This book begins by examining a number of factors relating to the
Italian army's performance in the desert, including assessments of the
Italian soldier, leadership, training, organization and structure,
equipment, the supply situation in North Africa, the ability of the
Italian air force to support ground operations, and an appreciation of
Italo-German relations in North Africa.
The book then describes the combat operations of Italian forces in the
desert beginning with the early Italian advance from Libya into Egypt in
September 1940 and ending with the final Italian surrender to the Allies
in Tunisia in May 1943.
The extensive appendices focus heavily on organization and equipment,
with tables comparing Italian, British and German armor and artillery in
the desert.
Taken as a whole, this book presents an account of Italian ground
operations in North Africa, from the time of their initial trouncing at
the hands of the British Western desert Force in early 1941, through the
see-saw battles of 1941 and 1942 when the combined Italo-German forces
battled with the British, through the decimation of the Italian forces
during the El Alamein battles in late 1942, and finally with the retreat
to Tunisia and surrender of all Axis forces there in May 1943.
This book is the first English-language work to address in a systematic
way the contributions of the Italian army to the North African campaign,
and challenges the conventional wisdom that the German Afrika Korps was
the preeminent Axis force in the desert.
