4th Bersaglieri Division "Italia"
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Welcome to the 4th Bersaglieri inf. div. "Italia" WWII reenactor's home page. We are a non-profit, non-religious, non-political organization who's goal is to preserve the memory of the Italian soldier's involvement in WWII through reenactment and living history displays. The Italian Bersaglieri ( pronounced: Ber-sa-li-eri ) are a type of light infantry reconnaissance troop originally created by General Alessandro La Marmora on 18 June 1836 to serve in the Piedmontese Army and are still in use today in Italy. They were known for their speed, mobility, and use of hit and run tactics. These "elite" troops faught on both sides after the 1943 armistice. We have chosen to portray the Axis aligned "Italia" Bersaglieri Division of the late war RSI.
We are NOT neo-Nazis and NO anti-Semitic or racial defamation will be tolerated. Furthermore, we are not a militia group and do not have any anti-government or anti-American ideals. We will only engage in as little military training as is needed to perform our role on reenactment mock battle fields. We are laymen historians looking to research and recreate the Italian Bersaglieri for public display and educational purposes only.
So, why reenact Italian? The Italian involvement in WWII has been an under-appreciated subject for 65 years. Perhaps its because they were viewed as weak or without resolve due to their surrender in 1943 and subsequent switching of sides. One can see why this might have made them unpopular with both sides. However, their absence from popular WWII media is in my opinion a travesty of justice. I have seen numerous WWII films and documentaries that focus on North Africa or even the Italian campaign, but fail to show or even mention the Italian soldier. The truth is that Rommel was a great general, but Germany had less than 10,000 men stationed in all of North Africa..........there were over 2 Million Italians! Who do you think fought and won Rommel's battles?! The Italians in Africa were also fighting a colonial war with the natives that would put Britain's Zulu war to shame.
Also, lets not forget that Hitler modeled his 3rd Reich after Mussolini's fascist Italian Empire. In fact, fascism itself was conceived in Italy. Hitler was a huge fan of Mussolini and copied his style, focusing a large amount of resources on reshaping Germany with new architecture and uniforms to exemplify the fascist ideal.
Italians were stationed in every theater of war. The Italians were in Africa, Greece, Sicily, Italy, Albania, Yugoslavia, the Balkans, Russia, there were Italians in Normandy on D-Day, there were Italians at Stalingrad, there were even Italian soldiers in Japan who surrendered with that country in 1945. Help me preserve the memory of these brave but forgotten soldiers.
AVANTI ITALIA !!!
