On the morning of January 21st 1941 Gazelle Force an Anglo Indian armored column is arresting at the Karoo Gorge in Eritrea, then part of Italian East Africa.

The gazelles are pursuing the forces of the duke of our stuff, the Italian commander in the region.

Little does gazelle force know that 250 Eritrean horsemen led by Italian Lieutenant Amadeo Gimme are about to burst onto the scene.

Galloping flew the morning mist straight toward Hi, I'm Griffin Johnson, the armchair historian.

Today's video times Italy was effective during the Second World War.

Yeah, it actually happened.

And more than once before we begin, I want to thank our sponsor, Nord VPN, for making this video possible.

The performance of the Italians in World War Two has long been ridiculed and subjected to excessive spaghetti and pizza means rather than objective scrutiny.

But it is true that overall, Italy was unready for a prolonged conflict.

In 1940 the country had minimal industrial capacity, a chronic fuel shortage and was exhausted from previous conflicts.

But those air topics for another video.

Today we're focusing on the times that Italy displayed military effectiveness during the war, despite the odds stacked against them.

Speaking of which, what ever happened to Lieutenant Gilly, a dis horseman?

Gillian and his men charge into the armored cars of gazelle force with pistols, swords and hand grenades as the defenders are cut down by savers shrapnel.

Gilly, a squadron regroups, watches a second charge.

Gazelle artillery fires back, killing after a few seconds known as the devil disperses his squadron in the gorgeous surrounding Caral.

That was the last cavalry charge ever faced by the British army, while Gilly A lost more than half of his unit.

His daring display allowed the Duke of Costa toe organize defenses in a gore dot and Karen, where Italians and their colonial troops would resist Commonwealth forces for two months.

The devil commander would go on to wage a guerrilla war against the British in East Africa.

And there are plenty more examples of the Italians fighting against distinctly unfavorable odds on a larger scale that are worth considering from the Eastern Front to the Battle of the Mediterranean to the last stand at El Alamein.

Now let's take a look at Italy's contribution on the eastern front during Operation Barbarossa from September 1941 to August 1942.

General Giovanni Messy lead.

Thesixty 1000 Demand.

Strong Italian expeditionary corps against the Soviet Union.

The corps was assigned to the Ukrainian section of the Eastern Front.

Their baptism by fire took place at the Battle of Petrie Coca.

During the last week of September.

The 79th Infantry Regiment established a bridgehead over the river Dee Naper, pushing a Soviet contingent back in the process.

When the Germans lost their bridgehead in nearby for Nova got the 80th Italian Regiment recovered it with a bayonet charge.

Once the Torino division pushed its enemy back.

General Mess a orchestrated a pincer movement with the help of their society assault units capturing 10,000 Soviet prisoners, suffering a mere 300 casualties in the process.

The expeditionary force next saw combat during the assault.

On Still Lino, Italian cavalry regiments used clever tactics to rout Soviet defenders, charging only after their machine gunners had a chance to dismount and lay down suppressive fire.

With half feared Italian divisions prepared for their main assault on Stoli.

No.

On the 20th of October 4 surrounding towns were occupied as a preemptive measure to block any Soviet counterattacks and, with their flanks secure a regimen of their society, Storm Stelly know.

Before breaking up into small motorised units, which took the Soviets by surprise, these mobile troops were supported by mounted artillery for able to change positions quickly to avoid enemy fire while raining shelves on it's unfortunate opponents.

By July of 1942 the Italian Expeditionary Court, Russia had grown in size, becoming the army or the Italian army and Russia.

But increased numbers did not intimidate Soviet forces.

Near the River Don, the Red Army clashed with Sabrina Cavalry Regiment.

The Savoia had been surrounded by the men of the 812 Siberian infantry regiments, but managed to hold them back with their howitzers.

When the 812th started withdrawing the Savoy, a second squadron ordered an attack.

This engagement became known as the Charge of Ice for Chefs, the last major cavalry charge in history wandering toward through the Soviet line, hacking down men with sabers, training them with machine guns and guarding them with grenades.

Meanwhile, Fourth Squadron had dismounted and engage the enemy from the front, while the third Squadron watched their own charge on the remnants of the Siberian regiment.

By the end of the battle, the Savoia Regiment had lost 84 men and 100 horses.

The Soviets suffered a staggering 1000 and 50 casualties.

Theo Engagement took the pressure off of larger Italian units in the area, granting them enough time to fortify against the offensive on the Don.

However, this would prove few tiles, as in December 1942 Operation Uranus and Saturn would drive the axis forces back west.

Now let's move somewhere a bit warmer for our next theatre, the Mediterranean, which saw the Italian and British navies in a bitter struggle for control over indispensable supply routes.

Cavalry charges on particularly effective in the water, so we won't be seeing any more of those.

One of the key moments of this naval conflict was the raid on Alexandria.

This was the most spectacular success of the 10th M.

A s Flotilla, the commandos of the Italian Royal Navy.

The operation was led by notorious Corvette Captain Prince, you neo Valerio Borghese, a Roman aristocrat.

This raid were lied on the most secret of weapons of the 10th M.

A s.

The manned torpedoes thes were self propelled torpedoes on which to scuba divers could sit astride.

Their tactic was to infiltrate enemy ports, approach their ship and attach a magnetic mine to the hole.

On December 19th 1941 Borghese submarine Shia approached the port of Alexandria and launched three manned torpedoes.

The raid made contact with their targets a tanker, a destroyer and the British Royal Navy battleships H.

M S Valiant and H mess Queen Elizabeth.

However, just as they placed the explosives to of border gazes, men were captured and held on the valiant.

Despite this, the commanders did not reveal the nature of their mission until the last possible moment, leaving the crew with no time to do anything besides abandoned ship.

When the charges went off, valiant Queen Elizabeth and the other two ships sank in the shallow waters of Alexandria.

Overnight.

The Axis navies had gained strategic superiority over the central and eastern Mediterranean, thanks to some Italian human torpedoes.

Superiority in the Mediterranean was a key factor in securing supplies to the Italian and German armies in North Africa.

But as we know the Axis powers, logistical train eventually could not keep up with the light of the allies who gains the upper hand in late 1942.

The second Battle of El Alamein was an access to feet the end of the beginning, as Churchill described it.

But even in defeat, the tenacity of the outnumbered, outgunned Italian units allowed Erwin Rommel's forces to evade total destruction.

At the start of the battle, the 88 a division with help from a Berus Aneighty, Italian and units from the Gracia and Fall get a divisions held back Montgomery's 13 for long enough to prevent it from reaching the main frontline armored division.

Victorio then went on the attack against the 133rd British Worried Infantry Brigade assault Virtually annihilated.

The British unit knocking out there exposed anti tank guns, killing 60 men and capturing 300.

On the second of November, the ninth British Armored Brigade launched another attack but lost 70 of its 94 tanks to box 80 artillery fire.

The following day, General Rommel praised the sacrifice of Italian divisions covering his withdrawal.

Enormous dust clouds could be seen south and southeast of headquarters, where the desperate struggle of the small and inefficient Italian tanks of 20th corps was being played out against 100 or so British heavy tanks.

I was later told by Major Fun.

Look at the Italians who at the time represented our strongest motorized force, fought with exemplary courage.

The last Italian unit to fight at El Alamein.

Was he fall?

Got a division elite paratroopers.

This is when the lions truly ward, holding back three British divisions and one free French brigade with little ammunition and almost no antitank ups before.

Good Lord, the Attackers into a cold a sack, then attacked from all sides, using Molotov cocktails and grenades.

The assault cost the allies 120 tanks.

The Italians retreated slowly, protecting the rear of the Africa corps, always refusing to surrender after El Alamein fall today, continued fighting in Libya and Tunisia.

By the end of the North African campaign there, 5000 man strong division was reduced toe a little more than 300 men.

In the end, Italian armed forces were destined to lose the war.

Their strategic doctrinal and logistical flaws were too overwhelming.

But when they had adequate equipment, leadership and morale, they performed well.

Scoring victories were delaying defeat through ingenuity and determination.

Do let me know in the comments.

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