MUSSOLINI’S ARMY
Reeling from his setbacks in North Africa, and eager to prove his forces’ worth against the communist foe, Il Duce sent a large expeditionary force to join the Nazi invasion of the USSR
On the morning of 22 June 1941, when Mussolini was told of Hitler’s invasion of the Soviet Union, he instantly pledged his country’s military support to the venture. Joining a crusade against communism was just too good an opportunity to miss – and not only from an ideological viewpoint. Apart from the potential plunder to be had, there was also the possibility of redeeming Italy’s martial reputation. After its military blunders in North Africa, piggybacking Hitler’s giant invasion force – the largest ever assembled – with the aim of scoring a few quick victories must have seemed like a safe bet to Il Duce.
Within four days, he’d assembled a force known as the Corpo di Spedizione Italiano in Russia (or CSIR). It was made up of 62,000 men, 82 aircraft, 220 artillery pieces, 92 antitank guns, 4,600 mules and horses, 5,500 vehicles, and 60 L3/33 tankettes. These were organised into three divisions – the 9th Pasubio and the 52nd Torino, which were both infantry divisions, and the 3rd Celere Cavalry Division.
On 10 July 1941, the CSIR left Italy for the Eastern Front. On its arrival in Ukraine, it was integrated into the German 11th Army, first seeing action on 10 August when it engaged retreating Red Army troops between the Bug and Dniester Rivers.
Four days later, the CSIR was transferred to the 1st Panzer Group commanded by General Paul von Kleist. Their objective was to meet up with the 2nd Panzer Group under General Heinz Guderian on the far side of the Dnieper River and encircle Kyiv. By the middle of September, the Ukrainian capital had been successfully cut off, with the German high command praising the Italian force for its role in the operation.
More successes for the CSIR followed. Between 27-30 September, at the Battle of Petrikowka, the Italians won a resounding victory after surrounding a sizeable Red Army force, inflicting countless casualties and taking 10,000 prisoners. Then on 10 October, fighting alongside the German 49th Mountain Corps, the 9th Pasubio and 3rd Celere captured the major industrial city of Stalino (modern-day Donetsk). In the final attack on the city, the Italians used modern small-team, combinedarms tactics. Learned from the Germans, this represented a significant shift away from the type of inflexible en masse attacks the Italian army had been using in Africa.
The neighbouring town of Horlivka fell to the CSIR on 2 November and as winter set in the Italians consolidated into a defensive position around Petropavlivka in Luhansk Oblast. Throughout the rest of the year,
