Prescott

 o Italian army o 1915 General Luigi Cadorna had 25 infantry and 4 cavalry divisions  § Four armies  § Only had 120 heavy or medium artillery pieces and some 700 machine guns  § 1917 General Luigi Cadorna was replaced by General Armando Diaz  § Italians had taken 300,000 prisoners in Vittorio Veneto  o Organization: 900,000 officers and men  o 35 infantry  o 4 cavalry  o 12 militia divisions  o 1 elite light infantry division (the Bersaglieri) <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> § a corps of the Italian Army originally created by General Alessandro La Marmora on 18th June 1836 to serve in the Piedmontese Army, later to become the Royal Italian Army <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> § a high-mobility infantry unit <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> § recognized by the distinctive wide brimmed hat that they wear (only in dress uniform in modern times), decorated with black capercaillie feathers <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> § fast jog pace they keep on parades, instead of marching <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> § troops were trained to high physical and marksmanship standards <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> § a level of independence and initiative was encouraged so that they could operate in looser formations where direct command and control was not required <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> § Of the 210,000 members of Bersaglieri regiments, 32,000 were killed and 50,000 wounded during the war <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> o 52 mountain battalions (the Alpine) <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> § the 26 peacetime //Alpini// battalions were increased by 62 battalions and saw heavy combat all over the alpine arch <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> · Less skilled because of such a dramatic increase? <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> § Ski Battalions and special climbing units <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> § 12,000 casualties out of a total of 40,000 mobilized Alpinis <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> o Weaknesses <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> o Lack of artillery <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> o Low levels of literacy among infantry <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> o Fighting <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> o Fought over some of the worst terrain in Europe