Il controllo a lungo raggio del deserto. Le esperienze italiane nella Libia degli Anni Trenta

Abstract

During the interwar period, and more so following the end of Italian counter-insurgency operations in 1931, many people became fascinated by the Libyan desert which looked full of mysteries to the early explorers. The vast wastes of dunes, rocky hills and endless expanses of gravel and sand were extremely appealing also for more prosaic reasons, since the control of the region was still disputed among the Great Powers. The motorized expeditions that ventured in those empty lands were therefore part of a Great Game of the kind that had been played before in Central Asia, and while meticulously surveying the territory, they allowed the British to develop navigation techniques and moreover a very special attitude that would later be exploited by the Long Range Desert Group. The Italians were also able to develop some interesting and quite innovative solutions based on “wing, wheel and radio”, and proved to be capable to master the desert, quite impressing their British counterparts. Furthermore, the Governor General, Italo Balbo, devised in 1936 an innovative scheme for desert warfare that had at battalion level a highly mobile force with an organic air component. Even if camel mounted units had played a major role in the “re conquest”, they were no longer a cost-effective solution for desert warfare and colonial policing. Motorized units supported by the air to accelerate the OODA loop were the answer, more so if the engine-and-wheel solution was to be protected by some armour, and Balbo’s decision was intended to pave the way for the future. The same can be said of his idea of a parachute regiment, that was successfully put under test in the 1938 exercises, but while the British were able to exploit their desert experience, and to translate it in an asymmetrical way of warfare, the Italians were not, due to lack of resources and to a wrong approach to the problem.