I'm looking for a good primer on Italian Army Uniforms WW2. Anyone that has the Osprey Men at Arms books on the Italian Army, would you recommend them. I know Osprey can be hit and miss. Any others out there? Thanks in advance.

Hi Pat,

The 2 books I used for the Allarmi Ufficiale R.E. 1940-43 review were:

- “The Italian Army 1940-45(1) Europe 1940-43”. Men-at-Arms 340. Philip S. Jowett. Illustrated by Stephen Andrew. Osprey Publishing. 2000.
- “World War II Infantry in Colour Photographs”. Europa Militaria No. 2. Laurent Mirouze. Windrow & Greene. 1990

I've also got "The Italian Army 1940-45(2)...". Generally speaking the Osprey books are great primers, but yes, if you want more in-depth info on a subject then they may not be for you. One of the advantages (IMO) is that they're also relatively inexpensive (about GBP10?).

The 2nd book I mention above is a general Infantry uniform reference which covers the major players of the war. It basically features models (the male human kind) wearing the full kit of whatever period or front.

HTH

Rudi

Thanks Rudi, I actually have the Osprey books in my shopping basket on Amazon just wanted to hear another opinion.

I have "Mussolini's soldiers" by Rex Trye, 160 pages, on my bookshelf.
This book shows uniforms, equipment and weapons in detail.
I am not an Italian-uniform-expert, but I think it is quite good.

If you're just looking for some good pictures look at those: http://fuchsiart.deviantart.com/gallery/ (there are also some fantasy pictures and German, Russian etc. soldiers)