Italians at Stalingrad

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LZ X-ray
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Italians at Stalingrad

#1

Post by LZ X-ray » 21 Sep 2002, 05:05

Does anybody know how many Italian soldiers were at Stalingrad? What were the casualty figures for them? Are their any accounts of their role in the battle? :)

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The Desert Fox
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Yes some italians where in Stalingrad

#2

Post by The Desert Fox » 21 Sep 2002, 10:09

Check out Anthony Beevors book on Stalingrad. The Italians at Stalingrad where few, but several hundred where caught in the encirlement.

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The Desert Fox


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Andy H
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#3

Post by Andy H » 21 Sep 2002, 15:22

Most articles dealing with Stalingrad barely mention the small Italian involvement. The units involved were support/logistical in nature and I have not come across a single ref to a front line unit, I await to be proved wrong. :oops:

:D Andy from the Shire
Last edited by Andy H on 21 Sep 2002, 16:16, edited 1 time in total.

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Lupo Solitario
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#4

Post by Lupo Solitario » 21 Sep 2002, 15:29

It's not the first time I hear about this mysterious italian unit which should have been blocked in stalingrad but it doesn't exist in any italian source I know, neither I found it named in any document....My opinion is that it's a war legend but I can logically be wrong

bye

Lupo

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The Desert Fox
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#5

Post by The Desert Fox » 21 Sep 2002, 16:37

Lupo Solitario wrote:It's not the first time I hear about this mysterious italian unit which should have been blocked in stalingrad but it doesn't exist in any italian source I know, neither I found it named in any document....My opinion is that it's a war legend but I can logically be wrong

bye

Lupo
Check out Anthony Beevors book Lupo, apart from the reference on page 439 their is another within it talking about the Company of Italians troops who got caught up in the encirlment. They where indeed a company dealing with logistics and supply, I just cannot remember exactly where it is in the book. The book is excellent and well worth the read.

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The Desert Fox

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Luca Rovetta
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Re: Italians at Stalingrad

#6

Post by Luca Rovetta » 25 Jul 2008, 12:23

Hi,
i must correct you.
Antony Beevor was wrong, the italians at Stalingrad were only 77 men, all of the 127º e il 248º autoreparto, plus one oculist.
They were sent from Millerovo to supply Wehrmacht with troops and munitions, and they had to return with some wood for the fortifications. But during this time they where attacked by russians and blocked with germans in Stalingrad.
Only one or two returned from the concentration camps in Russia, the other all died for starving, cold...
There is a beautiful book by Alfio Caruso, "Noi moriamo a Stalingrado" (We die in Stalingrad), with many letters from this italian soldiers.
http://www.alfiocaruso.com/stalingrado_cap.html
Bye

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Re: Italians at Stalingrad

#7

Post by AdeP » 13 Jan 2012, 20:55

This may or may not assist: My Uncle was an Italian soldier at Stalingrad. He was located in a support column up river which remained outside the encirclement (this location was confirmed by World at War - I seem to remember there were Romanian troops also in support in the same location). There was no mention of engagement with Russian forces. It seems they abandoned camp when they became cut off from the German troops. My uncle and many others then walked all the way back to the mountains of Dalmatia surviving on scraps of food given to them by the farmers and townsfolk they encountered on their journey back (approximately 3,000km); many of them did not make it due to malnutrition, frostbite, hypothermia, etc. He spent the rest of the war in these mountains. He came from the Friuli region. Does this tie up with 127 and/or 248 autoreparto?

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Balcescu
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Re: Italians at Stalingrad

#8

Post by Balcescu » 13 Jan 2012, 23:50

Hi,

Coincidence or not, my uncle (brave romanian solder fighting the red plague) was among the first Romanian lucky troops escaping from the encirclement at Stalingrad. Anyone knowing more about the Axis troops escaping from Stalingrad inferno?

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Re: Italians at Stalingrad

#9

Post by Custermen » 30 Jan 2012, 01:34

I am reading a book "Sacrifice on the Steppe" about the Italian Alpine Corps that were surrounded and fought through to the German lines. The book has some good history but it is based upon interviews so it does not contain all the facts in a chronological order. The best thing about this book is that it is the only one about this subject published in English that I know about.
I don't have all the numbers but I think the total Italians in this sector was about 100,000. Some 40,000 were captured and only about 15,000 survived to reach the Russian prisoner camps.
Two of the three Italian Alpine divisions were destroyed. Only about 30,000 were able to fight out of the encirclement.

Steve

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Re: Italians at Stalingrad

#10

Post by nobodyofnote » 30 Jan 2012, 03:50

Custermen wrote:I am reading a book "Sacrifice on the Steppe" about the Italian Alpine Corps that were surrounded and fought through to the German lines. The book has some good history but it is based upon interviews so it does not contain all the facts in a chronological order. The best thing about this book is that it is the only one about this subject published in English that I know about.
I don't have all the numbers but I think the total Italians in this sector was about 100,000. Some 40,000 were captured and only about 15,000 survived to reach the Russian prisoner camps.
Two of the three Italian Alpine divisions were destroyed. Only about 30,000 were able to fight out of the encirclement.

Steve

http://forum.axishistory.com/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=7959

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Heimatschuss
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Re: Italians at Stalingrad

#11

Post by Heimatschuss » 03 Mar 2012, 16:29

Hello,

some details on Italians in the Stalingrad pocket are to be found in this web site:
http://www.stalingrad-feldpost.de/Zeitz ... uger4.html

Best regards
Torsten

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