Recommended reading on Italy under Fascism 1922-1945

[jwsleser]

Pat

The best work covering this period is F.W. Denkin's The Brutal Friendship. The book basically starts with Torch and goes through Tunisia, Sicily, the 45 days, the surrender, and through the RSI period. This is mainly a political work that addresses the military events within that context. Essential IMHO to understand the post Sep 43 events in the north.

Pista! Jeff

[Poot]

Thanks Jwsleser,
I'm primarily interested in German control of the northern economy (and use of Italian weapons), but that looks like it will provide a good political/military context.

Thanks again,
Pat

[jwsleser]

Unless you read Italian, you choices are slim. I would check Volume V/II of Germany and the Second World War (Organization and Mobilization of the German Sphere of Power: Wartime Administration, Economy, and Manpower Resources 1942–1944/5). I would need to check the copy in CARL to see how much is discussed about North Italy, but it should be mentioned. You can check the bibliography/footnotes to see what sources the authors used. I feel this would be a great place to start.

As for Italian weapons, I am not sure where to look. My impression (not from formal research) is not much was used. Small arms such as the MAB 38A and Beratta M34/35 were procured locally and small factory production was maintained to equip local forces. Larger weapons were pretty much what was captured. Germany had to provide raw materials to Italian factories, so what was produced was limited and focused on easy to make items. I am not an expert on the R.S.I. (the R.E. is my focus), so hopefully others have some options.

Pista! Jeff

[Haven]

The Fascist Experience in Italy
John Pollard
Routledge Sources in History Series
1998

This book examines the development of Italian Fascism, and surveys the themes and issues of the movement. Beginning with the emergence of the united Italian state, sources go on to cover the political, social and economic status of Italy in the nineteenth century and the post-war aftermath of Fascism. The Fascist Experience in Italy provides analysis of printed and broadcast propaganda, as well as Mussolini's journalism and an extensive range of other source material, including images. The author includes new documentary material, previously unavailable in English, and thematic coverage of major topics such as the transformation of Italian agrarian and urban society and the actions of the Papacy.

PDF Link: http://www.e-reading.club/bookreader.ph ... _Italy.pdf

[Haven]

Fascist Spectacle: The Aesthetics of Power in Mussolini's Italy
Simonetta Falasca-Zamponi
Studies on the History of Society & Culture
August 2000

This richly textured cultural history of Italian fascism traces the narrative path that accompanied the making of the regime and the construction of Mussolini's power. Simonetta Falasca-Zamponi reads fascist myths, rituals, images, and speeches as texts that tell the story of fascism. Linking Mussolini's elaboration of a new ruling style to the shaping of the regime's identity, she finds that in searching for symbolic means and forms that would represent its political novelty, fascism in fact brought itself into being, creating its own power and history.

Falasca-Zamponi argues that an aesthetically founded notion of politics guided fascist power's historical unfolding and determined the fascist regime's violent understanding of social relations, its desensitized and dehumanized claims to creation, its privileging of form over ethical norms, and ultimately its truly totalitarian nature.

PDF Link: http://s1.downloadmienphi.net/file/down ... 393937.pdf

[Haven]

Fascist Modernities: Italy, 1922-1945
Ruth Ben-Ghiat (Author)
Studies on the History of Society & Culture
2004

Ruth Ben-Ghiat's innovative cultural history of Mussolini's dictatorship is a provocative discussion of the meanings of modernity in interwar Italy. Eloquent, pathbreaking, and deft in its use of a broad range of materials, this work argues that fascism appealed to many Italian intellectuals as a new model of modernity that would resolve the contemporary European crisis as well as long-standing problems of the national past. Ben-Ghiat shows that—at a time of fears over the erosion of national and social identities—Mussolini presented fascism as a movement that would allow economic development without harm to social boundaries and national traditions. She demonstrates that although the regime largely failed in its attempts to remake Italians as paragons of a distinctly fascist model of mass society, twenty years of fascism did alter the landscape of Italian cultural life. Among younger intellectuals in particular, the dictatorship left a legacy of practices and attitudes that often continued under different political rubrics after 1945.

PDF Link: [url]http://documenta_pdf.jmir.dyndns.org/R.Ben_Ghiat.FascistModernities_2001.pdf[/url]

[Haven]

Mussolini in the First World War: The Journalist, the Soldier, the Fascist
Paul O'Brien

How did Benito Mussolini come to fascism? Standard accounts of the dictator have failed to explain satisfactorily the transition from his pre-World War I 'socialism' to his post-war fascism. This controversial new book is the first to examine closely Mussolini's political trajectory during the Great War as evidenced in his journalistic writings, speeches and war diary, as well as some previously unexamined archive material. The author argues that the 1914-18 conflict provided the catalyst for Mussolini to clarify his deep-rooted nationalist tendencies. He demonstrates that Mussolini's interventionism was already anti-socialist and anti-democratic in the early autumn of 1914 and shows how in and through the experience of the conflict the future duce fine-tuned his authoritarian and totalitarian vision of Italy in a state of permanent mobilization for war. Providing a radical new interpretation of one of the most important dictators of the twentieth century, Mussolini in the First World War will appeal to anyone who wants to learn more about the roots of fascism in modern Europe. - See more at: http://www.bloomsbury.com/us/mussolini- ... 5mm0a.dpuf

PDF Link: http://cdn.preterhuman.net/texts/histor ... 'Brien.pdf

[Haven]

The Vatican & Italian Fascism, 1929-32: A Study in Conflict
John F. Pollard
Cambridge University Press
(November 17, 2005)

This book examines the relations between the Vatican and the Fascist regime in Italy during the period 1929-1932. The author sets out what he believes to be the long-term consequences of the 1931 crisis, and in so doing challenges a number of previously accepted interpretations.

Link: http://ebooks.cambridge.org/ebook.jsf?b ... 0511562945

[Poot]

Thanks Jeff and Haven. I'm primarily interested in the late war period in the north, specifically German control of the RSI war production and German use of Italian small arms. The latter are well attested in both photographic evidence and the surviving examples that display German depot markings on them. These extend well past the current myth that captured Italian rifles/carbines were ear-marked for the Volkssturm, which is based largely on two surviving pictures that show VS personnel marching with Carcano Model 1938 Moschettos. The very late war produced Carcani show subtle departures from earlier, pre-Armistice production models, and which appear arguably more German influenced.

Thanks again,
Pat

[jwsleser]

Likely a better book (given your interest in the economic side) is Tooze's The Wages of Destruction. Tooze should address the integration of Italian capacity into the German economic system.

Pista! Jeff

[Poot]

Thanks Jeff. Yes, Tooze's book is great, but very dense and slow going. I'll take another look in it and see what I can find.
Best,
Pat

[DrG]

Despite my absence from the Axis History Forum, I would like to provide a detailed list of the most useful books about Italy in World War 2 available in English language (note: all the books that I will list are written in English or both in Italian and English). I have a copy of most, if not all, of them, and sometimes I know personally the authors or I have read other books by the same author. Usually my impressions are based upon the Italian edition of each book, when available, but I don't think there are serious differences between the two editions.

As you may notice, this list leaves several themes (e.g. the Russian front) uncovered: it is either because there are no books available at all or they are present, but not worth reading. This latter problem, of course, is somewhat subjective, but, for example, I would never suggest a book that does not make a professional use of sources coming from all the nations involved involved (e.g. books about the Air War that don't correctly check claims with actual enemy losses). I am not very interested in the 1943-45 period, i.e. the war fought in Italy or by Italian forces after the armistice of 8 Sept. 1943, so this theme is not covered in this list, unless I have found a book that really satisfied me.

For sake of simplicity, I have provided the link to Amazon.com (when available) for each book, even though it should be noted that old books and some books by Italian publishers can be bought at lower prices from other bookshops.

• Politics, Diplomacy, Strategy
  This section covers everything that is not linked to tactical operations or Economic History. I am sorry to start my list with the topic that, certainly, has got the worst treatment by English-language literature. The research, started in Italy more than 50 (!!!) years ago by prof. Renzo De Felice have almost completely been ignored by Anglo-Saxon authors (French and Germans have been more open-minded, instead), maybe because of the lack of esteem between De Felice and Denis Mack Smith. Moreover, Italian academic historians seldom have published their books in English, keeping the rest of the world unaware of their research. As a consequence, the tens of thousands of pages of the finest and most professional research written in total by De Felice, Rosaria Quartararo, Francesco Perfetti, Eugenio Di Rienzo, Luciano Monzali, etc. are mostly unknown by non-Italian speakers. The same has happened with the great journalist (but with the professionality of a true historian) Franco Bandini.

Given the lack of an English edition of the monumental biography of Mussolini (in reality, almost a history of Italy under Fascism) written by De Felice, here I list his only works about Fascism availabe in English. They are fundamental works that must be read by anybody interested in WW2 Italy:
Renzo De Felice, "Interpretations of Fascism"
Renzo De Felice, "Fascism: An Informal Introduction to Its Theory and Practice"
Renzo De Felice, "The Jews in Fascist Italy: A History"

John Gooch, "Mussolini and His Generals: The Armed Forces and Fascist Foreign Policy, 1922-1940"
A great book about Fascist Italy's military policy, excellently documented and based fully on primary sources. I haven't found any strong bias and nothing close to prof. Gooch's book exists in Italian language (except for its Italian edition, of course!).

Reynolds M. Salerno, "Vital Crossroads: Mediterranean Origins of the Second World War, 1935-1940"
A scholarly book, based fully on primary sources, about the Italian and British naval policies up to WW2. An excellent source to understand Italy's entry in war.

Giuseppe Conti, "Mussolini's Spies: Italian Military Espionage, 1940-1943"
Prof. Conti has written a well documented book about Italian intelligence. It is the only book about this topic avalable in English and it's based upon a serious and professional research. The only problem is the relative lack of experience of the author with regards to cryptography and military history.

Elena Aga Rossi, "A Nation Collapses: The Italian Surrender of September 1943"
A mostly diplomatic and political history of the Italian armistice in 1943. Prof. Aga Rossi (a pupil of De Felice) has made an excellent work, but this book must be completed by O'Hara and Cernuschi's "Dark Navy" (see below, in the Navy section).

Bradley F. Smith, Elena Aga Rossi, "Operation Sunrise: The Secret Surrender"
This book is heavily based upon "La resa degli ottocentomila" by Ferruccio Lanfranchi, a great Italian journalist (and mentor of Franco Bandini) who wrote the story of the German surrender in Northern Italy in 1945. Along with this original source, this book has made a professional use of archival sources, making this book a must have for those interested in secret diplomacy of World War 2.

Davide Rodogno, "Fascism's European Empire: Italian Occupation during the Second World War"
An excellent research, but with the serious shortcoming of Dr. Rodogno's strong antifascist bias. It is the best history of Italian occupation of the Balkans and France in WW2 and is full of extremely useful data, but some of the interpretations are very debateable.

Nicholas Doumanis, "Myth and Memory in the Mediterranean: Remembering Fascism's Empire"
A balanced history of the Italian occupation of Greece.

• Books written by the Italian "protagonists"
  This section is devoted to memoirs or impersonal history essays written either by importat people or by veterans of WW2. Honestly, except for Borghese's, Caccia Dominioni's and Fioravanzo's books, I would not suggest to read them, but they can be useful if regarded as historical sources themselves.

Pietro Badoglio, "Italy in the Second World War: Memories and Documents"
Marshal Badoglio's memoirs, regarded as extremely dishonest and self-serving even for the standard of post-war memoirs written by generals or politicians.

Junio Valerio Borghese, "Sea Devils: Italian Navy Commandos in World War II"
While politically biased, it's a useful history of the Decima MAS and its commander.

Marc'Antonio Bragadin, "The Italian Navy In World War II"
An outdated history of the Italian Navy in WW2, written well before the declassification of ULTRA documents (the last Italian edition of this book, instead, took into account this historical information), but the author was on duty in Supermarina (the Italian Navy high command) during WW2 and therefore it is an interesting point of view from a protagonist.

Paolo Caccia Dominioni, "Alamein 1933-1962: An Italian Story"
The author fought at El Alamein in an engineers battallion attached to the Folgore Division and, after the war, he spent years in the desert to recover the corpses of fallen soldiers and study the battle also on an "archeological" point of view. It is, beyond any doubt, the classic of Italian veterans' books.

Galeazzo Ciano, "Diary 1937-1943"
While regarded for decades as a useful primary sources, it should be noted that Ciano himself modified the entries of his diary in 1943 in order to look more clever than he was and to blame every mistake on Mussolini.

Galeazzo Ciano, "Ciano's Diplomatic Papers"
A collection of diplomatic documents, it was very useful back in the 40's, now that archives have declassified the full documentation about WW2 this book is less necessary.

Eugenio Corti, "Few Returned: Twenty-eight Days on the Russian Front, Winter 1942-1943"
The memoirs of a veteran from the Russian front.

Eugenio Corti, "The Last Soldiers of the King: Life in Wartime Italy, 1943-1945"
The same veteran fought along with Allies in the Regio Esercito in Southern Italy after the armistice.

Giuseppe Fioravanzo, "History of Naval Tactical Thought"
This is not a book about WW2 alone, nor they are the memoirs of the author, admiral Fioravanzo (who was in Supermarina during WW2). But it is very useful nevertheless, because it is a theoretical essay about naval fighting in history, written by one of the protagonists of WW2.

Rachele Guidi Mussolini, "My Life with Mussolini"
The memoirs of Mussolin's widow. Useful just for its anedoctes.

Rachele Guidi Mussolini, Albert Zarca, "Mussolini: An Intimate Biography by His Widow"
The same as above.

Franco Maugeri, "From the Ashes of Disgrace"
The book that destroyed adm. Maugeri's career, former commander of the Italian Navy's intelligence in WW2. The American journalist who edited the English-language edition of the admiral's memoirs inserted some antifascist (that looked very un-patriotic back in Italy) remarks, making Maugeri look like almost a traitor (or, anyway, somebody not very interested in Italy's victory). The admiral retired his support to this book, but meanwhile his career as chief of staff of the post-war Italian Navy had to end.

Benito Mussolini, "My Rise and Fall"
This volume is made of two distinct books: the authobiography written by Mussolini for the American people in the Twenties and his, extremely biased, history of the Italian war between the summer of 1942 and his fall in the summer of 1943 ("Storia di un anno. Il tempo del bastone e della carota").

Edda Mussolini Ciano, "My Truth"
The memoirs, full of hatred for her father, of Ciano's wife and Mussolini's daughter.

Nuto Revelli, "Mussolini's Death March: Eyewitness Accounts of Italian Soldiers on the Eastern Front"
The memoirs of a veteran from the Russian front, with a strong anti-fascist bias.

Margherita Sarfatti, "My Fault: Mussolini As I Knew Him"
The author has been one of the several mistresses of Mussolini in the Twenties and the author of a biograpy of him. This book is her memoirs.

• Economy
  Even in Italian language there isn't a definitive book about the Economic history of Italy during Fascism. The best one, by prof. Rolf Petri ("Storia economica d'Italia. Dalla Grande Guerra al miracolo economico (1918-1963)"), hasn't been translated in English (there is only a German earlier version of it: "Von der Autarkie zum Wirtschaftswunder: Wirtschaftspolitik und industrieller Wandel in Italien 1935-1963"). Prof. Vera Zamagni, anyway, has written some good books and has been the editor of a collection of essays about the Italian war economy ("Come perdere la guerra e vincere la pace").

Mark Harrison, "The Economics of World War II: Six Great Powers in International Comparison"
The chapter by prof. Zamagni is a long summary of the aforemention book about the Italian war economy that she has edited.

Vera Zamagni, "The Economic History of Italy 1860-1990: Recovery after Decline"
Only part of the book is about Italy under Fascism, but it is a very good study of the development of Italian economy.

• Army
  Most of the Italian Army's operations during World War 2 are not covered in English language and, sadly, also in Italian language there are few books that are based on a professional comparison of sources coming from both the fronts.

Ciro Paoletti, "A Military History of Italy"
This book is about Italian military history (but with a strong interest on land operations) since the end of Renaissance. Despite the very long time period covered, I think that Paoletti's book is a must have for everybody interested in Italian military history (moreover, its Italian edition has been published by the Historical Office of the Italian Army), even if only of the history of WW2, because it provides not only a lot of little-known facts, but also some extremely clever analises of the origins of the shortcomings of the Italian Army during the last World War. Moreover, the text is mostly devoted to the XXth Century, so, even if you are not interested in the Napoleonic wars (for example), you will find a good coverage of WW2 anyway.

Mario Montanari, "The Three Battles of El Alamein (June-November 1942)"
The only book about WW2 published by the Historical Office of the Italian Army (Montanari himself was an officer of this Army unit) that has been translated into English. Despite some shortcomings, it has the advantage that it makes use not only of the Italian archives, but also of the British history books published before it, providing at least a good comparison of sources.

Mario Cervi, "The Hollow Legions: Mussolini's Blunder in Greece, 1940-1941"
Mario Cervi has been one of the most important Italian jurnalist and a good historian. He served as an officer during WW2, but I prefer to keep his book about the Greek Campaign in this section because it is a professional and impersonal history of this conflict: no space is devoted to the author's memoirs, despite the fact that he was a veteran of this front. The tactical level of the operations is not covered very well, but at least the book provides a clever analysis of the political and diplomatic background of this campaign and makes use not only of the Italian sources, but also of the Greek ones. Nothing better exists in Italian language, except for the official history published by Army which, anyway, lacks any political analysis and focuses only on the land operations.

Sebastian O'Kelly, "Amedeo: The True Story of an Italian's War in Abyssinia"
The adventourous biography of Amedeo Guillet, an Italian cavalry officer who fought in East Africa during WW2 and led an irregular band of cavalrymen who fought against the British occupation. One of the handful of books about Italian Resistance in East Africa, a forgotten campaign despite its singularity (pratically, it has been the only large-scale resistance movement by the Axis during WW2).

Nicola Pignato, "A Century of Italian Armored Cars"
Pignato was one of the leading Italian experts in Italian armoured vehicles. This illustrated book is a must have for those interested in this topic, even though it covers the full XXthe Century.

The following books have been published by Osprey. They can be useful and unexpensive references for uniforms, OOBs, technical data, etc.:
Philip S. Jowett, "The Italian Army 1940-45" (Vol. 1)
Philip S. Jowett, "The Italian Army 1940-45" (Vol. 2)
Philip S. Jowett, "The Italian Army 1940-45" (Vol. 3)
Filippo Cappellano, Pier Paolo Battistelli, "Italian Medium Tanks: 1939-45"
Filippo Cappellano, Pier Paolo Battistelli, "Italian Light Tanks: 1919-45"
Piero Crociani, Pier Paolo Battistelli, "Italian Soldier in North Africa: 1941-43"
Piero Crociani, Pier Paolo Battistelli, "Italian Army Elite Units and Special Forces 1940-43"
Piero Crociani, Pier Paolo Battistelli, "Italian Navy & Air Force Elite Units & Special Forces 1940-45"
Piero Crociani, Pier Paolo Battistelli, "Italian Blackshirt: 1935-45"
Piero Crociani, Pier Paolo Battistelli, "World War II Partisan Warfare in Italy"

• Navy
  The historiography on the Italian Navy in WW2 has been involved in a recent revolution, especially outside Italy. Some authors, like Enrico Cernuschi, Vincent P. O'Hara, Erminio Bagnasco and Augusto de Toro have been publishing several extremely high quality books about this topic, essays that, in my opinion, can be regarded as definitive and fundamental. Some of these aren't available in Italian yet, therefore English-speaking readers are even more lucky than Italian ones.

Vincent P. O'Hara, "Struggle for the Middle Sea: The Great Navies at War in the Mediterranean Theater, 1940-1945"
The best history of the naval war in the Mediterranean.

Vincent P. O'Hara, "In Passage Perilous: Malta and the Convoy Battles of June 1942"
Simply the best book about the battle of Middle June 1942, not only in English but also in Italian.

Vincent P. O'Hara, "TORCH: North Africa and the Allied Path to Victory"
While not focusing on Italy, it is still useful due to the implications of Operation Torch for the war in the Mediterranean and the involvement of Italian forces in the contrast to the Allied landing.

Vincent P. O'Hara, W. David Dickson, Richard Worth, "On Seas Contested. Seven Great Navies of the Second World War"
The chapter about the Regia Marina is fundamental.

Vincent P. O'Hara, Enrico Cernuschi, "Dark Navy: The Italian Regia Marina and the Armistice of 8 September 1943"
This book covers not only the strictly military aspects of the Italian Armistice, but also the political and diplomatic ones. A must have, in my opinion more useful than prof. Aga Rossi's book that I have reviewed above.

Vincent P. O'Hara, Enrico Cernuschi, "Black Phoenix: History and Operations of the Marina Repubblicana 1943-1945"
The only professional history of the Navy of the Italian Social Republic (Mussolini's regime after the Italian armistice) not only in English but also in Italian. A must have.

James J. Sadkovich, "The Italian Navy in World War II"
Still today, this book is the most useful referece for data about the Italian naval war. The author is an advocate of the Italian Navy, it is clear, but I don't find his interpretations too biased. This book is fully based on archival an primary sources, when it was published it was absolutely revolutionary.

Erminio Bagnasco, Augusto de Toro, "The Littorio Class: Italy's Last and Largest Battleships 1937-1948"
A masterpiece, nothing less than it (see also my review here: http://forum.axishistory.com/viewtopic. ... 9&t=183792). One of the best technical (but also with operational details) book about a WW2 battleships class.

Aldo Fraccaroli, "Italian Warships of World War II"
A very old book, written by the dean of Italian naval history. It provides many quick data about Italian warships and their operations, but nothing more. Still useful as a reference, anyway.

Aldo Fraccaroli, "RN Zara, Heavy Cruiser 1929-1941"
A very good illustrated history of the technique and of the operations (this part is quite outdated) of the cruiser Zara.

Maurizio Brescia, "Mussolini's Navy: A Reference Guide to the Regia Marina, 1939-1945"
A useful reference guide, full of data about several topics (included, for example, naval bases).

Erminio Bagnasco, "Submarines of World War Two"
An old but still useful book about WW2 submarines, I suggest it for the chapter devoted to Italian subs.

William H. Garzke, Robert O. Dulin, "Battleships: Axis and Neutral Battleships in World War II"
After the publishing of Bagnasco's and de Toro's book about the Littorios it is less useful, but the chapters about Dorias and Cavours are still the best about this topic.

• Air Force
  Almost like has happened for the Navy, the history of the Italian air operations in WW2 has been revolutionized by the recent researches by Ludovico Slongo, Michele Palermo and Håkan Gustavsson, who are writing their books making an incredibly detailed use of original documents, both Italian and British. Every single claim is compared to the reports written by the enemy. When original documents, lost or destroyed during the war, are not available, they make use of diaries, official histories, memoirs, personal papers, etc. A full and welcome revision of air war in North Africa during WW2, available both in English and Italian languages. Sadly, I can't say the same for many other air fronts, like the Mediterranean or the Balkan ones, that are covered by outdated (even if published recently) researches that make comparative analyses only rarely, if ever. Moreover, no comprehensive and updated history of Italy's air war is available, neither in Italian or in English.

Håkan Gustavsson, Ludovico Slongo, "Desert Prelude 1940-41: Early Clashes"

Håkan Gustavsson, Ludovico Slongo, "Desert Prelude: Operation Compass"

Michele Palermo, "North Africa Air Battles, November-December, 1941"

Michele Palermo, Ludovico Slongo, "Ali D'Africa. 1° Stormo C.T. in North Africa. November 1941-July 1942"

Michele Palermo, "Eagles over Gazala. Air Battles in North Africa May-June 1942"

Håkan Gustavsson, Ludovico Slongo, "Fiat CR.42 Aces of World War 2"

Håkan Gustavsson, Ludovico Slongo, "Gladiator vs CR.42 Falco 1940-41"
Besides the aforementioned qualities of the authors' research, the coverage of lesser-known fronts like East Africa is outstanding.

Marco Mattioli, "Savoia-Marchetti S.79 Sparviero Torpedo-bomber Units"

Giorgio Apostolo, Giovanni Massimello, "Italian Aces of World War 2"

Hans Werner Neulen, "The Rich Booty. Italian Aircraft in Luftwaffe Service"
A very detailed history of the Italian aircrafts captured by the Germans after the armistice of 8 Sept. 1943.

Chris Dunning, "Courage Alone: The Italian Airforce 1940-1943"
Useful as a quick and illustrated reference guide to Italian units and aircraft camouflages.

"Ali d'Italia" - series
A very useful series of short "Osprey-like" books about Italian aircrafts. The level of technical detail is excellent.

"Ali d'Italia Mini" - series
A very useful series of very short "Osprey-like" books about Italian aircrafts. The level of technical detail is excellent.

"Ali e Colori" - series
A very useful series of short "Osprey-like" books about the camouflage of Italian aircrafts.

"Ali Straniere in Italia" - series
A very useful series of short "Osprey-like" books about foreign (both German and captured) aircrafts in Italian service.

"Aeorfan" - printed
"Aeorfan" - CD-ROM of out-of-print issues
The masterpiece review of Italian aircrafts history. It is fully bilingual (in the most recent issues the English language part is made of very long and detailed summaries of the articles: you get the same information of the Italian reader, just in a dryer and less elegant style).

Roberto Bettiolo, Giancarlo Marcozzi, "Campini Caproni: The History and the Technical Development of the First Italian Jet Aircraft"
Excellent history of the first Italian jet and of the secret projects based upon the use of motor-jets.

Alessandro Barteletti, "Reggiane RE 2006: A True Story"
Great book about a little known development of the RE 2005 fighter, equipped with the Daimler-Benz D.B.603 engine.

Giuseppe Ciampaglia, "Dal SAI Ambrosini Sagittario all'Aerfer Leone: The History of the First Italian Supersonic Fighters Created by Sergio Stefanutti"
Ciampaglia is the leading expert about the history of Italian jet propulsion in WW2 and in this book he provides invaluable information about the origins of the first (post-war) supersonic fighter, including detail about WW2 research on high-speed flight.

Maurizio Di Terlizzi, "Fieseler Fi-156 Storch in Italian Service"
A useful short book about a little-known topic, which has its beginning thanks to the personal gift of a Storch from Goering to Balbo.

Marco Mattioli, "Bell P-39 Airacobra in Italian Service"
A useful short book about the service of the Airacobra in the Italian Air Force both during the last years of WW2 (as a cobelligerent) and after the war.

Marco Mattioli, "Lockheed P-38 Lightning in Italian Service 1943-1955"
A useful short book about the service of the Lightning in the Italian Air Force before the armistice (as a captured enemy airplane), then during the last years of WW2 and after the war.

Ferdinando D'Amico, Gabriele Valentini, "The Camouflage & Markings of the Aeronautica Nazionale Repubblicana 1943-45"
A useful book that complements Dunning's "Courage Alone" for the camouflage of Italian aircrafts, this time fighting for the Air Force of the Italian Social Republic.

[cavalleria]

my top choices


war in italy by richard lamb (about the northern republic)

seargent in the snow-stern(eastern front)

few returned-corti(eastern front)

cianos diaries

I am now reading kaputt

[Messe62]

MUSSOLINI AS WARLORD by James Burgwyn.

Absolutely one of the best accounts Ive ever read dealing with Italys part in World War II and Il Duces drive to bring about a new "Roman Empire." Highly reccomended.

[Messe62]

Empire on The Adriatic by James Burgwyn. Outstanding history ( the only in english) to adress the War Italy fought in Croatia, Dalmatia and Montenegro. although not easy to follow at times (due to the large number of players involved) its an excellent and scholarly overview of a previously forgotten subject.