Italy’s World War II Battleships Were Lovely, But Not Exactly the Best

Same here, I have been on the USS Alabama and the USS Missouri but I have not made time to see the USS Iowa in San Pedro Harbor since I come straight to my unit and go back to my mom's house when I go to California. Someday, I hope to go with my wife she loves the Queen Mary and now I'm sure she'll be interested in knowing that just going to cross the Vincent Thomas Bridge that within 30 minutes she can be at the battleship. Sometimes, she comes with me. My six and nine year old daughter's will love going on the battleship. They have seen the movie a few times.

At least it survived WW2

LTC Stephen C. - No offense taken. The Italian Military did not cover itself in glory in either World War. There were many reasons. My Grandfather often said that the Alpine Battles in which he fought in Northern Italy were pointless and that the Italian Officer Corps was purged by Mussolini after World War I and what was left were incompetent idiots. That may be a simplistic overview. However, what few realize is that a number of Italians were decimated by the Soviets on the Eastern Front and that there sacrifice is rarely acknowledged..
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Italian_Army_in_Russia

LTC Orlando Illi - I actually saw a documentary on the G.55. They were average fighters in the air, but maintenance nightmares. Because they were so complicated the desert environment kept them grounded more than they flew. Much like our Bell P-39.

LTC Orlando Illi - Lieutenant Colonel Orlando. I had a great experience with Italian troops at provincial reconstruction team Farrah in Western Afghanistan. The Italians there or Alpine troops, Special Forces and Infantry. We were in Italian control portion of Afghanistan. No I did not speak Italian I tried to speak Spanish and the soldier from Sardinia and Sicily had better luck understanding me compared to the mainland Italian because their dialect had any great some of the Spanish from earlier domination Nation from by Spain. They are very nice to us they advised us to their mess hall. Later, I meant Italian soldier who spoke for Spanish because he had Spanish girlfriend. We were able to converse without a problem. He told me he was Alpine Soldier and he gave me one of his hats at look very much like a Africa Corps style and color. They are very proud of their lineage fighting in North Africa even if they got their asses kicked by the British and Americans. If I find the Hat and patches I will scan them and put them O'Reilly point. Interesting that they called the 50 caliber M2 they just call it the Browning. LOL

LTC (Join to see) - the Italian Alpine troops are their elite troops. Tough training and tougher duty in the Italian Alps. My Grandfather is from Northern Italy. He chose the Uhlans because he loved horses and liked the uniforms. The Italian Major that I met are NATO HQ when I was there TDY for 3 weeks spoke English and we put away a few bottles of wine after duty. He was from the Italian Armored Corps. Thanks for the post