Sacrifice on the Steppe: The Italian Alpine Corps in the Stalingrad Campaign, 1942-1943When GermanyÕs Sixth Army advanced to Stalingrad in 1942, its long-extended flanks were mainly held by its allied armiesÑthe Romanians, Hungarians, and Italians. But as history tells us, these flanks quickly caved in before the massive Soviet counter-offensive which commenced that November, dooming the Germans to their first catastrophe of the war. However, the historical record also makes clear that one allied unit held out to the very end, fighting to stem the tideÑthe Italian Alpine Corps. As a result of MussoliniÕs disastrous alliance with Nazi Germany, by the fall of 1942, 227,000 soldiers of the Italian Eighth Army were deployed on a 270km front along the Don River to protect the left flank of German troops intent on capturing Stalingrad. Sixty thousand of these were alpini, elite Italian mountain troops. When the Don front collapsed under Soviet hammerblows, it was the Alpine Corps that continued to hold out until it was completely isolated, and which then tried to fight its way out through both Russian encirclement and ÒGeneral Winter,Ó to rejoin the rest of the Axis front. Only one of the three alpine divisions was able to emerge from the Russian encirclement with survivors. In the all-sides battle across the snowy steppe, thousands were killed and wounded, and even more were captured. By the summer of 1946, 10,000 survivors returned to Italy from Russian POW camps. This tragic story is complex and unsettling, but most of all it is a human story. Mussolini sent thousands of poorly equipped soldiers to a country far from their homeland, on a mission to wage war with an unclear mandate against a people who were not their enemies. Raw courage and endurance blend with human suffering, desperation and altruism in the epic saga of this withdrawal from the Don lines, including the demise of thousands and survival of the few. Hope Hamilton, fluent in Italian and having spent many years in Italy, has drawn on many interviews with survivors, as well as massive research, in order to provide this first full English-language account of one of World War IIÕs legendary stands against great odds. |
Contents
The Invasion of Russia | 3 |
Summer of 1942 | 19 |
The Trek of the Alpini | 32 |
On the Don Lines | 37 |
General Conditions on the Don Front | 59 |
The Soviet Winter Offensive Begins | 69 |
Transfer of the Julia Division | 76 |
Encirclement of the Alpine Corps | 98 |
Disaster on the Steppe | 140 |
Withdrawal of the Tridentina Division | 145 |
Out of the EncirclementThe March Continues | 176 |
Survivors of the Withdrawal Return to Italy | 184 |
Capture at Valuiki | 195 |
Marches of the Davai | 201 |
Prisoner of War Transports | 211 |
Postscript | 311 |
PART II | 109 |
Retreat During the Height of Winter | 111 |
The Cuneense and Julia Continue to Withdraw | 129 |
Acknowledgments | 321 |
351 | |
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Sacrifice on the Steppe: The Italian Alpine Corps in the Stalingrad Campaign ... Hope Hamilton No preview available - 2016 |
Common terms and phrases
Alpine Corps Alpine Regiment alpini ARMIR Army arrived artillery asked attack Battisti battle Bedeschi began Beraudi Beraudi writes bunker camp Captain captured Centomila gavette civilians Colonel column command Corradi Corti Cosseria Cuneense Division Cuneo Cuneo e Provincia davai divisione alpina Cuneense Dronero encirclement enemy Faldella Fedriga forces front lines fronte russo gavette di ghiaccio German guards guerra dei poveri Hungarian Ibid Istituto Storico Italian officers Italian soldiers italiani sul fronte Italy izba January January 15 January 21 Julia Division Kalitva kaputt kilometers Lieutenant Marsan military Monte Cervino Battalion move mules Mussolini night Nikolaevka Once prigionieri di guerra prisoner of war rail car realized received remained Resistenza in Cuneo Revelli Reverberi Rossosh Russian guards sleds snow Soviet Storia delle truppe Storico della Resistenza Suzdal tanks told train Tridentina Division troops trucks truppe alpine units Valuiki village walk William Shirer withdrawal wounded XXIV Panzer Corps Zavagli zone