Italian World War II memoirs

Roma , the most modern battleship of the Regia Marina and the flagship of the commander-in-chief of Italy’s battlefleet, Admiral Carlo Bergamini, was sunk during a Luftwaffe attack on the Italian fleet which had left its bases and was sailing towards Malta (originally towards La Maddalena in Sardinia, where it was supposed to stop for some time waiting for the situation to clear up) in compliance with the terms of the Armistice of Cassibile. The German attack and the sinking of Roma are thus described by Lieutenant Agostino Incisa della Rocchetta, fire control officer of the port side 90 mm anti-aircraft guns. Incisa was one of the survivors who were closest to the point where the bomb fell, causing the deflagration that sank the ship; he was also the highest ranking survivor, having personally given the order to abandon ship as all officers senior to him were dead or dying. “ From 12:00 to 16:00 I was off duty (…) in my place in the port anti-aircraft fire director turret was Lieutena

Salvatore Torre, a private in the  V Battaglione Genio Alpino  (5th Alpine Engineers Battalion), was assigned to the communications unit of the divisional headquarters of the 5th Alpine Division “Pusteria”, stationed in Montenegro for occupation and anti-partisan duties between July 1941 and August 1942. He thus remembered, many years later, the battle of Pljevlja, fought in early December 1941, when the “Pusteria” repelled an assault by some 4,000 Yugoslav partisans: " I was in Pljevlja, on the night of 1 December 1941, at the divisional headquarters. Already on the previous day, the I [Intelligence] Section, headed by Lt. Peduzzi while Colonel Castagnero was away on leave, had forewarned us of an impending attack by the partisans. That night, therefore, few men went to bed, and even those who did remained fully dressed. I remember that someone ordered me to go to General Esposito’s room in order to help his orderly. The General was not there, but he came shortly afterwards. He

Bruno Causin (from "Gela città di mare") An interview taken by Giovanni Iacono from Bruno Causin, from Padua (Veneto), then a 22-year-old corporal in the 54th Artillery Regiment, about the battle of Gela and subsequent events: Mr Causin, when where you called to arms? "I enlisted on 10 January 1941, in Ferrara, in the 2nd Artillery Regiment. I was a pointer, but later I also followed courses for detachment commander, driver, a short course on ammunition and a course as a corpsman."   In July of '43, what unit did you belong to?   "I belonged to the 54th Artillery Regiment, "Napoli" Division, more precisely to the 9th 75/18 mm Battery, aggregated to the Mobile Group "E" of the XVIII Coastal Brigade, which besides us also included a company of tanks, an infantry company and one of Bersaglieri".   Where were you located?   "We were in Sicily since September 1941. In March of '43 we had moved to Niscemi. Here we were accommodat

Agostino Beraudo, then 21 years old, from Boves (Piedmont), was a soldier in the XV Battaglione Guastatori (15th Sapper Battalion). This account comes from  La strada del davai  by Nuto Revelli, a collection of accounts of former Italian POWs in the Soviet Union. Unlike most other Italian prisoners in Russia, Beraudo was not captured during Operation Little Saturn in December 1942/January 1943, but in a smaller action in August 1942.   " On 19 August [1942], at noon, we receive order to leave for the frontline. The “Sforzesca” [Infantry Division] has caved in. We eat hurriedly, we pick up our weapons, we rush towards the frontline on the Lancia Ro trucks, a thousand men. (…) The following day, at dawn, we are on the frontline. (…) We are deployed at seven in the morning. The terrain is slightly uneven, many little mounds all over the horizon. We are armed with Carcano Mod. 38 rifles, with three magazines and six SRCM hand grenades. Unit weapons consists of four submachine guns