Monday, April 03, 2006

Italy in WWI- 1915-1916: Italian Air Force-Memoirs of Lt. Camillo Viglino

The ANNOTICO Report

This is an up close and personal account of an Italian Aviator during WWI.

It does not address the greater overview, that Italy had renounced it's Treaty of Mutual Assistance with Austria, and claimed Neutrality, on the basis that Austria was not attacked, but declared war, because of the assassination of Austrian Archduke Francis Ferdinand during his visit to Sarajevo, the capital of Bosnia, and part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire,  built by conquest and intrigues, by sales and treacheries.

Italy, in 1914, was a country actually only 54 years old  (in it's most recent incarnation), and was roiled from it's very beginning by a spectrum of political thought that was not reluctant to state it's message in violent ways, that kept Italy in foment. 

Therefore Italy was far from an industrialized country with a strong, modern, well equipped, well trained, well supplied Military.

For that reason, Italy justifiable was VERY reluctant to accede to the increasing desperate entreaties of England and France, and their increasing "promises" to make Italy's entry into the War on their side worthwhile, with Reparations from  the Central Powers, the return to Italy of the " Irredenta territories" (Istria, Trieste, Fiume, etc, previously seized by Austria from Italy), German Territories in Africa, etc et al.

[Incidentally, Italy had been previous disapointed.The Congress of Berlin in 1878 was a European settlement of the Russo-Turkish War of 1877, that was fought over influence in the Balkans, and while Austria was awarded Bosnia-Herzegovina, Italy gained nothing.]

Italy continued to state that it was NOT at all sufficiently prepared.  and was very concerned. England and France reassured Italy, that they only need Italy to keep a number of Austrian troops tied down on the "southern" front, so they couldn't confront England and France  on the "Western Front".

Few realize that Italy, of all of the victorious Allies suffered the greatest economic loss, and on many occasions showed enormous valor, despite their being unable to come close to matching the armament of the Austrians, and fighting mostly in the freezing precipitous Alps.

Yet, England and France at the Treaty of Versailles (1919) reneged on most of their promises to Italy, that created a great deal of resentment, in Italy, from both the Veterans and Civilians, that simmered for 20 years. That coupled with rejections of overtures from England's Minister of War, and  Anti-Italian Anthony Eden had driven Mussolini into Hitler's arms (And concurrently began the Duce's intellectual and moral decline).

Italy, as Europe's newest Major power, looking for respect, as opposed to being treated "2nd class", was being rejected by the Allies, and had a choice of going it alone, and rather than being considered merely "insignificant", was offered the opportunity  to be an equal with Germany, that appeared well on it's way to European domination.

Don't be naive. It's ALWAYS about Power, never about Morality!!!!

Memoirs of Lt. Camillo Viglino: Italian Air Force 1915-1916

by Camilla  Viglino Hurwitz and Victor Viglino

In July of 1915, just two months after Italy joined the Allied Forces during  World War I, Lieutenant Camillo Viglino, age 23, volunteered for flight  training in the Italian Air Force. His account of the training provides the  freshness and intimacy of an on-the-scene, firsthand report.

It reveals an idealistic young man with an unbridled passion for flying and a patriotic  zeal to  fight for his country -- a young man daring to go up in the fragile flying  machines of those early years of aviation, routinely placing himself at the  mercy of the weather, cantankerous engines, and unreliable instruments.

The discomforts of flying an open-cockpit 1914 Maurice Farman, the frequent crashes at  the flight school, and the constant occurrences of pilots getting lost are all related with a nonchalant bravado befitting a 20-year-old. Viglino follows his diary-like accounts with a copy of a letter from a cousin at the front  describing an air raid on Adelsberg, Austria.

A firsthand account, accompanied by photographs, of the experiences of a  World War I flight trainee during the earliest days of military aviation.

Memoirs of Lt. Camillo Viglino has received critical acclaim, and has been reviewed in magazines such as Canadian History Review and on websites such as www.worldwar1.com

This book was written in Italian and originally published in Italy in 1934. It was translated into English by his two children, Camilla Viglino Hurwitz and Victor Viglino.

Readers are invited to purchase or learn more about this informative and  fascinating book by clicking the heading "Italian American Fiction & Nonfiction" or "Italian American Writers & Books." Both headings are located on the Homepage of our Website at the IAP (_www.italianamericanpress.com_  (http://www.italianamericanpress.com) ).

The ANNOTICO Reports are Archived at:

Italy at St Louis: www.italystl.com

Italia Mia: www.italiamia.com (Community)