Evening star., 1951-04-01
The MiIitory Scene-III
The Military Scene-II
Production of Small Arms Reported DELAYED in Italy
By George Fielding Eliot

By George Fielding Eliot
ROME (By MaiD THE de-
lvelopment of Italy's arms produc-
ton program" said the Italian of
ficer bitterly, "is being just as eff
fectively sabotaged by your eternal
delays, hesitations and reconsid-
lerations as If Stain himself were
right here in Rome directing every
move"
He slipped his espresso. shifted
round In his chair to look at me
lsquarely.
"It isn't that you aren't de-
Ilivering your own finished weapons
Ito u.s." he went on. ''We're getting
tanks, artillery, aircraft, so cali
ber machinegunS, bazookas and
other American arms according to
schedule or even ahead of it. But
our basic need is small arms
program, which of necessity in
|cludes stepping up our own pro-
duction Of rifles. machineguns and
small arms ammunition = and
whenever it's question ofAelping
Italian weapon production. that's
where the run-around begins"
He lowered his voice a trifie,
:.acc:.;sh no one else was In the
little cafe.
Foundation Needed.
without a reliable hard hitting
rifle in the hands of our infantry
soldiers" he continued. hammer
ing gently on the table with one
fist. backed by automatic weap-
ons using the same ammunition.
all the rest is nothing-nothing.
You've given us a house without q
foundation"
He went on to explain in some
detail. Later I checked his state
ments elsewhere. American off,
cials wouldn't talk much, but from
what little they did Cor didn't)
say. and from other Italian
sources. I pieced the picture to-
gether.
The principal italian military
problem Is the security Of the AL
pine frontier on the north and
northeast, from the Swiss border
to the Adriatic Sea. OF course II
Yugoslayia holds fast, the Itlaian
defense front will be shorter; but
in any case it's a matter Of de-
tense in mountainous terrain.
This means good infantry before
all else:
Quality Emphasized.
The Italians have set up an
army headquarters at Verona un-
der Gen. de Castiglione Gan officer
Of outstanding reputation), who
commands the "copertura" or COW
ering force. whose job it will be
to hold the Alpine passes. In
forming the copertura, the en-
phasis is now on quality instead
OF quantity-a recent about-face
In italian military policy.
The best italian units-for ex-
ample. the Alpini. as fine noun
tain troops as there are in Europe,
and the Bersaglieri with their
great traditions. who make up the
bulk Of the armored infantry
have been put into this army.
At present Gen. de Castiglione
has two infantry divisions, one
Alpine brigade and one armored
brigade. supported by two air
groups. BY the end of this year,
ne is expected to have four in
fantry divisions. two Alpine bri-
gades and one armored brigade,
and next year (1952) will see the
formation Of three more infantry
another Alpine brigade
and another armored brigade. In
items Of heavy equipment, all
these troops will have American
arms. But the foundation of the
whole effort is the infantry.
Many Use British Rifles,
At present. the armament of
the Italian infantry is a mess.
Weapons using nine different types
OF ammunition are in use. Many
of the Italian doughboys have
the British 1903 Lee-Enfield rifle
and the Bren automatic rifle
using the same cartridge. The
standard machinegun is the Ital-
ian-made Breda of nm. caliber.
There are some United States
machineguns go caliber).
The reserve stocks of rifles are
chiefly the old 6.5 nm. Italian
rifle. Of which an Italian sergeant
said to me: "Its best use is to
throw it at the enemy. You might
even hit two Of them that way"
Then there are French and Ger
man weapons Of various calibers.
In mountain warfare. where am
supply is difficult any,
way, hodge-podge like this would
mean certain disaster.
So the Italians want to stand
ardize on the high-powered Ameri-
can 80 caliber ammunition for
0Y:33;7:l',:.l