[Reily]

regarding the Italians read about the Alpine Front in WWI
Italy bled & bled & bled until their army just collapsed.
The Italians showed that brave men led by idiots die by the thousands. As if it needed to be demomstrated!

[Winniesboy]

Indeed. It tends to be forgotten that what finally broke the Italians was the twelfth battle of Caporetto or the Isonzo. In battles nos. 1 - 11 they fought bravely in conditions every bit as terrible as the Western Front (including losing an entire batallion when it froze to death). Even in battle no 12 it was only the unexpected reinforcement of the Austrians by German divisions, who launched a surprise attack in an early version of blitzkrieg, which broke the stalemate.