The Italian Navy in World War II - (Contributions in Military Studies) by James Sadkovich (Hardcover)

About the Book

This revisionist history convincingly argues that the Regia Marina Italiana (the Royal Italian Navy) has been neglected and maligned in assessments of its contributions to the Axis effort in World War II. After all, Italy was the major Axis player in the Mediterranean, and it was the Italian navy and air force, with only sporadic help from their German ally, that stymied the British navy and air force for most of the thirty-nine months that Italy was a belligerent. It was the Royal Italian Navy that provided the many convoys that kept the Axis war effort in Africa alive by repeatedly braving attack by aircraft, submarine, and surface vessels. If doomed by its own technical weaknesses and Ultra (the top-secret British decoding device), the Italian navy still fought a tenacious and gallant war; and if it did not win that war, it avoided defeat for thirty-nine, long, frustrating months.

Book Synopsis

This revisionist history convincingly argues that the Regia Marina Italiana (the Royal Italian Navy) has been neglected and maligned in assessments of its contributions to the Axis effort in World War II. After all, Italy was the major Axis player in the Mediterranean, and it was the Italian navy and air force, with only sporadic help from their German ally, that stymied the British navy and air force for most of the thirty-nine months that Italy was a belligerent. It was the Royal Italian Navy that provided the many convoys that kept the Axis war effort in Africa alive by repeatedly braving attack by aircraft, submarine, and surface vessels. If doomed by its own technical weaknesses and Ultra (the top-secret British decoding device), the Italian navy still fought a tenacious and gallant war; and if it did not win that war, it avoided defeat for thirty-nine, long, frustrating months.

Review Quotes

.,."a book full of scholarly detail and provocative insights..."-New York Military Affairs Symposium

?...a book full of scholarly detail and provocative insights...?-New York Military Affairs Symposium

?This is a book that should be part of any World War II reading list and is sure to spark reaction from those to whom the Italians were an invisible component of the Mediterranean war.?-The Journal of Military History

..."a book full of scholarly detail and provocative insights..."-New York Military Affairs Symposium

"This is a book that should be part of any World War II reading list and is sure to spark reaction from those to whom the Italians were an invisible component of the Mediterranean war."-The Journal of Military History

About the Author

JAMES J. SADKOVICH is an Associate Professor of History at the University of Southern Mississippi. His two previous books are Reevaluating Major Naval Combatants of World War II (Greenwood, 1990) and Italian Support of Croatian Separatism, 1927-1937 (1987).