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Avanti: Mussolini and the Wars of Italy 1919-1945, by J. Lee Ready
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Internationally acclaimed historian J. Lee Ready has produced another monumental work. Avanti: Mussolini and the Wars of Italy. This book covers the Street War 1919-22, the Libyan War 1919-31, the Ethiopian War 1935-40, the Spanish Civil War 1936-39 and World War II. The book states opinions backed up by the author’s forty years of research and study. Mussolini was not executed by partisans, but was killed trying to escape. Italy emerged victorious in World War II. Italian troops were praised for their bravery on all fronts. Italian arms were highly efficient at times. Mussolini was the most popular leader in Italy in centuries, and also the most vilified. Italians were guilty of major war crimes, but were never punished by the Allies. The author gives evidence for these statements and lets the reader make up his mind. Excerpts: “In general Italian infantry performed well. Sometimes they panicked, but at other times their bravery was outstanding, such as on the Franco-Italian Border 1940, and in Greece, Egypt/Libya, Eritrea/Ethiopia, Tunisia, the Russian front, Sicily, Cassino, the crawl up the Italian boot and the battles of 1945 on both sides of the line.” – “The Russians saw no difference between Italian and German troops.” – “The Bersaglieri were elite and consistently good, showing great audacity. At Sidi Rezegh they reassured a nervous Rommel. At Kasserine Pass they worried the Americans. On the Russian front they sliced their way through Russian hordes.” – “In Sicily even Nazis praised Italian artillery.” – “On Corsica the French insisted on keeping their Italian artillery in action.” – “When the veterans of the US 88th Division ran up against the Italians they described them as ‘elite’.” - “The Royal Navy had a healthy respect for the Italian Navy.” - “The American experience of fighting against Italians was gained in Tunisia, Sicily and Italy, where they encountered courageous opposition.” – “British generals described Allied Italian units as ‘invaluable’, ‘exceeded expectations’, ‘the bravery of the Italian troops in action is beyond question’, ‘they are paying a very worthwhile dividend’, ’morale in these groups is very high’.” – “American generals described Allied Italian units as ‘valuable, without which US Fifth Army could not have operated’.” - “Without Italian military efficiency there would have been no victory at Teruel, no destruction of British armor in the desert, no charge across Russia, no impressive last stands at Keren, Amba Alagi, Alamein or Enfidaville, and no partisan uprising.” – “But decent leadership, such as provided by the Duke D’Aosta, Lorenzini, Nasi, Utili, Bergonzolli and Messe, was all too rare.” - “Mussolini’s invasion of Albania taught a predominantly Moslem people the meaning of Christianity by invading and conquering them on Easter weekend!” - “Much of Moslem Libya’s attitude to the world can be attributed to their treatment at the hands of the Christian Italians.” – “Did the civilians of Barcelona really die because their love of their Catalonian homeland threatened Italy, or because Mussolini wanted to impress the world with his new airplanes?” - “Prior to Mussolini the only hope for a poor farm worker was to emigrate.” - “[Mussolini] gave Italy a boom economy that helped her sail through the Great Depression practically unharmed.” - “in Mussolini’s Italy the nobility slept like babes with the assurance that their privileges would still be there in the morning.” – “he bought off the Roman Catholic Church with the greatest gift of all: he gave the church its own country, the Vatican.” – “he whittled down the nation’s major criminal families, including the ‘Mafia’ in Sicily.” – “he created an air force that was the envy of the world, with Italian pilots as popular in the public imagination as race car drivers.” Controversial and opinionative as all good histories should be, this book, Avanti, should be considered a standard work in Italian history and the story of World War II.
- Sales Rank: #1882986 in Books
- Published on: 2012-05-28
- Original language: English
- Number of items: 1
- Dimensions: 11.00" h x 1.23" w x 8.50" l, 2.75 pounds
- Binding: Paperback
- 546 pages
Most helpful customer reviews
16 of 20 people found the following review helpful.
Good try
By jack greene
This appears to be a self-published softbound over-sized but easy to read large print book on the wars of Mussolini from 1919 to his death in 1945.
To the author's credit he does cover a great deal of ground and does offer up some new information. He states his opinion on various matters and those views are clear. It is an easy read as well.
But the book lacks page numbers, maps (which is a problem, especially in the lesser theaters such as Ethiopia), illustrations, and index but does have a bibliography. The bibliography does include some Italian language works, primarily memoirs and many English language works. It does not include many of the giants in the field today, be it Francesco Mattesini, Mario Montanari or Alberto Santoni in Italian or Salerno, Knox, Mockler, diNardo, Sullivan or Burgwyn in English.
There are some errors in fact. The Rastafarians did not originate in Ethiopia. In does not discuss the origin of the Binary Division in the Abyssinian War, nor the near death of Marshal Graziani in Ethiopia. The Italian Barletta was not a cruiser but an armed merchant raider, the Pilo class destroyer did not have five 4-inch guns (three), the battle off Calabria had more than just two ships damaged total, etc.
The editor did a good job - though some names (Colleoni, Campioni - a lot of "I"'s became "E"'s) are misspelled. The book reads well and fairly quickly and is reasonably accurate. It is what is omitted that weighs it down. He has some good insights but simply lacks depth of analysis.
Disclaimer: I have co-authored three books on the fighting Italy participated in as well as two booklets on the Italian military in World War II and numerous encyclopedia entries.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful.
Forgotten Histories
By JasonR
A fair and balanced review of all the major combatants in WWII, with respect to the battles and campaigns fought by the Italian Armed Forces of WWII. This book is an attempt by a well-known and respected author, to set the record straight with respect to the performance of the Italian Armed Forces in WWII. Lee-ready expresses an increasingly prevalent viewing among many of today's readers on this subject.
This is a very large body of work containing an immense amount of detailed information with a large bibliography. The size of this book is a reflection and commitment of the author to this subject. The book is well organized and takes the reader from Mussolini's birth through to the end of WWII. Despite a lack of page numbers (likely a printing related issue), an index and maps, I still gave this book five stars since the amount of work and detail is extraordinary. It's a pity the page numbers are missing (and this should be corrected in a subsequent reprint) since the book ought to be referenced for the wealth of information contained in it. The book is easy to read and fast paced. It's refreshing to see more of these books making it to the print since most of the current histories and in particular those put into print by British Historians lack interest, accuracy and especially detail.
The book is not without some mistakes, however these are no more than others on this subject and certainly far fewer than those written with an opposing view point on this subject.
In regard to the content, I found the Duke of Aosta's conquest of British Somaliland enlightening. The Italian defense of East Africa is superb - few references touch this area of operations with any degree of detail or insight - this aspect of the book is certainly worth reading. Also the spectacular invasion of Yugoslavia by German-Italian forces is well covered. It's also interesting to know how Rommel lavished great praise for the Italian stand at Sollum and Halfaya pass as well as the long siege of Tobruk conducted by the Italian's during 1941. It's interesting to note that Rommel had even given command of some of his units to the Italians at the end of 1941 (and would do so until 1943, including von Arnim appointing command of German units to the Italians) which speaks volumes about his attitude toward the Italians at this time, which changed considerably from the year before and contrasts significantly from what is often written regarding Rommel's view of his allies. It's also interesting to note that Rommel rated the Bersaglieri the equal to the best of the German infantry while the Soviets had come to the same conclusion fighting the Italians on the Eastern front. Also it was interesting to learn more about the 1942 battles at Gazala where 36,000 English and Commonwealth troops surrendered the port Tobruk in less than 24 hours of battle while much is made about the Italian defeat in January of 1941, when 24,000 Italians surrendered the same port after 16 days of fighting while being completely blockaded and without supplies. Although much is said about the Italian loss of the port of Tobruk in the English histories, a larger defeat suffered by the English at the same place a year later, is all but ignored. It was also interesting to read about the subsequent victory of Italian-German forces in the first battle of El Alamein where another 63,000 British troops surrendered to the Axis with minimal losses incurred by the Axis, triggering a knee-jerk reaction by the British to begin preparations for a speedy evacuation of the port of Alexandria. It was also interesting to learn that the British hide the large scale use of Italian frontline troops (divisions/corps) in Italy. It's also interesting to know how the US army became exasperated by British progress in the Italian campaign and that Montgomery's overly cautious advance up the boot of Italy caused considerable tension in the Allied chain of command. Typically readers are given the impression, particularly by British Historians that the intrepid Montgomery and the British conquered all before them, although the actual facts paint quiet a different picture indeed.
This is the only book I've read in English that contains a detailed account of the large scale operations conducted by Italian units on behalf of the Allies and Axis during the Italian Campaign (after the September 8, 1943 Armistice). The coverage is interesting and detailed, especially the sterling service provided by the Utili Corps for the Allies and the SS Sturmbrigade "Italien", the SS Battalion Debica, the Monte Rosa Alipni Divison, the Italia Bersaglieri Division, the San Marco Marines, 1st and 2nd SS Mountain Regiments (Italien) and the 29th SS Mountain Artillery Regiment (Italien) for the Axis. Clearly from an Axis perspective the Italians had not capitulated, but rather an element of the Italian armed forces had imprisoned Mussolini and taken their lot with the Allies. This is similar to the military coup attempted by the German Army (Wehrmacht) in June 1944 that tried to assassinate Hitler and seek a truce with the Allies. Certainly, this was no different to the sides taken by Vichy France and the Free French. Indeed Mussolini had available a force of 650,000 to combat the allies in 1944-45 which made up 75% of the forces fighting in Italy during that time. These forces managed to hold onto 1/3 Italy until the end of the war and represented Hitler's only effective partner by March 1945 since Finland, Romania and Bulgaria had switched sides while Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Byelorussia and the Ukraine had been overrun. The Fascists in France, Greece, Serbia and Albania had fled their homelands to Germany while the Slovakians and Croats collapsed. Spain declared neutrality and although Japan still held out, it was in no position to help Hitler.
The Italian partisan activity after September 8, 1943 is covered in rich detail. This book probably contains the best treatment of the Italian partisans in the English speaking language with much new information. Its interesting to learn how the Italian partisans liberated many Italian northern cities ahead of the Allies. It's also interesting to note that once the Italians had decided which side they would support (Allied or Axis), these units would become a powerful and effective counter punch until the end of hostiles and shows what might have been had the Italians been united behind their war effort from the start. However the most interesting, or disturbing aspect, is the extent the British military and political establishment went to hide the use of Italian front line troops from the public (whole divisions), often changing the names of combat divisions to mislead the public or simply resisting the use of these units over the strong objections of the Americans - ultimately the Americans prevailed, however to this day, except for Lee Ready's work, little or no reference of these units is available in the English/British histories - one gets the impression reading the British histories, that the Battle of Italy was an entirely British victory (not a Commonwealth one either), with some help from the Americans.
In regard to some reviewers comments, and specifically the use of the term Giovani Fascisiti (Fascist Youth), it's a common mistake in the English speaking texts to see Giovanni used (a person's name in Italian) since most English spell checks (e.g., Word) do in fact accept Giovanni while Giovani (an Italian word) is not, so this is clearly an editing issue. This should not be taken to mean, as some of the reviewers suggest, that the hundreds of pages of work and years of research put into the development of this book should now be ignored.
Walking away after reading this book I got the impression that although WWII ended 68 years ago, the war between Britain and Italy still continues - however only on the British side. Had it not been for American intervention, the history of WWII, in regard to Italy's involvement (particularly after September 8, 1943) would have been written with an unusual prejudice that borders on near `genocide'. Watching the BBC and the recent events and reactions in England to Islamic extremists who hacked a British solider to death in broad daylight in the streets of London, the BBC pointed out correctly that hatred of Englishmen is taught in mosques around England and that this hatred must now end, however I couldn't help but think that the English would be better served by heeding their own advice in regard to the hatred they preach about Italians (and Roman Catholics) in their own schools.
Recommended Reading.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful.
A Much Needed Historical Account
By Robert S. Trumpolt
In many ways, I was fascinated by this book. I have read many historical accounts of World War II on its many different aspects and themes in particular but I have always wondered why there was so little available on the contributions of the Italians in terms of their battlefield experiences during the 20th Century. Usually when the average interested reader looks, they find a little on the invasion of Ethiopia, perhaps a bit on their significant involvement in the Spanish Civil War in 1936 and then only a few references to only the poor campaigns that they ran such as in Greece during WWII and that is about it. There is certainly a lot about Mussolini the man to be found as he was an interesting character but that is different from the Italian Army itself and its battle experiences.
If for no other reason, this book finally sheds a lot of light on the many other campaigns waged by Italy in war actions during the 20th Century so it really fills a gap in that respect. I also really enjoyed the attention paid to the "Italian Civil War" of sorts that occurred between those partisans and others that supported the allies and those fascists that stayed loyal to the Axis cause from 1943 onward.
The only reason I didn't give a Five Star Rating was because the writing style made you feel the author was obsessed with trying to state his case that the Italians weren't really bad at all on the battlefield or that they were cowards. The author certainly makes this case successfully while being backed up by heavy research but all the exclamation points and putting down other historians in a general sense distracted me a bit. Also, the statistics and facts put forth are in such abundant detail (practically down to the # of shells fired in an engagement and body counts of all shapes and sizes) that this seemed to be a bit of overkill and it was a little hard to believe he could always get it down to such precise details as written.
Nonetheless, a very insightful book, a truly serious attempt to set the record straight and a success in my opinion on providing a much more comprehensive picture of Italy's role in wartime events than has previously been afforded to us amateur historians.
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