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Royal Italian Army During World War II
The Royal Italian Army (''Regio Esercito''), participated in World War II on the side of the Axis Powers on 1940. The Royal Italian Army notably fought at the Balkans, Western Alps, North and East Africa and Russia until its defeat on 1943 by the Allies. The Royal Italian Army was then turned into the Italian Co-Belligerent Army fighting alongside the Allies while some Italian forces joined the Germans as the National Republican Army on the Italian Social Republic in Northern Italy. Organization The Italian Army of World War II was a " Royal" army. The nominal Commander-in-Chief of the Italian Royal Army was His Majesty King Vittorio Emanuele III. As Commander-in-Chief of all Italian armed forces, Vittorio Emanuele also commanded the Royal Air Force (''Regia Aeronautica'') and the Royal Navy ('' Regia Marina''). However, in reality, most of the King's military responsibilities were assumed by the Italian Prime Minister Benito Mussolini.Mollo, p.83 Below Mussolini was ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
House Of Savoy
The House of Savoy ( it, Casa Savoia) was a royal dynasty that was established in 1003 in the historical Savoy region. Through gradual expansion, the family grew in power from ruling a small Alpine county north-west of Italy to absolute rule of the Kingdom of Sicily from 1713 to 1720, when they were handed the island of Sardinia, over which they would exercise direct rule from then onward. Through its junior branch of Savoy-Carignano, the House of Savoy led the Italian unification in 1860 and ruled the Kingdom of Italy until 1946; they also briefly ruled the Kingdom of Spain in the 19th century. The Savoyard kings of Italy were Victor Emmanuel II, Umberto I, Victor Emmanuel III, and Umberto II. The last monarch reigned for a few weeks before being deposed following the institutional referendum of 1946, after which the Italian Republic was proclaimed. History The name derives from the historical region of Savoy in the Alpine region between what is now France and Italy. Over ti ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
National Republican Army
The National Republican Army (Esercito Nazionale Repubblicano, or ENR) was the army of the Italian Social Republic ( it, Repubblica Sociale Italiana, or RSI) from 1943 to 1945 that fought on the side of Nazi Germany during World War II. The ENR was officially formed 28 October 1943, by merging former Royal Army (''Regio Esercito'') units still loyal to fascist dictator Benito Mussolini and Italian pro-Nazi units raised by the Germans after the occupation of southern Italy. History As a consequence of the Allied invasion of Sicily in July 1943, political forces allied to king Victor Emmanuel III took power in Italy, imprisoned dictator Benito Mussolini and negotiated an armistice between Italy and the Allied armed forces that took effect on 8 September 1943. On 12 September 1943, the Germans launched " Operation Oak" (''Unternehmen Eiche'') and rescued Mussolini. The Fascist Italian Social Republic (''Repubblica Sociale Italiana'', or RSI) was formed as a puppet state in nor ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Heavy Machine Guns
A heavy machine gun (HMG) is significantly larger than light, medium or general-purpose machine guns. HMGs are typically too heavy to be man-portable (carried by one person) and require mounting onto a weapons platform to be operably stable or tactically mobile, have more formidable firepower, and generally require a team of personnel for operation and maintenance. There are two generally recognized classes of weapons identified as HMGs. The first are weapons from World War I identified as "heavy" due to the weight and cumbersomeness of the weapons themselves, which prevents infantrymen from transporting on foot, such as the M1917 Browning machine gun. The second are large-caliber (12.7×99mm, 12.7×108mm, 14.5×114mm, or larger) machine guns, pioneered by John Browning with the M2 machine gun, designed to provide increased effective range, penetration and destructive power against covers, vehicles, aircraft and light buildings/fortifications beyond the standard-caliber rif ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tank
A tank is an armoured fighting vehicle intended as a primary offensive weapon in front-line ground combat. Tank designs are a balance of heavy firepower, strong armour, and good battlefield mobility provided by tracks and a powerful engine; usually their main armament is mounted in a turret. They are a mainstay of modern 20th and 21st century ground forces and a key part of combined arms combat. Modern tanks are versatile mobile land weapons platforms whose main armament is a large-caliber tank gun mounted in a rotating gun turret, supplemented by machine guns or other ranged weapons such as anti-tank guided missiles or rocket launchers. They have heavy vehicle armour which provides protection for the crew, the vehicle's munition storage, fuel tank and propulsion systems. The use of tracks rather than wheels provides improved operational mobility which allows the tank to overcome rugged terrain and adverse conditions such as mud and ice/snow better than wheeled vehicles, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tankettes
A tankette is a tracked armoured fighting vehicle that resembles a small tank, roughly the size of a car. It is mainly intended for light infantry support and scouting.T-27 Tankette (from the 'battlefield.ru' website, with further references cited. Accessed 2008-02-21.) Colloquially it may also simply mean a small tank. Several countries built tankettes between the 1920s and 1940s, and some saw limited combat in the early phases of . The vulnerability of their light armour, however, eventually led armies to abandon the concept with some exceptions such as the more modern German Wiesel (Weasel) series. ...
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