The White War

[Phr3121]

Well, the good thing is Italy at least learned and made really smart decisions in WW2...

Sure about that? They joined with Germany - bad choice.

 

[Phr3121]

I think TS was hoping to talk about the North African campaign where Rommel was butchering black people.

That would be a few years later in WWII.

 

[ElKarlo]

I was referring to "fighting for a few square kilos of worthless land" - Americans in Vietnam.

Gotcha. But they lost literally hundreds ir thousands pee square kilometers. And then before AH collapsed, had actually lost a significant amount of territory

 

[ElKarlo]

...and to think these were descendants of the 'Great Roman Army'. Same can be said of the Spanish Navy.

Spanish army was the best army in the field from the late 1400s til Roccoi in 1643. By 1700 Spain didn't even have a functioning field army

 

[lsa]

Boring war. The First World War was a global war originating in Europe that lasted from 28 July 1914 to 11 November 1918. Only good thing about it: Snoopy as the Red Baron:

Manfred von Richthofen:

 

[plataoplombo]

It's not the soldiers that were bad it's was the lack of equipment, training, and competent leadership. I could be wrong on this, but during WWII the king (or whatever he was) decided to switch over to the allies and didn't tell some of units. So once the Germans got word they fired on the Italians while they were unawares.

 

[Phr3121]

I'm a big history nerd. WWI is def one of my passions.

Bumping this up.
Instead of talking about the 'White War', why don't you talk about other more interesting issues from WWI? Nerve gas, the machine gun, 3 and 2 winged planes, and Richthofen. Seems like there wasn't much interest over your initial topic. I'm not much of a fan of Italian Infantry or WWI, but I too love military history.

 

[Phr3121]

 

[ElKarlo]

Bumping this up.
Instead of talking about the 'White War', why don't you talk about other more interesting issues from WWI? Nerve gas, the machine gun, 3 and 2 winged planes, and Richthofen. Seems like there wasn't much interest over your initial topic. I'm not much of a fan of Italian Infantry or WWI, but I too love military history.

Gotcha man.

Jutland, a battle of Battleships. Beatty who was in charge of the fast Queen Mary Battleships and the battle cruisers was maniac. Guy wanted fast shots, so they store propellant all over the place, so when they got hit they exploded, they lost three at Jutland, with almost their whole crews. The Germans built their ships under the orders, dont let your ship sink. So they were tough, but at the expense of larger guns. The Germans had 11 inch guns, and the British had 11 12 14 and 15 inch guns. YThing is all the shell makers went to the Western front in 1915 and died there. So the guys making the shells were newbs, and this caused the British shells to mostly harmlessly explode before it pierced the armor.

A couple armored cruisers tried to do their thing at Jutland, but they were obsolete and got wrecked, and fast https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Black_Prince_(1904)

The British Battleship https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Warspite_(03) Did the Homer SImplson and made two huge circles while getting shot at and hit 15 times.

The German battle cruiser https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SMS_Seydlitz barely made it back to Kiel, pump ships met it out and its bow was underwater at the time

.

 

[ElKarlo]

Read the pilots account. Dude was in shock and didnt understand the German was asking him to fly to Sweden to be interred. Dude just kept flying as he had no idea what he was doing at the time. Cool on both sides.

 

[Slick_36]

Bumping this up.
Instead of talking about the 'White War', why don't you talk about other more interesting issues from WWI? Nerve gas, the machine gun, 3 and 2 winged planes, and Richthofen. Seems like there wasn't much interest over your initial topic. I'm not much of a fan of Italian Infantry or WWI, but I too love military history.

WWI is pretty fascinating to me, such a bizarre mix of war in the old and new world. I haven't heard of these conflicts in the mountains but it sounds incredibly interesting, I will have to check it out more. Heights are my biggest fear, I don't know what I would have done.

 

[D3thr0n3d K1ng]

Well, the good thing is Italy at least learned and made really smart decisions in WW2...

They are credited with one of the last successful cavalry charges in WWII. Armed with only grenades and swords, Italian troops successfully overran a Soviet infantry unit armed with machine guns. The Italians lost most of their horses and supposedly after being riddles with hundreds of bullets, the horses continued to gallop after they were dead until their hearts finally stopped and they collapsed.

 

[Phr3121]

Erwin Rommel in WWI:
. 1917

"In August 1917, his unit was involved in the battle for Mount Cosna, a heavily fortified objective on the border between Hungary and Romania, which they took after two weeks of difficult uphill fighting. The Mountain Battalion was next assigned to the Isonzo front, in a mountainous area in Italy. The offensive, known as the Battle of Caporetto, began on 24 October 1917. Rommel's battalion, consisting of three rifle companies and a machine gun unit, was part of an attempt to take enemy positions on three mountains: Kolovrat, Matajur, and Stol. In two and a half days, from 25 to 27 October, Rommel and his 150 men captured 81 guns and 9,000 men (including 150 officers), at the loss of six dead and 30 wounded. Rommel achieved this remarkable success by taking advantage of the terrain to outflank the Italian forces, attacking from unexpected directions or behind enemy lines, and taking the initiative to attack when he had orders to the contrary." Brilliant!
. 1942

 

[Phr3121]

 

[El Che]

The ItaliCans were dead weight in both wars where their allies had to waste time, resources and manpower to bail them out.

The Roman Empire was rolling in the grave at the sight of it.

 

[ElKarlo]

Erwin Rommel in WWI:
. 1917

"In August 1917, his unit was involved in the battle for Mount Cosna, a heavily fortified objective on the border between Hungary and Romania, which they took after two weeks of difficult uphill fighting. The Mountain Battalion was next assigned to the Isonzo front, in a mountainous area in Italy. The offensive, known as the Battle of Caporetto, began on 24 October 1917. Rommel's battalion, consisting of three rifle companies and a machine gun unit, was part of an attempt to take enemy positions on three mountains: Kolovrat, Matajur, and Stol. In two and a half days, from 25 to 27 October, Rommel and his 150 men captured 81 guns and 9,000 men (including 150 officers), at the loss of six dead and 30 wounded. Rommel achieved this remarkable success by taking advantage of the terrain to outflank the Italian forces, attacking from unexpected directions or behind enemy lines, and taking the initiative to attack when he had orders to the contrary." Brilliant!
. 1942

Dude also wrecked the Romanians in 1916. Proto Rommel kicked butt and took names every where he went

 

[D3thr0n3d K1ng]

The ItaliCans were dead weight in both wars where their allies had to waste time, resources and manpower to bail them out.

The Roman Empire was rolling in the grave at the sight of it.

Whats funny is the ancient Roman Empire was the last time Italy was a powerful military force. After the Western Empire fell in the 5th century up until modern times they were pretty much cans throughout all those years. hence why in WW2 they were attacking modern forces armed with machines guns with swords and grenades. Their army was so outdated.

 

[2gps125]

 

[flashNsmash]

Dude also wrecked the Romanians in 1916. Proto Rommel kicked butt and took names every where he went

'Infantry Attacks' is a classic

 

[ElKarlo]

'Infantry Attacks' is a classic

It is. I haven't read that in so long. I can't remember what he did exactly in Romania. It wasn't like in Italy. But Romania jumped on the Russian bandwagon and got train wrecked right away