THE RECORD OF THE ITALIAN ARMY
The Record of the Italian Army By EDITORIAL RESEARCH REPORTSIF the Italian army is to be of much help to Germany in the present war, it will have to do considerably better than in the World war...
...Then for some months there was inaction...
...BEFORE entering the World war in 1915, the Italian army hadn't exactly covered itself with glory against Turkey...
...The Record of the Italian Army By EDITORIAL RESEARCH REPORTSIF the Italian army is to be of much help to Germany in the present war, it will have to do considerably better than in the World war of 1914-18...
...Nevertheless, Italy made feeble progress in Tripoli, even though Italian troops occupied Tripoli-tan seaports, so that Turkey couldn't send troops...
...Italy had a numerical superiority of 2 or 3 to 1, but the mountains and a few well placed field-guns balanced that advantage...
...In June, 1918 an Austrian advance was checked, and in October, with the end of the war already in sight, an Italian advance forced Austria-Hungary to capitulate...
...But this was steeply mountainous terrain, where progress was difficult, and Austria detached only a few divisions from the Russian front...
...Italy entered the World war to wrest territory from Austria-Hungary, some of it inhabited primarily by Italians (Italia Irredenta...
...It was a month before Italy regained the ground lost...
...In May and August of 1917 more attacks got nowhere...
...It is true that the Italian arms achieved complete victory over Ethiopia, but there the resistance was so slight that the term "war" can hardly be used...
...IN the fall of 1917 Germany secretly transferred six divisions, with good strategists, to the Italian front...
...By this time Italian opposition to war had become considerable...
...In September, 1911, Italy declared war on the Sultan to obtain the Turkish province of Tripoli (now Libya) in north Africa...
...On Oct...
...Late in October a Turkish-native force cut up some Italian troops around the Tripolitan oasis, then forced the retirement of the whole Italian line in that region...
...The Italian army marched across the southern boundary between the two countries...
...Then as in 1940 Italy waited to strike until her enemy was in sore distress The revolution of the Young Turks had thrown Turkey into disorganization which permeated the Turkish army no less than Turkish finances...
...Both Italian wings had to be hastily retired to avoid encirclement, and the retreat ended only at the Piave, as far into Italy as the Italian army had penetrated into Austria...
...By October Italy was still in possession of not much more than the seacoast strip of Tripoli, but at that time Serbia, Montenegro, Greece, and Bulgaria opened war on Turkey (the first Balkan war...
...In 1915 Italy penetrated only slightly into Austria...
...they were later strengthened by French and British detachments...
...Only for that reason did Turkey ask Italy for peace, and consent to cede Tripoli...
...In April, 1912 Italy pushed slowly ahead in Africa...
...On the Piave the Italians made a successful stand...
...Then, in August, an Italian offensive captured Gorlzia, but three more attempts in the autumn made scant headway...
...An Italian fleet was driven away from the Dardanelles by the shore batteries, but Italian forces occupied Rhodes and the Dodecanese islands...
...In 1916 the enemy launched a threatening offensive in the north, which Italy finally checked...
...23, 1917 an Austro-Gcrman army smashed into the Italian center at Caporetto, and drove all before it...
Vol. 10 • June 1940 • No. 25
