WITNESS TO WAR DI PAOLO CRIPPA

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Slovensko Domobrantsvo - WTW-044

SKU WTW-044

Brand WITNESS TO WAR DI PAOLO CRIPPA

Nation: Slovenia

Period: WWII

Type: Military Vehicles

Category Books

Book Slovensko Domobrantsvo (Slovenian Home Guard 1943-1945) - Witness To War On September 24, 1943, General Rupnik, with Anton Kokalj, Ernest Peterlin, and Janko Kregar, formed the Slovenska Domobranska Legija (Slovenian Guards Legion), supported by representatives of the prewar political parties in the Ljubljana region, and organized it into 3 battalions. It should be emphasized, however, that while Rupnik was inclined to cooperate with the Germans and was convinced of the victory of the Third Reich, Peterlin wanted to form a heavily armed unit, with heavy machine guns, mortars, and cannons of various calibers (with the secret purpose of having an armed force ready to carry out a nationalist and independence uprising), but the Germans never approved such a project. To urge young people to enlist, a vibrant appeal, signed by Rupnik himself, was published the same day in Slovenia's leading Catholic newspaper, 'Slovenec'. On Sept. 30, following the German occupation of Ljubljana province, the Germans renamed the Slovenian Territorial Guard Legion (Slovensko Domobranstvo in German Slowenische Landwehr), effectively taking control of it.

Out of stock

Bulgarian Armored Wards - WTW-046

SKU WTW-046

Brand WITNESS TO WAR DI PAOLO CRIPPA

Nation: Bulgaria

Period: WWII

Type: Military Vehicles

Category Books

Book Bulgarian Armored Units - Witness To War Having emerged confined from World War I, Bulgaria, as a result of the implementation of peace treaty clauses, was unable to purchase tanks until the early 1930s. Due to the industrialization of the scars it was necessary to follow all the Nazis in their production process. Thus were purchased from Italy the CV33 fast tanks, from England the Vickers Mk.E, and from Czechoslovakia the LT vz. 35. After establishing the first units, thanks to Germany, into whose sphere of influence Bulgaria had entered, French wartime pre-war German tanks, the Renault R35, and new Czechoslovak tanks were then purchased. In 1943, with the establishment of the Broniran Brigade, Panzer IVs and StuG IIIs arrived. In 1944, after the coup d'état, Bulgaria changed alliance, flanking the Red Army in the liberation of Yugoslavia and Hungary by fighting the Germans with its armored units until the end of the conflict in May 1945.

Out of stock

Albanian Units in World War II - WTW-051

SKU WTW-051

Brand WITNESS TO WAR DI PAOLO CRIPPA

Nation: Albania

Period: WWII

Type: Military Vehicles

Category Books

Albanian Wards in World War II - Witness To War On April 16, 1939, Victor Emmanuel III received the Crown of Albania at the Quirinal Palace. The "Land of Eagles" and Fascist Italy would thus share a common destiny. The institutional changes were accompanied by the integration of the Albanian armed forces into those of Italy. Albania managed to recreate an autonomous if small army only after the armistice of September 8, 1943. From that date the Germans, interested in controlling the territory and safeguarding the neutrality of the Balkan state, relied on the support of local anti-partisan militias and continued to recruit several thousand Albanians, many of them Kosovars, into the mountain units of the Waffen-SS. On the opposite front, the Albanian Resistance, which also counted in its ranks several formations composed of Italian soldiers, gradually strengthened.

20,00 €

SS Cavalry Divisions - WTW-043

SKU WTW-043

Brand WITNESS TO WAR DI PAOLO CRIPPA

Nation: Italy

Period: WWII

Type: Military Vehicles

Category Books

Book The SS Cavalry Divisions - Witness To War The Florian Geyer Division was created as a unit prepared to fight partisan forces but also found itself performing front-line tasks for which it was not prepared. Compared to the other SS divisions, the Florian Geyer found itself at a disadvantage in regular combat, especially with regard to the tactical preparation of the middle officers. These deficiencies were made up, in part, by the strong esprit de corps of the men of the division, which never failed even at the end, thus making it an elite unit. The fortunes of the 22nd Maria Theresia Division remain closely linked to the terrible Battle of Budapest. This SS unit was able to hold its own against the preponderant enemy forces, this despite the fact that the formation of the division was only a few months before the decisive battle. Most of its men were conscripts, moreover, its armament, was certainly not of the most advanced. Nevertheless, its soldiers preferred total annihilation rather than surrender, demonstrating uncommon valor.

20,00 €

Operation Mincemeat - WTW-045

SKU WTW-045

Brand WITNESS TO WAR DI PAOLO CRIPPA

Nation: Italy

Period: WWII

Type: Military Vehicles

Category Books

Operation "Mincemeat" - Witness To War In the run-up to the July 10, 1943 landing in Sicily, code-named Operation "Husky," during the spring of that year the British Intelligence Commands put in place very elaborate measures to confuse the enemy about the date and destination of the attack. Among other things, in the hope of delaying German reinforcements to Sicily, reducing the air threat to their invasion convoys and keeping the main naval forces (battleships and cruisers) away from the area of Sicily, false information was artfully provided through agents in neutral nations such as Portugal and Spain. By the General Staffs of the Italian Armed Forces and the German Commands in Italy, the Allied landing operation in Sicily was expected. Benito Mussolini, Field Marshal Albert Kesselring and the Chief of the Supreme Command General Vittorio Ambrosio, despite every misdirection maneuver by the Anglo-Americans to deceive Italians and Germans from the real objective of landing in Sicily, were convinced that the invasion would take place on that large island. Among the deception measures, the most famous and elaborate was Operation "Mincemeat": Glyndwr Michael, a Welshman who died of pulmonary edema, was found in a morgue and dressed in his military uniform under the name of a fictitious "Major William Martin of the Royal Marines." His death was faked as having been caused by drowning, which occurred while he was in the air on a plane that by accident would have crashed into the sea near the Atlantic coast of southern Spain, with false confidential documents indicating Greece and probably Sardinia as targets for a landing. His corpse, carried by a British submarine, was found by the Spanish on the beach at Huelva. The documents he possessed were passed by the Spaniards to German agents, and reached Belino, who immediately informed Rome. But the plan, hailed in Anglo-Saxon countries as an outstanding success that would even affect the outcome of the war in favor of the Allies by diverting the Germans' attention from reinforcing Sicily, did not go as they believed, so much so that they made two films about it, fictionalized and false. The Italian and German Commands in Italy, unlike in Belino (who initially, particularly Hitler, believed that deception), did not take the bait for the macabre staging, as the reader will realize from reading this book.

20,00 €

Bersaglieri units in the R.S.I.

SKU WTW-005

Brand WITNESS TO WAR DI PAOLO CRIPPA

Nation: Italy

Period: WWII

Category Books

Bersaglieri units in the R.S.I.The general disarray caused by the September 8 Armistice also had immediate repercussions on the Bersaglieri units, both present in the Peninsula and abroad. The Bersaglieri, however, were among the first to reorganize and take up arms, both in the South, where at the end of September 1943 the LI Bersaglieri Instructional Battalion Student Complementary Officers was included in the First Motorized Regiment, and in the North, where the Bersaglieri Battalion "Mussolini," the Bersaglieri Regiment "Luciano Manara" and the 3rd Volunteer Regiment were quickly formed.

20,00 €

Alpine Departments in the R.S.I.

SKU WTW-002

Brand WITNESS TO WAR DI PAOLO CRIPPA

Nation: Italy

Period: WWII

Category Books

Alpine Units in the R.S.I.Already in the first days after the armistice in many places in Italy and abroad, individual Alpine soldiers or groups or entire organic Units chose to continue fighting alongside the old German ally, being used by them either in their Units or independently. Once the Social Republic was established in Northern Italy and the structure of the National Army was established, with the issuance of enlistment notices, the large influx of volunteers and the choice of interned soldiers to return to service in the new Army, the establishment of the Armed Forces of the R.S.I. was initiated, in which the Alpini played a primary role, despite the difficulties in procuring military supplies.

20,00 €

Mussolini's tank drivers

SKU WTW-003

Brand WITNESS TO WAR DI PAOLO CRIPPA

Nation: Italy

Period: WWII

Category Books

Mussolini's tank menThe G.N.R. Armored Group "M" "Leonessa" constituted a unicum among the Armed Forces of the Italian Social Republic. In fact, it was the most substantial and operational of the few units equipped with armored vehicles, even of circumstance, operating mainly in the anti-partisan struggle. But the "Leonessa" was directly descended from the Tank Group of the same name which, before the Armistice, was part of the 1st Armored Division "M" of the M.V.S.N., made up of personnel loyal to the Duce, renamed after July 25 136th Armored Division "Centaur II." After the Italian surrender, all the Division's equipment was forfeited to the Germans, including Panzer IIIs, Panzer IVs and Stug.IIIs of the "Leonessa." But part of the Division's effectives refused to fight against the former allies and, putting back their red "M's" and black shirts, went in search of weapons and tanks in the now empty Italian barracks to continue the war alongside the Germans.

Out of stock

REPUBLICAN NATIONAL AIR FORCE A.N.R. 1943-1945

SKU WTW-010

Brand WITNESS TO WAR DI PAOLO CRIPPA

Nation: Italy

Period: WWII

Category Books

AERONAUTICA NAZIONALE REPUBBLICANA A.N.R. 1943-1945In this book, the author best describes the organization and history of the Italian Air Force, which after the armistice in 1943 remained under the command of Benito Mussolini and an ally of Germany: the Aeronautica Nazionale Repubblicana (ANR). The study starts from its founder Lieutenant Colonel Ernesto Botto, with the return of more than 1,000 Italian aircraft seized by the Luftwaffe after the armistice to which many German aircraft such as Bf109s were later added. Fighter groups, bomber groups, transports, etc. Chapters all described in chronological order as to their history and operations from late 1943 to April 1945. Several color maps , many photos of Italian aces and their aircraft. Eight wonderful, very detailed profiles make up the book.

Out of stock