During World War II, the Italian Expeditionary Corps in Russia was a corps-sized expeditionary unit of the Regio Esercito that fought on the Eastern Front. In July 1942 the CSIR entered the newly form
Gerd von Rundstedt, Commander-in-Chief of Army Group South, with Benito Mussolini and Adolf Hitler on the Eastern Front, 28 August 1941
Mussolini inspecting members of the Italian Expeditionary Corps in Russia
Italian soldiers of the CSIR attack Gorlovka on 2 November 1941
General Messe
Operation Barbarossa
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Operation Barbarossa was the invasion of the Soviet Union by Nazi Germany and several of its European Axis allies starting on Sunday, 22 June 1941, during World War II. More than 3.8 million Axis troo
Italian Expeditionary Corps in Russia
…in reality. The CSIR was created by Italian dictator Benito Mussolini to show solidarity with Nazi Germany after German dictator Adolf Hitler launched Operation Barbarossa and attacked the Soviet Union. Mussolini created the CSIR, despite the lack of enthusiasm shown by Hitler, on 10 July 1941 and between July and August…
Clockwise from top-left: German soldiers advance through northern Russia German flamethrower crew burns down a house in the background German Panzer IV stuck in the snow with white camouflage paint Soviet Ilyushin Il-2s over German positions near Moscow Soviet POWs on the way to prison camps Soviet soldiers fire artillery
1939 German Diplomatic passport with its holder returning after the outbreak of war two years later and being evacuated on a special train out of the USSR.
Semyon Timoshenko and Georgy Zhukov in 1940
Army general (later Marshal) Zhukov speaking at a military conference in Moscow, September 1941