Any good pictorial histories about Italians at Alamein?

[Jean-Loup]

Do any good pictorial histories about the Italian troops in North Africa, and particularly at Alamein exist?
There seem to be an infinit number of books about the Germans, but very little about the italians?
I am looking for a good quality book with large numbers of photos of the various units, infantry, artillery, tanks, paratroopers, etc. I suspect it will have to be in italian language, but that will be OK as it is the photos I am interested in.

Thanks

JL

[mufasa]

There are many in italian Llnguage, the most interesting thosewith the memories
of the protagonists
(for example,
El Alamein of Caccia Dominioni,
Folgore, e si moriva, diario di un paracadutista of Raffaele Doronzo
Batterie Semoventi Alzo zero, quelli di El Alamein of Beretta Davide

but if you're looking photo books, there are many articles on a prestigious Storia Militare a very nice History magazine Published by Albertelli or the always beautiful publications (in English) of Osprey Publishing ...

[Jean-Loup]

I dont speak italian, so it has to be a photo book. And I would like to be able to buy one or two books that contain lots of photos, not have to hunt down individual magazines.

Is there anything equivalent to Michel de Trez's books about US paratrooper units: large heavy books, containing thousands of photos, such as this: http://www.amazon.com/At-Point-Retur...michel+de+trez

[mufasa]

I do not know, but I think not ... I have another nice big photo book with hundreds and hundered photos and more then 800 pages, but always based on diaries and memoirs of a Publisher of Rimini. Bruno Ghigi Editore ....

http://www.amazon.co.uk/guerra-Itali.../dp/B006DEIVDK

[Jean-Loup]

Are there any good unit histories (in Italian) with maps, photos, etc, for the various divisions that fought in North Africa, for example Bologna, Ariete, etc?

[enorepap]

Hallo Jean-Loup

I remember the four books of the historical section of the Italian Army High Command:

http://www.esercito.difesa.it/storia...l-Barrani.aspx

http://www.esercito.difesa.it/storia...---Tobruk.aspx

http://www.esercito.difesa.it/storia...fidaville.aspx

Probably vol. 3 (El Alamein) is currently out of print.

Best regards

[Semovente]

These are two very good books in English on Italian Army in North Africa..by Osprey books.

[Ironcrown]

I think that italians at El Alamein had many more important things to think about than taking pictures!
Probably most of the pictures made at the time got lost in the battle or in the retreat.

[Jean-Loup]

Enorepap, do you have the link for Vol III, that sould I suspect be about Alamein? I didnt manage to find it while browsing the site.

Semovente, I am not very fond of those short Ofsprey books, but ordered one of them.


"I think that italians at El Alamein had many more important things to think about than taking pictures!
Probably most of the pictures made at the time got lost in the battle or in the retreat."

The exact same argument could be said about the Germans, and yet there are huge numbers of photos of them.
Also, Alamein lasted several months, much of it being rather passive static warfare, there was enaugh time for many photos to be taken.
Perhaps the Italians had less good propaganda units, and perhaps the avergae soldier didnt have the wealth to own a camera? Or perhaps the fascination with the DAK has led to more German photos surfacing?

JL

[Ironcrown]

That's right, I was just thinking about the battle on itself, not about the many months of static warfare. I'm sure there are a lot of pictures about that specific period. If these have not been released yet they must be still in the Istituto Luce archives.
The site:
http://www.archivioluce.com/archivio/#n

Here you can see even a small documentary from the period!
http://www.archivioluce.com/archivio...alse&section=/

[Semovente]

Jean Loup..although not strictly all Italian pics ..and there are 2,000 pics in all ! ...this book is a massive pictorial book on the Desert war & battlefields now & then...i have a copy and can reconmend it...cheers Semovente

[enorepap]

Hallo Jean-Loup

This is the link to the full Army catalogue in pdf:

http://www.esercito.difesa.it/storia...O-07102015.pdf

El Alamein is no. 6410 (reprint in 2006) and also translated in english language, see no. 6698.

The four-volume series is an historical examination in depth of the full campaign, but unfortunately it has a lot of maps but only a few photographs.

For your purposes I think more usefull:

6543 (images of WW2) from the western Alps front against France
6634 (images of WW2) from the albanian front against Greece
6746 (images of WW2) from the tunisian front 1942-1943

This is the link to the Navy catalogue:

http://www.marina.difesa.it/conoscia...i_13072016.pdf

Air Force :

http://www.aeronauticamarchesi.it/

Finance Guard:

http://www.gdf.gov.it/ente-editorial...1/libri-1#null

Carabineers:

http://www.carabinieri.it/editoria/p...iale-cc?f=2016

State Police:

http://www.poliziadistato.it/articolo/40248

Best regards

[Jean-Loup]

"This is the link to the full Army catalogue in pdf:
http://www.esercito.difesa.it/storia...O-07102015.pdf
El Alamein is no. 6410 (reprint in 2006) and also translated in english language, see no. 6698."

The link isnt working for me. Can you post it again? I would like to buy the one on Alamein, particularly if it is translated into English. I tried finding it on amazon, but no success, though I did find this instead: https://www.amazon.com/settentrional...e+dellesercito

I have the After the Battle book though I have no got to reading it yet.

Here is a youtube link to that Luce archive video, as they site seems a bit slow: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L50YFUOgVEg
Interesting badge on this guy's helmet...

JL

[enorepap]

Hallo Jean-Loup

You're welcome. This is the link:

http://www.esercito.difesa.it/storia...O-07102015.pdf

A little help for the process that is in my opinion quite cumbersome:

euro 22 (the book) + for shipping abroad you have to make contact directly with the Office of Military Publications - tel .: international prefix +06/809925068 or e-mail to: UPM@raloce.esercito.difesa.it
After that, you have to made the payment of the total amount by a postal bulletin or a bank transfer to the commercial postal code n. 29599008 of the DEFENCE SERVICES S.P.A., indicating these reasons:

- UPM words
- The categorical code and the number of copies for each volume;
- The tax code in the case of private

If you choose the bank transfer you must use the code IBAN IT 37 X076 0103 2000 0002 9599 008.

Finally you can direct the request of the book to the Office of Military Publications, Via Guido Reni, 22-00196 Roma, tel . as above: international prefix + 06/809925068 or the same e-mail address, enclosing a photocopy of the balance of the amount due + the shipping postage.

As I said you, a very complicated procedure.

[enorepap]

I don't own the book Tre anni di guerra in Africa settentrionale. 1940-1943 immagini dall'archivio storico dello stato maggiore dell'esercito = Three years of war in North Africa. 1940-1943 images from the historical archives of the army staff, but I see it is a multilingual book (italian/english text) published under the auspices of the Historical Office of the Army Staff, and so I think it is a good book.

Marcello