"The Italians," says Field Marshal Erich von Manstein in his memoirs of Stalingrad, simply "disappeared from the battlefield." In the most decisive battle of World War II, the Russians, breaking through west of the city on the front held by 220,000 men of Mussolini's Italian Expeditionary Force among others, hurtled on across the Don steppes and never finally stopped till they got to Berlin. In six weeks of catastrophic rout and retreat, the Italians' ten divisions suffered casualties officially estimated at 115,000 men. Of these, they evacuated 30,000 wounded and listed 11,000 as dead. Later, the Russians returned 10,000 Italian P.W.s....
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