Iron Arm

by John Joseph Timothy Sweet

- A detailed study of Italy's long-ignored tank force - Explores the intersection of technology, war, and society in Mussolini's Italy - Second only to Germany in number of tank divisions, first to create an armored corps Though overshadowed by Germany's more famous Afrika Korps, Italian tanks formed a large part of the Axis armored force that the Allies confronted--and ultimately defeated--in North Africa in the early years of World War II. Those tanks were the product of two decades of debate and development as the Italian military struggled to produce a modern, mechanized army in the aftermath of World War I. For a time, Italy stood near the front of the world's tank forces--but once war came, Mussolini's iron arm failed as an effective military force. This is the story of its rise and fall.

Genres: Military History, World War II, History, Nonfiction, Italy

224 pages, Paperback

First published September 25, 1980

Reviews

[William Sariego · Rating 3 out of 5]

Yes, the focus was the era between the world wars, and not the conflict from Italy's involvement in Round Two. Yet the author talks about the battle of El Alamein in the introduction, and puts the Centauro division there, rather than the Littorio. Also toward the end, a picture showing M13/40 medium tanks being offloaded in Tripoli are identified as L6/40 light tanks in the caption. Otherwise the narrative is informative but dry.

[John · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great overview of Italian Armor Policy in the run up to WW2.

[Mike Hardin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Studies of the Italian armored forces before and during World War II are not very common. Based on its perceived performance in the shadow of the Wehrmacht, it tends to be dismissed with a footnote. Iron Arm rectifies this tendency. It is a clear explanation of the path that the Italian army took to move from the 19th century army that entered World War I to a modern mechanized force. The author makes the good point that all of the European powers, and the US, took a different path on this matter in the interwar years, a path charted by the particular social, geographic, and industrial situation of each country. The author maintains that intellectually and theoretically, the Italian general staff was as advanced as anybody by the start of World War II, but that Italy simply did not possess the material means to crate a viable armored arm. An interesting and well researched study.

[James Yee · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fascinating look at the development of the Italian armored forces between the interwar years. It also provides an illuminating look at the Italian military-industrial complex during that time frame and helps to explain how a military with advance armored doctrine (at the time) was undercut by lack of natural resources and industry to match it. Basically Italy invented what would become famously known as the "German blitzkrieg", but lacked the ability to actually carry out their plans and doctrine.

The book focuses more on doctrine development, society, and industrial influences. It doesn't really get into detailed battle accounts, so you'll have to look elsewhere for that.

This paragraph from the book provides an excellent summary of its conclusion:
"To provide the industrial base and manpower for a mechanized army required a mechanized society and Italy was not such a society. In comparison with other industrial nations, it did not support the level of automobile use and production to insure equality with them. In part this resulted from poor natural resources and the need to import most of the material needed for the construction and use of cars, trucks, and tractors. Thus Italy could not produce the kind of army needed to fight a modern war."

[Shrike58 · Rating 3 out of 5]

At any time over the last thirty-or-so years I could have read this book, but having finally done so I can say that it's still worth your time if you're a student of military history. What Sweet really did well was to examine the organizational politics and culture of the Italian army, and the constraints that limited their embrace of motorization and then mechanization. While there are times when this monograph reads like the doctoral thesis I presume it was, and I think that there was less of a dichotomy between motorization (the replacement of fodder with petrol) and mechanization (the embrace of the armored fighting vehicle as a determinate factor of operational warfare) than the author argues, one regrets that Sweet died in the line of duty, thus cutting off a potentially great career as a historian.

[Keith Hampton · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great history on the development of the Italian armored forces from a largely policy, military, and industrial thought progression. There is not much in the way of discussion of actual armored force use. The book does provide wonderful insight as to why Italian armored forces weren't more of a force to be reckoned with even though they were well ahead of most everyone else in theoretical use during the interwar years.

[Frederick Dotolo · Rating 3 out of 5]

A great history of a neglected area of WWII that corrects a flaw in the historiography- ignorance of the Italian tank corps and doctrine. Highly recommended.