.
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by Massimiliano Afiero.
Hardback (7.0×9.9 inches). 246 pages. 2025.
Subtitle: The Invasion of Greece and Jugoslavia
Top-notch recounting and analysis of the Italian invasion of Greece during WWII centers on tactical battles in the mountains of Albania and Greece. Mussolini’s ego couldn’t stand Hitler’s abrupt occupation of Romania without a word, so Il Duce invaded Greece without telling Hitler. Yet another example of Mussolini’s war-time bungling.
The multitude of Italian invasion plans are examined, as well as lack of preparation and logistical failures. For example, the Italian Army needed about 10,000 tons of supplies per day, but the Albanian ports had a 3,500 ton capacity (p34). Granted, Bulgaria was supposed to invade at the same time, but Il Duce bungled that as well.
Despite the miserable winter weather, the Italians made some headway, but the more numerous Greeks shifted troops and launched a counter-offensive that recaptured lost Greek territory and grabbed part of Albania. Only the German invasion of Yugoslavia and Greece saved the Italians from an even worse defeat.
The text contains a steady stream of citations from the Italian Gold Medal of Valor awards. The initial amusing propagandist nature of the text gets a bit well worn by the half-way point. I ended up skipping them.
The Italian OOBs are functional enough. Of note is that the Italian Army divisions contained only two regiments (of three battalions each) versus most countries’ three regiment structure.
The book also has brief mentions of Italian actions at Rhodes, Crete, and other islands as well as Italian contributions to the invasion of Yugoslavia.
A few typos: Subhead “11th Armoured” (p96) should be “11th Army”; photo caption “gug into the snow” (p135) should be “dug into”; and “231 Infantry” (p145) should read “231st Infantry.”
The book contains 193 black and white photos, 19 black and white maps, and 14 black and white illustrations (mostly reproduced Gold Medal of Valor postcards).
It reads well. You gain a real sense of the effort exerted by Italian and Greek troops in mostly mountain warfare. Nice job.
Enjoyed it.
— Reviewed by Russ Lockwood
