico and of typographer Giambattista Bodoni. Saluzzo was a civitas of the Vagienni, or mountain Ligures and this district was brought under Roman control by the Consul Marcus Fulvius circa 125BC. The marquisate embraced the territory lying between the Alps, the Po and the Stura, and was extended on several occasions, in the Middle Ages it had a chequered existence, often being in conflict with powerful neighbours, chiefly the Counts of Savoy. After Manfred IIs death, his widow had to accept a series of tributes, thomas III, a vassal of France, wrote the romance Le chevalier errant. Ludovico I started the Golden Age of the city and imposed himself as a mediator between the neighbouring powers, Ludovico II constructed a tunnel, no longer in use, through the Monviso, a remarkable work for the time. He was a patron of clerics and authors, in 1490 Ludovico regained power, but after his deaths his sons struggled longly for the rule and impoverished the state. In 1588 Charles Emmanuel I of Savoy took possession of the city, thenceforward Saluzzo shared the destinies of Piedmont, with which it formed one of the keys of the house of Italy. The Marquisate of Saluzzo is the setting of Boccaccios tale of Griselda, Saluzzo Cathedral, Church was built in Lombard-Gothic style. The façade is decorated with rose-windows, frescoes and statues, the interior contains a magnificent Baroque high altar, plus a 16th-century terracotta group portraying the Deposition, ad Adoration of the Shepherds by Sebastiano Ricci. San Bernardo church formerly belonging to the Conventuals, has interesting tombs of the counts della Torre, San Giovanni, Dominican church begun in 1330 in Gothic style and completed in 1504 with Bramantesque influences. The apse, from 1504, houses a Funerary Chapel of Ludovico II, work by Antoine Le Moiturier covered with green stone, the sepulchre of Ludovico II is a Renaissance work by Benedetto Briosco. Annexed are the Gothic cloister and the Capitular Hall with the Mausoleum of a vicar-general of the marquisate, Galeazzo Cavassa di Carmagnola, casa Cavassa, site of the civic museum and rebuilt with a Renaissance interior. San Agostino and San Bernardino Town Hall is the former Jesuit College, while the older one, the 16th century Villa Belvedere has elegant rooms with late-Renaissance decorations. This article incorporates text from a now in the public domain, Herbermann, Charles. LItalia da scoprire, Guide di BellItalia, ed. Giorgio Mondadori,2006
5.
4th Alpine Division Cuneense
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The 4th Alpine Division Cuneense was an Italian division composed of Alpini - light Mountain Infantry - and Mountain Artillery units. The division participated in all Italian campaigns of World War II with the exception of the North African Campaign, the headquarters of the division was in the city of Cuneo, and the majority of its soldiers were drafted from the surrounding valleys - hence the name Cuneense. The division also had 176 horses,4,698 mules and 584 transport vehicles at its disposal, on 21 June 1940 the “Cuneense” division began to advance with other Italian units into Southern France. The division was sent to Albania, where it participated in the Greco-Italian War. The Cuneense advanced through Montenegro and reached Dubrovnik at the end of the campaign, taking up positions along the Don river the Italian units covered part of the left flank of the German Sixth Army, which spearheaded the German summer offensive of 1942 into the city of Stalingrad. After the Red Army successfully encircled the German Sixth Army in Stalingrad during Operation Uranus, the Alpinis held the front on the river Don, but within three days the Soviets advanced 200 km to the left and right of the Alpini. On the evening of 17 January the commanding officer of the corps General Gabriele Nasci finally ordered a full retreat, at this point the Julia and Cuneense divisions were already heavily decimated and only the Tridentina division was still capable of conducting combat operations. On 24 January the Cuneense formed its own column and marched south of the Tridentina division, as the Soviets had already occupied every village bitter battles had to be fought to clear the way. On the morning of 28 January the division had walked 200 km, fought 20 battles, lost 80% of its men, temperatures during the nights were between -30 °C and -40 °C. During the 28th the last remnants of the division were annihilated by Cossack forces, the last survivors of the 1st Alpini regiment burned the regiments flag to prevent it from falling into enemy hands. The Cuneense then ceased to exist, 2nd Alpini Regiment out of 5,206 men,208 survivors, none of the soldiers of the battalions Borgo San Dalmazzo and Saluzzo survived. 4th Alpine Artillery Regiment out of 3,897 men,379 survivors, none of the soldiers of the Artillery Group Mondovì survived. 4th Mixed Engineer Battalion out of 1,240 men,139 survivors Support units out of 1,313 men,159 survivors In total 1,607 men of the total of 17,460 survived Operation Little Saturn. Homepage of the 4th Alpine Division Cuneense
6.
Alpine Brigade Taurinense
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The Alpine Brigade Taurinense is a light Infantry brigade of the Italian Army, specializing in Mountain Combat. Its core units are the Alpini, the infantry corps of the Italian Army. The brigade’s name Taurinense alludes to the Roman name Augusta Taurinorum of the city of Turin around which the brigade is based, the Brigade carries on the name and traditions of the 1st Alpine Division Taurinense. The Taurinense was constituted on 15 April 1952 in the city of Turin, on 1 April 1964 the Alpini Parachutist Platoon merged with the other four Alpini Brigades Parachutist Platoons to form an Alpini Parachutist Company under direct command of the IV Army Corps. In 1970 the Mondovi Mountain Artillery Group was raised and added to the 1st Mountain Artillery Regiment, the remaining units came under direct control of the Taurinense Brigade. The 2nd Alpini Training Regiment had already dissolved in 1974. In 1975 the Taurinense Logistic Battalion was formed, the only such unit in the Italian Army. The only brigade which would have seen combat in such a case would have been the Julia, the other Alpini brigades would remain static. The Julia would have defended the Canal valley, the Cadore the Piave valley, on 23 March 1991 the Pinerolo Mountain Artillery Group was dissolved. On 1 August 1992 the Saluzzo Battalion was integrated in the reactivated 2nd Alpini Regiment, the same month the Anti-tank Company was disbanded. On 19 September 1992 the Aosta Artillery Group was integrated in the reactivated 1st Mountain Artillery Regiment, with the entry of the Susa Battalion into the reactivated 3rd Alpini Regiment on 23 October 1993 the reorganization of the brigade was for the time completed. Both Alpini regiments consisted of one battalion and a support company, the Command and Signal Battalion was merged with the Engineer Company into the newly formed Command and Tactical Support Battalion. At the same time the Mondovi Alpini Training Battalion was dissolved, a fate shared by Taurinense Logistic Battalion 2002. The 2nd Battalion of the Railway Engineer Regiment was reorganized as the 32nd Engineer Battalion and in 2004 renamed 32nd Alpini Engineer Regiment and subordinated to Taurinense. Today the brigade is based in the Piedmont region of northern Italy, the brigade headquarters is in the city of Turin and part of the Division Tridentina. The mortar companies of the Alpini regiments are equipped with 120mm mortars, the Cavalry regiment is equipped with a mix of Centauro tank destroyers and Puma 4x4 wheeled armored personnel carriers. The artillery regiment of the brigade fields 18x FH-70 towed howitzers, Italian Army Homepage, History of the Alpine Brigade Taurinense
7.
Borgo San Dalmazzo
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Borgo San Dalmazzo is a comune in the Province of Cuneo in the Italian region Piedmont, located about 80 kilometres south of Turin and about 8 kilometres southwest of Cuneo. Borgo San Dalmazzo takes its name from Saint Dalmatius of Pavia, sights include the parish church of San Dalmazzo. Borgo San Dalmazzo borders the municipalities, Boves, Cuneo, Gaiola, Moiola, Roccasparvera, Roccavione, Valdieri. A Nazi concentration camp was active in Borgo San Dalmazzo during the Second World War, Borgo San Dalmazzo is twinned with, Breil-sur-Roya, France La Vega, Dominican Republic Valdeblore, France Official website
8.
Province of Cuneo
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Cuneo or Coni is a province in the southwest of the Piedmont region of Italy. To the west it borders on the French region of Provence-Alpes-Côte dAzur, to the north it borders on the province of Turin. To the east it borders on the province of Asti, to the south it borders on the Ligurian provinces of Savona and Imperia. It is also known as the Provincia Granda, the big province, because it is the third largest province in Italy, briga Marittima and Tenda were part of this province before cession to France in 1947. Its capital is the city of Cuneo, communes of the province of Cuneo Piemonte Bole, David. Innovative policies for Alpine towns, Alpine space small local urban centres innovative pack, losing Paradise, The Water Crisis in the Mediterranean. Earth Repair, A Transatlantic History of Environmental Restoration, the Aging Population and the Competitiveness of Cities, Benefits to the Urban Economy
9.
World War I
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World War I, also known as the First World War, the Great War, or the War to End All Wars, was a global war originating in Europe that lasted from 28 July 1914 to 11 November 1918. More than 70 million military personnel, including 60 million Europeans, were mobilised in one of the largest wars in history and it was one of the deadliest conflicts in history, and paved the way for major political changes, including revolutions in many of the nations involved. The war drew in all the worlds great powers, assembled in two opposing alliances, the Allies versus the Central Powers of Germany and Austria-Hungary. These alliances were reorganised and expanded as more nations entered the war, Italy, Japan, the trigger for the war was the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria, heir to the throne of Austria-Hungary, by Yugoslav nationalist Gavrilo Princip in Sarajevo on 28 June 1914. This set off a crisis when Austria-Hungary delivered an ultimatum to the Kingdom of Serbia. Within weeks, the powers were at war and the conflict soon spread around the world. On 25 July Russia began mobilisation and on 28 July, the Austro-Hungarians declared war on Serbia, Germany presented an ultimatum to Russia to demobilise, and when this was refused, declared war on Russia on 1 August. Germany then invaded neutral Belgium and Luxembourg before moving towards France, after the German march on Paris was halted, what became known as the Western Front settled into a battle of attrition, with a trench line that changed little until 1917. On the Eastern Front, the Russian army was successful against the Austro-Hungarians, in November 1914, the Ottoman Empire joined the Central Powers, opening fronts in the Caucasus, Mesopotamia and the Sinai. In 1915, Italy joined the Allies and Bulgaria joined the Central Powers, Romania joined the Allies in 1916, after a stunning German offensive along the Western Front in the spring of 1918, the Allies rallied and drove back the Germans in a series of successful offensives. By the end of the war or soon after, the German Empire, Russian Empire, Austro-Hungarian Empire, national borders were redrawn, with several independent nations restored or created, and Germanys colonies were parceled out among the victors. During the Paris Peace Conference of 1919, the Big Four imposed their terms in a series of treaties, the League of Nations was formed with the aim of preventing any repetition of such a conflict. This effort failed, and economic depression, renewed nationalism, weakened successor states, and feelings of humiliation eventually contributed to World War II. From the time of its start until the approach of World War II, at the time, it was also sometimes called the war to end war or the war to end all wars due to its then-unparalleled scale and devastation. In Canada, Macleans magazine in October 1914 wrote, Some wars name themselves, during the interwar period, the war was most often called the World War and the Great War in English-speaking countries. Will become the first world war in the sense of the word. These began in 1815, with the Holy Alliance between Prussia, Russia, and Austria, when Germany was united in 1871, Prussia became part of the new German nation. Soon after, in October 1873, German Chancellor Otto von Bismarck negotiated the League of the Three Emperors between the monarchs of Austria-Hungary, Russia and Germany
10.
World War II
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World War II, also known as the Second World War, was a global war that lasted from 1939 to 1945, although related conflicts began earlier. It involved the vast majority of the worlds countries—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing alliances, the Allies and the Axis. It was the most widespread war in history, and directly involved more than 100 million people from over 30 countries. Marked by mass deaths of civilians, including the Holocaust and the bombing of industrial and population centres. These made World War II the deadliest conflict in human history, from late 1939 to early 1941, in a series of campaigns and treaties, Germany conquered or controlled much of continental Europe, and formed the Axis alliance with Italy and Japan. Under the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact of August 1939, Germany and the Soviet Union partitioned and annexed territories of their European neighbours, Poland, Finland, Romania and the Baltic states. In December 1941, Japan attacked the United States and European colonies in the Pacific Ocean, and quickly conquered much of the Western Pacific. The Axis advance halted in 1942 when Japan lost the critical Battle of Midway, near Hawaii, in 1944, the Western Allies invaded German-occupied France, while the Soviet Union regained all of its territorial losses and invaded Germany and its allies. During 1944 and 1945 the Japanese suffered major reverses in mainland Asia in South Central China and Burma, while the Allies crippled the Japanese Navy, thus ended the war in Asia, cementing the total victory of the Allies. World War II altered the political alignment and social structure of the world, the United Nations was established to foster international co-operation and prevent future conflicts. The victorious great powers—the United States, the Soviet Union, China, the United Kingdom, the Soviet Union and the United States emerged as rival superpowers, setting the stage for the Cold War, which lasted for the next 46 years. Meanwhile, the influence of European great powers waned, while the decolonisation of Asia, most countries whose industries had been damaged moved towards economic recovery. Political integration, especially in Europe, emerged as an effort to end pre-war enmities, the start of the war in Europe is generally held to be 1 September 1939, beginning with the German invasion of Poland, Britain and France declared war on Germany two days later. The dates for the beginning of war in the Pacific include the start of the Second Sino-Japanese War on 7 July 1937, or even the Japanese invasion of Manchuria on 19 September 1931. Others follow the British historian A. J. P. Taylor, who held that the Sino-Japanese War and war in Europe and its colonies occurred simultaneously and this article uses the conventional dating. Other starting dates sometimes used for World War II include the Italian invasion of Abyssinia on 3 October 1935. The British historian Antony Beevor views the beginning of World War II as the Battles of Khalkhin Gol fought between Japan and the forces of Mongolia and the Soviet Union from May to September 1939, the exact date of the wars end is also not universally agreed upon. It was generally accepted at the time that the war ended with the armistice of 14 August 1945, rather than the formal surrender of Japan
11.
Battle of Nikolayevka
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The Battle of Nikolayevka refers to the breakout of the Italian forces in January 1943, as a small part of the larger Battle of Stalingrad. The breakout involved a corps of the Italian 8th Armys near the village of Nikolayevka, on December 16,1942, Soviet forces launched Operation Little Saturn aimed at the Italian 8th Army. The Soviet plan was to force the River Don, encircle and destroy the Italian 8th Army along the Don, then push towards Rostov-on-Don, the Soviet armored columns now rapidly advanced south towards the Black Sea. On January 13,1943, the Red Army launched the stage of Operation Saturn. On the evening of January 17, the officer of the corps General Gabriele Nasci ordered a full retreat. At this point only the Tridentina division was capable of conducting effective combat operations. On the morning of January 26, the spearheads of the Tridentina reached the hamlet of Nikolayevka, occupied by a Soviet division, General Luigi Reverberi, commander of the Tridentina division, led the final assault. As the 4,000 Alpini advanced, all remaining soldiers of the fell in. The Corps Chief of Staff General Giulio Martinat was killed at the head of his troops on 26 January, the retreat of the Alpini was no longer contested by Soviet forces and on February 1 the remnants of the Corps reached Axis lines. The Italians suffered heavy losses in the breakout, the Cuneense division had destroyed, one tenth of the Division Julia survived. The battle has become a point of reference for the Alpini. The Alpini Association also supports programs in the city. Italian Army in Russia Italian participation in the Eastern Front Hamilton, H
12.
Military Order of Italy
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The Military Order of Italy is the highest military order of the Italian Republic and the former Kingdom of Italy. It was founded as the Military Order of Savoy, an order by the King of Sardinia, Vittorio Emanuele I. The order is awarded in five degrees for distinguished wartime conduct of units of the forces or individual personnel that has proven expertise. The order was continued on the unification of Italy in 1861 and was revived, under its new name and it is bestowed by decree of the President of the Italian Republic, head of the order, on the recommendation of the Minister of Defence. Recipients of the Ordine militare di Savoia were transferred retaining their existing accoutrements, the various degrees of the order, which may be conferred posthumously, are as follows, The lowest of these may also be awarded for peacetime actions. The badge is a golden cross, enamelled in white, with a wreath of green-enamelled laurel. Officers and Knights wear this badge on a ribbon on the left chest, commanders and Grand Officers wear it on a necklet. The obverse central disc during the monarchy was red enamel with a white enamel cross, the current version is in white enamel with the letters R. I. In both cases the disc is surrounded by a red ring bearing the inscription Al Merito Militare. The reverse central disc is in red enamel with crossed swords, during the monarchy it had the letters V. E. on the sides of the sword and the year 1855 above it. The current version has no cypher but has the additional year 1947, the star is an eight-pointed faceted silver star with the badge at the centre. This is worn by Knights Grand Cross and Grand Officers only, the ribbon is blue—red—blue in equal dimensions. Knights Grand Cross wear a sash with the badge of the order suspended from it, list of Italian orders of knighthood Military Order of Savoy Civil Order of Savoy Presidenza della Repubblica - Le Onorificenze Ordini dinastici della Real Casa di Savoia
13.
Gold Medal of Military Valour
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The face of the medal displayed the profile of the king, and on its reverse was a flag decoration and the words al valore. On 14 August 1815, Victor Emmanuel I of Sardinia replaced it with the Military Order of Savoy, charles Albert of Sardinia revived it on March 26,1833, and added to it the Silver and Bronze medals. These had, on their faces, the coat of arms of Savoy with laurel branches, the crown. On the reverse were two branches enclosing the name of the decorated soldier, and the place and date of the action. With the proclamation of the Republic on June 2,1946, for actions performed by individuals during World War I, the Gold Medal was awarded some 368 times, as well as 37 times to military units, and once to the Unknown Soldier. Only four of the awards went to foreigners, one of these being Czar Nicholas II of Russia. The other three were for acts of gallantry in which the recipient was killed in action or died from his injuries. The Gold Medal of Military Valor was one of the most parsimoniously awarded medals of World War I, the Axis-affiliated Italian Social Republic created another design of the medal to give to members of the Esercito Nazionale Repubblicano from 1943 to 1945. This version of the award was not given recognition by the postwar Italian government, cinque anni di storia italiana 1940-1945, da lettere e diari di caduti
14.
Silver Medal of Military Valor
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The Silver Medal of Military Valor is an Italian medal for gallantry. Italian medals for valor were first instituted by Victor Amadeus III of Sardinia on 21 May 1793, with a medal, and, below it. These were intended for officers or common soldiers who had distinguished themselves in combat. These medals fell into disuse during the period of Napoleonic domination, according to royal decree no.753 of 24 May 1915, the number of times one individual could receive a medal for valor was limited to three, after which a promotion was foreseen. This limit was abolished with royal decree no.975 of 15 June 1922, during World War I, the medal was awarded to military personnel, units above the level of company and civilians for exceptional valor in the face of the enemy. During World War I, the medal was given out some 38,614 times for acts of heroism. Thus, the Italian Silver Medal for Military Valor is equivalent in frequency and prestige to the British Military Cross, italo Balbo William George Barker VC Carlo Emanuele Buscaglia Federico Cafiero Mark W
15.
Italian language
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By most measures, Italian, together with Sardinian, is the closest to Latin of the Romance languages. Italian is a language in Italy, Switzerland, San Marino, Vatican City. Italian is spoken by minorities in places such as France, Montenegro, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Crimea and Tunisia and by large expatriate communities in the Americas. Many speakers are native bilinguals of both standardized Italian and other regional languages, Italian is the fourth most studied language in the world. Italian is a major European language, being one of the languages of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe. It is the third most widely spoken first language in the European Union with 65 million native speakers, including Italian speakers in non-EU European countries and on other continents, the total number of speakers is around 85 million. Italian is the working language of the Holy See, serving as the lingua franca in the Roman Catholic hierarchy as well as the official language of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta. Italian is known as the language of music because of its use in musical terminology and its influence is also widespread in the arts and in the luxury goods market. Italian has been reported as the fourth or fifth most frequently taught foreign language in the world, Italian was adopted by the state after the Unification of Italy, having previously been a literary language based on Tuscan as spoken mostly by the upper class of Florentine society. Its development was influenced by other Italian languages and to some minor extent. Its vowels are the second-closest to Latin after Sardinian, unlike most other Romance languages, Italian retains Latins contrast between short and long consonants. As in most Romance languages, stress is distinctive, however, Italian as a language used in Italy and some surrounding regions has a longer history. What would come to be thought of as Italian was first formalized in the early 14th century through the works of Tuscan writer Dante Alighieri, written in his native Florentine. Dante is still credited with standardizing the Italian language, and thus the dialect of Florence became the basis for what would become the language of Italy. Italian was also one of the recognised languages in the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Italy has always had a dialect for each city, because the cities. Those dialects now have considerable variety, as Tuscan-derived Italian came to be used throughout Italy, features of local speech were naturally adopted, producing various versions of Regional Italian. Even in the case of Northern Italian languages, however, scholars are not to overstate the effects of outsiders on the natural indigenous developments of the languages
16.
Light infantry
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Light infantry are soldiers whose job was to provide a skirmishing screen ahead of the main body of infantry, harassing and delaying the enemy advance. Light infantry was distinct from medium, heavy or line infantry, heavy infantry were dedicated primarily to fighting in tight formations that were the core of large battles. Heavy infantry originally had heavier arms and more armour than light infantry, as with so called light infantry of later periods, the term more adequately describes the role of such infantry rather than the actual weight of their equipment. Peltast equipment, for example, grew steadily heavier at the time as hoplite equipment grew lighter. It was the fact that peltasts fought in order as skirmishers that made them light infantry. Early regular armies of the era frequently relied on irregulars to perform the duties of light infantry skirmishers. In the 18th and 19th centuries most infantry regiments or battalions had a company as an integral part of its composition. Its members were often smaller, more men with high shooting ability and capability of using initiative. They did not usually fight in disciplined ranks as did the infantry but often in widely dispersed groups. They were expected to avoid melee engagements unless necessary, and would fight ahead of the line to harass the enemy before falling back to the main position. Light infantry sometimes carried lighter muskets than ordinary infantrymen while others carried rifles and these became designated as rifle regiments in Britain and Jäger regiments in German speaking Europe. In France, during the Napoleonic Wars, light infantry were called voltigeurs and chasseurs, the Austrian army had Grenzer regiments from the middle of the 18th century, who originally served as irregular militia skirmishers recruited from mountainous frontier areas. Light infantry officers sometimes carried muskets or rifles, rather than pistols, orders were sent by bugle or whistle instead of drum. Some armies, including the British and French, recruited whole regiments of light infantry, by the late 19th century the concept of fighting in formation was on the wane due to advancements in weaponry and the distinctions between light and heavy infantry began to disappear. Essentially, all infantry became light infantry in operational practice, some regiments retained the name and customs, but there was in effect little difference between them and other infantry regiments. On the eve of World War I the British Army included seven light infantry regiments, today the term light denotes, in the United States table of organization and equipment, units lacking heavy weapons and armor or with a reduced vehicle footprint. At its height, this included the 6th Infantry Division, 7th Infantry Division, 10th Mountain Division, 25th Infantry Division, operation Just Cause is often cited as proof of concept. Almost 30,000 U. S. Forces, mostly light, during the 1990s, the concept of purely light forces in the US military came under scrutiny due to their decreased lethality and survivability
17.
Regiment
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A regiment is a military unit. Their role and size varies markedly, depending on the country, in Medieval Europe, the term regiment denoted any large body of front-line soldiers, recruited or conscripted in one geographical area, by a leader who was often also the feudal lord of the soldiers. By the 17th century, a regiment was usually about a thousand personnel. In many armies, the first role has been assumed by independent battalions, battlegroups, task forces, brigades and other, similarly-sized operational units. By the beginning of the 18th century, regiments in most European continental armies had evolved into permanent units with distinctive titles and uniforms, when at full strength, an infantry regiment normally comprised two field battalions of about 800 men each or 8–10 companies. In some armies, an independent regiment with fewer companies was labelled a demi-regiment, a cavalry regiment numbered 600 to 900 troopers, making up a single entity. With the widespread adoption of conscription in European armies during the nineteenth century, the regimental system underwent modification. Prior to World War I, a regiment in the French, German, Russian. As far as possible, the battalions would be garrisoned in the same military district, so that the regiment could be mobilized. A cavalry regiment by contrast made up an entity of up to 1,000 troopers. Usually, the regiment is responsible for recruiting and administering all of a military career. Depending upon the country, regiments can be either combat units or administrative units or both and this is often contrasted to the continental system adopted by many armies. Generally, divisions are garrisoned together and share the same installations, thus, in divisional administration, soldiers and officers are transferred in and out of divisions as required. Some regiments recruited from specific areas, and usually incorporated the place name into the regimental name. In other cases, regiments would recruit from an age group within a nation. In other cases, new regiments were raised for new functions within an army, e. g. the Fusiliers, the Parachute Regiment, a key aspect of the regimental system is that the regiment or battalion is the fundamental tactical building block. This flows historically from the period, when battalions were widely dispersed and virtually autonomous. For example, a regiment might include different types of battalions of different origins, within the regimental system, soldiers, and usually officers, are always posted to a tactical unit of their own regiment whenever posted to field duty
18.
Mountain warfare
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Mountain warfare refers to warfare in the mountains or similarly rough terrain. This type of warfare is also called Alpine warfare, after the Alps mountains, Mountain warfare is one of the most dangerous types of combat as it involves surviving not only combat with the enemy but also the extreme weather and dangerous terrain. Mountain ranges are of importance since they often act as a natural border. Attacking a prepared enemy position in mountain terrain requires a ratio of attacking soldiers to defending soldiers than a war conducted on level ground. Movement, reinforcements, and medical evacuation up and down steep slopes, the term mountain warfare is said to have come about in the Middle Ages after the monarchies of Europe found it difficult to fight the Swiss armies in the Alps. This was because the Swiss were able to fight in smaller units, similar styles of attack and defence were later employed by guerrillas, partisans and irregulars who hid in the mountains after an attack, making it challenging for an army of regulars to fight back. In Bonapartes Italian campaign, and the 1809 rebellion in Tyrol, other example of mountain warfare was the Crossing of the Andes carried out by the Argentinean Army of the Andes commanded by Gen José de San Martín in 1817. One of the division passed 5000 m height, Mountain warfare came to the fore once again, during World War I, when some of the nations involved in the war had mountain divisions that had hitherto not been tested. During the summer of 1918, the Battle of San Matteo took place on the Italian front, in December 1914, another offensive was launched by the Turkish supreme commander Enver Pasha with 95, 000-190,000 troops against the Russians in the Caucasus. Insisting on an attack against Russian positions in the mountains in the heart of winter. Since the partition in 1947, both countries have been locked in skirmishes and wars mainly in this Himalayan region with the highest mountains in the world. The first hostilities between the two nations in the Indo-Pakistani War of 1947 showed that both were ill-equipped to fight in biting cold, let alone at the highest altitudes in the world. During the Sino-Indian War of 1962, hostilities broke out between the Republic of India and the Peoples Republic of China at some of the highest altitudes over the Himalayan mountains. Later wars between India and Pakistan were mainly fought in the rather than in the mountains, although several major mountain battles took place in all these conflicts. This changed in the Kargil War when Indian forces were faced with the task of flushing out intruders. This proxy warfare became the modern war that was fought exclusively on mountains. South Georgia is an island, and since the war took place during the southern winter. It was unusual, in that it combined aspects of water long range expeditions, Arctic warfare
19.
Eastern Front (World War II)
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The battles on the Eastern Front constituted the largest military confrontation in history. They were characterized by unprecedented ferocity, wholesale destruction, mass deportations, and immense loss of life due to combat, starvation, exposure, disease, and massacres. The Eastern Front, as the site of nearly all extermination camps, death marches, ghettos, of the estimated 70 million deaths attributed to World War II, over 30 million, many of them civilian, occurred on the Eastern Front. The Eastern Front was decisive in determining the outcome of the European portion of World War II and it resulted in the destruction of the Third Reich, the partition of Germany for nearly half a century and the rise of the Soviet Union as a military and industrial superpower. The two principal belligerent powers were Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union, along with their respective allies. Though never engaged in action in the Eastern Front, the United Kingdom. The joint German–Finnish operations across the northernmost Finnish–Soviet border and in the Murmansk region are considered part of the Eastern Front, in addition, the Soviet–Finnish Continuation War may also be considered the northern flank of the Eastern Front. Despite their ideological antipathy, both Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union shared a dislike for the outcome of World War I. The Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact signed in August 1939 was an agreement between Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union. It contained a secret protocol aiming to return Central Europe to the pre–World War I status quo by dividing it between Germany and the Soviet Union, Finland, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania would return to Soviet control, while Poland and Romania would be divided. I need the Ukraine so that they cant starve us out, the two powers invaded and partitioned Poland in 1939. The annexations were never recognized by most Western states, the annexed Romanian territory was divided between the Ukrainian and Moldavian Soviet republics. Adolf Hitler had argued in his autobiography Mein Kampf for the necessity of Lebensraum, acquiring new territory for Germans in Eastern Europe, Wehrmacht officers told their troops to target people who were described as Jewish Bolshevik subhumans, the Mongol hordes, the Asiatic flood and the red beast. The vast majority of German soldiers viewed the war in Nazi terms, Hitler referred to the war in unique terms, calling it a war of annihilation which was both an ideological and racial war. In addition, the Nazis also sought to wipe out the large Jewish population of Central, after Germanys initial success at the Battle of Kiev in 1941, Hitler saw the Soviet Union as militarily weak and ripe for immediate conquest. On 3 October 1941, he announced, We have only to kick in the door, thus, Germany expected another short Blitzkrieg and made no serious preparations for prolonged warfare. Throughout the 1930s the Soviet Union underwent massive industrialization and economic growth under the leadership of Joseph Stalin, Stalins central tenet, Socialism in one country, manifested itself as a series of nationwide centralized Five-Year Plans from 1929 onwards. It served as a testing ground for both the Wehrmacht and the Red Army to experiment with equipment and tactics that they would later employ on a wider scale in the Second World War
20.
Battalion
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A battalion is a military unit. The use of the term varies by nationality and branch of service. Typically a battalion consists of 300 to 800 soldiers and is divided into a number of companies, a battalion is typically commanded by a lieutenant colonel. In some countries the word battalion is associated with the infantry, the term was first used in Italian as battaglione no later than the 16th century. It derived from the Italian word for battle, battaglia, the first use of battalion in English was in the 1580s, and the first use to mean part of a regiment is from 1708. The battalion must, of course, have a source of re-supply to enable it to sustain operations for more than a few days, the battalion is usually part of a regiment, brigade, or group, depending on the organizational model used by that service. The bulk of a battalions companies are often homogeneous with respect to type, a battalion includes a headquarters company and some sort of combat service support, typically organized within a combat support company. The term battalion is used in the British Army Infantry and some including the Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers. It was formerly used in the Royal Engineers, and was used in the now defunct Royal Army Ordnance Corps. Other corps usually use the term regiment instead, an infantry battalion is numbered ordinarily within its regiment. It normally has a company, support company, and three rifle companies. Each company is commanded by a major, the officer commanding, the HQ company contains signals, quartermaster, catering, intelligence, administration, pay, training, operations and medical elements. The support company usually contains anti-tank, machine gun, mortar, pioneer, mechanised units usually have an attached light aid detachment of the Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers to perform field repairs on vehicles and equipment. A British battalion in theatre during World War II had around 845 men in it, and, as of 2012, with successive rounds of cutbacks after the war, many infantry regiments were reduced to a single battalion. A battalion group or battlegroup consists of a battalion or armoured regiment with sub-units detached from other military units acting under the command of the battalion commander. In the Canadian Forces, most battalions are reserve units of between 100–200 soldiers that include an operationally ready, field-deployable component of approximately a half-company apiece, the nine regular force infantry battalions each contain three or four rifle companies and one or two support companies. Canadian battalions are generally commanded by lieutenant-colonels, though smaller reserve battalions may be commanded by majors, with the Dutch artillery units, the equivalent of a battalion is called an afdeling. Combat companies consist of infantry, combat engineers, or tanks, in the latter case, the unit is called an eskadron, which translates roughly to squadron
21.
Col de Tende
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Col de Tende is a high mountain pass in the Alps, close to the border between France and Italy, although the highest section of the pass is wholly within France. It separates the Maritime Alps from the Ligurian Alps and it connects Nice and Tende in Alpes-Maritimes with Cuneo in Piedmont. A railway tunnel inaugurated in 1898 and a Road Tunnel inaugurated in 1882 run under the pass, the latter tunnel is 3.2 kilometre long and is among the oldest long road tunnels. French historian François Guizot states that the road was first developed by Phoenicians and later maintained by Greeks, after the withdrawal of the Phoenicians this road was kept up and repaired, at first by the Greeks of Marseilles, and subsequently by the Romans. List of highest paved roads in Europe List of mountain passes France–Italy border Main chain of the Alps Profile on climbbybike. com Alan Heath - Col de Tende
22.
Vinadio
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Vinadio is a comune in the Province of Cuneo in the Italian region Piedmont, located about 100 kilometres southwest of Turin and about 30 kilometres southwest of Cuneo, on the border with France. It is located along the Stura di Demonte river, together with Demonte and Pietraporzio, is one of three comuni of Italian Occitania. Vinadio borders the municipalities, Aisone, Demonte, Isola, Pietraporzio, Saint-Etienne-de-Tinée, Sambuco. In the frazione of SantAnna di Vinadio is the eponymous sanctuary, Vinadio is also home to an important fortification of the former Kingdom of Sardinia, the Forte Albertino. In 2003 the town hosted the World Meeting of 2CV Friends, where approximately 7,000 people from around the world met and camped around the ancient Forte Albertino
23.
First Italo-Ethiopian War
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The First Italo-Ethiopian War was fought between Italy and Ethiopia from 1895 to 1896. It originated from a treaty which, the Italians claimed, turned the country into an Italian protectorate. Full-scale war broke out in 1895, with Italian troops having initial success until Ethiopian troops counterattacked Italian positions and besieged the Italian fort of Meqele, forcing its surrender. Italian defeat came about after the Battle of Adwa, where the Ethiopian army dealt the heavily outnumbered Italians a decisive loss and forced their retreat back into Eritrea. This was not the first African victory over Western colonizers, according to one historian, In an age of relentless European expansion, Ethiopia alone had successfully defended its independence. The Khedive of Egypt Ismail Pasha, Ismail the Magnificent had conquered Eritrea as part of his efforts to give Egypt an African empire, Ismail had tried to follow that conquest with Ethiopia, but the Egyptian attempts to conquer that realm ended in humiliating defeat. Egypt had very much in the French sphere of influence until 1882 when Britain occupied Egypt. The opening of the Suez Canal in 1869 had turned the Horn of Africa into a strategic region as a navy based in the Horn could interdict any shipping going up. By building naval bases on the Red Sea that could intercept British shipping in the Red Sea, the French hoped to reduce the value of the Suez Canal for the British, and thus lever them out of Egypt. On 3 June 1884, a treaty was signed between Britain, Egypt and Ethiopia that allowed the Ethiopians to occupy parts of Eritrea and allowed the Ethiopian goods to pass in and out of Massawa duty-free. After initially encouraging the Emperor Yohannes IV to move into Eritrea to replace the Egyptians, in 1882, Italy had joined the Triple Alliance, allying herself with Austria and Germany against France. On 5 February 1885 Italian troops landed at Massawa to replace the Egyptians, the Italian government for its part was more than happy to embark upon an imperialist policy to distract its people from the failings in post Risorgimento Italy. To compensate, a chauvinist mood was rampant in Italy with the newspaper Il Diritto writing in an editorial, the year 1885 will decide her fate as a great power. It is necessary to feel the responsibility of the new era, to become again strong men afraid of nothing, with the love of the fatherland, of all Italy. On March 25,1889, the Shewa ruler Menelik II, having conquered Tigray and Amhara, Menelik II continued the policy of Tewodros II of integrating Ethiopia. However, the treaty did not say the same thing in Italian and Amharic. Italian diplomats, however, claimed that the original Amharic text included the clause, moreover, Menelik did not know Italian and only signed the Amharic text of the treaty, being assured that there were no differences between the Italian and Amharic texts before he signed. Francesco Crispi, the Italian Prime Minister was an ultra-imperialist who believed the newly unified Italian state required the grandeur of a second Roman empire, Crispi believed that the Horn of Africa was the best place for the Italians to start building the new Roman empire
24.
Cuneo
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Cuneo is a city and comune in Piedmont, Northern Italy, the capital of the province of Cuneo, the third largest of Italy’s provinces by area. It is located at 550 metres in the south-west of Piedmont, at the confluence of the rivers Stura and Gesso. Cuneo was founded in 1198 by the population, who declared it an independent commune, freeing themselves from the authority of the bishops of Asti. In 1210 the latter occupied it, and in 1231 the Cuneesi rebelled, in 1238 they were recognized as free commune by Emperor Frederick II. Together with Alba, it was the main Angevine possession in northern Italy, in all the sieges Cuneo resisted successfully. Cuneo was conquered by France only during the Napoleonic Wars, when it was made the capital of the Stura department, after the restoration of the Kingdom of Sardinia, and the unification of Italy, Cuneo became the capital of its namesake province in 1859. During World War II, from 1943 to 1945, it was one of the centres of partisan resistance against the German occupation of Italy. Villa Oldofredi Tadini, built in the 14th and 15th centuries as a watchtower and it is now a museum housing collections of the owners, the Mocchia and Oldofredi Tadini families. Villa Tornaforte, surrounded by an English-style park, civic Museum Railway Museum Churches of Santa Croce, San Giovanni Decollato and Santissima Annunziata, housing paintings by Giovan Francesco Gaggini. Panoramic funicolar that connects plateau to Gesso river, monument of Stura and Gesso in Torino Square The median way of the plateau, the commercial heart of Cuneo. Cuneo has a temperate climate, with cold winters and hot. However, it is situated more than 500 metres above sea level, which helps to make summers more bearable, the coldest, January, averages 1.7 °C. Annual precipitation is about 950 mm, distributed over 81 days, the rainfall pattern is similar to that of Turin, with two maxima—one primary and one secondary and two minima. The driest month is July,44 millimetres, snowfalls are frequent owing to high elevation and wind patterns. Cuneos specialty is Cuneesi al rhum, chocolates with a unique rum-based filling, the most famous brand is Arione, located in Piazza Galimberti. Arione, founded in 1923, has kept its traditional furniture, there is an important volleyball club, Piemonte Volley who won 1 Italian Volleyball League,3 CEV Cup,2 CEV SuperCup,4 Italian Volleyball Cup and 3 Italian Volleyball SuperCup. Associazione Calcio Cuneo 1905 who plays in the 3rd level of Italian football, many times stage of Giro dItalia. Since 1987 Cuneo has been the start and arrival point of the international race La Fausto Coppi
25.
1st Alpini Regiment
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The 1st Alpini Regiment was a light Infantry regiment of the Italian Army, specializing in Mountain Combat. The Alpini are an infantry corps of the Italian Army. The 1st Alpini Regiment was formed on November 1,1882 and it consisted of three Battalions, Alto Tanaro, Val Tanaro and Val Camonica, named after the valleys and localities from which their soldiers were recruited. In 1886 the Battalions were renamed, taking their new names from the location of their main depot, Ceva, Pieve di Teco. During World War I the regiment consisted of 9 battalions and saw fighting in the Alps against Austria’s Kaiserjäger. At the tine the regiment consisted of 160 officers and 5046 NCOs, the regiment also had 23 horses,1,242 mules and 109 transport vehicles at its disposal. On June 21,1940 the “Cuneense” division began to advance with other Italian units into Southern France, the division was then sent to Albania, where it participated in the Italian attack on Greece. The Cuneense advanced through Montenegro and reached Dubrovnik by the end of the campaign, taking up positions along the Don River, the Italian units covered part of the left flank of the German Sixth Army, which spearheaded the German summer offensive of 1942 into the city of Stalingrad. After successfully encircling the German Sixth army in Stalingrad the Red Army’s attention turned to the Italian units along the Don, on January 14,1943, the Soviet offensive Operation Little Saturn began and the three Alpini division found themselves quickly encircled by the rapidly advancing armoured Soviet Forces. The Alpinis held the front on the Don, but within three days the Soviets advanced 200 km to the left and right of the Alpini, on the evening of January 17 the commanding officer of the Italian Mountain corps General Gabriele Nasci finally ordered a full retreat. At this point the Julia and Cuneense divisions were already heavily decimated, as the Soviets had already occupied every village bitter battles had to be fought to clear the way. On the morning of January 28 the men of the 1st Alpini Regiment had walked 200 km, fought in 20 battles, temperatures during the nights were between -30 °C and -40 °C. In the course of day, the last remnants of the regiment were annihilated by Cossack forces. The last survivors of the 1st Alpini regiment burnt the regimental colours to prevent it falling in enemy hands. 3,475 men of the 1st Alpini Regiment died in Russia, the survivors were repatriated and after the signing of the Italian armistice with the Allies on September 8,1943, the regiment was dissolved. The 1st Alpini Regiment was reformed on November 23,1945, but as the unit had burned its flag and thus lost its regimental colours, 1st Alpini Regiment on vecio. it page is in italian
26.
1908 Messina earthquake
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The 1908 Messina earthquake occurred on 28 December in Sicily and Calabria, southern Italy with a moment magnitude of 7.1 and a maximum Mercalli intensity of XI. The cities of Messina and Reggio Calabria were almost completely destroyed, on Monday 28 December 1908, from about 05,20 to 05,21, an earthquake of 7.1 on the moment magnitude scale occurred. Its epicentre was in the Strait of Messina which separates the port city of Messina in Sicily. Its precise epicentre has been pinpointed to the northern Ionian Sea area close to the narrowest section of the Strait and it had a depth of 5–6 miles. At least 91% of structures in Messina were destroyed or irreparably damaged and some 75,000 people were killed in the city, Reggio Calabria and other locations in Calabria also suffered heavy damage, with some 25.000 people killed. Reggios historic centre was almost completely eradicated. The number of casualties is based on the 1901 and 1911 census data and it was the most destructive earthquake to ever strike Europe. The ground shook for some 30 to 40 seconds, and the damage was widespread, in Calabria, the ground shook violently from Scilla to south of Reggio, provoking landslides inland in the Reggio area and along the sea-cliff from Scilla to Bagnara. In the Calabrian commune of Palmi on the Tyrrhenian coast, there was almost total devastation that left 600 dead, damage was also inflicted along the eastern Sicilian coast, but outside of Messina, it was not as badly hit as Calabria. The mesoseismal area was confined near the coast along a 1–4 km wide belt that shook and destroyed Messina, catania, the largest city in eastern Sicily, did not incur notable damage. a circular motion. The elevated death toll was due to the fact that most people were asleep, thousands were trapped under debris, suffering horrific injuries of which many would die. One week before the earthquake,160,000 inhabitants were counted in the entire Messina commune, about ten minutes after the earthquake, the sea on both sides of the Strait suddenly withdrew a 12-meter tsunami swept in, and three waves struck nearby coasts. It impacted hardest along the Calabrian coast and inundated Reggio Calabria after the sea had receded 70 meters from the shore, the entire Reggio seafront was destroyed and numbers of people who had gathered there perished. Nearby Villa San Giovanni was also badly hit, along the coast between Lazzaro and Pellaro, houses and a railway bridge were washed away. In Messina, the tsunami also caused more devastation and deaths, the second and third tsunami waves, coming in rapid succession and higher than the first, raced over the harbour, smashed boats docked at the pier, and broke parts of the sea wall. The ships that were attached to their moorings collided with one another. Afterwards Messina harbour was filled with floating wreckage and the corpses of drowned people, towns and villages along the eastern coast of Sicily were assaulted by high waves causing deaths and damage to boats and property. Two hours later the tsunami struck Malta, about 2000 people were killed by the tsunami in Messina, the eastern coast of Sicily, and in Reggio Calabria and its coastal environs. The Messina shoreline was irrevocably altered as large sections of the coast had sunk several feet into the sea, houses, churches, palaces and monuments, military barracks, commercial, municipal and public buildings had all collapsed entirely or were severely damaged
27.
Italo-Turkish War
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The Italo-Turkish or Turco-Italian War was fought between the Kingdom of Italy and the Ottoman Empire from September 29,1911, to October 18,1912. As a result of conflict, Italy captured the Ottoman Tripolitania Vilayet, of which the main sub-provinces were Fezzan, Cyrenaica. These territories together formed what became known as Italian Libya, during the conflict, Italian forces also occupied the Dodecanese islands in the Aegean Sea. Although minor, the war was a significant precursor of the First World War as it sparked nationalism in the Balkan states, seeing how easily the Italians had defeated the weakened Ottomans, the members of the Balkan League attacked the Ottoman Empire before the war with Italy had ended. The Italo-Turkish War saw numerous changes, notably the airplane. The Turks, lacking anti-aircraft weapons, were the first to shoot down an aeroplane by rifle fire, when Italian diplomats hinted about possible opposition by their government, the French replied that Tripoli would have been a counterpart for Italy. In 1902, Italy and France had signed a treaty which accorded freedom of intervention in Tripolitania. However, the Italian government did little to realize the opportunity and knowledge of Libyan territory, the Italian press began a large-scale lobbying campaign in favour of an invasion of Libya at the end of March 1911. It was fancifully depicted as rich in minerals, well-watered, also, the population was described as hostile to the Ottoman Empire and friendly to the Italians, the future invasion was going to be little more than a military walk, according to them. The Socialist party had strong influence over public opinion, however, it was in opposition and also divided on the issue. It acted ineffectively against a military intervention, the future fascist leader Benito Mussolini – at this time still a left-wing Socialist – took a prominent anti-war position. A similar opposition was expressed in Parliament by Gaetano Salvemini and Leone Caetani, an ultimatum was presented to the Ottoman government led by the Committee of Union and Progress party on the night of 26–27 September. Through Austrian intermediation, the Ottomans replied with the proposal of transferring control of Libya without war and this suggestion was comparable to the situation in Egypt, which was under formal Ottoman suzerainty, but was actually controlled by the United Kingdom. Giolitti refused, and war was declared on September 29,1911, despite the time it had had to prepare the invasion, the Italian Royal Army was largely unprepared when the war broke out. The Italian fleet appeared off Tripoli in the evening of September 28, the city was conquered by 1,500 sailors, much to the enthusiasm of the interventionist minority in Italy. Another proposal for a settlement was rejected by the Italians. The Turks did not have an army in Trablusgarp. Many of the Ottoman officers had to travel there by their own means, often secretly, through Egypt, the Ottoman navy was too weak to transport troops by sea
28.
Demographics of Libya
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Demographics of Libya include population density, ethnicity, education level, health of the populace, economic status, religious affiliations and other aspects of the Libyan population. No complete population or vital statistics registration exists in Libya, of the over 6,000,000 Libyans that lived in Libya prior to the Libyan Crisis, more than a million were immigrants. The Libyan population resides in the country of Libya, a located on the Mediterranean coast of North Africa, to the west of. Most Libyans live in Tripoli, the capital of the country, over the centuries, Libya has been occupied by the Phoenicians, Greeks, Italians, Arabs and Egyptians. The Phoenicians had a big impact on Libya, starting in the 8th century BCE, Libya was under the rule of the Phoenician Carthage. Centuries after that the Ottoman Empire conquered Libya in 1551 and remained in control of its territory until 1911 when the country was conquered by Italy, in the 18th century Libya was used as the base for various pirates. In the Second World War Libya was one of the battlegrounds of North Africa. During the war, the territory was under an Anglo-French military government until it was overrun by the Axis Powers, in 1951, the country was granted independence by the United Nations, being governed by King Idris. In 1969, a coup led by Muammar Gaddafi resulted in the overthrow of King Idris I. Gaddafi then established an anti-Western dictatorship, in 1970, Gaddafi ordered all British and American military bases closed. The Libyan population has increased rapidly after 1969 and they were only 523,176 humans in 1911,2 million in 1968, and 5 million in 1969. That population growth was due in part to King Idris and Gaddafi granting citizenship to many Tunisians, Egyptians. Many migrant workers came to Libya since 1969, among the workers were construction workers and laborers from Tunisia, teachers and laborers from Egypt, teachers from Palestine, and doctors and nurses from Yugoslavia and Bulgaria. 1,000,000 workers, mainly from other neighboring African countries like Sudan, Niger, Chad and Mali, migrated to Libya in the 1990s, after changes were made to Libyas Pan-African policies. Gaddafi used money from the sale of oil to improve the conditions of the population. In 1979, Libya fought in Uganda to assist the government of Idi Amin in the Ugandan Civil War, Libya had occupied the Aozou Strip, however, in 1990 the International Court of Justice submitted the case and allowed the full recuperation of territory to Chad. According to the census conducted in the 2000s, most of the people of Libya are primarily Arab or a mixture of Arab-Berber ethnicities and this indicates that most Libyans are more racially linked with the Mediterranean peoples of southern Europe than with the peoples of the Arabian Peninsula. In September 2008, Italy and Libya signed a memorandum by which Italy would pay $5 billion over the next 20 years to compensate Libya for its dominion over Libya for its reign of 30 years
29.
Alps
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The mountains were formed over tens of millions of years as the African and Eurasian tectonic plates collided. Extreme shortening caused by the event resulted in marine sedimentary rocks rising by thrusting and folding into high mountain peaks such as Mont Blanc, Mont Blanc spans the French–Italian border, and at 4,810 m is the highest mountain in the Alps. The Alpine region area contains about a hundred peaks higher than 4000 metres, the altitude and size of the range affects the climate in Europe, in the mountains precipitation levels vary greatly and climatic conditions consist of distinct zones. Wildlife such as live in the higher peaks to elevations of 3,400 m. Evidence of human habitation in the Alps goes back to the Palaeolithic era, a mummified man, determined to be 5,000 years old, was discovered on a glacier at the Austrian–Italian border in 1991. By the 6th century BC, the Celtic La Tène culture was well established, Hannibal famously crossed the Alps with a herd of elephants, and the Romans had settlements in the region. In 1800 Napoleon crossed one of the passes with an army of 40,000. The 18th and 19th centuries saw an influx of naturalists, writers, in World War II, Adolf Hitler kept a base of operation in the Bavarian Alps throughout the war. The Alpine region has a cultural identity. The Winter Olympic Games have been hosted in the Swiss, French, at present, the region is home to 14 million people and has 120 million annual visitors. The English word Alps derives from the Latin Alpes, maurus Servius Honoratus, an ancient commentator of Virgil, says in his commentary that all high mountains are called Alpes by Celts. The term may be common to Italo-Celtic, because the Celtic languages have terms for high mountains derived from alp and this may be consistent with the theory that in Greek Alpes is a name of non-Indo-European origin. According to the Old English Dictionary, the Latin Alpes might possibly derive from a pre-Indo-European word *alb hill, Albania, a name not native to the region known as the country of Albania, has been used as a name for a number of mountainous areas across Europe. In Roman times, Albania was a name for the eastern Caucasus, in modern languages the term alp, alm, albe or alpe refers to a grazing pastures in the alpine regions below the glaciers, not the peaks. An alp refers to a mountain pasture where cows are taken to be grazed during the summer months and where hay barns can be found. The Alps are a crescent shaped geographic feature of central Europe that ranges in a 800 km arc from east to west and is 200 km in width, the mean height of the mountain peaks is 2.5 km. The range stretches from the Mediterranean Sea north above the Po basin, extending through France from Grenoble, the range continues onward toward Vienna, Austria, and east to the Adriatic Sea and Slovenia. To the south it dips into northern Italy and to the north extends to the border of Bavaria in Germany
30.
Austria-Hungary
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The union was a result of the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of 1867 and came into existence on 30 March 1867. Austria-Hungary consisted of two monarchies, and one region, the Kingdom of Croatia-Slavonia under the Hungarian crown. It was ruled by the House of Habsburg, and constituted the last phase in the evolution of the Habsburg Monarchy. Following the 1867 reforms, the Austrian and the Hungarian states were co-equal, Foreign affairs and the military came under joint oversight, but all other governmental faculties were divided between respective states. Austria-Hungary was a state and one of the worlds great powers at the time. Austria-Hungary was geographically the second-largest country in Europe after the Russian Empire, at 621,538 km2, the Empire built up the fourth-largest machine building industry of the world, after the United States, Germany, and the United Kingdom. After 1878, Bosnia and Herzegovina was under Austro-Hungarian military and civilian rule until it was annexed in 1908. The annexation of Bosnia also led to Islam being recognized as a state religion due to Bosnias Muslim population. Austria-Hungary was one of the Central Powers in World War I and it was already effectively dissolved by the time the military authorities signed the armistice of Villa Giusti on 3 November 1918. The realms full, official name was The Kingdoms and Lands Represented in the Imperial Council, each enjoyed considerable sovereignty with only a few joint affairs. Certain regions, such as Polish Galicia within Cisleithania and Croatia within Transleithania, enjoyed autonomous status, the division between Austria and Hungary was so marked that there was no common citizenship, one was either an Austrian citizen or a Hungarian citizen, never both. This also meant that there were always separate Austrian and Hungarian passports, however, neither Austrian nor Hungarian passports were used in the Kingdom of Croatia-Slavonia-Dalmatia. Instead, the Kingdom issued its own passports which were written in Croatian and French and it is not known what kind of passports were used in Bosnia-Herzegovina, which was under the control of both Austria and Hungary. The Kingdom of Hungary had always maintained a separate parliament, the Diet of Hungary, the administration and government of the Kingdom of Hungary remained largely untouched by the government structure of the overarching Austrian Empire. Hungarys central government structures remained well separated from the Austrian imperial government, the country was governed by the Council of Lieutenancy of Hungary – located in Pressburg and later in Pest – and by the Hungarian Royal Court Chancellery in Vienna. The Hungarian government and Hungarian parliament were suspended after the Hungarian revolution of 1848, despite Austria and Hungary sharing a common currency, they were fiscally sovereign and independent entities. Since the beginnings of the union, the government of the Kingdom of Hungary could preserve its separated. After the revolution of 1848–1849, the Hungarian budget was amalgamated with the Austrian, from 1527 to 1851, the Kingdom of Hungary maintained its own customs controls, which separated her from the other parts of the Habsburg-ruled territories
31.
German Empire
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The German Empire was the historical German nation state that existed from the unification of Germany in 1871 to the abdication of Kaiser Wilhelm II in 1918, when Germany became a federal republic. The German Empire consisted of 26 constituent territories, with most being ruled by royal families and this included four kingdoms, six grand duchies, five duchies, seven principalities, three free Hanseatic cities, and one imperial territory. Although Prussia became one of kingdoms in the new realm, it contained most of its population and territory. Its influence also helped define modern German culture, after 1850, the states of Germany had rapidly become industrialized, with particular strengths in coal, iron, chemicals, and railways. In 1871, it had a population of 41 million people, and by 1913, a heavily rural collection of states in 1815, now united Germany became predominantly urban. During its 47 years of existence, the German Empire operated as an industrial, technological, Germany became a great power, boasting a rapidly growing rail network, the worlds strongest army, and a fast-growing industrial base. In less than a decade, its navy became second only to Britains Royal Navy, after the removal of Chancellor Otto von Bismarck by Wilhelm II, the Empire embarked on a bellicose new course that ultimately led to World War I. When the great crisis of 1914 arrived, the German Empire had two allies, Italy and the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Italy, however, left the once the First World War started in August 1914. In the First World War, German plans to capture Paris quickly in autumn 1914 failed, the Allied naval blockade caused severe shortages of food. Germany was repeatedly forced to send troops to bolster Austria and Turkey on other fronts, however, Germany had great success on the Eastern Front, it occupied large Eastern territories following the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk. German declaration of unrestricted submarine warfare in early 1917 was designed to strangle the British, it failed, but the declaration—along with the Zimmermann Telegram—did bring the United States into the war. Meanwhile, German civilians and soldiers had become war-weary and radicalised by the Russian Revolution and this failed, and by October the armies were in retreat, Austria-Hungary and the Ottoman Empire had collapsed, Bulgaria had surrendered and the German people had lost faith in their political system. The Empire collapsed in the November 1918 Revolution as the Emperor and all the ruling monarchs abdicated, and a republic took over. The German Confederation had been created by an act of the Congress of Vienna on 8 June 1815 as a result of the Napoleonic Wars, German nationalism rapidly shifted from its liberal and democratic character in 1848, called Pan-Germanism, to Prussian prime minister Otto von Bismarcks pragmatic Realpolitik. He envisioned a conservative, Prussian-dominated Germany, the war resulted in the Confederation being partially replaced by a North German Confederation in 1867, comprising the 22 states north of the Main. The new constitution and the title Emperor came into effect on 1 January 1871, during the Siege of Paris on 18 January 1871, William accepted to be proclaimed Emperor in the Hall of Mirrors at the Palace of Versailles. The second German Constitution was adopted by the Reichstag on 14 April 1871 and proclaimed by the Emperor on 16 April, the political system remained the same. The empire had a parliament called the Reichstag, which was elected by universal male suffrage, however, the original constituencies drawn in 1871 were never redrawn to reflect the growth of urban areas
32.
Alpenkorps (German Empire)
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The Alpenkorps was a provisional mountain formation of division size formed by the Imperial German Army during World War I. It was considered by the Allies to be one of the best in the German Army, the Royal Bavarian 1st and 2nd Snowshoe Battalions were formed in Munich, Bavaria on November 21,1914. A third battalion was formed in April 1915 from the 4th, 5th and 6th companies of the second battalion, in May 1915, the three battalions were brought together with a fourth to form the 3rd Jäger Regiment. In October 1915, the designation Schneeschuhbataillon was eliminated, also in May 1915, the previously separate Bavarian 1st, 2nd and 2nd Reserve Jäger Battalions were joined to form the Royal Bavarian 1st Jäger Regiment. The Prussian 10th, 10th Reserve and 14th Reserve Jäger Battalions were also joined together, chevauleger-Regiment König Gebirgs-Artillerie-Abteilung Nr.1 Kgl. Bayerische Gebirgs-Minenwerfer-Abteilung Nr.269 Gebirgs-Minenwerfer-Abteilung Nr.2701, Jäger-Regiment Jäger-Regiment Nr.2 MG-Scharfschützen-Abteilung Nr.24 Gebirgs-MG-Abteilung Nr.204 Gebirgs-MG-Abteilung Nr.2053. Eskadron/Kgl. Bayerischer Artillerie-Kommandeur 7, Feldartillerie-Regiment Nr.204 Gebirgs-Artillerie-Abteilung Nr.6 I. /Kgl, bayerisches Reserve-Fußartillerie-Regiment Nr.1 Stab Kgl. Bayerische Pionier-Kompanie Nr.102 Pionier-Kompanie Nr.283 Gebirgs-Minenwerfer-Kompanie Nr, the unit had an air arm, which was FFA9, flying Pfalz Parasol aircraft. After four months, the Alpenkorps returned briefly to the Western Front, as now the Austrian defenders were sufficient in numbers, the Austrian Kaiserschützen honored the men of the Alpenkorps by awarding them their unit insignia, the Edelweiss. After only a week in France and the Dolomites, the Alpenkorps was sent to fight in the Serbian Campaign, the Alpenkorps returned to France in March 1916. After a short respite, it entered into the Battle of Verdun in June 1916, the regiments of the Alpenkorps lost over 70% of their strength in the fighting around Fort Vaux and Fleury. After leaving the line, the regiments were reconstituted, and in mid-July 1916 the 3rd Jäger Regiment was transferred from the division, the 2nd Brigade headquarters was eliminated and the Alpenkorps became a triangular division with 1st Brigade controlling the other two Jäger regiments and the Infanterie-Leib-Regiment. Romania entered the war on the side of the Entente on August 27,1916, in September, the Alpenkorps was dispatched to fight in the Romanian Campaign. The Infanterie-Leib-Regiment suffered a number of losses in the fighting in Romania, including one of its most prominent members, Prince Heinrich of Bavaria. The Alpenkorps remained in Romania until April 1917 and then returned to the Western Front. In August 1917, the Alpenkorps returned to Romania and participated in the battles there in the wake of the Kerensky Offensive. In September 1917, the Alpenkorps was sent once more to the Italian Front to reinforce the Austrian Army for the upcoming 12th Battle of the Isonzo. Another company commander who distinguished himself at Caporetto, the Infanterie-Leib-Regiments Ferdinand Schörner, the Alpenkorps returned to the Western Front in 1918
33.
Italian Regency of Carnaro
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The Italian Regency of Carnaro was a self-proclaimed state in the city of Fiume led by Gabriele dAnnunzio between 1919 and 1920. It is also known by its lyrical name Fiume Endevour, during World War I, Italy made a pact with the Allies, the Treaty of London, in which it was promised all of the Austrian Littoral, but not the city of Fiume. Gabriele DAnnunzio was angered by what he considered to be handing over of the city of Fiume and their march from Ronchi dei Legionari to Fiume became known as the Impresa di Fiume. On the same day, DAnnunzio announced that he had annexed the territory to the Kingdom of Italy and he was enthusiastically welcomed by the Italian population of Fiume. This move was opposed by the Italian government and DAnnunzio tried to resist pressure from Italy, the plotters sought to have Italy annex Fiume, but were denied. Instead, Italy initiated a blockade of Fiume while demanding that the plotters surrender, during his time in Fiume in September 1919, Filippo Tommaso Marinetti called the leaders of the Exploit advance-guard deserters. The name Carnaro was taken from the Golfo del Carnaro, where the city is located and it was temporarily expanded by DAnnunzio in order to include the island of Veglia. The only other State to recognize the Italian Regency of Carnaro was the Soviet Union, the Charter of Carnaro was a constitution that combined anarchist, proto-fascist and democratic republican ideas. DAnnunzio is often seen as a precursor of the ideals and techniques of Italian fascism, de Ambris provided the legal and political framework, to which DAnnunzio added his skills as a poet. The legislative power vested in a legislature consisting of a Council of the Optimates. Joint sessions of the Councils, would be responsible for treaties with foreign powers, amendments to the constitution, the charter designated music to be one of the fundamental principles of the Fiume State. The approval of the Treaty of Rapallo on 12 November 1920 turned Fiume into an independent state, DAnnunzio ignored the Treaty of Rapallo and declared war on Italy itself. On 24 December 1920 the Italian army and a bombardment by the Royal Italian Navy forced the Fiuman legionnaires to evacuate and surrender the city. The Free State of Fiume would officially last until 1924, when Fiume was eventually annexed to the Kingdom of Italy under the terms of the Treaty of Rome,1924, the administrative division was called the Province of Carnaro. STATI LIBERO di FIUME - FREE STATE of FIUME, archived from the original on 22 December 2012
34.
5th Alpine Division Pusteria
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The 5th Alpini Division Pusteria was a light Infantry division of the Italian Army, specializing in Mountain Combat. The Alpini are an infantry corps of the Italian Army. The division was formed in 1935, the division played a primary role in the Battle of Amba Aradam and the Battle of Maychew. On June 21,1940 the “Pusteria” division began to advance in southern France with other Italian units during the last days of the Battle of France, the division was then sent to Albania, where it participated in the Italian attack on Greece. After the invasion of Yugoslavia the “Pusteria” was sent to Montenegro where the division was decimated greatly in heavy fighting against Yugoslavian Partisans, on 1 December 1941 this division was victorious against Partisans in the Battle of Pljevlja. In August 1942, the division was repatriated and after two months of rest participated in Case Anton, the Axis occupation of Vichy France, afterwards the Pusteria took up garrison duties in the southern region of Provence
35.
Second Italo-Ethiopian War
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The Second Italo-Ethiopian War, also referred to as the Second Italo-Abyssinian War, was a colonial war that started in October 1935, after a battle on 5 December 1934, and ended in May 1936. The war was fought between the forces of the Kingdom of Italy and the armed forces of the Ethiopian Empire. The war resulted in the occupation of Ethiopia. Politically, like the Mukden Incident in 1931, the Abyssinia Crisis in 1935 is often seen as a demonstration of the ineffectiveness of the League of Nations. Italy and Ethiopia were member nations and yet the League was unable to control Italy or to protect Ethiopia when Italy clearly violated Article X of the Covenant of the League of Nations, the victory also brought Mussolini unprecedented popularity within Italy. Shortly after the war, Ethiopia was consolidated with Eritrea and Italian Somaliland into Italian East Africa, the Italo-Ethiopian Treaty of 1928 stated that the border between Italian Somaliland and Ethiopia was twenty-one leagues parallel to the Benadir coast. In 1930, Italy built a fort at the Welwel oasis in the Ogaden, the fort at Welwel was well beyond the twenty-one league limit and the Italians were encroaching on Ethiopian territory. In November 1934, Ethiopian territorial troops, escorting the Anglo-Ethiopian boundary commission, the British members of the commission soon withdrew to avoid embarrassing Italy. Italian and Ethiopian troops remained encamped in close proximity, in early December 1934, the tensions on both sides erupted into what was known as the Wal Wal incident. The resultant clash left approximately 110 Ethiopians and between 30 and 50 Italians and Somalis dead and led to the Abyssinia Crisis at the League of Nations, on 4 September 1935, the League of Nations exonerated both parties for the Wal Wal incident. The United Kingdom and France, keen to keep Italy as an ally against Germany, Italy soon began to build its forces on the borders of Ethiopia in Eritrea and Italian Somaliland. To this end, on 7 January 1935, France signed an agreement with Italy giving them essentially a hand in Africa to secure Italian co-operation. Next, in April, Italy was further emboldened by being a member of the Stresa Front, in June, non-interference was further assured by a political rift that had developed between the United Kingdom and France following the Anglo-German Naval Agreement. His comments stirred up a furor inside Japan, where there had been popular affinity for the African Empire, with an attack appearing inevitable, Emperor Haile Selassie ordered a general mobilization of the Army of the Ethiopian Empire. His new recruits consisted of around 500,000 men, some of whom were armed with nothing more than spears, many soldiers carried more modern weapons, including rifles, but many of these were from before 1900 and were outdated. Haile Selassies Mobilization Order stated, All men and boys able to carry a spear go to Addis Ababa, every married man will bring his wife to cook and wash for him. Every unmarried man will bring any unmarried woman he can find to cook, women with babies, the blind, and those too aged and infirm to carry a spear are excused. Anyone found at home after receiving this order will be hanged, according to Italian estimates, on the eve of hostilities the Ethiopians had an army of 350, 000–760,000 men
36.
Cannone da 47/32
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The Cannone da 47/32 M35 was an Austrian artillery piece produced under license in Italy during World War II. It was used both as a gun and an anti-tank gun, it was effective against lightly armored tanks. The Austrian firm of Böhler originally designed and manufactured the gun, in the 1930s Italy bought some of these guns from Böhler, and then began to produce the weapon under license, continuing its development. The Cannone da 47/32 M35 was the armament in the M13/40 medium tank, the M14/41 medium tank, and experimentally on the AB41 armored car. The M15/42 featured an improved version of this gun. The 47/32 was built in two versions, the first with semi-pneumatic disk wheels, and the second with improved barrel and suspension. To tow this piece, the Fiat-OCI708 CM tractor and the L3 tankette were used, due to its shape, the 47/32 was commonly called elefantino by the troops. The 47/32 was primarily an anti-tank gun, however, it was used as a close support weapon. In 1940 it was nonetheless an adequate weapon, it had roughly the same degree of penetration of its contemporaries. Its major drawbacks were the inadequacy of the gun to be towed by truck, while not an original user, the German army captured several of these guns during their annexation of Austria and their conquest of the Netherlands and the Soviet Union and took them into service. Some of these guns were donated to the Italians, after their surrender, these were recaptured along with Italian models. These guns were reassigned to German and RSI units or donated to Croatia. Operation Compass 1940, Wavells Whirlwind Offensive
37.
Field hospital
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A field hospital is a small mobile medical unit, or mini hospital, that temporarily takes care of casualties on-site before they can be safely transported to more permanent hospital facilities. This term is used overwhelmingly with reference to situations. The concept was inherited from the battlefield, and is now applied in case of disasters or major accidents, as well as with traditional Military medicine. A field hospital is a staff with a mobile medical kit and, often. In an urban environment, the hospital is often established in an easily accessible. In case of a structure, the mobile medical kit is often placed in normalized container. A field hospital is generally larger than an aid station. Field hospitals were originally called ambulances, the surgical, evacuation, or field hospitals would remain many miles in the rear, and the divisional clearing stations were never intended to provide emergency life-saving surgery. With the Army’s larger mobile hospitals unable to assume their role in support of the front line combat units. Some sort of interim solution had to be found quickly to provide the necessary surgical services, a team of Medical Corps officers modified the basic War Department for a standard 25-bed station hospital into a new theater and table of basic for a portable hospital of 25-beds. The new unit was capable of supporting units in its camp-type version or battalion. Commanded by a Medical Corps captain or major, the new 29-man portable hospital had 4 medical officers 3 general surgeons and 25 enlisted men, including 2 surgical and 11 medical technicians. What really marked a departure was that all of the units equipment, medical and surgical supplies. Because the surgical demands on the hospitals were then only minimal. The surgeons in many of the portable hospitals would set standards of excellence in surgery. Hastily assembled and trained, the portable hospitals suffered from many shortcomings in personnel and equipment, probably the single most critical problem was the severe limitation placed on the total weight to assure the unit’s portability. From the start, this meant that to be portable the unit had to give up medical and surgical equipment, with no actual operational experience as a basis, that doctrine was much more conjectural than concrete. The Surgeon Generals Office and the War Department enthusiastically adopted SWPAs new hospital as a unit before the first portable hospitals proved their value in the Buna campaign
38.
Battle of France
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The Battle of France, also known as the Fall of France, was the German invasion of France and the Low Countries in 1940 during the Second World War. Italy entered the war on 10 June 1940 and attempted an invasion of France, the German plan for the invasion of France consisted of two main operations. After the withdrawal of the BEF, the German forces began Fall Rot on 5 June, the sixty remaining French divisions made a determined resistance but were unable to overcome the German air superiority and armoured mobility. German tanks outflanked the Maginot Line and pushed deep into France, German forces occupied Paris unopposed on 14 June after a chaotic period of flight of the French government that led to a collapse of the French army. German commanders met with French officials on 18 June with the goal of forcing the new French government to accept an armistice that amounted to surrender and this led to the end of the French Third Republic. France was not liberated until the summer of 1944, in 1939, Britain and France offered military support to Poland in the likely case of a German invasion. In the dawn of 1 September 1939, the German Invasion of Poland began, France and the United Kingdom declared war on 3 September, after an ultimatum for German forces to immediately withdraw their forces from Poland was met without reply. Following this, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and Canada, on 7 September, in accordance with their alliance with Poland, France began the Saar Offensive with an advance from the Maginot Line 5 km into the Saar. France had mobilised 98 divisions and 2,500 tanks against a German force consisting of 43 divisions, the French advanced until they met the then thin and undermanned Siegfried Line. On 17 September, the French supreme commander, Maurice Gamelin gave the order to withdraw French troops to their starting positions, following the Saar Offensive, a period of inaction called the Phoney War set in between the belligerents. Adolf Hitler had hoped that France and Britain would acquiesce in the conquest of Poland, on 6 October, he made a peace offer to both Western powers. On 9 October, Hitler issued a new Führer-Directive Number 6, the plan was based on the seemingly more realistic assumption that German military strength would have to be built up for several years. For the moment only limited objectives could be envisaged and were aimed at improving Germanys ability to survive a long war in the west. Hitler ordered a conquest of the Low Countries to be executed at the shortest possible notice to forestall the French and it would also provide the basis for a long-term air and sea campaign against Britain. On 10 October 1939, Britain refused Hitlers offer of peace and on 12 October, colonel-General Franz Halder, presented the first plan for Fall Gelb on 19 October. This was the codename of plans for a campaign in the Low Countries. Halders plan has been compared to the Schlieffen Plan, the given to the German strategy of 1914 in the First World War. It was similar in both plans entailed an advance through the middle of Belgium
39.
Greco-Italian War
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The Greco-Italian War, took place between the Kingdoms of Italy and Greece from 28 October 1940 to 23 April 1941. This local war began the Balkans Campaign of World War II between the Axis powers and the Allies and it turned into the Battle of Greece when British and German ground forces intervened early in 1941. In the mid-1930s, the Italian Prime Minister Benito Mussolini began an aggressive foreign policy, World War II began on 3 September 1939 and on 10 June 1940, Italy declared war on the Allies, invaded France, British Somaliland and Egypt by September and prepared to occupy Greece. In the late 1930s the Greeks had begun the Metaxas Line opposite Bulgaria, in 1940, there was a hostile press campaign in Italy and other provocations culminating in the sinking of the Greek light cruiser Elli by the Italians on 15 August. On 28 October, Mussolini issued an ultimatum to Greece demanding the cession of Greek territory, the Italian army invaded Greece on 28 October before the Italian ultimatum expired. After reinforcing the Albanian front to 28 divisions, the Italians conducted an offensive in 1941. In the spring of 1941, the failure of the Italian counter-offensive, during the Battle of Greece, Greek and British forces in northern Greece were overwhelmed and the Germans advanced rapidly into Greece. In Albania, the Greek army made a withdrawal to avoid being cut off by the Germans, was followed up slowly by the Italians. Greece was occupied by Bulgarian, German and Italian troops, the Italian army suffered 154,172 casualties from all causes and the Greek army about 90,000 losses. The regime wanted hegemony in the Mediterranean–Danubian–Balkan region and Mussolini imagined the conquest of an empire stretching from the Strait of Gibraltar to the Strait of Hormuz, there were designs for a protectorate over Albania and for the annexation of Dalmatia and economic and military control of Yugoslavia and Greece. The fascist regime also sought to establish protectorates over Austria, Hungary, Romania and Bulgaria, in 1936, the Spanish Civil War began and Italy made a military contribution so vast that it played a decisive role in the victory of the rebel forces of Francisco Franco. A full-scale external war was fought for Spanish subservience to the Italian Empire, to place Italy on a war footing, and to create a warrior culture. In September 1938, the Italian army had plans to invade Albania. Albania was a territory that Italy could acquire for living space to ease its overpopulation as well as a foothold for expansion in the Balkans, during 1940, Italy invaded France and Egypt. A plan to invade Yugoslavia was drawn up, but postponed due to opposition from Nazi Germany, Italy had captured the predominantly Greek-inhabited Dodecanese Islands in the Aegean Sea from the Ottoman Empire in the Italo-Turkish War of 1912. It had occupied them since, after reneging on the 1919 Venizelos–Tittoni agreement to them to Greece. Italy occupied parts of Anatolia which threatened the Greek occupation zone, Greek troops were landed and the Greco-Turkish War began with Greek troops advanced into Anatolia. Turkish forces eventually defeated the Greeks and with Italian aid, recovered the lost territory, in 1923, Mussolini used the murder of an Italian general on the Greco-Albanian border as a pretext to bombard and temporarily occupy Corfu, the most important of the Ionian Islands
Borgo San Dalmazzo, Val Stura, Monte Argentera, Cuneo
Dronero, Val Maira, Bicocca
Saluzzo, Val Varaita, Monte Viso
2nd Alpini Regiment HQ based in Cuneo
Command and Logistic Support Company
Alpini Battalion Saluzzo
