Comments by "" (@neutronalchemist3241) on "Mark Felton Productions" channel.

  1. The Italian submarines had not proved "disastrous" at all in the battle of the Atlantic. After the Germans, the Italian Atlantic subs had been the most successful, of all the powers in the conflict in any theater of the war. The Leonardo da Vinci is the top scoring non-German submarine of the war, and, counting the tonnage of allied shipment sunk per sub lost rate, the Italian subs are on par with the German ones. Simply the Germans launched a shitload of submarines and, among that mass, some "superpredator" emerged due to natural selection, but at the cost of huge losses.
    191
  2.  @richardm3023  Obviously the statement does not concern only about the Atlantic. The Italians operated in the Atlantic, but the comparison takes into account the actions of Brits and US submarines Vs. Axis shipping in the Med and Pacific, and Japanese Vs. Allied one, in Pacific theater.
    8
  3. 5:43 Those were not French helmets, but Italian helmets model 1916 (same shape of the French Adrian, but different, stamped and sturdier, construction). Some rear echelon unit, that was not supposed to fight in first line, still used it instead of the M33 helmet. https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elmetto_Adrian_Mod._16
    5
  4. And by an Italian weapon, a Breda 31 heavy machinegun (13.2mm calibre).
    5
  5. Don't falsify history. Austria broken the Triple Alliance pact by attacking Serbia without consulting Italy first (Art. 7 of the 1891 treaty). DESPITE the violation, Italy was willing to compose the dispute according to the same art. 7, that called for TERRITORIAL COMPENSATIONS, for any change of the status quo in the Balkans, but the territorial compensation Austria wanted to concede (the recognition of the Italian occupation of the Dodecanese and Valona, so of things that Italy already had) were ridicolus. Mind that the German mediator, Von Bulow, agreed with Italy in that, and considered the Austrian position completely irreasonable.
    4
  6. And better design, and better employment doctrine. To pretend to use explosive motorboats in a mass assault was just stupid. The boats were very vulnerable, so they had to approach the target undetected until it was too late for the ship's weapon to react. Few motorboats could do it, a flottilla was too easily detected.
    3
  7. Considering how fast the Serbs run to the Italian ships in 1915, while the Italians kept on holding the line in the Balkans, it's quite funny. More than hearing French complaining of the ineffectiveness of the Brits. At least, at Dunkerque, the Brits fled too.
    3
  8.  @MrTelecasterIV  It was supposed to be a four pronged attack, from the right to the left, Italian infantry column, italian tank column, German tank column, German Infantry column (so infantry at the wings, and tanks at the centre). Unfortunately both the infantry columns had been blocked by Allied armored units (but that was expected, since, that way, they stopped those units too and prevented them to act against the Axis tanks) while the German tank column (that had heavier Tiger thanks) was slowed down by the charateristics of the terrain, so they reached the shore, but too late to link with the Italian column that reached the city before.
    2
  9. In the original Italian boats, the fuse was delayed so that, after the hit, the motorboat sunk below the ship due to the inertia and the shape of the hull, and exploded under it, where the explosion would have made the most damages.
    2
  10. The Regia Aeronautica operated about 100 Stukas B2, generally with success (IE the attack on the carrier HMS Illustrious on 7 January 1941, an Italian Stuka drop the only bomb that penetrated the armoured flying bridge of the ship).
    2
  11. It was supposed to be a four pronged attack, from the right to the left, Italian infantry column, italian tank column, German tank column, German Infantry column (so infantry at the wings, and tanks at the centre). Unfortunately both the infantry columns had been blocked by Allied armored units (but that was expected, since, that way, they stopped those units too and prevented them to act against the Axis tanks) while the German tank column (that had heavier Tiger thanks) was slowed down by the charateristics of the terrain, so they reached the shore, but too late to link with the Italian column that reached the city before.
    2
  12. Even after the war. Their last successes were scored by the Israelis, that managed to buy some war surplus and used them against Egyptian ships in 1948.
    2
  13. Nice tale. But in reality Austria-Hungary employed four armies on The Italian front (plus several German divisions starting in 1916). The central powers had 2.330.000 casualties there. Double of those of the battles of the Somme, Verdun and Passchendaele combined.
    2
  14.  @willemm  What "dropping out"? Italy won that war. Austria-Hungary surrended to Italy on 3 Nov. 1918. Austria violated the triple alliance pact (Art. 7 of the 1891 pact) by attacking Serbia without hearing Italy first. Art 7 also called for territorial compensations for any change of the status quo in the Balkans, but Austria Hungary, refused to concede anything (Berchtold, after long, only offered to recognise the Italian occupation of the Dodecanese and of Valona, so of things that Italy already had). Even the German mediator, Von Bulow, considered the Austrian position completely unreasonable.
    2
  15. Actually the Italian submarines had not proved "disastrous" at all in the battle of the Atlantic. After the Germans, the Italian Atlantic subs had been the most successful, of all the powers in the conflict. The Leonardo da Vinci is the top scoring non-German submarine of the war, and, counting the tonnage of allied shipment sunk per sub lost rate, the Italian subs are on par with the German ones. Simply the Germans launched a shitload of submarines and, among that mass, some "superpredator" emerged due to natural selection, but at the cost of huge losses.
    2
  16. It was supposed to be a four pronged attack, from the right to the left, Italian infantry column, italian tank column, German tank column, German Infantry column (so infantry at the wings, and tanks at the centre). Unfortunately both the infantry columns had been blocked by Allied armored units (but that was expected, since, that way, they stopped those units too and prevented them to act against the Axis tanks) while the German tank column (that had heavier Tiger thanks) was slowed down by the charateristics of the terrain, so they reached the shore, but too late to link with the Italian column that reached the city before.
    2
  17.  @jimmiller5600  To further clarify, the French Adrian was made in four pieces (dome, crest, front and back brim) riveted togheter. It was very fragile (it was enough to hit it hard to disassemble it, and nowadays is hard to find a sample with the dome not dented or pierced). At the start of the war, The Italians acquired some tens of thousands of French Adrian, but were not satisfied with its shortcomings, so they started to manufacture an improved version two pieces (the entire helmet, stamped, and the crest) welded toghether. That was the Italian M16 helmet, that had been replaced by the M33. Some rear echelon unit still had the M16 in WWII.
    2
  18. It was an Italian M1916 Helmet. They were made with the shape of the French Adrian but with a different, sturdier, construction (two pieces stamped and welded instead of four pieces riveted). They had been replaced by the M33 helmet, but some rear echelon troop still had the M1916 in WWII.
    2
  19. in the Souda Bay raid on 25 mar. 1941, six motorboats were employed, the extremely valuable modern heavy cruiser York (the Brits had few of them) and the 8000t tanker Pericles sunk. In the Malta attack, on 25 lug. 1941, eight motorboats were lost for no losses for the Brits. On April 16, 1945, off the coast of Liguria, a single motorboat damaged the French destroyer Trombe beyond repair. The lesson learned was that the explosive motorboats could be very effective, but only in a limited range of occasions. To attack an heavily defended port was suicidal. The target had to be standing still, or very slowly moving, in a not well protected area. Ships that were assisting a landing or an evacuation, were the ideal targets. On 19 oct. 1948, two former Italian explosive motorboats that the Israeli obtained, sunk the Egyptian flagship El Amir Farouq and damaged a BYMS-class minesweeper beyond repair.
    2
  20. Five outdated light tanks penetrated two defensive lines of two Ranger batallions. The Bazooka's shot that stopped the tank of Lt. Navarri had been fired by Lt. Col. William Darby. in front of the American Headquarters in Gela. It was not usual for a LTC to man a bazooka, but there weren't others to do that, so yeah, they quite panicked.
    2
  21. That's what the British like to tell, but the Italian Navy, despite the lack of fuel, performed its task (supply N. Africa) admirably and with very high percentage of success, while the British convoys were mauled in the attempt to resupply Malta. The Italian frogmen had to search the British BBs in the port of Alexandria because that's where they were confined from nov. 1941 to nov. 1942.
    2
  22. It was supposed to be a four pronged attack, from the right to the left, Italian infantry column, italian tank column, German tank column, German Infantry column (so infantry at the wings, and tanks at the centre). Unfortunately both the infantry columns had been blocked by Allied armored units (but that was expected, since, that way, they stopepd those units too and prevented them to act against the Axis tanks) while the German tank column (that had heavier Tiger thanks) was slowed down by the charateristics of the terrain, so they reached the shore, but too late to link with the Italian column that reached the city before.
    1
  23. No, it was an outdated light tank. It was inferior even to an L6/40, but it had been sent in Sicily because it was however better than nothing.
    1
  24.  DOUG HEINS  The difference in armour thickness between an L6 and a R35 was not substantial (the same weapon that could pierce one, could pierce the other), the L6 was faster and had better suspensions, and the 20mm automatic gun of the L6 (with more than double ammos) would have been more effective vs. infantry.
    1
  25.  DOUG HEINS  How successful had been 37mm howitzers in WWII? No penetration, scarce possibility to hit fast moving targets, the trajectory was not curved enough to hit behind shelters at useful combat ranges. An high muzzle speed automatic 20mm gun at least had more possibilities to hit what you were aiming at.
    1
  26.  DOUG HEINS  The Breda could easily fire 5 shells in the time the SA18 reloaded one, and with better possibilities to hit what the gunner was aiming at for every shell. I said that the trajectory of the howitzer was NOT curved enough anyway to hit behind shelters at useful combat ranges (at what distance do you want to fire the gun of a tank? Beyond a hill?) so, for it, to have a lower velocity shell was ONLY a disadvantage. A shell with a muzzle velocity of 600mps can't hit anything defiled in a one km range.
    1
  27. They would have reached the shore, but that was not the only Allied point of landing, so the general result would hot have changed. The disproportion of forces was too big.
    1
  28. Actually the armistice only meant that they had no more to fight against the Allies. War was declared to Germany only a month later, after Germany Militarily occupied part of Italy and disarmed the italian Army, so becoming an enemy occupant.
    1
  29. "futile"? Austria employed four armies on The Italian front (plus several German divisions starting in 1916). The central powers had 2.330.000 casualties there. Double of those of the battles of the Somme, Verdun and Passchendaele combined. You think those men and equipment on the western front would not have made a difference?
    1
  30. A good part of the failure was probably due to the attempt to use those motorboats in mass attacks. The Italians succeeded at Suda Bay using only six motorboats. The success of those attacks was tied to the motorboats not being seen until the last few moments but, using a fleet of them, is very likely for it to be spotted early, and the boats to be destroyed by the ships' weapons.
    1
  31. In Italy they were actively fighting.
    1
  32. Actually the economic and technical cohoperation between axis powers in had been practically absent compared to the one between the Allies. In that small exchanges, the Germans received as much as they gave (IE much of the aerial torpedoes used by the Germans were Italian built).
    1
  33. Prison camps, like the British civilians.
    1
  34. It was an Italian M1916 helmet. Same shape of the French Adrian, but different, sturdier, construction (two pieces stamped and welded instead of four pieces riveted).
    1
  35. Fortunately the Germans never said anything like that. On 8 september 1943, near Manziana, the Italians fought their last tank battle in WWII, and the first and only one vs. the Germans. One on side there was the Ariete II, defending Rome, on the other the 3^Panzergrandieren that had to occupy it. The Germans lost 16 tanks, 80 other vehicles, suffered 370 casualties and 200 prisoners, and withdrew to Civitavecchia.
    1
  36. Had the Italians been out of the war, Allied shipment would have passed through the Mediterranean, and the German defeat would have come much faster.
    1
  37. As explained in the video, the Germans too used captured tanks.
    1
  38.  @AgentSmith911  The Italians too made their own tanks. Unfortunately, the industrial capacity was way different. In 1939 Italy had 1/4 of the industrial production of Great Britain, and during the war, they were not supplied by the US or by their Empire.
    1
  39.  @thecommentaryking  As level of cooperation, that of the Axis was not comparable to that of the Allies, however the Germans used tons of Italian-made torpedos. They surely could have acquired the Italian projects had they wanted, but probably they tought they could do better.
    1
  40.  @kaffeemuhle8939  Austria-Hungary did break the triple alliance pact in WWI.
    1
  41.  @nikolakorbar  So the excuse is that the Serbs were too puny to fight effectively after having talked big, while Italy was big enough to even save your sore asses? Yeah. That's the matter. Because, see, in Italy there is no opinion on the battle proveness of the Serbs, Croats, or things like that. None care. Powers think of other powers, not of runts.
    1
  42.  @nikolakorbar  Italy, after having saved what remained of your army and held the line in Albania with rear echelon troops after you bravely fled the faster you could, beaten the same Austria-Hungary that kicked your asses. Austria surrended to Italy on 3 nov. 1918. You can start thanking the Italians any time to have a nation to live in. Not that they care. For the abovementioned reason.
    1
  43. Actually they were old Italian M1916 helmets.
    1
  44.  @Emdee5632  Are the American and Russian helmets that looked like the Italian ones. The M33 helmet came before the Russian SSh36 and the American M1. ;)
    1
  45. No. There had been a general amnesty for the fighters of the "Salò Republic".
    1
  46. You are not much informed about the war in N. Africa.
    1
  47. By looking at the lights at night you can determine if the ship is going left, right (you see only one light) towards you or afar from you (you see both lights, but in opposite positions).
    1
  48. Italy didn't change sides in september 1943. It surrended to the Allies on 8 september 1943, and that was all. Then, following the military occupation of italy by the Germans, and the creation of the "Repubblica Sociale Italiana" fascist puppet state on 23 september 1943, Italy declared war on Germany only on 13 october 1943, more than a month after the armistice with the Allies.
    1
  49. The German column had Tiger tanks in the same action. Same result.
    1
  50.  @jasonclarke6194  The Germans lost 10 of their 17 Tiger in combat at Gela. Three more were lost by 20 July when they caught fire or were blown up to prevent capture. During the further retreat three of the last four Tigers broke down and were blown up to prevent capture. The last Tiger was transported across the straits to the mainland.
    1