Italian Alpini Mountain Troops

Known as Le Penne Nere (the black feathers), after the distinctive raven feather in their headgear, the Alpini are the Italian Army’s elite specialists in mountain warfare. Created by Royal decree no. 1056 in 1872, they are the oldest mountain specialists in the world.

In 1935, the Italian fascist government under Mussolini reorganised the Alpini into six divisions and sent three of them to fight on the Eastern Front alongside the Germans against the Soviet Union. However, the Germans deployed these elite troops (trained and equipped for mountain combat against infantry) along the flat plains of the Don River facing tanks. Despite this, the tenacious Alpini were able to escape encirclement and survive.

During the war, Italian Alpini divisions saw combat in Albania, France, Greece and Yugoslavia, as well as in the Soviet Union and even as far afield as East Africa. After the armistice in 1943, the 3rd Alpini Division joined the Allied cause while the 4th Alpini Divisi