The Legnano Combat Group, by Luigi Manes

Length: 98 pages

This is part of the "Witness to War" series by Soldiershop Publications. It tells us the story of the Legnano Combat Group, a division of Italy's Co-Belligerent Forces that fought alongside the Allies to liberate Italy.

Manes starts by telling us of the roots of the unit by its predecessor the 58th "Legnano" Division, formed in the Milan area. The name comes from a battle of the Lombard League against the Holy Roman Emperor "Barbarossa". We're told of the composition of the division and its actions before Italy's surrender.

The diversion of American and Free French units to Operation Anvil-Dragoon caused the British to help equip and train the Italians into Combat Groups, really divisions, to fill the gaps in the line. This unit was sent to the U.S. II Corps, between the U.S. 91st Division and the Indian 10th Division, in January 1945, and help to liberate Bologna. We get lots of black and white pictures of the unit as well as maps of the unit parading in Bologna after the liberation.

We get a brief bio of the unit commander, General Utili, and a reminder of the genesis of the name and the unit symbol, an armored warrior with his sword raised in triumph.

The only bad thing in this book is the trouble in translation from Italian to English, which gives us prize sentences like, "The voices of a possible of the unit in a mountainous are became insistent". It's still good for informing us about this little-known facet of the Italian campaign. I give it 4 stars out of 5.