YET...not one bitch in these so-called expert "historian" documentaries about the Italians succeeding to smash/smother the Islamothug rebellion in Libya and "owning" the place by Italian factory-made, LIGHT TANKS, FENCES, Observation/Attack aircraft.
"Lion of the Desert"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3zUBLjAAgWg
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Omar_al-Mukhtar
A massive offensive in June against Mukhtar's forces having failed, Graziani, in full accord with Badoglio, Emilio De Bono (Minister of the Colonies), and Benito Mussolini, initiated a plan to break the Libyan Mujāhideen:100,000 population of Jebel Akhdar would be relocated to concentration camps on the coast, and the Libyan-Egyptian border from the coast at Giarabub would be fence-closed, preventing any foreign help to the fighters and depriving them of support from the native population. These measures, which Graziani initiated early in 1931, took their toll on the Senusite resistance. The rebels were deprived of help and reinforcements, spied upon, hit by Italian aircraft, and pursued on the ground by the Italian forces aided by local informers and collaborators. Mukhtar continued to struggle despite increased hardships and risks, but on 11 September 1931, he was ambushed near Slonta.[citation needed]
Mukhtar's struggle of nearly twenty years came to an end on 11 September 1931, when he was wounded in battle near Slonta, and then captured by the Italian Army. On 16 September 1931, on the orders of the Italian court and with Italian hopes that Libyan resistance would die with him, Mukhtar was hanged before his followers in the Suluq prisoner of war camp at the age of 73 years old.
YET...the Italian FIAT corporation mass-produced high speed cars/trains...when made to manufacture trucks/more important tanks (you don't win wars by moving cannon fodder into kill zones) their models were inferior to their British counter-parts in Nation-State War (NSW)...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Compass
The Western Desert Force (WDF) (Lieutenant-General Richard O'Connor) with about 36,000 men, advanced from Mersa Matruh in Egypt on a five-day raid against the Italian positions of the 10th Army, which had about 150,000 men in fortified posts around Sidi Barrani in Egypt and in Cyrenaica. The WDF swiftly defeated the Italians in their fortified posts and at Sidi Barrani and then exploited the success, forcing the rest of the 10th Army out of Egypt and capturing the ports along the Libyan coast. The 10th Army was cut off as it retreated towards Tripolitania and defeated at the Battle of Beda Fomm, the remnants being pursued to El Agheila on the Gulf of Sirte.
The British took over 138,000 Italian and Libyan prisoners, hundreds of tanks, and more than 1,000 guns and many aircraft, against WDF losses of 1,900 men killed and wounded, about 10 per cent of the infantry. The WDF was unable to continue beyond El Agheila, due to worn out vehicles and the diversion in March 1941 of the best-equipped units in Operation LUSTRE for the Battle of Greece. Italian reinforcements were rushed to Libya to defend Tripoli, assisted by the Deutsches Afrikakorps and Luftwaffe.
Graziani expressed doubts about the capabilities of the large non-mechanized force to defeat the British, who though smaller in numbers were motorised. After being reinforced from the 5th Army, the 10th Army controlled the equivalent of four corps with 150,000 infantry, 1,600 guns, 600 tankettes and tanks and 331 aircraft.[1]
The new Group of Libyan Divisions (Gruppo Divisioni Libiche) had the Maletti Group, the 1st Libyan Division "Sibelle" (Major-General Luigi Sibelle) and the 2nd Libyan Division "Pescatori" (Major-General Armando Pescatori).[3] The only non-infantry formation was the partially motorised and lightly armoured Maletti Group. The Raggruppamento Maletti (General Pietro Maletti) was formed at Derna on 8 July 1940, with seven Libyan motorised infantry battalions, a company of Fiat M11/39 tanks, a company of L3/33 tankettes, motorised artillery and supply units as the main motorised unit of the 10th Army.
****
John 3:16
Semper Airborne!
