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From: wbt@cbema.att.com (William B Thacker)
Newsgroups: sci.military
Subject: Re: Italian Tanks and Japanese Tanks
Message-ID: <1991Apr30.044736.4919@amd.com>
Date: 30 Apr 91 00:31:03 GMT
References: <1991Apr24.054441.18528@amd.com> <1991Apr29.051427.5157@amd.com>
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From: wbt@cbema.att.com (William B Thacker)


smpod@saturn.lerc.nasa.gov writes:
>The Italian artillery was comparatively excellent and performed very
>well alongside the Afrika Korp.

A point well made.  While the morale of Italian infantry was, well,
shakey at best, Italian gunners were known for sticking with their guns
to the very last.  My guess would be that the extra training given 
these troops made the difference.

As for the quality of Italian guns... most of it seems to have been
old and/or second-rate, but second-rate WWII artillery wasn't much worse
than the latest equipment.  Every army brought WWI-vintage (or older!)
pieces into the war, and artillery simply didn't develop that much
during the first half of this century, when compared to tanks, ships,
aircraft, and even small arms.

More important would be their artillery fire control, about which I know
virtually nothing.  Can anyone compare them to the other combattants in
this regard ?

-- 
Bill Thacker	AT&T Network Systems - Columbus		wbt@cbnews.att.com