I love nice surprises and there was no nicer surprise than to receive this book in the mails a few weeks back. I've read darn little about Italian armor and nothing about its use after September 1943's armistice.  From what I have gathered from friends, there is nearly nothing about the subject at all.

All that has changed.

From Roadrunner Publishing comes this exquisite book on the subject of Italian military vehicles used by the Germans. Once the Armistice was signed, the German army rounded up all the Italian military vehicles it could find. This amounted to quite a haul and was more than enough to fully equip the units for which they were destined. As you might expect, a goodly number of these vehicles were used in secondary roles, with the police (which were pretty para-military) and with anti-partisan units throughout the Aegean basin.

What's more, since the Germans controlled the industrialized north, new vehicles were constantly under construction. This also included a fairly well organized repair system as well. In fact, new equipment was being produced right up until the last days of the war.

'Italian Armor in German Service 1943 - 1945' is in both English and Italian text with hundreds of period photos. Also included in the book are excellent drawings by  John L. Rue and outstanding color profiles by Giovanni Mapelli and Jean Restayn. These additions add a great deal to the book. The English translation is first rate and flows very smoothly, making for a most interesting read.

The author has put a great deal of thought into this 314 page hardbound edition. He has divided the book into five sections. Part One is a grouping of introductory essays on technical and linguistic notes, German unit organization, vehicle production, the use of Italian armor and the opinion of the Germans regarding Italian vehicles. On this last item, one can pretty well sum it up into saying that they thought most of the vehicles were adequate, but they really liked the Italian armored cars.

Part Two covers the vehicles and there are sections on armored railway vehicles, armored cars, light & medium tanks, self-propelled guns, and the P-40 heavy tank (with a special section on the P-40's last fight).

Part Three covers its employment in the field with German units, RSI units and then there is a section on uniforms and personal equipment. This part is rather extensive as it covers all known units and the equipment they have used. This must have taken a lot of research to obtain this information.

The Fourth part is on camouflage schemes and unit insignia with the final section on various documentation, references and acknowledgements.

What one has in the end is the finest work on this subject yet published and one that I seriously doubt will be eclipsed for a very long time, if ever. An outstanding book and one that I gladly give my highest recommendation.

October 2005

My thanks to the distributor, Mattioli 1885 spa for the review sample. If you don't see this at your favorite bookstore, ask them to order it for you or you can buy it direct from the distributor at the hyperlink above.

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