Combat and fighters in Italian military history are the subjects tackled by the twentieth century historian Gianni Oliva at the Army Application School at the meeting attended by Institute attending officers, a platoon of the Carabinieri Students' School of Turin and numerous external guests.
The commander of the School, general of army corps Claudio Berto has outlined the specificity of the protagonists of the main conflicts of the most recent history, dwelling on the psychological aspects that characterize those who fight, the latter subject of studies not always known as those of Agostino Gemelli on Italian soldiers in the Great War.
General Carlo Cabigiosu, former Chief of Staff of the Allied Forces of Southern Europe, referring to the special forces soldiers pointed out as: "the deeds of a few daring often succeed in enhancing the action of the masses".
"Despite the Italian filmography has sometimes obscured the value of our men"Continued Cabigiosu,"in our history there are innumerable episodes of courage and heroism that deserve to be rediscovered".
Gianni Oliva, author of the essay "Fight. From the bold to the marò, history of Italian special bodies"Recently published by Mondadori underlined the need to tell the story objectively, bringing to light episodes and departments on which, for various reasons, a curtain of silence has unfairly fallen. An emblematic example in this sense is that of the Arditi of the First World War.
The exceptional physical and military training, the strong motivation and the extraordinary spirit of body allowed the Arditi to perform deeds unfairly fallen into oblivion or become the prerogative of political propaganda. True forerunners of modern special forces, the Arditi of the Royal Army acted with admirable audacity in the exhausting context of the war of position, catalyzing the enthusiasm of the other soldiers and the patriotic pride of public opinion. The peculiarity of the fighters of the elite forces, among them the paratroopers of the thunderbolt, the incursors of the Navy and many others, reside in uncommon gifts of honor and loyalty also shown towards the enemy.
"Virtues that are above the political choices of the moment, attempts at ideological exploitation"Concluded Oliva"and that as such they deserve to be placed in an appropriate position of collective memory".
