AUTOMEZZI ITALIANI DELLA SECONDA GUERRA MONDIALE. MOTOCICLETTE, AUTOMOBILI, AUTOCARRI, TRATTORI D'ARTIGLIERIA 1930-1945

The importance of means of land transport within an armed force is often put in second place compared to topics considered more "martial" such as tanks and weapons of various types.

Yet, since the early 20th century, it was precisely thanks to motorbikes, cars, trucks and tractors that it was possible to transport men, weapons, ammunition, provisions, fuel, equipment, as well as deliver communications and orders to the war fronts; all elements without which armoured vehicles, cannons and infantry are unable to fight.

This 352-page volume, with more than 800 b/w and colour pictures with numerous technical drawings and 8 pages of colour profiles, is the result of the authors' meticulous research in the documentation of manufacturers and in many Italian and foreign archives.

It narrates the technical evolution and field use of motorbikes and motor vehicles - frequently of civil derivation - in service with the Italian Armed Forces and the various paramilitary forces (such as the Polizia dell'Africa Italiana and the Milizia Volontaria per la Sicurezza Nazionale) from 1930 to 1945.

A historical period covering Italian military activities in North and East Africa, the "unofficial" participation in the Spanish War and, finally, the events on all the land fronts of the Second World War.

Almost all Italian motorbike and automobile manufacturers provided their vehicles to support Italy's war efforts in the 1930s and 1940s, often creating effective or innovative models whose names still remain in the popular imagination, such as the Guzzi Alce motorbike, the Fiat 508 CM passenger car, the Fiat 626, Bianchi Miles and Lancia 3 Ro trucks, the various "Dovunque", and the Pavesi and SPA tractors.

Through the technical description of these vehicles, the book traces the stages of their conception, their mass production and, above all, the tasks they carried out on war fronts far from the motherland and their complex logistics chain management, which proved to be anything but efficient, despite the sacrifice of the men in uniform.

The authors are all experts in the military field, well known to enthusiasts for their many publications in Italy and abroad in the subject of military vehicles, and who have also printed several titles for the GMT.