During the Second World War the Italian armed forces they participated in the campaign on the eastern front, against theSoviet Unionfrom 1941 to 1943. Our country first sent a shipping body, the CSIR, and then a real army, the Armir. Overall, they fought in Russia About 230,000 Italian soldiershowever, they were subordinated to the German armed forces and did not have a particularly significant military role. In the winter of 1942-43 the Armir, badly equipped and bad armed, was overwhelmed by the Russian counter -offensive. The retreat was disastrous: about 85,000 soldiers died or were captured by the Soviets; The survivors were repatriated in March. The Russia campaign therefore proved to be a catastrophic failure and had very deep psychological and political consequences on our country.
The Italian campaign in Russia
Because Italians fought in Russia
The eastern front It was the most important front, in terms of forces employed, of the Second World War: the defeat suffered by the Nazis in Russia was decisive for the most general fate of the conflict. The role of the Italian armed forces was secondary on the military, but important from a political point of view. Mussolini began to evaluate the possibility of participating in a possible war between Germany, the ally of Italy, and the Soviet Union since the spring of 1941. Germany and the USSR they were linked by a non -aggression pactbut it appeared evident that Germany was willing to break the pact and invade the Soviet territory. The German attack, called Barbarossa operationbegan on June 22, 1941: Germany invaded the USSR With a powerful force, consisting of about 3,500,000 soldiers, with the aim of occupying all European Russia by the end of the year.

Mussolini, who had not been consulted or notified by Hitler, immediately decided to send a shipping body to give the Germans strongly. Therefore ordered to establish the Csir, Italian shipping body in Russiamade up of about 62,000 men. Historians asked themselves for a long time about Mussolini’s choice, in consideration of the fact that participation in the war on the Russian front was a colossal strategic error, which involved the subtraction of troops from other fronts. In addition, the Italian army was badly equipped and the few tens of thousands of CSIR soldiers could have little influence on the outcome of military operations.
There choice of Mussolini was politics: he feared that, in Hitler’s eyes, other countries were strengthened, such as Romania, Hungary, Finland – who had sent numerous and better equipped contingents in Russia, alongside the Germans – and that Italy lost the role of the main ally of Germany Nazi. Furthermore, the hostility for “Bolshevism”, as Soviet communism was called, was one of the fundamental ideological components of fascism and Nazism; Taking part in the clash was indispensable to play an important role in New World Order that would have been established after the victory. The Germans, for their part, had no interest in the Italian participation and Hitler did not show any enthusiasm for the offer of his ally, but could not refuse it.
Military operations: from CSIR to Mirir
The CSIRwho arrived in Russia in July 1941, was aggregated to the German 11th Army and employed in the southern sector of the front. Era subordinate to the armed forces of Germanybut played an important role in the conquest of the city of Stalino (today Doneck), in Ukraine. In the meantime, the Germans led a powerful advance and arrived At the gates of Moscowhowever, without being able to conquer the city. In winter, the Soviet forces launched a counter -offensive, which forced the Germanic troops to relegate many kilometers. The CSIR maintained the positions.
The following year the number of Italian soldiers increased: Mussolini wanted to contribute to a greater extent At the war against the USSR and, unlike 1941, even the Germans, after suffering the Russian counter -offensive, showed interested in the increase in Italian participation. In the summer of 1942 two other Italian arms bodies arrived at the source, one of which consisting of Alpine troops. Together with the CSIR already present in the Soviet territory, The two bodies formed the Armir, Italian Army of Russiaunder the orders of the general Italo Gariboldiconsisting of about 230,000 men. The Armir was employed in supporting the operations of the German army, which in 1942 launched a two -itemed offensive: one towards the Stalingrad city and one towards the Caucasus. The Italian troops sided at the Don River in support of the ally.

The drama of the disastrous withdrawn in Russia
The German attack in Stalingrado, as is known, failed and represented the beginning of the end for Hitler’s Germany. In November, theRed the first offensive unleashed, called Uranus operationoverwhelming two Romanian armies and placing the German VI Army in Stalingrado. On December 16, after rejecting a German attempt by the counterattack, the Soviet army launched a new offensive on the Don, known as the operation Piccolo Saturnoand overwhelmed a part of the dear, which began to back away. In January, a further Russian attack invested the Alpine Army Corps, forcing it to retreat.

The conditions of the Italian troops were desperate: the soldiers were not equipped to face the Russian winter and even even had the opportunity to compete on a military level with the red army. The retreat was therefore disastrous: about 85,000 soldiers died or were captured And of the prisoners, only 10,000 will return to Italy at the end of the war. After the defeat, the remains of the Desi folded in Belarus and in March they were repatriated to Italy.

Memory
The Russia campaign deeply marked the Italian armed forces and helped to arouse Antigermanic feelingsbecause the soldiers accused the German army of abandoning them. The defeat also contributed to precipitating the consensus for the fascist regime, which had sent badly equipped soldiers and evil armed in a difficult scenario such as the Russian one. After the end of the Second World War, the events of the Eastern front were told by novels and memories and remained an important element of the Italian collective memory.