World War II Partisan Warfare in Italy

When Italy surrendered in 1943, it sparked a diverse resistance movement of anti-German, anti-fascist partisans who rose up against German occupation. This book explores the tactics, organizational structure and equipment of the brave Italian resistance fighters, who knew exactly what was at stake when operating against their German occupiers. Beginning with low-level sabotage and assassinations, the groups grew until spring 1944 when they numbered around 100,000, and as the Allies advanced to the Gothic line, a remarkable, unified partisan command structure was created. The partisans began to work in close co-ordination with the Allies, receiving British SOE and American OSS liaison teams as well as supplies of weapons. The German response was eye-watering in its ferocity and brutality, as the SS and Italian RSI looked to eradicate the partisans once and for all when the Allied advance stalled in Autumn 1944. But when the Allies made their final breakthrough in the last weeks of the war the partisans rose in force to pile the pressure on the retreating Wehrmacht. From an expert on Italian military history in World War II, this work provides an exhaustively researched, sumptuously illustrated guide to the men and women who fought a desperate struggle against occupation, as well as the German and Italian fascist security forces unleashed against them.

Pier Paolo Battistelli earned his PhD in Military History at the University of Padua. A scholar of German and Italian politics and strategy throughout World War II, he is active in Italy and abroad writing titles and essays on military history subjects. A contributor to the Italian Army Historical Office, he is currently revising his PhD thesis for publication: The War of the Axis: German and Italian Military Partnership in World War Two, 1939-1943. The author lives in Perugia, Italy.

Introduction: Italian surrender and German occupation German organization From early resistance to partisan warfare Peak of operations: collapse of RSI army security forces and mobilization of Fascist Party 'Black Brigades' - SS take over from Wehrmacht - creation of partisan CVT command, and 'free zones' - partisans fight with Allied troops - resistance in Florence - the struggle on the Franco-Italian border /Crisis of September 1944-March 1945: major anti-partisan operations - deployment of German combat units against partisans The Allies and the partisans Final uprising The 'operational zones': the NW Italo-French and NE Italo-Yugoslav frontiers Equipment, tactics, and assessment of Italian partisan groups Equipment, tactics and assessment of German and Italian Fascist anti-partisan forces Bibliography Index