Angelo Capelletti was the eldest brother of my grandpa, 19 years old when he was sent from his village near Bergamo to the Don Front within the 2nd Sforzesca infantry division. Infantry guys fared even worse than Alpini , he was captured sometime during Saturn. I still have his letters, from summer in Ukraine to the fighting on the Don, interrupting suddenly at the end of December 1942. We know from two friends from his same village that managed to come home after years of captivity that they were eventually transferred in a POW camp in Ukraine (possibly late 1944-1945 or even after the War’s end) and there he was executed during nighttime by a soviet guard for collecting firewood without permission. Never got the body bag, he’s still somewhere in the Donbass

Looking at this photo, and hearing the commentary, the level of pain, misery, and the harsh weather conditions, most people cannot begin to comprehend. The Italians fought well under the described conditions, which spoke volumes for their bravery and ruggedness. The Italians and Rumanians were charged with the protection of the flanks of German 6th Army. Both Armies were ill equipped for this mission. No motorized armor (tanks), outdated artillery (both sides) All, with the exception of the rugged Alpini Soldiers, were not prepped properly for the brutal Russian winter. Winterized clothing in adequate numbers, if at all, doomed these brave men to a frozen "hell on earth". Lack of proper rations was another moral buster for both Italian and Rumanian Forces. So when the Russian committed to the pincer move, neither the Italians or Rumanians were adequately prepared to protect the vital flanks of 6th Army. The Axis allies were at an extreme disadvantage when the Russians came-a-calling, with their numerous T-34 tanks on both ides of the pincer, and their numerical superiority. The Italians and Rumanians have NOTHING to be ashamed of! They did the best they could with the outdated arms, minus tanks, they were forced to fight with. Had the Germans provided them with the support needed to secure the flanks properly, history may have been different. I salute these brave Italians and Rumanians for their extreme bravery in a hopeless situation. Freezing to death, starving to death, or shot with a bullet was about the only 3-choices these Axis soldiers had. History has not been kind to these two Military Forces of the Axis, especially the Italians.But anyone who bothers themselves to do an in-depth study of the Russian Front Campaign will become aware of the suppressed stories of great bravery and sacrifice of the two defeated Armies, by the individual soldier.

As I recall the Italians had been placed between the Romanian and Hungarian forces because the two didnt get along very well. They all fought well, but they just didnt have the equipment to stand up against the Soviet armor.

Thank you very much for this. Italian troops are always despised in history books in English. They were not cowards, they just lacked of fundamental equipment, armor and even food to compete with the "big guys" (USA, Germany, UK, USSR). Anyway, Italian troops and above all the Alpini made small miracles in Russia and on other fronts. Mancò la fortuna, non il valore.

This photo is nothing but despair. There is one common thread that runs through time. Soldiers are always getting the short end of the stick.

my grandfather was among those poor soldier retreating❤

Really good episode! The Italians (across all fronts) really don't get enough coverage

There is Italian-Soviet movie from 1964,Italiani brava gente which deals with Italian 8th army in Russia all the way to it's effective destruction in December of 1942.Watched US dub of it,was quite saddened by the tragic end of many of them in Russian winter steps.Seems like parts of the movie were given omage in German "Stalingrad" grom 1993.

OMG!!! My dad was there. He told us of finding the mushrooms which is also told in Corti's book. He was riding a horse and 2 Germans came along and made him get off. One shot at him but only got the bottom of his coat. The other German asked him why he did that and they rode off. Later, my dad was the driver of a horse pulled wagon of wounded. They were captured and a guard posted. He talks about being in a valley or ravine with the battle raging overhead. The guard got scared and was going to shoot them and run away. My dad talked him out of it and the guard just left. My dad got a medal for this. In Corti's book he talks about how the northern troops despised the southern troops, esp. Sicilians. My dad made it back to Sicily with both the Allies and Germans shooting at his boat, hiding for a year in Rome after the allies captured it. Where can is there more information on this? I can't thank you enough for doing this.

Would be very interested if you had a show with Neil and the ARMIR

Grazie. Un racconto ben fatto, una comprensione esatta. I nostri poveri soldati, mandati a combattere ed a morire, con un equipaggiamento miserabile, un armamento inefficiente ed anche poco cibo. Ancora grazie per il buon lavoro.

watching this on the 15/12/2022 while rememebring the sacrifice of our troops on the river Don front. Maybe most of the Italians have forgotten about this but there is still a few of us who haven't!

This is an excellent "research capsule" on an important facet of the historic disaster that Stalingrad was, conveying the misery of defeat and retreat. Really an invaluable piece here, since many people don't realize that Mussolini had sent large military formations to the front, nor are aware of the fighting qualities of some units at least, nor of the presence of troops from other nations (like from Hungary and Romania), nor of Operation Little Saturn, which really placed the Axis forces across a wide front along the Don in a bad place.

In 1997-1998 I did my military service in Merano in the Tridentina Alpine Brigade and I had already heard many of these war memories then but I didn't imagine that one day history buffs from the United States or the United Kingdom would find these events interesting.

Reminds me of the French retreat from Russia in the Napoleonic Wars. This retreat combined with the defeat in North Africa to months later had to make those who knew the reality of the war wonder what they were doing in the war.

Great presentation on a subject I am just now getting into.

Excellent photography and narration. Learned a lot - as usual on WW2TV channel.

Two excellent books on this subject to read are: "Mussolini's War in the East 1941-1943”, by Patrick Cloutier, and “Mussolini’s Eastern Crusade”, Italian Expeditionary Corps in Operation Barbarossa by Marek Sobski.

Not a single motorized vehicle in that one first picture ,that's a hardcore retreat,imagine the poor bastards who remained in the trenches to give them proper time to retreat ,the ones who stayed behind if any at all made it back would of been by miracle

The first Don battle, August 1942, showed that Armir was a frontal screen allowing the rear German units to group and prepare to target the main offensive points. They stayed on the spot while the Germans decided what to do to stop the winter offensive.