[BroncosFan]

RIP. Anyone who knows anything about the Isonzo Front knows this guy has already done his time in hell. Mark Helprin's "A Soldier of the Great War" is a fictionalized account of the fighting there. Those battles made the Somme look like a walk in the park.

[x1stcav]

Its hard to remember that Mussolini, like Hitler, was a very highly decorated soldier.

What is this apropos of? Nothing.

[jocon307]

RIP for this old man. I guess he saw a lot more than he planned to in his life, but good for him for his long life.

I'm going to a wake tomorrow for hubby's cousin, clean liver and dead of cancer at 34.

So you gotta know, it's God's will and nothing more that keeps us here or there.

[tet68]

As a C&R collector, I have several rifles from this period.
Here is a site you might like.
http://berg.heim.at/almwiesen/410100/

[GreenHornet]

President Bush spoke at an event a while back (2003?) in which he stated that there were still approximately 200 surviving American WWI veterans. I imagine that number has since dwindled to a precious few.

[nkycincinnatikid]

Italy's willingness to be prostituted away from her solemn treaty obligations by false promises of grandeur and booty by the french and brits, all lies ,never fulfilled , led to the first Fascist regime.

[BluH2o]

Upon learning that Mussolini's Italy had allied themselves with Germany in the early years of WWII it was passed off as no big deal by the Allies. It was said, at the time ... 'We (Allies) had Italy in WWI you can have them in this war'. So many Italians were surrendering in North Africa it overwhelmed the British and American forces. They simply couldn't allocate manpower to deal with the problem ... it wasn't unusual for a half dozen Allied soldiers to escort a column of a thousand or more Italians back to a holding area in the rear.