Italy was in. Those emotional little men, those lovers of laughter but not of war-whose forefathers were licked by Louis XII's generals in three weeks, were a mere side dish to Napoleon I, were even overwhelmed by the ignorant Ethiopians at Aduwa in 1896, were the shame of their Allies at Caporetto-shouldered their arms and reluctantly left their dark-haired weeping women.
For months these war-hating warriors had waited for their marching papers. For nine long months since the invasion of Poland they had, without realizing it, actually been fighting.' Without pulling a...
To continue reading:
or
Log-In