Italy is pathetic

quality thread

Italy only joined the Pact of Steel because Hitler and von Ribbentrop both promised Mussolini that Germany wouldn't start a war until 1942

>>3213103
The binary division was the worst idea Mussolini ever had. It complete neutered Italy's fighting ability on a divisional level.

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>>3213103
>after the french

They were actually much worse than the French
They fucking failed to invade 1940 France and this meanwhile Germany was rampaging across the country

>>3213144
Let's be fair here. The German invasion avoided the vast majority of defenses while the Italians were forced to go straight through the Ligne Alpine.

>>3213144
Is there a list of those nine soldiers and what happened to them? There's no wikipedia article about that battle not anymore at least.

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>>3213103
>t. Gunther

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>>3213103

>>3213244
Hm this really is a parallel to crossing the Rubicon isnt it. Never thought of it that way.

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>>3213187
>Is there a list of those nine soldiers and what happened to them?

Never seen the list if there's one
I know that they got captured after the armistice and spent the rest of the war in German labor camps though

Don't know the name of the French defenders, but I know the name of one of the Italians who died there
He had a whole propaganda poster dedicated to how he heroically died alongside 200 of his countrymen trying to defeat 9 Frenchmen

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>>3213284

>>3213247
>roman empire
>Italian
top kek

>>3213284
9 frenchmen in a fortified position shooting at guys that had no other way than walk toward them while being gunned down

people always talk about Russians zerg rush and their lack of care for human life but those fascist commanders weren't much different

>>3213144

this shit cant be made up

File: Casemate Pont Saint Louis crew - 27 June 1940.jpg (57KB, 571x369px) Image search: [Google]

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>>3213187
>>3213284
You can find the list in french sources such as:
http://www.maginot.org/livres/louis_site.pdf

With pic related, from left to right:
Private Marcel Guzzi
Private Gaston Cordier
Private André Gapon
Sergeant Jean Bourgoin
2nd Lieutenant Charles Gros
Corporal Lucien Robert
Private Roger Chazarin
Private Nicolas Petrillo
Private Paul Lieutaud.

As to their whereabouts, Bourgoin later joined the Free French Forces and survived the war, I didn't find if Gros also joined the FFF or stayed in Vichy Armistice Army but he rose up to colonel during his career and was present during the 1994 ceremony.
In the French casualties archives there's two Lucien Robert and a Gaston Cordier listed as KIA during the following years but seeing the birthplace I doubt they're the same as the one of the casemate.

>>3213436
Sucks that so little is known.
I was one of the people who tried to make a final list of people involved in the first battle of WWII (Westerplatte). Canonical list has 205 names but I was able to add 10 looking through accessible sources.
All accounted for.
The best way to fill the blanks is to wait until some historian gets interested in the subject and writes a book.