The Italian Army, 1940-45: Africa 1940-43 (Men-at-Arms Series)

Rating:
Summary: Osprey fills a long neglected subject
Review: In contrast to Mr Rila, I happen to be less interested in the U.S. and British forces. I've always been put off by the excessive coverage of their military as well as the German during the Second World War. Frankly, I often despaired that Anglophone military publishers succumbed to a cliched cycle of British, American, German armies with a token smattering of other countries.
Osprey's Italian Army at war mini-series is a belated recognition that there were other combattant nations involved during WW II and that it was now time to cover them The Italian army has often been a subject of derision in the Anglophone military histories due no doubt to their dismal performance in the North African and Balkan campaigns.
That's attitude has always been somewhat one-sided. Indeed, as Phillip Jowett ably shows, the Italians weren't totally inept. It's often forgotten that the Italians were among the most innovative in military affairs. They were among the first to raise parachute units an incorporate them into their war plans; their frogmen were best in Europe and Decima MAS was a formidable unit throughout the war. The Italian army was also the first to adopt a camouflage pattern for its shelter quarters in 1929. No doubt that inspired the German and Soviet military to adopt their own camouflage patterns
The Italians were also very effective as counter-guerrilla soldiers in Yugoslavia.
The mini-series is outstanding as it fills an important gap in Osprey's series. The mini-series allows us to assess better the Italian army both from a vantage point of nearly 60 years as well a fresh look at the historical documents. The Italian military performed dismally because its equipment was obselete and Mussolini wasn't interested in such unglamouros responsibilities as ensuring industrial production nor that his military had comparable equipment to that of its potential enemies. It was one thing to invade Ethopia with obselete equipment; quite another against the Greeks...
The artwork is superb though I did notice Stephen Andrew did have a tendency to repeat the same face in nearly all of the plates.
He'll have to avoid that mannerism in the future.
In sum, I highly recommend this mini-series and it should find a place in the bookshelves of modelers, re-enactors and militaria collectors.

Rating:
Summary: Interesting but poorly researched
Review: Overall it is a nice summary of the Italian forces in Africa and Ethiopia during WW2. Good information on events, nice pictures of uniforms and some good photos but I was very disappointed with the research into the order of battle. For example, it states that 22 medium tanks were sent to Africa Orientale (Ethiopia) before the outbreak of war when in fact it was 24 medium tanks that were sent. And for its descriptions of the Libyan battalions in North Africa it clearly conflicts with the Italian Official History on North Africa. You would think that a book on the Italian Army would use the Italian Official histories as a basis for research which would have avoided these mistakes.

Rating:
Summary: Men At Arms excellent series
Review: Some interesting reviews - one reviewer complains of a lack of primary research, but is it not possible the author found better sources than the "official histories". Official histories of any nation often get details wrong - such as the rather silly 24 tanks rather than 22 example given below.

My purpose for buying this book was to get a basic handle on Italian military organization at the formation level, as well as an understanding of the rank system. In combination with some web research, I found this book fit the bill rather nicely, in addition to giving a good sketch history of Italian participation in World War Two (I am referring to volume 1 and volume 2 - I notice that some of the reviews for MAA series get cross posted between volumes).

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

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

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

Marked down because of Stephen Andrew's artwork - colour and texture of uniforms very much improved over his earlier German plates (see German Army (1)) but faces and poses still lamentable.

Rating:
Summary: Interesting but poorly researched
Review: The second of Jowett and Andrew's series on the Italian Army during the second world war, this volume is much like the first. The campaign narratives are especially interesting, and include orders of battle {for the Italians}, as well as nicely illustrated rank insignia charts. Narratives on the uniforms and equipment are brief and not very comprehensive, and the illustrations are composites from photographs and basically copied from the first volume. 48 pages in length, it's a good reference for the beginning military historian or collector.

Rating:
Summary: The Italian Army 1940-45 {2} Africa 1940-1943
Review: The second of Jowett and Andrew's series on the Italian Army during the second world war, this volume is much like the first. The campaign narratives are especially interesting, and include orders of battle {for the Italians}, as well as nicely illustrated rank insignia charts. Narratives on the uniforms and equipment are brief and not very comprehensive, and the illustrations are composites from photographs and basically copied from the first volume. 48 pages in length, it's a good reference for the beginning military historian or collector.

Rating:
Summary: Weak link of the Axis
Review: This is quite a good title which brings some light on the Italian Army, the weak link of the Axis powers. The Italian Army was often derided as being ineffective. It never had the reputation of being efficient like the Wehrmacht nor of being ruthless like the Japanese army. But this book helps to set the record straight and shows that when well led, Italians fought extremely well in Africa. The only disappointment are the illustrations. Though the uniforms are well drawn, the artist has used the same face for most of the figures. This face is almost caricatural and does a disfavour to the book's general presentation.

Rating:
Summary: Highly Useful and Detailed Study
Review: This work is a splendid example of the new emphasis of the publisher on producing comprehensive works in a handy cheap format compared with the earlier broad brush treatments which covered too much in too little detail.
The new emphasis is on sets covering various national armed forces in as much detail as is available, consistent with the current purpose of the works in the series, which have evolved from an original emphasis on serving the military miniature maker market into works intended to enlighten the general reader in enough detail to satisfy the merely curious and to point the way to further reading.
Most of us, including myself, have little need for, or the patience to read, voluminous studies, often in foreign languages, covering many eras and nations. My main interest is in the US forces, their allies and their enemies in the twentieth century.
That said, these works should be purchased as presented, in sets within the series. Since they are produced as a set, the volumes cover only relevent parts of the general history and the clothing and individual equipment is covered as it appears in each period. The French Army, US Army, British Army, and Italian Army series all have three volumes, covering the major theatres and time periods of the war. The German set has five.
The German Army set should be read in conjunction with many other individual volumes covering their allies and opponents and the other German fighting forces such as the Waffen SS, and the Parachute units, which were part of the German Air Force, the Luftwaffe.
If you want an introduction to the fascinating variety of clothing and equipment of the forces covered, this set is for you.