Title: Allies
Are a Tiresome Lot: The British Army in Italy in the First World War
Author:
John Dillon
ISBN:
978-1-910777-32-9
Publisher:
Helion
Year:
2015
Hardcover
Pages: 224
Photos/
Maps: 15/4
As part
of their Wolverhampton Military Studies program, Helion has published this
interesting study of the experiences and undertakings of the British Army deployed
to Italy in support of the Italian Front. Dillon has provided a comprehensive
overview of the unique challenges, social environs and environmental
differences facing the British and how they adapted their doctrine and
regulations accordingly.
The
Italians were a late comer to the war and were not held in high regard by the
British command; however, a number of setbacks had, by 1917 driven the Italian
government to the brink of surrender. The Allies, specifically the British,
under significant pressure on the Western front due to the war weariness of the
French (having recently mutinied), the recent loss of Romania and the
deteriorating situation in the East with Russia, could not afford to lose the
Italians without incurring a substantial threat to the entire war effort. They
therefore reluctantly agreed to pull badly needed troops from the Western Front
to bolster the Italians.
The
Italian Front for soldiers recently engaged in the horrors of the Western Front
was, in many respects, a paradise. Combat was infrequent, distances to the
enemy trenches were as far as over a kilometre in many cases, the weather was
mild, the ground dry and the daily routine easy; boredom became as much a
challenge as the enemy. These unique challenges form the basis of Dillon’s
work. He divides his narrative into distinctive sections, each stand-alone and
covering such areas as medical, crime and punishment, morale and working with
the Italians. He also provides, at the outset, a synopsis of the Italian war
effort both in terms of the fighting as well as the relations of the Italian
Government with its Allies. He closes his book with the British/Italian
engagement with the Austro-Hungarians during the final months of the war and
the challenges associated with the tense post war regional relations and the
need to bring the soldiers home.
As this
is a relatively unknown aspect of the First World War Dillon’s work is
significant in the light it sheds on the unique facets of this campaign. He
writes with clarity and humour, relating conditions and situations not seen on
other fronts. This is a serious work however, well researched and presented. He
draws on a plethora of primary source material to provide not only the
strategic perspective but also the soldier’s narrative, weaving in many
firsthand accounts into his writing.
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