Infantrymen of the Air

By Jeffrey W.S. Leser

The available English language accounts of Italy’s participation during the Second World War have been more recounting what happened rather than a deep examination of why it happened. While recent books published by Helion have begun to provide the opportunity for a larger reading audience to discover the history of Italy’s role in the war, there is far more of the story to tell.

I have been studying the Italian military during the war for over 30 years and have moderated the Comando Supremo online forum for over 20 years. During this time my research was more focused on the regular units of the Regio Esercito Italiano (Royal Italian Army). When I decided it was time to try and write a book, I wanted to find a topic that was narrow in scope where I could add to the existing research. I have previously written professional articles and a book chapter, so I felt I was ready to take the next step. I hope I succeed in both a well written book and one that has added to our knowledge of the Italian parachute force. 

My intent behind the writing Infantrymen of the Air was to provide English language readers a comprehensive narrative of the development and employment of the paracadutisti italiani before and during the Second World War. Amazingly no such book currently existed in either Italian or English. The works of Nino Arena of which I extensively accessed, provided a broad study of Italian paratroops and personal accounts but often lacked hard data and sadly, any cites to identify the source of his material. A major omission in his books was the presence of the Allied forces and their decisions to create a balanced account of the various actions. Marco Di Giovanni’s I paracadutisti italiani is a golden mine of information on the political, economic, and inter-service conflict and is well cited, but didn’t address the actual military operations in any depth. Morsi’s The Italian Folgore Parachute Division, published by Helion, provides only a slice from the larger history of the reparti paracadutisti. I had planned to go into greater depth on the uniforms and equipment, but the final book length and the publication of Massimo di Martino’s superb two volume Paracadutisiti d’Italia made that an unnecessary duplication of effort.

With that goal in mind, fresh research was required. Covid was already a factor when my task began. The main challenge was accessing the records at NARA in the US. Their operation had been completely closed so a visit wasn’t possible. I submitted my records requests for CDs and then turned to work other sources. 18 months later my CDs arrived. I had nearly finished the book by that time, but some of the new material made it clear a new chapter was required. That pushed the completion of the book into 2023.

A significant gap in the current written works was the actual organization of the airborne units during the war. That information was likely only available in Italy. The archives in Italy aren’t organized to work with researchers via the internet and none of their records have been digitalized. One must either travel to Italy or hire a researcher. I am always up for a trip to Italy, so I was able to arrange a visit to the Italian Army archives through the US Military Attaché in Rome. I spent four glorious days in the archive, photographing as many folders as I could. The archive staff was very supportive and identified other records which I had not initially requested. There were certainly more files to access, but archive rules limited my stay. Cost prevented a trip to the Museo Storico delle Aviotruppe in Pisa, but their staff did provide some photographs for the book. What I found was captured in the four appendices addressing the known units. I must state that the work to fully capture the organization of the parachute units remains unfinished. While I was able to fill in many gaps, some elements remained elusive.

Just as important was the need for Allied records to write a more balanced account. While the focus of my writing was the Italian side of the story, providing an integrated narrative was important. The Australian war diaries had been digitized and available on the web, a wonderful resource for researchers. The British and Indian war diaries had not been digitalized and one must visit TNA in Kew. Here the international military research community came to my assistance. Two individuals that I have only communicated with online graciously offered their help. One was able to travel to Kew and obtain the Indian war diaries I needed to fully understand the events at Eluet el Asel in December 1941, as well as the British diaries for the Battle of Beda Fomm. The other individual provided copies of records he had acquired from NARA while he was working in Washington D.C. I also discovered an excellent online forum, WW2Talk which mainly focused on the UK part of the war. Members offered scans from various UK and Commonwealth units’ histories, many of which were quite rare and allowed a more complete telling of the Battle of Djebel Abiod on 22 December 1942. To all these volunteers I say thank you as they made Infantrymen of the Air a better book.

One of my tenets for writing military history was the need for maps. My other serious research topic is the Russo-Japanese War. Over the years I have collected most of the official accounts which were written during what I considered the Golden Age of military history. These often-included map volumes filled with detailed maps. It makes a difference in comprehension when one can follow the narrative of an event on a map. I was fortunate again that my brother offered to draw the maps to my requirements and that Helion fully supported the inclusion of 54 color maps in the book. If I have provided anything new to the history of WW2, the maps are part of that addition. 

Another of my tenets is full citation of my sources. Readers can check my research if they have the desire. Infantrymen of the Air has over 800 citations within its pages. As I previously stated, I know there are more primary sources that time and cost prevented me from accessing. A positive outcome for the book is to have others come forward by either adding to or correcting what I written using those other sources. That is the way good history is created.

Now that the book has been published, the research hasn’t stopped. After I submitted the final proof, I became aware of a new, first-person account of the Italian parachute drop on Cefalonia released by a small publisher in 2022. I have several unresolved issues in that chapter of the book so tracked down a copy. It just arrived a few days ago and I have taken a quick look through its pages. It confirmed several of my assumptions but also offered material that could have enriched my narrative. I also had a member on Comando Supremo sending additional primary material on the Folgore that I am still assessing.

It is this additional/new research that I hope Infantrymen of the Air will encourage. No history book is ever complete. I am sure that honest errors exist in my book and desire that further research come forward to correct those parts of the story. There also remains the story of these units in the post September 1943 period of the war that merits its own telling.

I believe the readers on the Helion Blog will find that Infantrymen of the Air provides a readable account of one specialty of the Italian military. I hope that they will also gain an understanding of both the truth and the fiction often embedded within the English language accounts about the Italian military.