Italy

Giuseppe Garibaldi and the Italian Red Shirts

By Louis Ciotola

In the spring of 1860, when Giuseppe Garibaldi became Dictator of Sicily, Italy was a confusing conglomerate of states, divided between Piedmont-Sardinia and Austrian Venetia in the north, the Papal States in the middle, and the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, centered in Naples, in the south. Read more

Italy

Italy’s Failed African Gambit

By Gregory Peduto

Under the cover of the dusty Ethiopian night, the 17,000-man Italian Royal Expeditionary force scrambled over ragged hills and inactive volcanoes in the early morning hours of March 1, 1896. Read more

Italy

Himmler’s Recruits

By John Osborn, Jr.

In August 1942, with Operation Barbarossa at its height, the invader in coal shuttle helmet and field gray uniform crawled on his elbows through brush up the hillock, pistol in his right hand. Read more

Italy

Turning Back the Turks

By Louis Ciotola

Peering out over the horizon, Austrian commander Prince Eugene of Savoy could see an army of Turks, the dreaded masters of southeastern Europe for the past three centuries, crossing the Tisza River near the town of Zenta on their way to pillage Transylvania. Read more

Italy

WWII Battles: Airborne Drop into Sicily

by Michael E. Haskew

When American and British airborne troops lifted off from bases in North Africa and headed toward drop zones in Sicily during the early morning hours of July 9, 1943, the plan began to unravel almost immediately. Read more

Today, May 8, 1945 is known as "V-E Day," marking the surrender of Germany and the Axis powers in Europe.

Italy

May 8, 1945: V-E Day and the Surrender of Germany

by Flint Whitlock

In May 1945—70 years ago—the Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Force (SHAEF) sent out a terse, unemotional, 15-word communiqué: “The mission of this Allied force was fulfilled at 0241 local time, May 7, 1945.” Read more

Soldiers of the Polish 2nd Corps participate in the final assault on Monte Cassino on May 18, 1943.

Italy

Walking in the Footsteps of Heroes

By Flint Whitlock

I wrote previously about my guided three D-Day tours in the summer of 2014. I repeated the tour-guiding experience in May and June this year for the Minnesota World War II History Roundtable during a tour of Fifth Army battlefields in Italy. Read more

A tough MK II (A14) Matilda tank of the British 7th Royal Tank Regiment stirs up a cloud of desert dust. The most modern tank in the British arsenal at the time of Beda Fomm, the Matilda had surprised Rommel’s elite 7th Panzer Division in May 1940 on the battlefield of Arras in France.

Italy

A Daring Desert Campaign

By David H. Lippman

“It is not a question of aiming for Alexandria or even Sollum,” the message read. “I am only asking you to attack the British forces facing you.” Read more

A Greek division receives the brunt of an Italian assault during Mussolini’s ill-fated offensive, launched from neighboring Albania.

Italy

Italian Blunder in the Balkans

By Roy Morris, Jr.

A thin shaft of moonlight played over the broad, deserted boulevard leading to the suburban Athens home of Greek Prime Minister John Metaxas on the night of October 28, 1940. Read more

Monsignor Josef Tiso led Slovakia into an alliance with Hitler and the Nazis.

Italy

Drawn to the Axis

By Blaine Taylor

According to the 1960 memoirs of Henriette Hoffmann von Schirach, Adolf Hitler called Father Josef Tiso, a monsignor in the Roman Catholic Church and premier of Fascist Slovakia, “The little parson.” Read more