Evening star., 1940-05-23
BY MAI. GEORGE
FIELDING ELIOT.

There is a noticeable tendency on
the part of the Germans to shy
away from the confident predictions
of the last few days. Instead of an
allied army surrounded, routed" :"
ION the verge of surrender" they
talk now Of great battles yet to
come, Of much that remains to be
done, OF hard fighting, Of the excel
lence Of the allied equipment. and
50 forth. But in the absence of
definite information. 1t will be bet
ter to leave speculation on the mill
tary possibilities in France and Bel
gium until tomorrow or next day.
In the meanwhile, we may snatch
this opportunity for q glance at
Italy. No one knows what Italy is
going to do. There is one school Of
thought which holds that Italy Will
enter the war only when German
victory is assured: there is another,
which seems better founded in logic,
which thinks that Italy will move
only when her Intervention Is cer-
tain Of bringing about an axis vic
tory In which she will be a valued
participant, and which her inter-
vention will make complete.
There are still others who believe
that Mussolini intends to take no
military risks whatever, but only to
continue his aid to his axis partner
as a threat and a nuisance as long
as this seems safe. Thus II the al
lies win he could still lay claim to
having been neutral and point out
that, of course. no one took his bluff
ing seriously, it was just to lead the
Germans on, etc.; while If the war
settles down to long g-drawn out
struggle he can shape his future
course according to circumstances.
1t is, however all this may be, of
considerable present interest to ex-
anime Italys armed strength. We
must recognize that if Italy does
come in. she will do so on the basis
of a very short time limit. Her re-
sources are decidedly meager. Such
blows as she seeks to strike swift
and effective. Her army has just
been completely reorganized on a
basis best adapted to make this pos
sible.
Small Infantry Divisions.
The Italian infantry division Is
the smallest and most easily man
euvered fighting team of its sort In
Europe. Every other major power
adheres to what has become almost
a standard organization for the in
fantry division: three regiments Of
infantry of three battalions each,
and approximately Is batteries of
field artillery of four guns or light
howitzers each slight variations as
to artillery amongst various armies i.
The Italian division has only two
regiments of infantry of three bat
talions each, and nine batteries OF
artillery of four guns, six OF guns,
three of howitzers.
It should, however, be added that
in March, 1899, the Blackshirt Mill
tias mobile units were absorbed into
the regular army at the rate of two
battalions a division and that it is
possible that, in view of the criti-
tcisSas sRhich~.some italian officers
have made against the new divi-
sion's lack of striking power, these
units have been employed to raise
each infantry regiment to four bat
tahons. In that case the infantry
would be. decidedly weak in. artillety
support unless the artillery compile
ment were to be raised to IL bat
teries, for which Italy at present
probably does not have enough guns
if any number OF reserve divisions
are to be put into the field.
"a Infantry Divisions.
There are 81 infantry divisions in
all, exclusive of the colonial forces,
of which SO are organized as above.
The remaining one, that OF the
Grenadiers, has three infantry regi-
ments. These divisions are grouped
in 10 army corps of three divisions
each and six armies Of three army
corps each. Each army corps has
a group of three medium artillery
regiments and there is one heavy
artillery regiment for each army.
In addition, the italian army pos
sesses three mechanical divisions,
two motorized divisions, three "ce-
lere" (swift) divisions and five AL
pine divisions. The motorized divi-
sions and the Alpine divisions have
the same organization as the stand
ard infantry division, save that In
the motorized divisions all the
troops are transported by motor