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" EUROPEUNITED STATES RELATIONS

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ITALIAN INDUSTRY AND ECONOMIC RELATIONS WITH DEVELOPING COUNTRIES

ITALIAN AIRBORNE TROOPS

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Supplemen to alla edizione Inglese della Ri vista Mil itare

Number two 1986 March-April

European Military Press Agency

RIVISTA

MILITARE

The aim of Rivista Militare is to broaden and update the technical and vocational training of Army Officers and NCOs. To this end it functions as a vehicle for the dissemination of military thinking and as a forum of study and debate. Riv ista Mili tare is also intended to be a means of informing the general public about th e Army and mili tary matters through the p ublication of articles of current techn ical and scien tific interest.

Politics, Economics and Strategy 2

Europe-United States Relations. (Emilio Colombo)

BIMESTRALE

Oirettore responsabile: Pier Gi orgio Franzosi. Redattore Capo: Giov anni Cerbo Telefono 47353078 Graf ico: Rino Fusi. Oirezione e Redazione: Via di S. Marco, 8 00186 Ro ma Tel. 47353372 - 47355192. Pubblicita: A cura della seg reteri a dell'Ufficio Riv ista Militare Tel. 6794200. Stampa: Tipogra fi a Regi onale • Ro ma lllustrazioni: A c ura di . Rivi sta M ili ta re Spedizione: In abbon amento pos tale Gruppo IV - 70 %. Condizioni · di cessione per ii 1986: Un fascico lo: Li t. 3.000 - $ 3 D.M. 6 - £2 Un fasc icolo ar retra to : Li t. 6.000 - $ 6 - OM . 12 £4. Abbo namento: Italia Lit. 16.000. estero Lit. 24.000. L·impo rto deve essere inv iato medi;inte ass egno ban ca no (per i residen ti aII·estero) o versamento in c/ c postale n. 22521009 intestato a SM E Uffi c io Rivista Militare . Sezione di Am m ini straz ione Vi a XX Sette rn bre 123/ A • Roma. Autor izzazione del Tr ibunale di Roma al n. 944 del Registro. con decreto 7-6-1 949.

1986 Proprieta lett erari a. arti stica e sc ien tifi ca rise rva ta

Italian Industry and Economic Relations with Developing Countries. (Romano Prodi)

The Fo.P.I. (Ready Intervention Force) and National Disasters. (Andrea Lusa)

Science, Technology and Training 25

The Plain has become Impervious. (Gianfranco Zaro · Carlo Cabigiosu)

Italian Airborne Troops. Past, Present and Prospects. ( Antonio Milani - Franco Monticone)

Sociology 46

The Military Institutions and the Crisis of the Welfare State. (Carlo Jean)

History 58

II soldato italiano dell'ottocento nell'opera di Quinto Cenni. Presentation by Giovanni Spadolini.

Uniforms 63

The Royal Italian Army 1940-1943. (Valerio Gibellini)

Technical Data.

Book Reviews.

Foto di copertlna:

Giancarlo De Zanet.

Questo fascicolo e stato dato alla stampa ii 20 febbraio 1986

M em ber ol USPI Unione S tam pa Pcriodica ltaliana

Rules for contributors. Anyone c an contribute. In the interest of the maximum objectivity of information, Rivista Mili tare allows contributors considerable freedom, although it does not necessarily subscribe to their opinions. The arti c les are p ublished unedited and free of any editorial const raints and are therefore the sole responsi bili ty of the Author and reflect his personal ideas exclusively. The topic must be treated in an original way and the ar ti cles themselves should not exceed 10 typewr itten pages in length. The Autho r, got his reward, makes over his exclusive ar ticle right to Rivista Militare. Rivis ta M ilitare can m ake over Author's exclusive arti c le ri g ht to other p ublications and to th e per iodicals of EMPA (European Military Press Agency). The articles should be accom panied by any necessary photographs, drawings and explanatory tables. Each author is req uested to send a photograph of himself. together with his " cu rricul um vitae" and a 10-line summary of the article to be published. Rivista Mi litare reserves the ri g ht to alter the article's title and to choose the typeface in which it is sel.

EUROPE RELATIONS

UNlTED STATES

History has shown the soundness and vitality of Italy's postwar decision to become a member of both the Atlantic Alliance and the European Community. The significance and implications of these decisions, however, have to be carefully sought at every stage in our history, if they are to acquire momentum. The conclusion of the arduous and ove~extended negotiations for the accession of Spain and Portugal to the Com-

munity has made it essential to discuss the revita lization of the Community, or at least the changes that should be made to it in the light of experience and the new duties expected of it. Even though the answers to the questions being raised are, and must be, dialectical, no-one can deny that the problem exists. But it is no longer just Europe, but the West as a whole that has to take decisions of fundamenta l importance on ac-

count of the West's role and the fact that we share a common perception of how to ensure freedom in democratic systems that are not only on the move, but continually attentive and sensitive to the values of the ind ividual and the demands of advanced societies. It is therefore incumbent on us today t o take a new careful and responsible look at the relationship between Europe and America, and the place of the European

countries within the Atlantic Alliance. What is happening in other continents makes this necessary: developments in the Soviet Union and the Eastern European societies, whose im mobilism we cons ider absolute at our peril; the extraordinary prospects that scientific progress is opening up in the civilian and military fields, and lastly, the pressing needs arising from the management of an economy that is becoming increasingly international, and which is being sometimes dramatically confronted by the problem of development which is a major constraint for the majority of the world's nations. The few years that rema in between now to the end of the century are not likely to be easy. Countries, like Italy, with an ancient culture and such great possibilities, cannot deceive themselves into thinking that they are doing thei r duty and looking after their own interests simply by managing, or even improving, their own domestic situation. This has to be done, of course, but not in isolation. 0

The reader might retort that thing indicates that the debate is Italy's politicians are almost bound to be lively. unanimous in their Europeanism . It is important for the comHe may also add that our Euromunity to break out of th is long peanist convictions have long period of getting bogged down included the axiom that there in free-trade haggling and Byza ncan be no contradiction betine negotiations which public tween our Europeanism and our opinion simply cannot underAtlanticism. stand. The construction of EuThis is all very true. But the rope must be given a new lease fundamental Europea n policy we of political life and bold decihave followed, and the implicasions must be taken, looking to tions of this choice, only remain our long-term common interests Vc!lid so long as the decisions without being hamstrung by we take subsequently are conplaying around with vetoes, using sistent with it. them to prop up too shortIn Milan last June, the sighted and individual interests. European Council opened the The European Parliament way up to developments that and its draft Treaty for European might prove to be interesting for Union advocate this course. Now a revival of the Community. This that the European Parliament is was not the unanimous outcome directly elected by all the people of the meeting, however, because in the Community, it is only right of the reluctance shown by the for it to have the acknowledged United Kingdom, Greece and role of watchdog and stimulus, Denmark. But even these three dissenters have not dissociated Right. themselves from the next stage in the process decided on there . Belgian military police at a NATO installation. In December, the revival of Europe will be discussed at a specially convened intergovernBelow. mental Conference, and everyUS soldiers during a break in exercises.

cogently with the most outstanding democratic traditions of our Continent, beginning with the British. A frank exchange of ideas on this topic is necessary. But I do not believe that anyone who really wants European un ion can go along with the more extreme positions. The construction process that the Community has embarked upon is based on consensus, and must inevitably be a gradual process. Clearly, there must be a consensus about the major decisions and choices. about which the rule of ma jority support must be applied . Yet a Europe which throws down challenges and fails to win the support of ancient cultural and national traditions would slip out of the great pragmatic and nonideological furrow of European and Western solidarity in which the achievements and equilibria have been able to mature since the war, and which are the bases on which the present generations are able to enjoy the present peace and progress. It is therefore necessary to gradually build up the European Union at a pace which is not so slow as to appear to be stand-

ing still, but which reaches concrete goals without creating insuperable difficu lties for the fundamental cultural and political components of our Continent. This progressive unification of Europe must, as I see it, take account of the broader Western context to which it belongs. The idea of Europe becom ing the third power is senseless, and would lead the whole of the democratic world into an even more difficult situatio n. A fruitful relationship between Europe and the United States has to be carefully nurtured in every phase. so that the inevitable difficulties and misunderstandings can be settled as they arise. Once again, this relationship is going to be put to the test in the coming months by the complex defence problems facing the Atlantic Alliance. One of the most difficult and delicate questions is which is the best way of safely reach ing nuclear disarmament, as every man of goodwill desires. And I do not think it can be done usi ng propaganda. A frank debate in the appropriate fora, where Americans and Europeans each contribute their

respective sensitivities and demands is, yet again, the best way of reaching the best conclusions. Establishing closer EuroAmerican relations in no way implies a worsening of the dialogue with the East: on the contrary, if we manage to put paid to any illusions the East might harbour about the possibility of any division occurring in the West, our dialogue will be more realistic and productive. This, I feel, is the response we should make to Comecon's overtures to the EEC (even though these are a tardy response to previous overtures from Brussels) and to Gorbachev's ovef-â€˘ tures with regard to European political cooperation which he announced in Spring to the Italian Prime Minister. The path of reconciliation between industrialized societies will not be short, by any means, nor without its difficulties; the rightful expectations of the Third World are such, however. that the path must be embarked upon with decision and good will. Emilio Colombo

~~ ·· *-· .,.

•••

ITAlIAN INDUSTRY

AND ECONOMIC RELATIONS WITfi DEVJELOPING COUNTRIES

Left.

No. 5 kiln at the Guidonia cement factory.

Below.

Mobil Chimica ltaliana's Naples plant.

miraculous story of "Made in Italy", in other words, the great inventiveness of our small firms, of those who "create". And this is something of which we should be proud. It must not. however, make us close our eyes to another aspect of foreign economic policy, that of a whole country that must advance, not just a few firms capable of making their mark on the world market. In describing the situation, I should like to make certain points. The first regards the world economic situation and the various ways in which it is evolving: the second, the situation in the developing countries; and the third, the situation in Italy in particular. General situation: the world economic recovery is not as strong as many people hoped. The U.S. economy is doing well, even though its rate of development will be lower than last year. However, this is only to be expected because expansion in 1984 was too strong to be longlived. The European economy, unfortunately, shows no signs of expansion. The la.t est forecasts, in fact, suggest a further fall in the already modest rate of development predicted for this year. Europe is still going through a phase of uncertainty. This is rather strange, for with such a strong dollar, one might have expected Europe to have regained momentum through its exports to the USA. This is more true of Europe than Italy, since Italy is faced with a thorny, objectively difficult, exchange problem, given that its exchange rate against other European currencies is not such as to facilitate exports. Europe is in a situation clearly characterised by indecisive in-

Sogedia's plant at Relizane, Algeria.

dustrial policy and internal conflicts. It is making a very hesitant recovery, which has meant unemployment levels constantly above 10%. All the larger European countries have over 10% unemployment, which is terrible. Only Sweden and Austria are doing better, and they need to be analysed as special cases. It is extremely difficult to say how all this comes about. It could be attributed to various factors which characterize those countries. One might start by saying that they are small, strategically-placed countries with a very high level of culture and technology, and are therefore able to take advantage of the present situation. Sweden's case is typical. When the new . government took office two years ago, it devalued the Krona by 16% . Nobody reacted. Being a small country, it was able to devalue and consequently conquer new markets, without provoking a reaction on the part of any other country.

Something which France, Italy or Germany evidently could not do, because of the chain reaction that this would set off, their volume of trade being so large that it involved many countries. Another explanation might be linked to the fact that Austria and Sweden are the only countries to have adopted a certain type of social policy, which some experts might define as "neocorporative": that is, one of consultation and negotiation between Government, Unions and employers. Let us return to the advantages of being small. The four largest European countries, those with about 60 million inhabitants each, are moving towards unemployment levels of over ten per cent. Their industrial policy is more one of defence than of attack. The Third World is in a rather curious situation. The very difficult years which followed the oil crisis meant balance of payments situations involving

chronic indebtedness in many parts of the world. In the last few years, then, we have been able to see clearly that the possible outcome is not only economic development, but also economic recession. For example, in certain Latin American countries, income has fallen, and, as a result, people's living conditions have worsened. Our generation has had the fortunate experience of living through a country's passage from underdevelopment to development. But in human history, as we are witnessing at the present moment, movement in the opposite direction, i.e. from development to underdevelopment, is also possible. I say this because I believe it is necessary to explain, above all to the young, that present levels cannot be guaranteed. In order to maintain the levels it has achieved, either in relative 8r in absolute terms, a country must have a number of capabilities: above all. a sound economic policy, and then, objectives. It is interesting to note that the countries that have gone into "reverse development" are precisely those which suffer from grave internal political problems. This leads us back to a distinction between "virtuous" countries, which have succeeded in developing because they are highly cohesive, and those whose system, in contrast. has broken down for internal political reasons. Latin America is a case in point, but many African countries provide an even clearer example. In many cases, the decolonization process, instead of bringing a new cohesion, broke the only unifying bond, and so led to retrocession instead of development. Mozambique, for one, has followed this path. Yet it is a country with tremendous potential, and has close links with Italy. 9

The Third World, then, has had years of very serious crisis. The fear of a series of bankruptcies has now ended, but only because Latin America, where it was most acute, has, for two or three years now, boosted its exports to the USA and thereby acquired enough dollars at least to service its debts. I should like to stress the way in which basic economic problems are linked to basic political problems. The world is currently divided into very different parts. Asia is still undergoing a phase of great dynamism. Latin America and Africa are undergoing a phase of great crisis. It is incredible that Africa, a continent with potentially the best possible relationship between resources and population. is in fact the only one with problems of actua l lack of food. In other cases. the problem of hunger is mainly a problem of distribution. Let us not forget that India and China are exporting food, while in Africa there is a net deficit, even though, as I said, the relationship between population, resources and land area is one of the most satisfactory. The problem. quite evidently, is one of economic policy. It is certainly not one of resources.

We ought, then, above all, to revise our previous way of thinking, in which so much importance was attached to physical resources as opposed to human resources which are relatively unimportant compared with technological resources and, above all, a country's political and organizational resources. I think this is interesting to note, in that it overturns our political predictions of ten years ago. Who still considers the oilproducing countries as possible world dominators? Who still speaks of the power of an Iran. or even of Saudi Arabia? The scenario has transformed them from potential world powers into regional ones precisely because humanity's global economic perspective has changed considerably. Within this perspective, we should not be amazed if a nucleus of countries, which we mig ht call developing, becomes an important pivot in the future world economy. The concept of "developing countries" has to be extremely elastic. I maintain that within a generation, the Asian network will become the centre of the world economy. Let us call .it the "Pacific network", as there is also California. on the other side of the Ocean. We are dealing, however, with an Asian world

which has Japan at its epicentre and includes Hong Kong, Singapore, Taiwan, the Phi lippines, South Korea and, if our read ing of events is correct, China too. In my opinion, the most significant real economic event of these past few years has been China's change of policy. China has not yet transformed her economy: to do so wi ll take more than two years. But her economic policy is absolutely unrecognisable, astonishing, market-oriented: it includes profit incentives, industrial development areas, liberalisation of the so-called consumer goods policy, purchasing power. The Chinese Economic Under-Secretary, whom I spoke to a few weeks ago, explained to me the capitalist-type incentives being tried out in eight small experimental areas, which, however, encompass 120 million people. For experimental areas, that's not bad! This leads us to another argument: we are facing a new world; it is wrong to hold on to our traditional image of it, including the idea of the typical structure of developing countries. This structure is like a fastmoving train: these countries will be partners of ours (taking off under the effect of high technology) with whom we must do business on the basis of the situations most likely to arise within a generation. It will indeed take a generation, but those who do not think now in terms of a generation will be in trouble: thirty years pass quickly. What is now being prepared will change the face of the world and marginalize Europe . I deliberately portrayed Europe as not reacting, just to set it off against these new facts arising in the world. As a result of this, we might find ourselves in the uncomfortable position - we and our children -- of being part

APl's plant at Falconara.

Ingenious water systems, thousands of years old, still being used today to exploit the waters of the Nile.

of what is undou btedly a great civilization, but has a very lim ited role in the world of the future. A Europe united as consum ers, as industrial producers, with a self-sufficient food capacity, could potentially play a role like that of the USA, or an even bigger one, beca use it has very strong possibilities of attraction. But a Europe structured as it is at present could very easil y be marginalized by the chang es I have described. There is also another subject about whi ch it is useless to pontificate and make predictions (for modesty's sake, I no longer make them): the " Superdollar", that is to say an over-strong dollar that alternates between rises and falls. What effect has the dollar had on what we were discussing? It has destroyed the poss ibil ity of making long term investment decisions. It is becoming ever more difficult to make precise investment or export plans, because the main variable, the monetary fac tor, is uncertai n. Long term economic operations, typica l of industrial foreign policy, have become. as I said, uncertain. Thi.s explains why the upturn in investment has been so modest, in spite of technologica l evolution and of all the predictions. For in order to invest. you have to have your scenarios clear. I believe that th is has been a very grave probl em, even though it cannot be proved so by statistics. It emerges from an analysis of the motivations of economic agents. My judgement of the evolu tion of the monetary situation from 1971 onwards, that is, since the dollar was declared non convertible, is extremely neg ative. In theory, the present. flexible monetary system is much more sensi ble tha n th e previous, fixed monetary system. It is fine

for the professors, but in practice it does not work. This is because nobody ca n maintain stable expectations, because with the world suffering from enormous speculative fluctuations, the least psychologica l change, or even a single speech, is enou gh to com plete ly alter the exchange rate . And if a single speech is enough to alter the dollar's exchange rate, the businessman can never feel at ease , because he does not know if and when the speech will be made, nor what Reagan or Volcker will say. With scenarios, therefore, so hard to predict. we are led to another characteristic of rela tions with developing countries : the various protectionist tendencies. When money is no longer a viable means of exchange, th ere are two alternatives: either you fence yourself in with protectionism, or else you barter instead of trad ing with money . And this is precisely what is happening.

On the one hand, a move towards barter (now acco unting for 10% of international trade according to some, 30% according to others, though I 'do not know where they get these figures from ) which is rising rapidly precisely to offset the uncertainty ca used by the "nervousness" of the exchange markets; and on the other hand, the temptation towards protectionism. Th is temptation becam e so strong that a kind of lobby was formed in the US Senate for the introduction of a 20% Customs duty on im ports into the USA. (Natura lly, this measure was shelved, because it made no sense politically). Only a few years ago, it woul d have been unthinkable even t o begi n to discuss such things . On the other hand, it is obvious that with th e doll ar rising to such heights, the USA is at present unable to export goods other than those on whi ch it has a monopoly. The USA exports aeroplanes, certain kinds of sophisticated, 11

New housing developments in Riyadh, capital of Saudi Arabia, built by Western companies.

high technology equipment, grain and Treasury bonds. In the euphoria of "deregulation" and 7% growth, all the imperfections were absorbed. However, as soon as development slows down slightly, as is happening at present, the same problems reemerge and the protectionist temptation reappears. In this situation, international economic relations become delicate. This can be seen from the fact that international dealings are no longer based on the free market. There are some exceptions, but these run counter to the protectionist current that is becoming the norm. There are attempts, for example, to liberalise the fibres market or the automobile market, both of which are self-regulated. We thus have prerogatives that are the reverse of those foreseen by the immediate post-war generation. The new scenario in which we have to act is no longer a "virtuous" one, but one which we 12

might call "vicious", in which we have to guard against the world economy's turning in on itself. After discussing the negative aspects of the changes, that affect Italian industry as well, let us now turn to the positive aspects. Many manufacturing in dustries have moved from the so-called highly-developed countries to developing countries. T he developing countries at present produce 11 % of world manufactured goods, and it is predicted that if they maintain their growth rate, this will rise to 15-16% in the next decade. This constitutes a significant change for manufacturing industry, one which accompanies an enormous productivity increase in all industrial systems. This means that if the industrialized countries lose even a small portion to developing countries, direct industria l employment in the developed countries is likely to fall sharply, unless we are able to inject significant growth into the world economic system as a whole. Only in this way can we manage the transfer of production to the developing countries. But we have to accept that this transfer is inevitable. If, to any extent, it

does not come about. we shall be unable to sell those sophisticated products which we have been trying to develop recently on the world market. because there will be no- buyers with sufficient purchasing power. We cannot follow a policy that contradicts itself. There are two alternatives. Either we decide to opt for the highest, most ref:ined end of the market (this might include high fashion. but usually it is technology), in which case we have to find outlets all over the world, and therefore buyers with sufficient purchasing power in the Third World; or, if we decide instead to fence ourselves in, we can clearly protect ourselves better in the short term, but we cannot hope to have a market. This is the contradiction experienced in Latin America in recent years, where a certain type of policy produced cutbacks in purchasing power, with opposite res ults to those intended. Given this scenario, Italian policy must also be wary of such contradictions. This means. for example, that every naval dockyard that experiences a crisis, or that closes, is clearly a tragedy

(unfortunately, many of such tragedies have been taking place within the I.R.I. group}, but it must be borne firmly in mind that this is an inevitable process that has to be gone throu @h if we are to have a part in the g.eneral picture. We cannot hope to export sophisticated ships or radars to a country if we do not. in return, open our doors to some of its products. Italy's problem, therefore, is this: as our level of technology is below the Europea n average, we are the first to be damaged by the open-door pol icy. Since we are, at least in principle, the biggest texti le producers in Europe, we will obviously be the ones who suffer most if this sector is opened up. Those at the bottom of the class always have the worst problems. Italian industrial policy cannot limit itself to defending the status qua. It must facilitate productive structural development and allow accelerated tech nological development. These are necessary conditions for our becoming protagonists in international commerce, which is essential to our industria l development. This is at present threatened, but can still be expanded. It is therefore of the greatest importance to link our commercia l relations with developing countries to an industrial policy capable of raising our leve ls of production. This might seem a banal and obvious statement, but it is just not happening at all. We do not have an export policy linked to an industrial policy of selective help and other types of initiative. we have a completely hit-or-miss export policy. That is, we export whatever we can. Here, then, is the first deci sion that needs to be taken: to forge a very strong link between

Europetrol's refinery at Barrancabermeia, Colombia .

Soviet Union (very topical in industrial policy and export recent weeks}, we see that we policy, that shou ld also, in my have a large deficit with this view, involve the whole question of Italian aid to the Third World. country, which, in its turn, is in deficit with Japan, with Germany, A question which three _or four and with other states. In brief, years ago was very prone to be overlooked, but which today has that is, the Soviet Union sells us oil and uses the proceeds to buy assumed enormous proportions, high technology products from since Italy has now taken it up (rightly, in my opinion) with con- Germany and Japan. This is a "vicious" triangle siderable energy. rather than a "virtuous" circle, The fact of having allocated the opposite of what the relation 3,600-4,000 billion lire a year to between industrial policy and Third World aid projects does foreign trade should be. Here, not mean that we are ignoring the needs of our own industry. then, is our problem: we must increase our presence in develOn the contrary, it should imply the opposite. Indeed, there is no oping countries, whilst improving the quality of this presence. ban on linking Third World aid Otherwise, the coming transforto our own industrial developmations will only harm us and ment. leave us without a role. Here again the problem is We cannot be content with having an industrial policy suitable or adaptable to the countries defensive industrial policies, based on Customs tariffs, on which request and receive aid. government subsidies to keep It should not, however, be aimed industries at home alive. We so much at pushing the export must have "aggressive", and of what there is (as happens at therefore innovatory, industrial present}, but at stimulating our industry to make a selective con- policies, so as to stake a claim tribution in developing countries. in overseas markets with everincreasing standards of quality. Certain goods are much soughtWith this perspective, certain after, and very often an unba lanced export relationship exists, sectors assume particular interest, since we cannot think of of the kind in which developing acting haphazardly. countries end up buying low There is a whole series of technology goods from us and specific goods worth concentrathigh technology products from ing on. In this context. let us Germany and Japan. take defence systems as an If we analyse the deficit in our balance of payments with the example. Think for a moment of

Technicians at work on the oil refiner y at Bilaiyin on the Suez Canal.

the success that complete software packaging might have, including instruction in its use and, above all, in its maintenance. Or think of spare part production, of a whole range of technical assistance, of Training Centres to encourage the spread of new developments, etc. If we do not enter the field with certain types of goods, there is no way that we will find the door open to us. And this is already happening, in the case of both defence systems and certain industrial plants. For example, we are bidding for plant contracts in some countries, even in the Soviet Union, in which the contractor has to commit himself for the next ten years, because bui lding 14

the plant, starting it up, training personnel, and the whole series of steps required to guarantee its subsequent technological evolution all take time. The answer, then, is to act as a system, and not just as individual companies. Certain large enterprises, evidently including the I.R.I., have an important role here, because they are responsible for guaranteeing the entry of many small, medium and large firms into a more demanding market. For example, a firm that produces parts for continuous casting, or automatic weapon mechanisms, will have enormous difficulties in exporting if it does not become part of a system including all those who produce the steelmaking facilities

or entire weapon systems. This approach to exporting is of great interest, because, in many cases, the high technolog y involved leads to further, unforeseen exports. The construction of a plant involves a whole range of Italia n goods and services, including maintenance and other simpler and more commonplace things which could not possibly be placed on the world market except as part of an entire system. This is why the "focussing" role played by certain major protagonists on the industrial scene is of the greatest importance. We would all agree that our small exporters, people who set off with a suitcase to conquer world markets, deserve to have a monument erected in their honour. However, given current events and the predictions we made earlier concerning world developments, their role is neg ligible. We can certainly achieve something with the old methods, but not the objective of a stable presence, given the way the markets are changing. In view of this, it becomes essential for our exports that our internal systems function efficiently. Here we are treading on very delicate ground. Indeed, I would say that certain weaknesses in the structure of our internal administrative systems, or even transport and communications, act as a brake on the entire economy and effectively block a whole series of very important exports. It is not just a matter of credit and insurance. of financial strength, but also of our image. More and more, what is sold is a country 's "system". It is a problem that will increase as our presence in the world increases. The specific role of large firms, or of Groups like I.R.I., in meeting the difficult challenges that it involves, is increas ingly that of acting as a

--sort of executive agent of the government or of the Italian industria l system . We must therefore be in a position to take the initiative more and more treque.ritly. It might be Fiat or a sim ilar l.arge company, but wha t is needed is a well -structured network increasingly able to take such initiatives. Naturally, such a role must be carried out with sufficient capacity and intelligence, and indeed hum ility, to understand the responsibi lities that are involved in terms of the whole system . Having such "terminals" , executive agents with a convincing image, is becoming an essential condition for acquiring a stable role in relation to developing countries. One final point: there is no need to be afra id of specia lization. Entire sectors need to be abandoned and others need enormous energies invested in them. This is not easy, because both social pressures and our own (conservative) menta lity make us tend to defend the existing system . I always cite the following as an example . In the last ten years, about 60 billion lire have been spent on public subsidies of various kinds to the European steel industry: financia l support, easy terms of payment on supplies and equipment, government and regional subsidies, special credit facilities, etc. An entire continent has been wasting its energ ies on one sector (a lthough one with a glorious past). defending certain interests beyond all reasonable bounds. As a result, not enough resources are avai lable for new initia tives. This is the si t uation we find ourselves in. Being present in the world economy means making a choice. It also means giving up certain things, without gaining anything new.

What is needed is to speed up change, not slow it down. Otherwise we wi ll merely lose what we have, without gai ning anything new. In theory, the idea 'is so obvious that everyone should agree with it. In practice, it is one of our country's daily dramas, for it is clear that reactions to the threatened sacrifice of any particular area, however tiny, are always very strong. Above all when it implies a fall, in absolute terms, in the number of workers employed in industry. If we were able to create jobs in new sectors to replace those lost, change wou ld be easy. At the present time, however, with unemployment running Âˇat 10%, the question is more complicated than ever. This is why, at the beginning, I was not very optimistic about Europe's capacity to meet the challenge of the chang ing world economic situation . The unemployment situation press urises governments towards policies of slowing down change. And this is basically what has been done because inside a country, the forces for stability are stronger than those for change . Such action is belatedly regretted when it is seen how meagre the results are . It is a problem that must be faced courageously, otherwise Europe's margina lization will become a fact and not just an academ ic issue. All that is needed for this to happen is for the changes of the last ten years to continue, in the same direction, for the next ten years. I still believe in our capacity for recovery, though only in relative terms, for we went into the cris is in the fol lowing order: USA - Europe - Japan, and we are coming out of it in a different order: USA - Japan - Europe. Whichever ind icators we take, from income to exports, to technolog ical development, to academic qua lifications, we come th ird, not second as before. It is also a question of working emp irica lly, of jettisoning entire pages of doctrine consol idated over forty to fifty years, or at best conserving them but

interpreting them in a completely different way, one which allows us to absorb technological progress , together with its unforeseen consequences . We are faced, therefore, with an enormous responsibility, wh ich we must meet firmly and squarely, otherwise we shall find ourselves wel l and truly on the sidelines. Romano Prodi

Ro mano Prodi was born in Scandiano (Reggio Emi lia) in 1939. After graduuting in Law from the Catholic Un iversity of Mi lan in 1961 , he d id research at the London School of Econom ics and was Visiting Professor at Harvard University. From Novem ber 1978 to March 1979, he was Minister of Industry and Commerce . He is Professor o f Economics and I ndustriu l Po li cy at the Politica l Science Facu lty ot Bo logna Un iversity, and cha irman of the science c ommittee of " Nomisma" , an organ isation for econom ic s tudies rounded by the Bunco Naz iona le del Lavoro . Since 20th October 1982. he has been cha irman of the I.R.I. (Institute ro r Industr ia l Reconstruc tion). A scho lar o f economic s und indus1rial policy, in addition to his teaching activity, he has carried out intensive resea rch into the funda menta l prob lems of the I Wlian ind ustr ial econ omy. A utho r of numerous scientific publ ished works, especially on European industr ial policies , llulian pub lic c ompanies. and energy issues. he is curren tly ed itor of: "En ergia" , a qu,irterly magazine on energy issues; "L' indus tria", a quarter ly magazine o n economics and industrial policy. Th is article is the unabridged tex1 of a lecture g iven at the Cen tro Alti Stud i per la Ditesa on 20th M,JfCh 1985.

AND NATIONAL DISASTIRS .

In 1983, the Defence Chiefs of Staff issued a specific directive for the setting up of an emergency task force ("Forza di Pronto lntervento", hereafter referred to as Fo.P.I.). This was to be a combined-forces organization of great flexibility with the task of providing specialized assistance in the event of a national disaster in any part of the country. This measure was intended by the Armed Forces as a further step - perhaps the maximum effort possible given the situation - towards carrying out the task laid down by Law n. 382, 11/07/78. These "norms of principle for military discipline" included that of "co-operation for the collective good of the nation in cases of national disaster". The experience gained in previous disasters and the many exercises carried out had revealed that the Armed Forces given their present structure could deal with small or medium intensity disasters. A specific and specialised organisation was necessary in cases of earthquake or large-scale flooding, to integrate, with the minimum delay, such immediate action as might be undertaken on the initiative of the Military Command responsible for the territory concerned. The Fo.P.I. was set up by the Defence Chiefs of Staff for this purpose. The directive specified the fol lowing basic points regarding its structure: â€˘ duties to be specifically concerned with emergencies brought about by large-scale seismic disasters or flooding; â€˘ a flexible and functional combined-forces command to be set up in the "Acqui" Motorised Brigade and linked directly to the Chiefs of Staff of the Armed Forces; â€˘ forces to be mobilised from a large number of different specialised units and trained to cope with an emergency for a limited period of time (5-7 days) (1), with the possibility of employing these forces as whole units or as sub-units; 17

• capability to move by land, sea or air with transport provided by the 3 Services. MODULAR COMPONENTS In accorda nce with the mission assigned to them and the guidelines laid down by the Chiefs of Staff, the Command of the "Acqui" Brigade began by carrying out an analysis of the structure (2) to be given to the Fo.P.I. in the event of the most probable and most damaging of catastrophes: seismic disaster. This resulted in the formation of a corps divided up into "functional modules", which were to carry out activities of: • command, control and coordination of the operations to be performed in t he hours immediately subsequent to the earthquake and, in any case, able to set up an organizational framework to ensure the correct running of the rescue and aid

apparatus being set up in the meantime; • the search for survivors and help in extracting them from the debris. The latter activity would of course require adequate equipment and highly qualified and trained personnel. The activity of the Fo.P.I. must, therefore, be seen - at least for now - as co-operation in terms of men and means with the institutions set up specifically for this type of operation. for example the Fire Brigade; • treatment of casualties. The operation as a whole gains more credibility from this than from any other activity, especially in view of the possibility that local health services may no longer be functioning; • providing accommodation for the homeless, either under canvas or in caravans, in camps complete with lavatory faci lities and ablutions, emergency lighting and other services (reception

and information centres, post office, fi rst aid posts. etc.); • distribution of indispensable articles, to be obtained from available stores at the very beginning of the emergency and subsequently from the supply of provisions to be set up once the normal logistic chain of functions is in operation; • preparation for the large-scale operations to follow, aimed at preparing the ground for further activities (organisation of assembly areas for personnel, landing zones for helicopters, amplification of the radio com munication system, etc.). The aim was to create a multi-functional corps, which would be self-sufficient and productive right from the outset of the emergency. This required a great effort of detailed planning as regards the procedures to be adopted, the action to be taken according to the different situations of weather and place the

Fo.P.I. COMMAND AND CONTROL ORGANISATION OPERATIONAL HQ

TACTICAL HQ

DEFENCE CHIEF OF STAFF

Fo.P.I. COMMANDER (1)

OPERATIVE CONTROL CHIEFS OF STAFF OF THE ARMED FORCES MOVEMENT PHASE

ACTIVATION PHASE

KEY ~ ~

Order of alert and preparation;

=--"- Composition

of Fo.P.I. '.::ll----v and division of assistance among the units;

~ - Availability of means ~ Order of operations. of transport; - Assistance assigned;

~~= ~

Co-ordination and control;

_c--rnformalion from the Cti Radiomobile network; _

Boundaries of the Military Region.

NOTES: (1) Commander of the Motorized Brigade "Acqui"; (2) In charge of the territory in which units are to be employed.

MOVEMENT PHASE

event might occur in, the specific tasks and the qualitative and ,quantitative grading of each of the modular components, Two ,exercises - "Solidarieta '83" and "Calabria '84", r.espectively in Sicily and Calabria - .were carried out to ascertain the practical validity of this planning and to operate in geographical areas which have suffered great earthquakes in the past.

EXPERIMENTATION AND RESULTS

The exercises "Solidarieta '83" and "Calabria '84" were given extensive national coverage by the mass media, which were almost unanimous in passing flattering judgements on this new military corps. However, this praise was kept firmly in perspective. The awareness that any model even though the result of painstaking study on the part of

highly qualified professionals can be improved upon, led to less weight being given to what had worked and more to the need for improvement for ,taking corrective measures and for enhancing operational efficiency that inevitably arises when planning is put to the test On the one hand, the exercises outlined above demonstrated the adequacy of the organisation so far as rapidity of intervention was concerned, a capability that could, in any case. be taken for granted. as the speed with which units can be alerted, got ready and transferred is a basic feature of the military structure. On the other hand, they also showed up some flaws in the essential co-ordination of the measures to be taken by the civilian and military bodies. We refer. in particular, to the excessive inertia of the flow of information from the different civilian rescue and aid orga-

nizations. whether official or unofficial. Greater operational speed in the communications field is to be hoped for on the part of the Prefectures, Town Councils, Fire Brigade and so on. They must enhance the information and liaison system set up by the Fo.P.I. so as to arrive at a rapid clarification of the situation and thus faci litate and direct operations where most needed, according to an establis hed scale of priorities . This cal ls for prior co-ordination and understanding of the respective capacities in order to exploit the means ava ilable to the full, by standardizing procedures, integrating communication systems and, where necessary, supplying more modern and functional equipment, Some doubt arose as to the effective capacity of military personnel with regard to searching for and extracting casualties from the debris. Rapidity counts for little if not backed up by adequate training

EXERCISE "SOLIDARIETA' '83" MAP OF THE SEISMIC RISK AREAS OF SICILY

TRAPANI

AGRIGENTO

KEY

â€˘â€˘ D

Value corresponding to the average of the Communes already classified; Mean value plus half mean square;

Mean value minus half mean square;

Areas with r isk va lues not inferior to those in the Naples area.

EXERCISE "SOLIDARIETA' '83" OF AIR- AND HELIBORNE FORCES

MARSAL

KEY

Airport:

Air transport towards the airport of possible disembarkation;

Heliport; Helicopter transport to equipped areas.

in the techn iques for rescuing human lives . The "module" that acts in direct contact with the debris must be able to carry out independently a series of operations with the prima ry aim of keeping the casualty alive and then extracting him with suitable procedures to avoid making matters worse. At present. in t he mi litary sphere, there is no methodical and genera lized training scheme for this purpose. However, both field and permanent

A Fo.P.I. tactical vehicle, Fiat-lveco 40-10-WM, disembarking from a ship during an exercise. The Fo.P.I. was set up in 1983 to provide specialized aid in carrying out the specific task of "co-operation for the collective good of the nation in cases of national disaster".

military medical centres and structures have proved sufficient for the tasks of administering first aid and directing those in immediate need of operations towards specialised t.erritorial units. . The work units set up to provide shelter for the homeless have also proved their capacity to meet the specific demands made upon them . Pitching tents, installing suitable electrical systems. digging drains and setting up field sanitary faci lities are all part of the normal activities of the Armed Forces, whether in the barracks or out in the field. The problem is, therefore. only one of training for the specific task and speeding up operations by increasing the amount of light modern equipment available. It will also be of use to make some mention of the activities of the "food, clothing and first-aid distribution modules" and "preparatory activities for large-sca le operations". With regard to the former task, every unit employed is able to meet all its own living and work requirements independently. The aid to be given to the disaster victims presents some logistic problems with regard to the preparation of provisions and transport of indispensable articles (camping materials, victuals, bedding, protective clothing and so on). In fact, neither the mobile kitchens issued to the units of the Fo.P.I. nor the means of transport at the disposal of the respective Logistic Centre are sufficient to guarantee the complete satisfaction of the projected average demand (5,000 homeless). Reinforcement prior to the event would have the effect of weighing down the units, restricting their mobi lity and, thus, compromising the rapidity with which they could act. This problem could easily be overcome by providing for on the spot reinforcements from territorial bodies. As for the preparatory activities for large-scale operations. the problems are related to those mentioned previously in connection with command and con-

EXERCISE "CALABRIA '84" MAP OF THE SEISMIC RISK AREAS OF CALABRIA

KEY

1111

Value corresponding to the average of the Communes already classified; Mean value plus half mean square;

Mean value minus half mean square.

trol. This preparation entails gathering information to be transmitted to headquarters, avoiding hold-ups and breakdowns in the flow of aid, and comparative evaluation of the disaster areas to decide where aid should be channelled. This requires a flexible liaison network, stripped

down to the bare essentials and operational, if required, down to the level of individual men. This is a part of the Fo.P. I. "machine" that still requires some adjustment, especially as regards the purchase of more sophisticated, light and functional means of transmission.

MAP OF THE SITUATION IN CASE OF SEISMIC EVENT INSERTION OF Fo.P.I.

SEISMIC EVENT

, --Âˇ ~'

INTERVENTION \ OF LOCAL \\ FORCES

4tJ I

INTERVENTION OF Fo.P.I.

KEY '' Activated" Commune affected by the seism; Commune activated with liaison officers; Commune acting as base for Combined Operations Centre; Command Post of Fo.P.I. unit,;

Seismic crater.

CONCLUSIONS The need to re-shape and develop the various components of the Fo.P.I. is a problem that can be solved automatically in that it is catered for by routine procedures implemented by means of successive approximations (a typical feature of cyclical planning) carried out on the basis of the experience acquired in concrete cases. However, the gain ing of complete credibility on the part of the Fo.P. 1. depends essentially on the specific training and qualifications to be given to the Cadres and Troops of the units to be mobilized . Neither good intentions alone nor the mere availability of materia l and means which one does not know how 22

to use are enough when it is a matter of rescuing people trapped beneath slabs of reinforced concrete. In addition to particular equipment. what is required is professional experience and a tried and tested ability to identify the approach least likely to cause collapses in which the rescuers themselves cou ld be involved or bring about the death of those buried beneath the rubble. Th is is a responsibility that cannot be taken on without having the necessary competence to do so. It is of interest to read what Gen. Rambald i had to say on this subject at th e Conference on Civi l Defence, 20th February 1981 (ISTRID, Rome 1981): "...The first task is that of extracting survivors from the

debris. It is the most important and the most urgent task because you can go without food for three days but you cannot survive for two or three days with a roof-beam crushing your neck. This task - and I state this with mathematical certainty and it would be well for public opinion to know it - can only be entrusted to professionals, apart from some exceptions. It is impossible for a national serviceman - however highly trained he may be in driving a tank and even in civil defence exercises to be of any use". Therefore, in order "to be of any use", the military work un it must be guided by an expert - a fireman, for example capable of leading the attack on

the reinforced concrete in such a way that every stroke of t he pick and every manoeuvre of the excavating machine are directed to the point of least risk. However, co-oper.,ation at the moment of emergency is not enough. The terminology and techniques need to have been assimilated long before, at least on the theoretical level. This can be accomplished through joint tra ining schemes, which could be included in the planning of activities to be carried out during mi litary service. Likewise, it would be better for all the units of the Fo.P.I. Command to contain personnel familiar with the probl~ms of the force, both from the point of view of planning operations and as regards action procedures. Th is can be achieved by having those selected participate in exercises, conferences, studies and so on, i.e. in the conceptual and organisational phase of the Fo.P.I. Otherwise, in view of the expected duration of operations (5/7 days}, the reserves would not have the time to make any contribution of their own, even by following the technique of "imitation". It does not appear a good idea to take commissioned and non-commissioned officers of the Major Unit HOs away from their normal duties so as to insert them in the Command Post of the Fo.P.I. This would upset the functions of the brigade-size unit which - if called upon to act in an emergency in its own sphere of operations - would then lack the personnel to carry out its operational duties. A solution to this problem could be fou nd by detaching the Fo.P.l. Command from the Major Operational Unit and providing for it to be composed of personnel selected from the three Services. Such personnel would be specifical ly qualified and concerned solely with the sector of national disasters. This solution, which would appear the most acceptable once the principle of utilising the quotas of Cadres exclusively in cases of national disaster were established, gives rise to many ques-

=_ , Gazzetta del Sud ... ,.~

INTERNO II batlesimo della neonata forza operatha di pronto intervenlo

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tions, also on the constitutional level. The answers will have to come from the higher echelons. However, these questions should at least be discussed. Andrea Lusa

(1) In this period, the Fo.P.I. sets up the most favourable conditions possible for the subsequent large-scale operations. (2) This structure, based on special units, can also act in case of flood ing.

Brigadier General Andrea M. Lusa studied at the Military Academy and attended both the 92nd Course at the Wa r College and the XXXtV Session of the General Staff Advanced Course. He has served w ith pioneer units. the armoured pioneer corps, pontoneer and railway corps. He commanded the 104th batta lion of pontoneer engineers, "Torre", and the Engineers· School. He was a Section Commander and assistant instructor in electrical engineering at the Service Sr.inch School. He served ,,s Staff Officer in th e 6th Army Corps in charge of the Trai ning Section. He served as officer attached to Army Staff. as Section Leader in the Office of Mi litary Regulations and in charge of the Office of Transport and Movement. He a command ed the .. Aq ui" Mo torized Brigade an d the Fo.P.I. ,rnd is. at present. Ch ief of Staff of the North-East M ilitary Region Comma nd.

OTO C13 ARMOURED INFANTRY FIGHTING VEHICLES Weight: Road Speed: Range: Versions: • ·.IFVs:

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The fact that this thesis is upheld by two "Alpini" does not necessarily mean that the authors are maniacally bound to see mountains everywhere. ft is our intention to examine the progressive transformations brought about by man in the "flat" natural environment. A transformation which, from the operational viewpoint, increasingly renders this geographical

area - sometimes in a rather disconcerting way - conceptuaffy comparable to a mountain. We are in fact led to ask ourselves whether the wide lines of attack can stiff be located or, perhaps, they have become by now winding tactical ways, dotted with strong points; whether the spaces for the manoeuvre of massive armoured formations

still exist or everything has been transformed into a broken and uneven landscape, good only for infantry. These are questions that can rightfully be posed, also in the light of the studies made on the urbanization of the VenetoFriuli Plain. The answers to these questions can suggest interesting considerations.

A COMPARISON BETWEEN THE TWO NATURAL ENVIRONMENTS

In a mountain landscape, the elements of interest for comparison reasons are: • the valley floors, as ma in penetration axes followed by the attacker for overcoming the defensive apparatus; almost all tactical logistic movements are linked to them, and, even though they can be avoided for short stretches and periods, at the end one is compelled to return anyway, when the alternative directions become too onerous; • the high positions which control the valley bottoms constitute the strong points of the defense. Their progressive dismantling is a necessary prerequisite for the attacker who wants to pursue his action in depth; they permit the tactical control of the valleys and facilitate surveillance and direct fire;

• the points of forced passage along the bottom of the valley: these are elements in favour of the defender, on which the attacker focuses his attention, because holding them means having the availability of the tactical way which they pursue; • the impervious areas: these are one of the mountains' uncertainties. Nobody wants to engage in direct actions there, but, if necessary, they can become real sanctuaries for the defender and a source of great troubles for the attacker if he has, or intends, to get hold of them. The plains, once flat and monotonous, during the last 20 or 30 years have become a rugged environment, in which the countryside bears the heavy mark of man's constructions. Among these, the urban centre is certainly the most significant from the tactical point of view. As a matter of fact, it is not that new towns have ·been

Under the title.

In the plain, the most significant elements, from a tactical viewpoint, are the urban centres, surrounded by industrial compounds, close nets of roads, and works of water canalization. These elements can be exploited by the defender to slow down the attacker's movement, and to channel his axes of penetration towards points of forced passage. Below.

The high positions controlling the valle y floors are the strong points of the defensive instrument and, tor the attacker, their progressive dismantling is often a prerequisite tor the continuation of his action in depth. These high points facilitate observation and direct fire. Right.

In the mountains, the main axes of penetration followed by the attacker in order to overcome the defense are on the valley floors; almost all tactical and logistical movements depend on them.

created, but the preexisting ones nave become noticeably larger. Around the smaller centres there is almost always an industrial area with concrete buildings of generally large dimensions; watercourses have been .canalized between steep, sometimes superelevated embankments, and the number of roads, highways and other reliefs has also increased; most railway and road crossings have become overpasses and, around farmhouses, high silos and water tanks have multiplied. Also vineyards have changed, and the mulberry trees that once supported the vine branches have been replaced by- cement poles. Electricity wires crisscross the country; its pylons, in some areas, form real artificial forests. These changes have given a new operational character to a terrain we used to consider "easy", "with a high flowing

index", "lacking substantial obstacles", "a large tactical way", and so on. This new aspect leads to a few considerations about the organization of the manoeuvre, the employment of forces and the use of weapon systems. Let us consider, first of all, the significance of the alterations in the natural environment (fig. 1) . It goes without saying that the terrain, being the stage of the battle drama, influences the "show" decisively. A greater number of natural and artificial obstacles favours the defender and hinders the attacker, especially if the latter faithfully follows his doctrine of employment. making a massive use of armoured means. It will not be easy for him to advance rapidly, even if he employs a more open-minded tactic, different from the one he was expected to use in the past. Nevertheless, the difficulties of

progression must not stem only from the passive presence of obstacles, there must also be the defender's firm will to take the best advantage of them. It is therefore necessary to acknowledge the battlefield's new characteristics and to opportunely adapt one's own training and employment techniques. The tactical ways, first of all. They have ceased to be general indications of directions that lead to a series of objectives, following the shortest way. They have, on the contrary, their own logic development. aimed at locating the stretches of land that permit the maximum operational speed, avoiding inhabited places, industrial centres, river barriers, etc., using good roads, possibly having no points of forced passage. These are exactly the characteristics of a valley's floor in the mountains, that cannot be chosen by the attacker but

COMPARISON BETWEEN THE TWO NATURAL ENVIRONMENTS

forced on him by the conditions of the terrain. To continue the comparison we must now find out what can be considered similar to the high points that control the valleys. Let us say immediately that surely these are not so evident as the flanks of a steep valley, but, in real ity, what we are trying to find out are the positions, a series of points seen as a whole, which permit to control the way that develops along a tactical line. In fact this control can be obtained through the exploitation of the small urba n centres, the overpasses and all the constructions that, rising above the ground and the vegetation level, offer a good vision and firing field, especially for antitank weapons and, not to be overlooked, a fair protection for the gunners. And it is precisely by taking advantage of the small inhabited

centres as sheltered points of departure located on the flanks, that the small armoured units could "descend towards the valley", in order to cut or eliminate the enemy penetration. Most probably, in this environment "Ivan" will start to h.ave doubts about his capability to advance at the expected pace, realizing that the steppe is one thing and "Po country" is quite another. The advance, made more Âˇ difficult by its canalization along a foreseeable route and by the action of contrast carried out from properly positioned - and not necessarily armoured - elements, is further hindered by the points of forced passage. In the mountains, these points are represented by passes, gorges, thresholds and dells, while on the plains there are rivers and bridges, "gorges" between the inhabited centres through which one has to go,

Fig. 1

Comparison between the two natural environments.

The plain, during the last 30 years, has changed from a flat and monotonous environment to a rugged one, strewn with man-made constructions. An attacker who has to advance in a territory of this kind shall have to select his tactical ways on stretches of land that permit a maximum operational speed, avoiding inhabited centres, industrial compounds and watercourses, which - as obstacles to movement can be considered similar to the impervious areas in the mountains. The defender, on his part, will have the possibility to use the urban centres as protected bases of departure for his armoured units, which will be able to move to cut or eliminate the enemy penetrations. The figure shows the validity of the opinion that also th e plain can become impervious.

highway viaducts, etc. To overcome them, a number of "ad hoe", perhaps airborne, operations wi ll have to be organized, w ith unavoidable unce rtainties and de lays, exactly like in a mountain area. . And what about the impervious areas? These are represented by the cit ies, and in the region considered there is no lack of them. They greatly influence the course of the tactical ways and, furthermore, it is from the cities that dangerous actions can be launched against t he enemy flanks . Unl ike the impervious areas, the city offers many advantages to the defender. More r-esources, first of all, for in a city of average dimens ions, as are those in the area under su rvey, one can find a logistic support absolutely lacking in a mountain area. A city offers protection and can be, if necessary, an effec-

tive shelter for the troops waiting for better times, or between actions . The importance a c ity can have in the economy of a battle is nothing new, and thfs is why it must not be overlooked. The reference picture is thus completed : we have matched each element which is part of the who le operationa l environment of a mount ain area with a similar one in the plains.

OPERATIONAL CONSEQUENCES Manoeuvre organization

What we have just analyzed has its first fundamental effect on the defence apparatus (fig . 2). Once the elements that characterize the ground have been located, we can go on outling its various features according to their Âˇ importance,

decid ing beforehand the ones that need garrison ing, exactly as in a mounta in area one tries to close a valley with st ructures on its floor and flanks . Therefore, the almost uniform deployments along the whole front will be replaced by a dep loyment focused in correspondence with the entrance of the located tactical ways. A lesser number of forces wil l be assigned to t he defence of imperv ious zones, i.e. cities, and more forces distributed at the strong points which control

Organization of the manoeuvre. Just as in the mountains the aim is to block a valley with structures on its floor and flanks, in the plain it is necessary to achieve a deployment which does not run all along the front, but rather gravitates on the tactical ways previously located. The figure sho ws the possible organization of a defensive deployment on a flat area.

l=ig. 2

ORGANIZATION OF THE MANOEUVRE

A point of forced passage in the plain can be defended with the same cntena used for an Alpine pass.

the tactical ways and concentrated at the points of forced passage. The most significant deduction concerning defence, stems from the realization that the tactical control here - unlike a mountain region - is given by points rather than positions. This suggests a more fragmented deployment of forces, wi!h immediate effects on the size and shape of the stationary structures. The company stronghold will probably still be unitarily employed in order to block a tactical way frontally, but on the flanks it will be more profitable to employ platoon strongholds which, unlike today, will probably outnumber the company ones. Precisely as is the case for a . mountain region, and without 1t being a strain in any way. Suffice it to consider the characteristics of our antitank weapons with a 2000-3000 m range. Is it really profitable to gather all of them in a company strong-hold or in an equivalent antitank deployment? Would it not be better to form a grid along the front and in depth, thus ensuring the continuity of its fire and functions in the area, with less structure vulnerability, thanks to a diminished concentration and better dispersion? And the concept of "crtical zone" of batta lion level - which so greatly facilitates the organization of the defence in the mountains - does it not also apply to a plain? And the employment of artificial obstacles does it not require different placements and a different proportion of types (antitank and antipersonnel)? Force employment

The mechanized units are the most suitable to represent the fulcrum of the defence. Protected, and capable of moving 30

about the battlefield, they rapidly transport men and weapon systems to the points controlling the direction followed by the adversary. These units, equipped with antitank and antipersonnel weapons, with devices for launch ing mines at short distances, flanked by units of engineers tasked with making demolitions and interruptions, play the main role in the battle. Their greatest enemy: the tank units speeding towards objectives in depth. . Their greatest ally: the artillery, to which they point out the objectives, which are slowed down by their own action, and are, therefore, more vulnerable. The mechanized units are joined by tanks, which can accomplish a twofold task: together with the mechanized units, they can complement with their weapon systems the infantry's guided missiles and provide protection during the disengagement phases; on their own, they ca.n carry out offensive ra ids which, starting from bases located in the protected outskirts of the inhabited centres. and moving along appropriate routes, will reach the enemy on the flanks and rear.

What about motorized infantry? Their best employment will be in highly specialized actions. such as fighting in the inhabited centres, just as the "alpieri" of the "Alpini" units control the impervious areas, thanks mainly to their superior psychophysical training. The infantrymen could also be employed in airborne operations, with the purpose of establishing antitank alignments precisely in those points of forced passage, where they could slow down those armoured units that had advanced too rapidly to be confronted in any other manner. Doubts can arise about the actual effectiveness of the offensive air support. The necessary dispersion of the adversary armoured formations will render the aircraft's intervention increasingly unprofitable, while t~e increased efficiency of the antiaircraft weapons will constitute a greater risk for the airplanes. This scarce pliability of the aircraft as regards the land actions, and its increased vulnerability, will perhaps suggest to assign helicopters and artillery part of the functions of fire support. The helicopter, owing to its maneuverability, can adapt itself to the terrain with remarkable plasticity and make elusive manoeuvres when under missiles' fire. In short, from the employment of forces thus outlined, a concept of areal battle emerges which will certainly find a more realistic application than the one suggested at present by a probably conformist view of the natural environment. Therefore it will be possible to accept a less strict demarcation of the terrain, one's own and the adversary's, and as a consequence a penetration will not inevitably result in a total withdrawal. A more comprehensive combat, we must say, in which all have a role to play and, what is more important. all will feel they are fighting on "friend ly" terrain.

This extremely im porta nt factor has been acknow ledged day by day by the "Alpini", who know, with reason, that they can count on their perfect knowledge of the terrain and use it against the "invader" t>f the mountain. Employment of Weapon Systems

The main enemy we want to destroy is always the adversary tank; therefore we focus our attention first of all on the antitank weapon systems. Among the ones used today, in the framework of the combat described, the short and long range weapons acq uire a particular importance. The medium range ones are bound to have a direct confrontation with the tank guns, which, under the same cond itions could have the better of them . The long-range systems, such as the TOW, for example, are advantaged by the fact that they can shoot from out of range positions, if they can find elements from which they can dom inate the ground. The short range systems, on the other hand, although they are forced to enter the battle when the tanks are already upon them, must, and can, draw advantage from all the obstacles that hinder the tanks and, on the contrary, help their own ambush and disengagement actions . Luckily, in our operati onal area there is no lack of such obstacles. One can remark that these considerations on antitank systems stem from considera tions concerning conditions that apply also to the mountain areas. Still with the inten t of supporting our thesis, we shall survey now the weapon systems for indirect fire. The characteristics of the natural environment and those

of the combat we have outlined here, req uire timely and short fire actions, as well as the possibility of making swift changes in the deployment. All self-propelled arti lleries, which can use the "fire and run" technique, can be deemed excellent and, among them, mortars above al l. In a rugged landscape, like the one described, mortars can fight in the inhabited places and carry out brilliant actions, by dislodging the enemies who are hiding behind the various obstacles. Also this em ployment can be compared to the fighting conditions in a mountain area. We could continue the comparison examining the modes of employment of all types of weapons, but believe that our considerations will suffice to help understand our thesis.

CONCLUSIONS

It is certainly not easy to completely change a way of conceiving, of imagining, or to say it with one word - of "seeing" - a plain.

This derives also from the fact that our units have almost no possibility of training "on the spot" , so that the Commanders at all levels can get the true feeling of the battl efield; our firing ranges are "natural parks", oases in a reality of intensive urbanization and widespread human settl ements, such as the Veneto-Friuli plain. It is therefore impossible to gain the necessary experience in order to adapt the combat techn ique to the terrain's requirements. "Mental" exercises could nevertheless be organ ized, in view of a "psychological" updating for the cadres, and tor a verification of the tactical procedures and the modes of employment of units and weapon systems. One could try to transpose to the plain the following criteria, which are normally applied to combat in the mountains: â€˘ develop an areal defence, in a sufficiently solid framework, offering support points to the more dynamic actions. The su pport points can be identified with the fundamental positions

In the plain, also observation and fire fields have become very reduced and impose a review of the weapons most suitable for employment.

Partial view of the Friuli Plain.

at the anterior margin of the Resistence, the Hardening and the Containment Positions, and are represented by the strong points set up to close the main tactical way~; • give great liberty of action to the minor units within a general task, which can be the protect ion of a combat group's critical zone; • organize agile stationary structures, mostly at platoon level, based on strong positions, or points that can provide a field of visibility and fire such as to permit the best exploitation of the weapon systems available; • conduct dynamic contrasting actions with mechanized and/or armoured units, in the spaces between the "obstacle zones" (interlinked small inhabited centres, farm land with tall trees, canalized watercourses, etc.); • launch dynamic reactions against the flanks of the enemy deployment. starting from the periphery of urbanized zones. where tank units can be concealed; • relay on helicopters for the development of sudden antitank fire actions or for carrying out airborne actions; • keep the ratio between the deployed and the reserve forces as low as possible; • constantly seek the surprise factor. These criteria can perhaps induce a way of fighting which tends to prevent the enemy from advancing with the certainty of having left behind a completely conquered terrain . Meanwhile, the defender should start considering that the enemy is not necessarily only in front of him, and he can still do his duty even if the adversary penetrates from the rear. Furthermore, the defender shall have to avoid regarding himself as the motionless element and the attacker as the

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THE PLAIN HAS BECOME IMPERVIOUS dynamic component of the battle. He will be able to reason in terms of tactical parity, freeing his mind from the psychological subjection of the man hidden in a foxhole, motionless, awa iting for an enemy who advances, almost invulnerable, in his tank, with great clangour and power, on a terrain devoid of obstacles, on which he can arrive from unexpected directions that cannot be detected in advance. If these concepts, which have always characterized the mountain operations, allowing

the "Alpini" to fight and "foresee" the enemy action with sufficient accuracy, have always been the strength of the defence, why not try to adopt them also for the flatland, which today is not really "flat" anymore?

Col. Gianfranco Zaro Col. Carlo Cabigiosu

Auwan~eu

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· .·JRBORN

FOREWORD

Twenty-three years have gone by since the foundation of the Paratroop . Brigade (January 1, 1963) and the ltalia c airborne troops are still lacking a ll\lell defined operational position within the vast and complex mosaic of our national defence. And it was certainly not a period of immobility. The creative vitality of the General Staff of the Brigade has constantly explored - also considering the experiences made in other Western countries every possible alternative area of employment to replace the traditional forms inherited from the sceond world conflict. But these have actua lly been Now the time has come for cognitive surveys and experiments in organization and man- reviewing and reexamining the work done until now and - on agement imposed by th e existth e basis of the parameters ing scarcity of carriers rather typical of the national strategic than by variants introduced by situation, the formulas adopted n~w trends or changes in planby other Armies, and the conning; the moves have been induced by the need to obtain max- stants implicit in all airtroops operations - for devising the imum efficiency out of the dismost appropriate ways of employtinctive operational features of ment and structuring. the paratrooper units, adapting The following considerations standards and modes of employare part of this prospect. They ment to the existing reality. In this constant innovative process have already been discussed within the Brigade and are now they have been motivated only by a trustworthy concreteness of submitted to the close examination of the outside observers thought and by a pragmatic convinced that th e military evaluation of the di fficulties and constraints of the moment. thought draws its vitality and innovative force from the frank The development of a sk ill confrontation of ideas and full and divers ified "tactical opinions. research" has permitted to verity on the field the lines of other forms of intervention A LOOK AT THE which have produced a rem~rkable amount of data, information RECENT PAST and lessons, pa instakingly gathWith the sole intent of better ered in notes or other technical envisaging and explaining the and tactical documents, in the intent of sharing the results with operational reality of the Italian airborne troops of 1985, w e sume~ery level of the Brigade and marize the most significant mo"":'1th the other military organizations. ments of their evolutionary process, starting from the establishment of th e Major Unit.

1963-1970 Left.

An Italian paratrooper ready to jump from a Lockheed "Hercules" C-130 medium transport aircraft.

This period is marked by a substantial avai labi lity of transport airplanes and the prevalent application of the doctrine and standards inherited from the

second world conflict, based on mass airdrops, either independent, or coordinated with the land units. This trend was practically expressed in the exercises closing the annual training courses: â€˘ Apulian Vedette (1965); â€˘ Winged Gladius (1 966); â€˘ Red Eagle (1967).

1970-1975 The helicopter's emergence, favou red also by the continued and progressive dwindling of the nation's ai r transport potential. s_eemed to influence the operat1o_n of the paratroop units, to the point of rendering them independent of the conventional airpla~e. which was ex cl usively assigned to the accomplishment of_in~egrative and complementary mIss1ons. The exercises with the Cadres, carried out in those years, have analyzed all the various aspects of the intervention of helicopterborne troops on the whole national territory. From this in-depth study it clearly emerg ed that the versatility of the rotorcraft and the many advantages of its employment in the air-actions (on -thespot landing , personnel safety, immediate operative capability of the landed units, etc.) had in fact produced new and different operational conditions but, at the same time, it was acknowledged that the transport airplane gave a better performance, as regarded long-distance strategic interventions, ra ng e and payload. The helicopter had a wider range of action, opened new prospects, worked along with the airplane but did not replace it, confirming that ea ch vehicle has its limits and well delimited operational capabilities.

1975-1981 The limited resources in both wing and rotor aircraft were assigned to the maintenance and survival of the Corps; therefore only traini ng airdrops were made. The airtransport's cri tical situation induced the General 35

Staff of the Brigade to consider the transfer to the zone of employment by normal means and to experiment more economic forms of fighting, such as interdiction, counter-interdiction and the fighting in inhabited areas. These forms are considered more paying because they are little influenced by aircraft ava ilability, by air superiority, by the ratio of forces. by logistic support, by the linking with other forces ... without renouncing, on the ot her hand, the paratrooper's peculiarities: aggress iveness, initiative, courage, ability to operate in a difficult environment. The summary conclusions that can be drawn from the intense and diversified activities carried out in the last twenty years, evidence the following points: • the absolute lack of a joint operative concept; • the experimentation of themes and procedures according not to the scenar'io's variations but to the existent capabil it ies of the avai lable means; • the prevalence, for the accompl ishment of the wide range of foreseeable tasks, of structures typical of the light infantry, with special requirements for medium and long range antitank capabil ities; • the confirmation that the combat groups at battalion and company level are the fundamental elements of the paratrooper's combat; • the difficu lty of reaching a complete development of the assumed and desired polyvalence of employment. owi ng to the limited length of the conscription; ~ the lack of a supplies policy regarding means and material specifically pertaining to the airtroops.

Initiative and aggressiveness are the typical characteristics of the paratroop units, capable to operate in isolation over large areas. The photo shows some paratroopers engaged in an areal counterinterdiction exercise.

THE PRESENT REALITY

An objective analys is of the Brigade's present rea lity - prescinding from the existing level of operative efficiency - leads to conceive an instrument still looking for a well defined identity, as far as mode of employment and organic structure are concerned. The current regulation is still anchored to the conventional landing operations. that is, to a partia l aspect of the employment. related more to the modes of battle intervention than to the conduct of the battle itself. It has not developed specific procedures for the airborne troops. in conformity with the concrete operational needs and able to represent a reference parameter for the configuration of the Major Un it. It must be added that the operational choices that concern the Brigade, the actua l avai lability of aircraft vis-a -vis the concrete needs, and the level of the un its that could realistically be involved in the employment. after a land ing, render the

accomplishment of substantial landing operations rather problematic. As a consequence the mentioned regulation appears incapable to meet the actual needs. This vagueness of conceptual formu lation as regards employment is reflected by the establishment, practically similar to those of the comparable motorized infantry units. excepting the fire support and protected mobi lity which are penalized by the need to ensure the Major Unit's air mobi lity. When we mention the organic structure, we do not refer to the various elements that constitute the units, but rather to the features of these elements in conriection with the weapon systems and the means that are at the base of their strength . for their choices and operational capabi lities stem directly from it. The atypical tasks, emphasized by the doctrine in force and by the personnel's selection, are not matched by equa lly atypical equipment and means. owing to wh ich, continuous con-

--tingent adjustments become necessary for the employment after a landing by airplane or helicopter, and, at the same time, the surface operational possibilities appear limi ted . To correct at least ir.i part this contradiction, the Brigade has tried to find its own modes of employment through training methods which would permit the best utilization of the available material resources and men, in order to shape an instrument capable of accomplishing atypica l tasks in the framework of our national defence. To this end the following reference parameters have been adopted: • a mechanized and armoured potential adversary, with ample capability of vertical, tactical or strategic, outflankings and the possibility to employ raid forces; • the configuration of the natural "average" environment, generally marked by a hilly landscape,

with marked urbanization near the ways of commun ication ; • the tasks that the Brigade, as a reserve Maior Unit, may have to accomplish, in order to produce delays, through the concentration of forces, or perform a wearing action, through the repeated employment of small units dispersed over the area. Following this line of thought, doctrinal elements have been worked out regarding three training models: • the employment of combat groups in order to acquire and maintain positions in the framework of a containment of la ndings from the air and sea, and in cooperation with other surface units. Considering the operational assumptions, on which this intervention is based, on-alert preparation and rush to the zone of employment - using the types of transport realistically available and adapted to the successive occurrences - are

an integ rant part of training; • the conduct of counterinterdiction and areal interdiction; the former to prevent the possible employment of enemy raiders, and the latter as an alternative or integration of wearing or hindering actions carried out with conventional procedures; • the combat in urbanized areas, as these represent the environment more appropriate for troops tra ined for episodical fighting

Paratroop units can be employed to keep positions in the containment of landings - from the air as we// as from the sea - in cooperation with surface units, to conduct counterinterdiction and areal interdiction, and to fight in urban areas.

and furthermore they are a constant in the scenarios of both the Combat Zone and the Communication Zone. In all three models a particular stress has been put on the employment of the minor units, in the intent of enhancing the personnel's spirit of in itiative and aggressiveness, which has been concretized in tra ining procedures for small, operationally autonomous teams that can be employed in wide areas, in conditions of marked isolation and often resorting to infi ltration on the flanks and rear of the enemy. A particular attention has been given to the operational capability of the tactical teams which are introduced in the battle from the air. The Brigade's units are in a position to use the "third dimension" to the full; nevertheless, considering the

current availability of airplanes and helicopters, we can employ, at most. an airborne, helicopterborne or airdropped combat group at battalion level. But this fact is made difficult by the almost exclusive availability of vehicles with a high weight/ payload ratio - not especially conceived for air-landing operations - which heavily limit the global transport capabilities: the ensuing need to limit their number to the essential remarkably influences the land mobility of the tactical group, which, in practice, appears suitable only for sta tionary tasks. The possible tasks of the Brigade, derived from the above tra ini ng methods are in substance, the following: â€˘ interdiction, deep into the enemy deployment. as a complement or replacement of the air forces or, with the same

procedures, for enhancement or integration of the restraining action exerted by mechanized and armoured units; â€˘ intervention, upon alert, for the occupation and defence of positions, also in close cooperation with other units, in fluid situations, marked by considerable operational dynamics; â€˘ counterguerrilla warfare, although this employment belittles the airborne troops' global training and permits to employ them only in some sectors of their fighting skills. The Brigade, which has been able to solve on its own the

Paratrooper-ranger NCO of the "Col Moschin" 9th Assault Battalion in action with a precision rifle H.K. G3 F.C.1, ea/. 7.62 NATO.

problems concerning the modes of employment, owing to the fact that they regard conceptual and organization activities, has not been able to do so as regards the organiza.tional structure, for the latter is linked with the availability of materia ls and, therefore, of financia l resources. SOLUTIONS ADOPTED BY SOME WESTERN COUNTRIES

It is a survey aimed ma inly at evidencing the "operational policy" informing the adopted solutions, as well as the relationship between tasks to be accomplished and structures . Federal Republic of Germany

In a prevailingly flat opera tional environment, in wh ich the development of the defensive manoeuvre is hindered by the scarcity of depth and by the considerable extension of the national territory, the priority goes to the forward gravitation of the available forces and the tendency to adopt a timely, differentiated and sectorial employment of highly mobile forces. The organization of the airborne troops of the Federal Republic of Germany follows these criteria: • organization : three Brigades, homogeneously constituted by light infantry units with high antitank capability; • operational employment subordination: to the Army Corps ; • tasks : all aimed at facing the occurring emerging situations with immediacy, as antitank reinforcement in threatened sectors, for the temporary arrest of penetrations, for protection of exposed flanks and control of adversary forces, landed either by airplanes or helicopters; • airmobi lity: essentially based on helicopters.

In our country the "average" natural environment is normally characterized by hills and vegetation, with a remarkable urbanization along the roads. The photo shows a paratrooper in training.

The Brigades can count on: • helicopter transport capability, which allows the simultaneous transfer in the in tervention area of a combat group of battalion level; • land mobility, entrusted to wheeled vehicles, transportable by airplanes or helicopters; they are, at the same time, transport and towing vehicles, as well as shooting platforms for antitank launchers. France

The pacts of direct and indirect military assistance which bind France to its numerous former colonies, on the organizational plane have been trans lated in the establishment of an elementary Major Unit, suitable for operations far away from the metropolitan territory, with a large tactical and logistical autonomy. Thus the 11 th Paratroop Division was established as follows: • airtrasportable and airdroppable strategic reserve; • about 13,000 men and 2,850 vehicles strong; • mainly designed for conducting overseas actions, independently, or in cooperation with the Armed Forces of the assisted countries; • capable of being organized into combat groups of different level and constitution; • distinguished by the prevalence of light infantry, with a high capability of antipersonnel fire. In short, it is a credible instrument. capable of ensuring the actual control of the foreseeable situations of intervent ion, just as it has shown in the rather recent past. Great Britain

Also the United Kingdom has opted for a capability of strategic intervention, outside NATO's

Antitank squad on a FIAT AR 59TC reconnaissance car, ready to employ their 106 mm recoilless gun. The camouflage of both personnel and vehicle is very effective.

area of responsibility and under national control, in order to defend its interests and/or those of its allies. This task has been committed mainly to the 5th Infantry Brigade. The Major Unit, organized with three paratroop battalions, one artillery battalion, units of engineers and logistic support, keeps on constant alert a battalion combat group, capable of being air-dropped in the area of intervention.

The United States

The geopolitical role of the United States in the international scene entails a worldwide expression of power, that matches the assumed entity of the destabilizations to be confronted. The Rapid Deployment Joint Task Force is in fact organized in order to "support the security of regional areas through the projection of a military force"; the instrument's credibility is ensured by the congruous corn-

bination of real power of strategic decision-making with an actual swiftness of deployment of units and logistical support means. The 82nd Paratrooper Division is one of its land components, organized with thr.ee combat groups (each formed by a paratroop regiment. an artillery battalion, a battal ion of eng ineers and logistic support units) with a force of approximately 16,500 men. As regards personnel, armament and vehicles, the Division has al l the qual ities necessary to an airborne strategic unit:

to the goa ls pursued by the geopolitical situations, deriving from them the tasks, the organization, the procedures of action and the tra ining progr 9mmes .

great power, high mobility and flexibility of employment, as well as a considerable operational capability. In short, al l countries have molded the characteristics of employment of their airborne troops, equ iva lent in thei r theoretical formulation (distinctly offens ive reserves, able to form - instantly and unespectedly high concentrations of power, structura lly limited in their autonomy and tactical la nd mobility)

focus their operational fea t ures, making a logica l close survey which, starting from the goals, proceeds towards the mea ns and then examines the procedures through which the goal can be achieved. The parameters, according to which the cloices of employment and structure are made, are numerous and sometimes discordant. First of al l, the international scenario and the fundamental

NATIONAL PROSPECTS

Given and acknowledged the fact that, also accord ing to the nationa l model, the airborne troops have the function of "elite reserve force" under the command of the Highest Defence Authorities, the matter now is to

decisions of our foreign policy - Atlantic and European which have, also in the mediumlong term, a character of substantial continuity. On the mere military plane, such a "stabi lity" sees in the "Soviet expansionism", the continuing threat to our national security, following two poss ible lines of development: the more trad it ional one, the threat at the Northeastern border and, more recently, that to Mediterranean stability. In the northeastern area,

U.S. paratroopers of the 82nd Division, armed with Italian-made FAL BM-59, ea/. 7.62 NATO rifles, engaged in an exercise on Italian territory. Bilateral activities, besides contributing to the Allied Armed Forces' amalgamation, provide knowledge and experience about the equipment employed by other armies.

where the operations can exclusively be of the air-land type, since the Italian Army cannot provide other appropriate specialized units, the paratroop reserves can be effective ly employed both in the tactical field and for the conduct of heliborne actions, as well as for reducing the attacker's mobility through the exploitation of the difficul t natural environment (mountain and covered areas, urban areas, etc.). In the Mediterranean theatre, on the other hand, the deterioration of the existing hotbeds of tension could demand the employment of a task force in any area of the insular or peninsular national territory - which would otherwise be indefensible and perhaps also overseas, both for dissuasive missions (in order to avoid a spiralling growth of the crisis) and for guaranteeing the freedom of trade and the access to the raw materials and energy sources necessary for our survival as industria lized nation. We can reasonably affirm that, under the circumstances, a determinat role could be assigned to the paratrooper units, appropriately amalgamatea in interforce, multinational or combined units. In short, the threats to our national integrity require that the paratroopers perform two roles: â€˘ a tactical, distinctly "Service" role, for the reinforcement of the northeastern area;

Above.

Paratroopers of the 185th "Viterbo'' Field Artillery Battalion in action with a 105 mm howitzer at a maximum depression configuration, in which the gun appears to be squatting on the ground. A position particularly suited for direct and antitank tiring, up to a distance of 1,200 m. Right.

Paratroopers on a VCC1-M113 armoured combat vehicle.

)

â€˘ a strategic, "joint" role, as component of a task force, to meet requirements inside and/or outside the national territory. For both lines of employment, the structural -a nd organizational goals to be pursued are: light infantry character and . operational autonomy of combat groups of battalion level. In fact, only light infantry units not exceeding battalion size, capable of using the intrinsic force of the terrain as incremental factor of their power, and employing simple procedures of action can be entrusted, in the Northeastern region, with the task to operate in depth in the adversary deployment, in order to hit the sensitive objectives within its logistic organization and its system of command and control, to fight in the expanding urban areas, or to constitute an heliborne reserve for prompt intervention in critical situations. Also in the "wide range" operations, where the power of dissuasion seems largely determined more by the timeliness of inflow and the ability to move around, than by the capability to perform complicated manoeuvered actions or to sustain protracted fighting on open terrain, a light, battalion-centred structure appears to be the most appropriate. As regards quality and size of the armaments, it goes without saying that they must be proportionate to and competitive with the presumed enemy's mechanized or armoured weapons, and in harmony with the selected modes of employment and the operational environment. The antitank fire, rightly considered the airborne troops' main offensive tool, will be produced, considering the hindering qualities of the areas of action and the consequent visibility and firing ranges, by medium and short range weapon systems conveniently combined with a

Paratroopers climbing over a wall during an exercise in inhabited areas.

-well prepared self-defence capability. For the support fire, the high logistic costs imposed by the weapon employed, the 105 mm howitzer, are neither counterbala nced by the range nor by the effectiveness of the single round, and appear to lack the requisites of lightness and mobility required in the foreseeable circumstances. Therefore it would be advisable to find alternative solutions, centred on the employment of a command and control capable of managing the fire delivering sources as they become avai lable. The systems that would be assigned to the antiaircraft defence would just guarantee the protection of joint-objectives from very low air attacks, considering that normally the airborne troops can avail themselves of the cover provided by higher Agencies or Commands. Furthermore, the time parameter acquires a particular significance as concerns the organizational planning of the airborne troops, both as regards the considerable dista nces to be overcome and the need to operate with maximum speed, thus preceding the adversary to the area or positions that must be controlled. The timeliness of interven tion is linked to the avai labi lity of: â€˘ at strateg ic and regional level tainly not unattainable... (areas of employment located Another determinant feature in any case farther than 500 km for the operative efficiency and from the departure bases): aircredibility of the instrument is craft - fixed wi ng and/or rotor the un its' degree of preparation, - to be assigned according to which is obta ined only through the needs evidenced by the an intensive and protracted joint mission's plann ing; training activity . â€˘ at national and tactical level The conscription period, the (for ranges of operation within frequency of the draft, the avai l500 km): land vehicles sufficient ability of firing ranges and trainfor the autonomous transfer of ing areas are as many constraints the units from the deployment that influence not only the verareas to those of employment, satility but also the qualitative and qual itatively able to partici- and quantitative composition of pate in and provide support for the employable complexes . the light infantry's fighting . As regards the airborne The objectives pursued in troops, the sum of the lim itations this sector are not so near at implicit in these factors, on the hand (light armoured cars, AR/90 operational plane does not allow and MV/90) ... but they are certo go beyond the company level,

Above.

German paratroopers iumping from a CH-47C helicopter during an exercise on our territory, using the Italian-made CMP -55 parachute. Opposite. Riflemen ready to open fire with an MG 42-59 machine gun.

-with a sufficient but not optimal capability of intervention in the whole range of possible options. More valid goals could be attained working on the variable components: • the length of the term of service, to be protracted through appropriate forms of volunteering, characterizing the units' framework with a high percentage of long-term personnel; • the training should purpose the formation of "univalent" battalions, i.e., mainly suited for fighting only in one of the possible operational scenarios: either in the class ical, traditional scenario or in atypical difficult natural environments. ·

ITALIAN AIRBORNE TROOPS CONCLUSION

Although the characteristics of employment of the paratrooper units remain unchanged - to the point of assuming the value of traditional constants of the war philosophies - each country has adapted the modal ities of application to its local - internal and international - needs. The study of our nationa l situation, certainly wanting more corroboration and further probing, has evidenced, within the possible joint task of the Italian airborne troops, two fundamental operational requirements - a conventional one and an atypical one which, to be fulfilled, requ ire: • an interforce organization of command and control; • an organization structure of the light infantry type; • employment of un its of battalion level; • a diversified mobility (strategic, regional, tactical);

• an organic high-angle fire support, to be integrated with tactica l air forces; • a marked medium and short range antitank capability; • an antiaircraft defence limited to very low altitude; • a permanent operational readiness in the assigned sectors of intervention, to be implemented through "univalent" units and the increment of long-term personnel. These are in prospect the determinant modifications that the airtroops' organization structures must undergo, as a logical development of the political choices and the ensuing operational hypotheses. In fact. at the base of any defensive preparation and at the root of all efforts to maintain peace and security, there is the need to understand the role that each military component plays in the context of the joint missions assigned to the Armed Forces.

Gen. Antonio Milani Col. Franco Monticone

THE MILITARY INSTITUTIONS AND THE CRISIS OF THE WELFARE STATE

The military institutions and The formation of standing armies, and relations between the problems that they have to the Armed Forces and society solve in order to become effective instruments of government The formation of standing policy can only be examined in a armies is quite a recenf phenomgeneral context, in te, ms of enon, connected with the forinternational relations, relations mation of the modern European between the Armed Forces and nation-states. This led to the their societies, and the Armed demilitarization of society, while Forces' internal structures. the State took over the monopoThese three aspects are ly of force. Greater citizen parclosely linked. Firstly, the purticipation in the exercise of poses of the military institution act as constraints on their inter- political power as a result of the French Revolution, which led to nal structures and their relations the adoption of compulsory conwith society, and secondly, the scription and the creation of features of that society determass armies, did not basically mine the role and functions of alter things . Military force was the Armed Forces, as well as the degree of their legitimacy, accept- still concentrated in the hands of an institution or, if you prefer, ability and internal and external a state techno-structure whose consensus (1). features were determined by the It is evidently necessary to permanent officer and NCO detect in good time the changes corps. in the "environment" in its With the establishment of broadest sense - the environstanding armies, and the later ment in the military structure, in constitution of democratic govindividual countries and interernments, the sensitive probnational society - if we wish to lem arose of how to manage stimulate the military institutions relations between the Armed and gear them up to meet the Forces and society. It was not so new situations and challenges much a question of subordinatthat they have to face. ing military power to civilian It is also evident that we are power. which every country going through a period of farwhether democratic or totalitarireaching changes, and that in an already accepted in principle this period, Italy's and Europe's at least, but had to do with the futures are being played out. multifaceted complexity of relaThe global postwar socio-systions between the military institemic arrangement is changing. tutions and the society which The two-pole system is in crisis. they stood for and had to defend. The system of international and On the one hand, there are supranational integration differences between the Armed known as the UN model - is in Forces and society which are crisis. due to the peculiar features of The very principle of the the Armed Forces themselves, Welfare State is being increaswhich in turn stem from the ingly challenged: its lax, peroperational functions they are missive, help-all policy has required to perform. Even in proven to be wholly inadequate the most democratic societies, to put Italy and Europe in a posi- the Armed Forces cannot be tion to beat the new technologanything other than an authorical challenge. itarian organization, whose cohesion is based on discipline Without reindustrialization, and the hierarchical principle that Europe will inevitably be downflows from that. Without these, graded internationally, and they could never operate properthere will be social disintegraly, since in the ultimate analysis t ion at home. Little by little their operations are based on the we shall be alienated, and habitual and immediate - and pushed onto the side-lines of hence acritical - obedience to the systems that have managed orders, and a particular eth ical to adapt to the future in good code that justifies the subordinatime.

tion of individua l interests to those of the community as a whole. This is why emphasis is placed on certain symbolic values - honour. duty, esprit de corps etc. - which can mobilize the psychological energies of the members of the Armed Forces, and confer cohesion on the units. On the other hand, the differences between the Armed Forces and society must not be allowed to separate them, and alienate the Services from the rest of society. If this were to happen, the substantial legitimacy of the Armed Forces would be reduced and perhaps even lost altogether, and the burden of financi ng and manning the Services would gradually become less acceptable to the citizens. It is vital for the public to understand the Services and their needs, and to realize that the service they pay to society is indefeasible. This service is pointless unless there is an object - values and interests to defend - and a threat, or to be more accurate, the perception of the existence of a t hreat. against which the services have to defend society. And unless the system used for defence is itself plausible and acceptable. The main problem, then , is a question of culture and knowledge (2) . Unless this problem is solved satisfactorily the misunderstanding will grow increasingly worse, and society will be unable to accept the gap or lack of consistency between its values and those of the Armed Forces. Military institutions are the expression of the national community. Community consensus and support are essential to their efficiency. The Armed Forces have an instrumental value. They do not have a value per se. The motivations of their members cannot stem from within the military institution, but only from outside of it. The social service supplied by the military only has any meaning in terms of the community as a whole. If it is to constitute a source of motivation, it has to be appreciated by its "consumers", namely the State, society and the citizens.

All the rhetoric about the "sense of mission" which should justify the fact that they should not act in the hope of obtaining gratification, or even psychological satisfaction, has its limitations. Military men cannot and must not be priests of a dead god, or faithful followers of a flame that has ceased to burn. No-one, however disinterested or highly attached to the institutions, can play Don Ouixote or the "knight errant". Everything has its limits. Accepting the impositions of military life, particularly the sacrifice of discipline, is only possible if there exists a higher interest that can be used as a yardstick for action. The desire to carve out a career for oneself - however justifiable, understandable and even useful for the institution - is not sufficient, at least for the stronger characters. It is necessary to perceive something useful to society, whose value has to be ful ly appreciated. Basically speaking, the army's strength is not rooted in

the army itself but in the nation and the State. As Tocqueville said in his essay on democracy in America, "It is not in the army but in society that we have to fi nd the remedies to make up the shortcomings in the army". Without a sense of national identity, community interest, patriotism and a sense of the State, and without the presence of a political ruling class that is capable of transforming these factors into an active ideology that runs throughout the whole of society and reflects on the Armed Forces, the latter will never be efficient and wellmotivated. The will to defend a nation can not be inculcated by the army. At most it can help to consolidate it. But it is only if the nation is proud of its own Armed Forces, which are nothing more than one of the most genuine expressions of that nation, can the sofdiers be motivated and proud of what they are doing. Like any other institution, the Army can only be justified in

Military institutions are such highly sophisticated instruments today that the personnel requires the highest professional and managerial skills. In the photo, officers are consulting books in a military reference library.

terms of its functions, and can only be appreciated if it is capable of performi ng them. Everything else, any attempt to claim that the army is sacrosanct in itself, is mere claptrap and is cinly used, normally speaking, as whitewash to cover up ine ptitude, partisan interests and to give its bureaucratic structures an easy ride (3). Its efficiency and the plausibility of the way it performs is duti es are therefore crucial to its acceptability and legitimacy. The "revolutions" in the wake of WW2

After WW2, Europe's military institutions had to face up to a totally different situation, and take up serious challenges connected with the newly arisen

strategic, psychological. social and technological situations (4). These stemmed mainly from the following factors that have changed the public's attitudes to the Armed Forces: . • the change in geopolitical, geostrategic as well as geoeconomic and geotechnological magnitudes, which make it impossible to guarantee security solely on a national basis. The very concept of national sovereignty, which was the ethicalspiritual landmark of the 19th and early 20th century armies, has lost ground to the idea of membership of broader types of commu nities, such as the Atlantic and European groupings. But Europe has not managed to create its own defence policies and institutions, and has entrusted its security essential ly to the United States. The national dimension has not been replaced by a European dimension, and the Atlantic ideology is too vague and remote to be a solid landmark; • the appearance of nuclear weapons, which, even though they have not changed the "political" nature of mi litary institutions, have had an effect on the relationships between strategy and policy and on the perception of the usefulness and acceptability of military force, not only to affirm but also to simply defend one's interests, independence and territorial integrity; • changes in Western societies. which have secu la rized and altered their value systems, taking on those of the Welfare State and throwing the concept of authority and the sense of community interest and the State into disarray. Military institutions have been subjected to strong ideological, psychological, social and economic tens io ns. widening the gap between the system of values on which they are based, where duty prevails over rights, and the system of values of society at large, where individual rights have pride of place, with a degeneration towards unbridled permissiveness and laxity.

Since the mid-Seventies the situation has been gradual ly undergoing a U-turn: . ~

the possibi lity of eliminating force from international relations, replacing it with a new international order, has been belied by reality. The ideology that lay behind the creation of the UN has proven to be Utopian; • the American military guarantee can no longer be total because of the-changes that have occurred in the force relationship .between the two superpowers and the economic and military recovery of Europe, and also because Europe is becoming increasingly aware that her interests differ from those of the United States. A sense of European identity and the national community has re-surfaced (5) ; • the reappraisal of conventional forces in European defence, and the reappraisal of the value of limited force use to protect national interests (the Falklands, Chad, Lebanon etc.) has sharpened the perception of the usefulness of the mil itary organization as an instrument of politics; • the crisis in the Welfare State and the general feeling that it is necessary to establish a degree of order in society to pave the way for economic and social development have brought back into favour some of the values that had been challenged by the 1968 protest movement. The "live and let live" permissive mentality and the system of State hand-outs has been shown to open the way to under-development and fragmentatio n. In every Western European country, more dynamic and determined ruling classes are emerging. Some of the values that brought about the development of Europe and her world domination are now coming back into vogue. It is against this national and international backdrop that we have to examine the problem of the legitimacy and acceptability of the Armed Forces in Western European societies in the Eighties, and the internal measures to be adopted to improve them .

The response of the Armed Forces to society's challenges In the past. the Armed Forces used to respond to attacks and criticisms in two. exactly opposite ways. First there was the defensive attitude, closing ranks against the critics to isolate the Forces from external infl uences. As always, this created internal rigidity, blocking the flow of communications, creating an atmosphere of conformism. formal obedience and empty rhetoric, with a degradation of military culture, and so on. The system became extremely rigid and vulnerable because of the loss of internal support, vitality and drive. In other cases, the military leaders did the exact oppos ite. To cushion the criticisms and to "placate" publ ic opinion, the Armed Forces tried to camouflage their real nature. They introduced values and practices that were incompatible with their function, wiping out the differences that have to exist between them and civilian society. They masked their real functions - namely, waging war or at least being capable of waging war - in the guise of others that were more palatable to the public at la rge. They incorporated some of the worst aspects of permissiveness and laxity borrowed from civilian society. The military system threw its borders wide open and the structures became completely fluid and unable to carry out their duties and to psychologically mobilize their members. In other words, the Armed Forces were demilitarized, losing much of their fighting spirit. Restoring public support Apart from these degenerative phenomena that could always be redressed by external or internal stimuli, there is no doubt that unless appropriate changes are made to the "environment" and without the enlistment of public support, many Western countries are

of the Forces from the senior going to find it impossible to keep up an adequate defence levels to the smallest units. I instrument to meet the threat shall therefore restrict this essay over the next ten years (6). To to a number of common probget this public support, the lems and trends that emerge Armed Forces' efficiency and from the copious literature that military culture in the broad exists on the subject, ma in ly in sense of the term have to be the English-speaking world and renewed, which involves the which contains considerations spiritual. ideological and intelthat, duly qualified, seem to delectua l dimensions. This cultural scribe the Italian situation fairly revival has to take place in the well. Armed Forces and in the civilian society which expresses, mainExternal legitimacy tains and conditions them. Restoring public support for the In the past, the external military institutions is essential if the European countries are to legitimacy of the Armed Forces exist as a people and as a civiliwas taken for granted (8) . War zation in a world that is becom- was considered to be normal ing increasingly competitive and instrument of a country's foreign threatening (7). policy. Every nation was clearly The recovery of this supaware of the threat. Military port relates to two aspects that force paid off in terms of new are in many ways interconnected. markets and raw materials, and Firstly, the substantial legitimacy ~erved the colonial service. Kinof the Armed Forces - namely, ship and social ties existed beenlisting the support of the mem- tween the military elites and the bers of the Forces and the political elites. The social strucpublic for the purposes of the tures of the European agricultural military apparatus. Secondly, and pre-industrial societies functhe perception of the efficacy tioned perfectly in tune with the namely, plausibility - of the authoritarian structures of the social service supplied by the army. There was no clash beArmed Forces. In other words, tween the value system of sotheir ability to carry out the ciety and the value system reduties assigned to them in an quired by an authoritarian strucacceptable manner. What society ture like the army - a structure has to do is once again to which has to be authoritarian become aware of the need for not only to ensure that orders defence and of defence needs. are obeyed immediately in operAnd the military institution has ations, but also to make sure to provide convincing replies that that the military institutions are are not only sound but also loyal and obed ient to the governcapable of attracti ng the support ment. The Armed Forces were of the national community. considered to be an institution The problems I have referred with a highly sacred character, to here are broadly shared by almost as if they predated the every Western army, even though very legal system (9) which formthey vary from country to couned the basis of the State, which try according to local cond itions. was bound to defend the State The steps that have to be taken not on ly from external attack but are not the responsibility of also against its own citizens. the Forces themselves, but of The level of consensus and the governments. Obviously, any acceptance that the military concrete measures that are institutions enjoyed was theretaken can only be defined after a fore very high indeed. detailed analysis has been carBut now things have ried out into the various societies changed. The medium powers and Armed Forces, and in the are no longer able to carry latter instance, it is the officer through an independent policy corps in particular that constibeyond the bounds allowed them tutes the backbone and which has in the area of influence of a decisive effect on the features whichever of the two super-

powers to which they belong. Even when France intervened in Zaire it had to use American strategic air transport facili ties. France and Britain had to pull out of Suez in 1956, mainly because of the United States: Perhaps the equilibrium that has been established between the two blocs and the relative decline in American power in comparison with Russia's that occurred in the Seventies and that cannot be redressed completely by the military efforts of the Reagan Administration, will make it necessary for Europe's military policies to be more wideranging than they have been in the past two decades. However, there is no doubt that efforts have to focus on ~eeping the balance of forces in t:urope to prevent a situation from arising which would make a Soviet military ini tiative worthwhile. Whereas in the past, war could be seen, today it is impossible to "see" detente. It is therefore hard for people to understand the whole point of keeping a military apparatus at all. This is also partly due to the existence of nuclear weapons and an Alliance, such as NATO, based on the existence of an American military guarantee to protect Europe not only from a direct Warsaw Pact attack, but also to defend the other vital interests of the West, namely, to keep the raw materials and energy sources shipping lanes open and free. There is a widespread belief - which is naturally founded on fact - that this guarantee is the key to the solutio n of all our security problems. Individual European countries' Armed Forces do not therefore have direct and independent duties because they represent an instrument that is barely adequate to guarantee the strategic linkage between Europe and America. There may be a lurking feeling that if they were to be given an autonomous defence capabi lity, this would have a decoupling effect and jeopardize the sol idity of America's commitment. For many people, the efficiency levels have to be kept to what is strictly necessary to enable the US

government to justify the maintenance of its guarantee to Europe in the eyes of the US public. and taxpayers . Obviously, if this were to be explicitly ad mitted and the logical conclusions fully drawn, it cou ld very easily be sufficient to guarantee the legitimacy of Eu.rope's Armed Forces . But the weight of the past. and the state of the global strategic situation, which prevent the US from doing everything on its own , make it impossible for the United States to make this admission explicitly. The

result is an ambiva lence which only generates confusion, about the function that the individual Armed Forces actually perform, and the functions of the whole system of European security. There is also a reduced perception of the threat, which in the past made the polarization of the Armed Forces possible and produced a clear perception of their uti lity (10). The whole concept of the Nation-State has lost ground, even though it is fast recuperating. National dimensions have been partly re-

placed by an internationalist approach, which has cut across the strategic scene horizontally, breaking the unitary nature of individual States. In particular, the process of detente - which according to the 1967 Hammel Report was defined as being compatible with the maintenance of the deterrent - has weakened the perception of the immanence of a Soviet threat to Europe, and has virtually become an end in itself nowadays: detente for detente's sake, whatever the cost. for most people in Europe. Proof of this is the difference between Europe's and the United States' conception of detente. which underlies the present crisis in the Atlantic Alliance. Obviously, this is also partly the result of the natural tendency of European countries to broaden their room for manoeuvre and to use detente not only to lessen the threat, but also to gain trade advantages with the East. operate more freely in the Third World, make the division of the German nation into two States more humanly acceptable, and. in countries with a strong communist party, to weaken the domestic po litical tension. But while detente is being practised at least formally by everyone together, and at all events agreed upon within the Alliance. it is being handled by individual European countries often in totally different ways, and in each country, by individual political forces, as we have seen from what happened in West Germany after Schmidt's resignation. All this is creating a potentially very dangerous situation: the decisions taken by the West to guarantee its security could be wholly

The education and training of commanders hinges round two main points: consensus, in the sense of awareness of the rights and duties from which young men draw their motivation, and discipline, as the willing acceptance of the regulations that are vital for the life of any community. In the photo, paratroopers free falling over Pisa.

subordinated to negotiations, and hence more or less implicitly to obtaining the consent of the Soviet Union, against whose threat the decisions are taken. Things have not reached this point yet, of course, but there is a dangerous reversal of the relationship that ought to exist between detente and deterrence. Detente should depend on deterrence. But when this is reversed, the outcome is inevitably "self-deterrence" on the part of Europe . The Soviet Union could hope to broaden its area of influence without risking direct conflict, creating a new Soviet European security system from the Ural to the Atlantic. Large sections of public opinion are already more worried about the West's defence effort than about the way the Soviets are stepping up their military apparatus. Some even feel that the Euromissiles are a greater threat than the SS 20s . At least subconsciously, the West's military instruments have no legitimacy or justifiable purpose for large sections of the public in the Alliance . Indeed,

they feel that they might make detente with the Soviet bloc even more difficult. One factor weighing heavily here is that in order to justify the financial and social cost of defence, governments have sometimes overstated their case and magnified the threat. There is therefore a widespread conviction that Europe cannot be adequately defended at all, whatever military effort may be made. This weakens the legitimacy of the Western military institutions, because public opinion doubts whether they could guarantee an effective response to the threat. It is therefore all the more necessary to take farsighted action and tell the public exactly what the situation is, to make Western public opinion and governments (and even military circles in some cases} aware of the real strategic situation, the possibility of adopting effective defence systems at an acceptable cost, and to prevent the West's material strength from being emptied from within by a lack of will to defend itself. We have to avoid. both being carried along by

enthusiasm and cheating, and losing heart. The sense of bewilderment caused by all the official and differing information from so many different sources (think of the discrepancies between the NATO, Pentagon and WEU documents on Soviet force strength statistics, for example) is much more dangerous than realistically spelling out the situation and Soviet potential as it is. Even though the Soviet potential is worrying and threatening, steps can be taken to offset it, at a cost that Europe can afford. In other words, it does not seem that the Soviets are either dwarfs or giants. Another reason for the weakened leg it imacy of the West's military institutions is the changed value system. Individual ism and pessimism prevai l today, and they have upset the balance between individual rights and community duty, which is the base on which every democratic system is built. In particular, the concept of authority has been watered down, and any attempt to rationalize is seen as undue meddling, and

even an outrage. In political terms, this is causing the breakdown of society because of a corporatist conflict which is being continually fuelled by sections of society that bave the strongest bargaining hancL and who control the vital areas of an economic system which is becoming increasingly organized and hence more vulnerable. In military terms, the watering down or rejection of the concept of authority is leading to a decline in the discipline needed for the functioning of t he Armed Forces and, consequently, a decline in the internal cohesion of the Services. Then there is the fact that the values of the welfare state, designed to bring social justice and hence create greater social cohesion, have ceased to be means and have become ends in themselves. The only justification for the existence of these values seems to be that they offer immediate material welfare, regardless of the repercussions on the future. Keynesian theories for the production of greater wealth have degenerated, often serving solely as an alibi for high inflation levels, and are only able to give an illusory, temporary sensation of greater well-being. So long as the economy thrived it was possible to meet everyone's needs adequately. With zero growth, however, a farreaching rethink becomes necessary sooner or later. Western European countries are now going through a transitional phase. The most irrationa l expectations have now become acquired rights, and these acquired rights have become ends in themselves. But in peacetime,

the utility of military institutions is not very evident. Taking away financia l resources from other "social" uses is therefore becoming increasingly less acceptable, and the Welfare State -is being set off against the Warfare State. This leads to tensions that will inevitably have repercussions on the political possibility of meeting Europe's security requirements. External leg itimacy can be increased only by general political action. This process takes a long time, particularly in countries like Italy, where there are not any strong military traditions, and where the process of creating the sense of nationhood among the masses is still not fully complete. It should be noted in this regard that there are encouraging signs of the emergence of a sense of national identity. This is the reaction of a hardworking

race, as Italians are, to the threat of falling into a state of underdevelopment. and to the crisis which the country is going through - a crisis that is not only economic, but also cultural, spiritual and institutional - and a reaction to the degradation of civil society in which there is a real risk of a fragmentation of society itself and of its ruling elites. It is becoming increasingly obvious that the only way out of the present difficulties is to create greater national cohesion, and from this stems the enhanced legitimacy of the role of the Armed Forces. Indeed, this increases the perception of the interests to be defended, and their importance. It is obvious that national values are not, and cannot be, the exclusive property of the army. No-one has asked the army to take them into trust. But strengthened national values give the Armed Forces greater

Left.

The duties of the Armed Forces are: to defend their country, to protect its institutions, and to come to the aid of the civilian people in times of serious -disasters.

In the photo: an NCO checks a voter's electoral certificate. Right.

Soldiers helping the police at a roadblock.

support, stimulus and legitimacy. Like any other State institution, the Forces have their own role to play to develop and enhance the sense of State and nationhood. Internal legitimacy

The members of the Armed Forces are also citizens , with certain constraints on their freedom; they are also taxpayers, without any constraints on their duties. Evidently, the motives that affect external legitimacy also affect interna l legitimacy, which constitutes the basis of the disciplinary and spiritual cohesion of the military instrument. The military profession is not autonomous . It is wholly subordinate to the political branch, which establishes its goals, decides whether it is to be used, and lays down the general guidelines to which its structure must conform, as well as its system of values and strategic doctrine. After WW2, the emergence of expert civilian strategists has

taken away the mi litary's exclusive right to professional know-how. As the strategic dimensions have grown and the globa l strategy - of which the military strategy is only one component part, and often a less important part than the economic, psychological strategy, etc. has become established, the military profession has lost some of its specificity. Servicemen no longer have the only say on military matters as they used to have in the past. The natural temptation to dig in their heels in react ion to th is has led many military men to broaden their horizons and to broaden their own specific strategy to encompass the global strategy. (Clearly, they have to realize the political. economic and social implications of the problems they have to deal with, and the spin-offs of their technical decisions in the same sectors). Very often, this has given rise to very unusual results. The military tend to occupy themselves with global strategy, namely, general State security policy, sometimes neglecting the aspects that have

An AB 205 multiro/e tactical helicopter, fitted with a 7.62 mm machine gun and 7-ce/l 50 mm rocket launcher. The AB 205 can carry 13 soldiers plus the crew, at a maximum cruising speed of 222 km/h, and has a range of 580 kms.

traditionally been within their sphere of competence. Some civilians on the other hand - not so much in Italy, where there is a traditional separation between culture and "politics" and also because the Italian intellectuals have a certain aversion to dea ling with military problems other than in such general and ideolog ical terms, that they are completely useless - tend to occupy themselves with the details regarding orders and tactical regulations, as they have done in the United States, particularly in the Sixties and Seventies . At the heart of these intellectual exercises there is undoubtedly a subconscious tendency on the part of the mil itary to seek to justify themselves in the eyes of publ ic opinion now that war has lost its former character as the normal and

recurrent means of solving disputes between States. Although th is attitude is in it self fairly harmless, it does give a further boost to the demilitarization of the army and robs the members of the Forces of part of the only ideological force that can really give them legitimacy: the abilit y to train seriously, run ni ng ris ks where necessary, to develop to the f ull their ability to fight when, where and how the politicians decide - which is the whole raison d'etre of th e mi litary institution . If the military can do anything at all to ensu re peace, it is to prepare seriously to wage war. If they do not subsequently wage wa r, beca use the politicians have so dec ided," all the better. It is only the sense of their role and social function that can make the mi litary efficient. function al and motiva ted. But in th is way, t hey run another huge risk, which was illustrated with a masterf ul paradox by Gen. Le Borgne, the former director of the lnstit ut de Haut es Etudes de Defense Nationale (11 ). The ris k, accord ing to him, is that the military mi ght end up by thinking that th ey are intell igent and act accordingly, which wo uld jeopardize the cohesion of the army, the solidity of the hierarchy and the subordination of t he military to t he politicians. The military instit ution can only be genuinely efficient and function properly by intelligently usi ng a given level of "stupidity" . The mi litary must obviously be aware of the need for this, because they will otherwise mista ke stupid ity (ie . conformism , yes-manism, perfecting routi ne, ceremonial and symbology) for intelligence (particularly if it enables th e less brig ht members t o carve out a career for themselves, which is another big temptation). Obviously he was speaking paradoxical ly, and the careful reader wi ll certa inly construe th e spir it of this, and Âˇnot ta ke it literally. But I think that joking about serious t hi ngs is one of the best ways of stressing their fundamental im portance. The idea of find ing alt erna tive uses for the army - Civi l

Defen ce, polici ng or to instil a sense of civic duty in to the citizens - is often paraded around with g reat show to attract greater support for it. But these are too seco ndary in importance to con stitute a justification for the sacrifice that military life ent ails. No-one doubts the social utility of these duties, and the politic ians and publ ic are entitled t o expect the army to perform them. But they are alternatives, and in themselves, they are inadeq uate to res tore internal legitimacy to the military orga nization, and cannot bring about the cohesion of such a particular kind of socia l entity. It is the quality of th e hierarchy and the possibil ity for subordinates to look up to their superiors as models of moral behavio ur that gives legi timacy to the institution in the eyes of t he mem bers. Only in this way can support be forested , discipline maintained and active participation stim ulated. Many things have cha nged today, of course. Technica l and manageria l skills are becoming increas ingly indispensa ble as eq uipment and procedures grow in sophisti cation . But " management" is no substitute for "leadersh ip". In un its operating complex weapons, ind ividua l technicians possess professional ski lls that are cert ai nly superior to the commander's; but it is only the human capa bility to comma nd whi ch is th e real basis of the cohesion and motivation of the ind ividual members, and this alone. It is not individual, professional skill in pa rticul ar special isms. Neglect of this played a large pa rt in creating the difficul ties that the Americans faced in Vi etna m (1 2). A mi litary unit ca n never be changed into a corporation, or an army into a holding company. If they did, th ey would never be able to do battle. Th is does not mea n that the army has to become an organization of "warrior mon ks". It only means that the army has a specific ch aracter, and ethical and symbolic values which cannot be ignored. T he army cannot be "civilianized" - ie.

demilita rized - beyond a certain limit, in an attem pt to become cogent with t he values of civili an society, particularly if the latter is almost completely secularized. That would be to betray its functions and instead of increasing its legitimacy it wo uld diminish it, not only internally but externa lly, too. It is in this light that one has to view the problem of relations betw een the mi litary and the politicians, or to be more precise, between the senior mi lita ry au thoriti es and the political authorities. Th is is a probl em of subst ance, particularly in democratic societies, where the militaly and politica l elites come from different social and cu ltu ral backgrou nds and where external political pluralism stands in contrast to the army 's internal monolithism. The ma in point is the political control of the Armed Forces (13). External and internal sub jective control would destroy the cohesion of the Arm ed Forces and give rise t o the risk of political activism on the part of the military. External ob jective control is basically ineffective beyond a certain stage . The only really workable solution is interna l ob jective control, or "sel fcontrol", where th e mi litary's dependence on the pol itici ans is obtained by subl imating professional skills and extol ling the military ethos, namely the moral obligation incumbent on the mi litary to be obedi ent and efficient servants of the State. The problem is very similar to the problem of the intelligent and consci entious use of military "stupid ity" that I referred to earlier. Evidently, this imposes serious responsi bilities on the c hain of command, which must not mistake mea ns for ends and become an end in itself, viewing command as a privilege instead of as a service the national community, and t o its own subordi nat es (14). T he essence of com mand is not authority, but res ponsi bility. Byza ntine-style va ingloryi ng, sett ling for second best for a qu iet life or career advancement or indulg ing In time-consum ing and resource-

A VCC-2 in action. Note the lateral gun slits and the main armament - a 12.7 mm machine gun.

consuming trifles are particularly destructive of the military institution's internal legitimacy. Even though they may not exactly provoke a reaction on the part of subordinates, they nevertheless create passive resistance, malaise and resignation. The same effects are also caused by permissiveness and laxis m, or the failure to punish failings and omissions, and this demoralizes the best. and the most enthusiastic and skilled men. Efficacy

An institution of any kind is only acceptable if it is able to perform the duties entrusted to it. The Armed Forces, as an institution, have to guarantee defence; but they can only prevent aggression if they have a credible operational capability. Their efficacy is also the basis of their internal and external legitimacy. Efficacy, in this connec-

tion, is the way in which the members of the Armed Forces achieve a sense of self-fulfilment, and justifies the burden of conscription in the eyes of the younger generation. Quite clearly, efficacy cannot be considered in an absolute sense; it is a relative value. The Armed Forces must guarantee adequate defence in accordance with the importance of what they have to defend, and at acceptable costs and risks. This is a key issue in the defence strategy of the individual Western countries and those belonging to the Atlantic Al liance, particularly after the emergence of weapons of mass destruction which would have effects far outweighing any political objective if used indiscriminately. The basic problem is how to integrate tactical nuclear weapons and conventional forces, and how far it is possible to design a deterrence strategy which is also a plausible defence strategy, to be implemented if deterrence were to fail. In this article, it is clearly impossible to examine in detail the complex problems involved. Suffice it to have mentioned them. There is, however, no doubt that the nation-State is still the

basic element in which the cohesion expressed by the Armed Forces is realized (despite the impossibility of solving the security issues in purely national terms, and the need to fit them into an Alliance, like NATO). The efficacy and plausibility of the military institution must be appraised essentially at national level. The more "nationalized" the strategy, the greater the cohesion and consensus enjoyed by the Armed Forces by both the individual national communities and their own members. As far as the air/land defence of Italy's NE frontier is concerned, this aspect is particularly appropriate for emphasis because the frontier is held by t he forces of one single nation, unlike the Central Region where the defence system is markedly multinational. It is only if the Armed Forces are sound that one can have a community defence capacity, with effective public participation. The enlig htening words that Giolitti addressed to the Chamber in 1909, during the debate on the provision of supp lementa ry appropriations to enable the army to renew the artillery, are still as relevant today: "In foreign policy relations, whether the country remains neutral or relies solely on friends or whether we in tend to set up alliances, it is absolutely necessary to ensure that our strength is commensurate with our country's importance ... Friedships have a value according to thei r strength, and the friendship of a weak country is not held in esteem. An alliance is then impossible, because noone wants a weak ally, and any such alliance would have to guarantee the existence of the weak ally without any contribution of force in exchange. So whatever policy we follow, the country must have the force that is cogent with its means, its population, its territory, and consistent with its political aims" (15). Not to have an adequate military force in an alliance often means paying for the guarantees supplied by others in political and economic terms,

costing far more in the end than a reasonable military capability would cost. Final remarks

The ideology of the welfare society, the change in the value systems of modern societies, the economic crisis and the world political-strategic situation have thrown down challenges and caused problems for the Armed Forces in the West. The response that t hey make will determine Western Europe's chances of surviving as an autonomous politicial entity . These challenges .have to do with both the legitimacy and the efficacy of the military institutions. The only responses that are reasonably possible would seem to be to proceed to "remilitarize" the Armed Forces, in the face of certain opposing tendencies that threaten to rob them of any combat capability and to transform them into inanimate technological bodies. While we are on this subject. it is necessary for strategy to recover its operational and historical dimensions and give up the analytical , technologica l and managerial deviations that we can see in various quarters. Military culture has to be revived, and the military security system has to recover its national dimension, reversing the denationalizing trends that prevailed immediately after the war. In a country like Italy, moreover, a greater "nationalization" of defence could facilitate the process of participation in the masses' sense of being one - a sense that has neve fully caught on since the Unification of Italy, and which seems to be increasingly necessary not only to backstop defence but also for the nation's civic and economic recovery and to consolidate the State against every degenerative and divisive tendency. Only by so doing can the Armed Forces reacquire their efficiency and credibility, become a dynamic component of the nation, and overcome the present crisis situation.

As from now, we have to work to create the conditions within the Forces that will enable them to carry out this role, enhancing the degree of participation of their mem15ers in the life of the institution, pruning the dead branches, doing away with some of the "pen-pushing", and creating an active, dynamic atmosphere full of idealism, where professional skills are properly appreciated. As far as relations with society are concerned, the Armed Forces must maintain their specificity and hence diversity, even though they must minimize the differences in order to attract support and consensus. Being different does not mean being separate, or autonomous, with the danger of being set off against civilian society, cut off from the outside world and with poor internal communications. Gen. Carlo Jean

NOTES: (1) R. Guard, "The Future of the Military Profession" in " Force in Modern Societies - The Military Profes s ion" II.SS., Adelphi Papers no. 103, London 1983. (2) A. Goodpaster, "Educational Aspects of Civil-Military Relations" in A. Goodpaster and S. Huntington, "Civil-M ilitary Relations", American Enterprise Institute, Washington, 1977. (3) J. Freund, "La Finalite de l'Armee", Etudes Polemologiques, n. 2/76. (4) A. Viglione, "The Armed Forces and the Challenges of our Age", Rivista Militare 6/1977. (5) R. Aron, "Plaidoyer pour !'Europe decadente", La ffont, Paris, 1977. (6) M. Howard , "Western Defence in the 1980s â€˘ Conditions for Consensus", paper delivered to the 24th annual II.SS. conference, The Hague, 9-12 September 1982. (7) P. Lellouche, "La securite de !'Europe dans les annees '80 - Essai de synthese et de prospective", lnstitut Francais de Relations lnternationales. Paris, 1983, p. 76. (8) G. Harries-Jenkins, "Armed Forces and the Welfare State" in M. Janowitz (ed.), "Civil-Military Relations", Sage Publications. London, 1981 . (9) In 1861. whi le the establishment of the Kingdom o f Italy was adopted by Parliament, the constitution of the Italian Army was simply decreed by a circular of the Minister of War (see Bachele t, "Discipl ina militare e ordinamento giuridico statale", Giuffre, Milan, 1962, p. 68). (10) G. Miglio, "Guerra, pace e d iritto", in AA.VV. "Pace e guerra". Edizioni dell'Arsenale, Venice, 1982. (11) c. Le Borgne, "La betise militaire", Strategique, 4/1981 . (12) Gabriel & Savange, "Crisis in Command - Mismanagement in the Army", Hill & Wang, New York, 1978. (13) C. Jean, "Military Culture and Political Control in th e Armed Forces ", Rivista Militare 3/1980. (14) P. Ostellino & L. Caligaris, "I nuovi mil itari", Mondadori, 1983. (15) Chamber of Deputies. Summary reco rd of the session of 12 June 1909.

THE MILITARY INSTITUTIONS AND THE CRISIS OF THE WELFARE STATE 57

II~ ~OfDA'TO fT~f~A .N O DEf~;O'TTOCETJ\fTO

NELL'OPERA DI QUINTO CENNI

%} ( PRESENTATION BY GIOVANNI SPADOLINI After the book on "Uniforms" we have here this "Italian Soldier in the Nineteenth Century" as seen by a single artist. An unpretentious and passionate artist, an artist who never worked for a public, an artist unknown to most Italians: Quinto Cenni. A contribution of scientific value to historical interpretation and evaluation. These are - also in Benedetto Croce's words - a veritable problem, for the Italian soldier of the Nineteenth Cen-

tury belongs to history, to our civil and military history, which is the object - both in Quinto Cenni's watercolours and Edmondo De Amicis' writings - of the same cult: the civil religion of the Third Italy. Quinto Cenni: a Milanese born in Romagna. who was never a soldier and nevertheless spent his life portraying the military customs. Just like Salgari: never a sailor and never a corsair, but endowed with the spirit that also animates the writings of De Amicis' a Piedmontese who had been an infantry officer and served assisting those stricken with cholera. The book "Cuore", the sketches on military life, the

books describing the travels of this "Savoyard Socialist" as De Amicis was often called are, along the ascending path of the initiation and formation of our unitary conscience, almost the beginning of a lay catechism, where the patriotic systicism conceives sacrifice as the highest moment for the strengthening of a moral character. It is not surprising that "Cuore" was a moral code for at least two generations of Italians, after Italy's unification. Italy - or "ltalietta" as it was derogatorily called - a nation constantly confronted with its own limits and inadequacies, which, nevertheless, after many mistakes and decep-

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tions, formed the convinction that, without a considerable amount of valour and sacrifice, it would never become a nation with a modern mentality and modern habits. The valuable conquests, which were its goals, had not been attained yet: they were an objective, a p'rocess in the making, an ideal pointed at and pursued, not firmly established. Precisely as in D'Azeglio's motto. The army becomes the politica l and spiritual symbol of this love for the Fatherland, a sign of unity and independence, a powerful unifying cement, and also an example of virility. In "Cuore" the two major protagonists are the army and the schoolteachers, the military class and the teaching class, which

were the regular clergy and the lay clergy of the new Italian nation. Through its most qualified representative, the national society is reflected by De Amicis' pages, surrounded by a fairy tale aura, in a poetic atmosphere whichÂˇ magnifies its dimensions and meaning. The balance between the bourgeisie and the working class, between the children of the rich and the children of the poor, between the young, living in a comfortable home and those living in a garret, is perfectly preserved throughout the book; the little chimney sweeper and the school's best pupil, the childmason and the boy copyst, the man injured on his job and the sick teacher, the worker receiv-

ing a reward and the rickety child, they all alternate and mix, almost representing a new mutual understanding, a new social harmony. Without stating a paradox, we would say that at the foundation of "Cuore" there is a veritable philosophy, a conscious conception of life seen from an enlightened lay point of view: help replaces charity, teachers replace priests, the school takes the place of t he seminar, the hospital confronts the hospice, the military service substitutes for the religious culture, and the physical exercises assume the importa nce of the old "spiritual exercises". The national problems find in that singular book their mirror, their reflection, their pedagogic

and lyric transfiguration: emigration in the story "From the Apennines to the Andes"; the problems of the South in the "Boy from Calabria"; the social achievements in the pages about the "Workers Friends" and the apotheosis of the "Workshop". the myth of the Monarchy in the evocation of "Victor Emmanuel .!I's funera l". Love of books, love of one's country, love for mankind (the three great forces of t he lay pedagogy, where Mazzini's thought intertwined with the liberal tradition) attained in De Amicis' writing a degree of tension and vibration never reached again. Through the books various scenes and characters. from the home of the injured man to Stardi's library, we see the fundamental components of the liturgy of the Country. the myth of the State based on civil rather than religious-solidarity, on a bourgeois - rather than clerical - brotherhood. It is not by chance that this memorable book ends with the glorification of the day of the Statute, the great celebration of the Nativity of the Country. The "Little Lombard Vedette". taken by itsel f, is more touching than all the stories on the Risorgimento, all the jubilees, all monuments and statues . The posthumous encounter between Victor Emmanuel II and Mazzini. Monarchy and revolution, was largely the work of Edmondo De Amicis, the Alfonso de' Liguori of the national education, the Calasanzio of the Kingdom. the lay missionary of the young Italy. A nation where the public school - the State school - is on an equal standing with the Armed Forces, a strong cement in the construction of the national conscience. With the national conscription, the new generations. especially those from the poorest areas, come into contact with the new .realities of a nation which is living its first experiences as a un itary state. And we see in the illustrations of the Italian soldier of the XIX century an image of this Italy, civil and modest, shy and

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proud, which had been through many a sorrow and nurtured many hopes. unbalanced in its social structures and in its regional differences. but attracted by this new model of unitary organization, yet to be realized on the extremely thin thread of the Risorgimento's conquests. Italy, despite everything, despite delays and contradictions. was changing so much, that Gladstone - an observer

.o ,,i neither generous nor naive compared it with France and its transformations between 1789 and Napoleon's Empire. Also in the uniforms portrayed by Quinto Cenni there are evident signs of these transformations. The Italian Army - this was the name it was given after the disbandment of the Sardinian Army, on May 4, 1861 - does not wear the showy uniforms of the

Risorgimento's wars: it is the tion which gives them their time of sober colours, brightened primary education, in a country only by corps or rank badges still marked by a diffuse illiteracy. and some accessories (the feathQuinto Cenni brush catches ers of the Bersaglieri , the cap of every detail in the uniforms of the Alpini, the generals' helmet the new Italian army; there is the which, in imitation of Kaiser accuracy and pecision of someWilhelm's Army, is adorned with . one who has a feeling for what an eagle and white plumes). he draws and paints. Âˇ It is the Army where the In the three hundred waterconscripts, having overcome the colours presented by "Rivista first impact with the barracks, Militare" in this enlightening and feel they are part of an institurevealing book, there is the

artistic message of a patriot who sees in the soldier an irreplaceable reference for the new Italy, col lective work of a mora l action , erected with the contribution of the Armed Forces, with their secular devotion. A mora l and political construction that our memory relives as a process of awareness of civil growth, in the light of an inspiring example which is always living history. 61

,SPECIAi! ISSUE n . 2/1986

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Every uniform reflects the spirit of the army in a specific historical moment, and 'the relationship between military traditions and civilian customs is very closely connected with the succession of fashions, which are preceded or followed by the uniforms, in a surprising flourishing of styles and modes. Convinced of this continuing its programme of research, which has already enabled " Rivista Militare" to publish the volume " The Jtalian Armies from the pre-unitarian States to the national onification" the magazine has started, in 1985, a study of the Italian Army's uniforms. They are of remarkable aesthetic interest and, above all, have moral contents concurring with the ideals that motivate the soldier. The series reproduced in this book, which is in possession of Rome's National Museum of Castel Sant'Angefo, consists of 67 photographic plates, retouched and handpainted with the watercolour technique, in the absolute respect of the original · colours. Made by the Lavazzano photographic studio of Rome, the set was delivered to the Museum of the War Ministry in 1932; it is not known whether the photographer was also the author of the subsequent colouring or wh ether this exceptional operation was carried out by somebody else. The photographs represent officers, non-commissioned officers and enlisted men - of all corps, services and institutes of the army - wearing the uniforms established b y the Regufation of 1880 and modified by Act n. 101 of M ay 16, 1895, in force untif 1902.

An aspect of these photographs, increasing their rarity and importance - not only for those who are especially interested in this specific field., but also for all students of that particufar period - is the great difficufty in finding original materiaf representing singfe individuals and not groups. At the end of the century, in fact, photography Was a valid " message" sent by th e soldiers to their families, a witness of their service in uniform; th e photographs stiff existing are th erefore widefy spread and scattered in private collections. The work of filing the photographs and the individuation of the various Corps has been carried out, for the first time, during the preparation of this volume which, as a whole, is an absofute novelty. ft has the merit of bringing back to fight real images of our military tradition.

Non-subscribers will be able to purchase the book either at full price, or with a 20% discount if they send this form together with a request for subscription to '' Rivista Militare" and a remittance of Lit. 24,000 (or U.S. $ 12 D.M. 36 - F.F. 100), by cheque or international money order, addressed to: Stato Maggiore Esercito . Rivista Militare Sezione di Amministrazione - Via XX Settembre 123/ A 00187 Roma {Italy).

THE ROYAL ITALIAN ARMY 1940 - 1943

The announcement made on 10 June 1940 that Italy has entered the war against Great Britain and France is received with en thusiasm and at the same ti me some embarrassmen t. The vague and rather unclear motives g iven - the need to solve the problem of the so -called marit ime fron tiers and free access to the oceans - awkwardly try to hide the rea l reasons which made the Prime Minister decide to allow the country to slide into a conflict which is obvio usly going to be both long and all-involving. Not a few perceive that mere futile motives of prestige in con nectio n w ith the German ally and an erro neous evaluation of the adversa riesÂˇ potential are acting as detonators to a terrible explosio n. Also and parti cularly in military circles, which are well awa re of the tru e situation, the incorrect evaluati on of the situation for such an arduous task appears immed iately evident. The truth is tha t the General Staff, instead of being the d irecting and deciding body, is forced to accept the ro le of coordinator and rat iona list of the improvisations of th e Prime Minister who as head of th e government is Supreme Commander, represen ting the King. Wi th sudden and unexpected decisions the Prime M inister o rders attacks in succession and in a sho r t period of time on France. Greece and Yugoslavia, in addition to proceeding w ith th e offe nsive in North Afr ica and East Africa. Such an undertak ing is far from easy since practically no prev iou s plans exist and th e deploymen t of th e large units is rendered particularly d ifficult by the dispersion of and distance between the o perati ona l areas, by an insecure and insufficient comunica tions system and by the extremely lim ited resources. Th us, as the confli ct develops and the number of enemies increases, the loss of d irection and the awareness of powerlessness make th emselves felt more and

more as it is by now evident that the lack of a clearly defined strategy is inexorably accelera ting the process o f wearing down the Italian war machine. The unfortunate campaigns in Africa and in Russia demonstrate w ithout doubt. already in th e second year of the war, tha t any hope of vic to ry is no longer rea list ic. Soldiers, w ith the admi rable intuiti on which characterizes them, unders tand the situation but do not g ive up the s truggle. They realize that they can only hope to fig ht to r their hono ur and they co ntinue to sacrifice t hemselves in d isperate conditions in the desire to fo llow to the bitter end the fate of the o ld and glo ri ous regiments.

ITALIAN

MILITARY

UNIFORMS

In September 1943 Italy is united in an irrepress ible desire for freedom and peace and thus decides to cease the fi ght against the allied powers and recognize her defeat. As set out in the law dated 9 May 1940 the Italian A rmy which fi ghts the Second World Wa r is o rganized as fo llows: six army commands, eighteen army corps, one motorized army corps, one armoured army corps, one corps of "Celere" (swift) and one senior command of "alpin i" troops, 54 infantry divisions, 2 motori zed divisions, 3 armoured d ivi sions, 5 "alpini" d ivisions, 3 " Celere" d ivisions, 3 c arabiniers d ivisions, 16 territorial defence divisions and 28 military zones comprising 7 car abi nieri brigades, 29 carabinieri " legio ns", 3 grenad ier reg imen ts, 106 infantry reg iments, 12 " bersaglieri" reg iments, 10 "alpini" regiments, 6 tank regiments. 13 cavalry regiments, 54 artillery reg iments attached to infantry d ivisio ns, 2 artillery reg iments attached to motorized d ivisions, 3 artillery regiments attached to arm oured divisions, 5 artill ery reg iments attach ed to "alpini" d ivisions. 3 attached to "Celere" d ivisio ns, 9 attached to the GA F. ("Guardia alla Fro ntiera" - Frontier Guard). 18 reg iments fo r each army corps, 5 tor each army and 5 an ti aircraft regimen ts, 18 eng ineers reg imen ts, 2 miners, 2 pon toniers, 1 railway engineers regimen t and 1 ch emical warfare reg iment, 116 distric ts and 3 inspectorates (infantry-a rti llery-eng ineers). During the war th e qua nt ity and type of large and small units va ries con siderably wi th large increases, at least from a merely numerical point of view, in the case of para troop divisions and o f the 25 coastal d ivisions and decreases, often ra ther considerable, due to the losses in combat. The wartime uniform worn by offi cers of the A rmy are dealt w ith by

the regulations included in a detai led circular, dated August 1940, which sets out the measures to be followed to simplify dress by the removal o f or reduction in ornamentation and at the same time specifies the uniforms to be worn by the troops. In particular, cap badges are embroidered in black thread, tunic collars are all in grey-green cloth (either in "castorino" material or velvet but always grey-green), since the use of velvet and cloth in the colour of the various corps is abolished. In addition, badges worn on lapels are c onsiderably reduced in size and sometimes of a new shape while at the same time m;:iintaining old traditions. Rank insignia are also reduced in size and are made of yel low thread (white for generals and for carabiniers) on field caps repeating the use of the fivepointed star already adopted, and on sleeves, where rank insignia are now located on the cuff and reduced proportionally in size. Divisional or area badges are definitely abolished and medal ribbons continue to be worn but of a smaller size. Grey-green bakelite buttons

rep lace all metal buttons; the stripes and piping worn on th e trousers of officers and warrant officers respect ively are eliminated as js the piping on shoulder-straps and an cuffs. However, the circufar accepts the use o f pre-war uniform until worn out, as long as the changes regard ing collars and buttons are made. Thus, the previous rank insignia, trouser

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and p ipi ng are kept in use in these cases. In this connection, one cannot help but note that these regulations, as issued, result in continuous differences even between officers belonging to the same unit. If to this is added the fact

1940 - Corporal of the 73rd "Lombardia" infantry regiment in wartime uniform. At the time of mobilization the traditional blue tie is discarded and in its place, a woollen tassel of the same colour is attached to the small hole at the top of the closed zip .

1940 - Private, mountain artillery, in wartime uniform. During the war years there is a tendency on the part of the mountain artillery to wear special collar badges. In fact, some batteries unofficially adopt the green "flames" of the "alpini" troops but with a yellow background; others wear the standard flame on a green rectangular background, sometimes with yellow piping.

1941 · Officer cadet of the Infantry reserve, in winter walking-out uniform. The uniforms in use before the outbreak of war are mostly confirmed tor teaching institutes and academies.

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1941 Engineers captain, in wartime uniform. During the war, officers often replace their boots with shoes and grey-green woollen socks

1940 . Lieutenant-colonel of the General Staff, in wartime full uniform. During the war years, officers continue to wear the blue sash and decorations while NCOs and troops we ar decorations only.

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1942 - 3rd Regiment "Bersaglieri", in uniform. During the hot months troops deployed in operational zones wear practical and functional dress, although not altogether according to regulations.

1942 - Private, Tank Corps, in duty wartime summer dress. The personnel on armoured vehicles receive in distribution special clothing more appropriate tor their particular needs. The helmet and ;acket are in black leather while the overalls, usually in metal-blue cotton, can also be grey or grey-green .

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1942 - Sergeant, 1st Field Artillery Regiment, in wartime uniform. Since the unit has been attached to the 51st and 52nd Infantry Regiments ("Cacciatori de/le A/pi" division - Alps' Riflemen Division}, the green collar badges and red tie worn by infantry are used.

1941 - Officer and private of the 5th Regiment "Lancieri di Novara", ii'! wartime uniform. As a result of the 1940 regulation, tor the first time in their history the lancers wear the three-pointed "flames" and discard the traditional plain collar in the regimental colour previously worn. On mobilization the lances are handed in and kept in the unit depots.

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1942 - "Alpino", in winter warti me dress. The " alpini" operating in snow-covered areas receive in distribution special overalls and helmet covers in white coarse cloth . However, owing to th e restricted availability of th ese items the distribution is almost always limited to ski units of th e " alpini" regiments.

1943 - Paratrooper, in normal uniform. The practical and smart uniform forseen for paratroop units is remarkably different from the regulations in force and is perhaps the only example of effective modernization in this field. The parachute, embroidered in yellow thread, attached to the left arm denotes that the soldier recently gained his iumping brevet.

that at least during the years 1940 and 1941 depots continued to distribute to the mobilized troops peacetime uniforms which had not been al tered, it is easy to imagine the disorderly appearance o f t he units. Collar badges foreseen at the t ime of mobiliza ti on fo r all ra nks are as fol lows: embroidery for carabinieri, embroidery for grenadiers, divisional badges for the infantry, badges on a blue cloth rectangle f or motorized infantry and mach ine-gun units, two-pointed "flames" for bersaglieri and alp ini, twopointed scarle t "flames" on a blue rectangle for tank troops, t hree-pointed " flames" (with or without t he cloth rec tangle in th e regimental colour} for regiments and t ra ining schools and for cavalry depots. two-pointed "flames" on blue cloth rectangle for light tank battalions, one-pointed "f lames" for artillery (placed on the distinctive badge for reg iments attached to infantry divisions, on a green cloth rectangle .for special moun tain t roops and a blue clo th rectangle for motorized and armoured troops), one-pointed " f lames" for eng ineers (with th e same variations as for the artillery), one-pointed "flames" in green cloth backed by the colour of th e corps (infan try, art illery and engineers) for the " Guardia alla Frontiera", badges fo r the chemical wa rfare unit (on blue cloth rec tangle for motorized divisions), two -pointed black " flames" on blue cloth rectang le for motor transport corps, one-pointed "flames" for the med ical service (on green or b lue or divisional rec tangle according to the unit) and for the ordnance corps (wi th clot h rectangles in colour as for the medical corps), rectangular badge for infant ry not incorpora ted in t he reg iments and for dist ricts personnel and, fi nally, onepointed " flames" for the territorials and local garrison troops. Insufficiencies in re inforcements and in supplies appear at an early stage, also as regards clothing and equipmen t, and t he sit uation becomes unbearable. Shoes are a further problem and the different series of clothing according to the various climates of the differing operational areas, varying fro m extreme heat to extreme cold. These obs tacles prove p rac ti cal ly unsurm ountab le for the supply organization on account of the serious scarcity of t he necessary raw materials as well as owing to the unexpec tedness o f certa in req uirements as a resul t of sudden and untimely political decisions. Only a c areful, patien t and generous soldier such as the Italian fighting man could struoole honourably for long years with so many diffi culties of a practical order and d espite th e painful realizati on of the inferiority of means when compared aga ins t the large quantities of goods ava ilable to the German allies and to the enemies. Similar bitter statements can be made as regards armament, both light and heavy, often so inadequate as to arouse unbelieving surprise on th e part of fore igners. Gen. Valerio Gibellini

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Each issue of Rivista M:ilitare Euro pea consists of: • a booklet with drawings portraying the uniforms of one of the EMPA (European Military Press Association) countries; • two loose pages with 9 figures each, enclosed in the booklet, printed on adhesive paper for collection in a special album. The booklets can be bound into an elegant volume titled "II soldato europeo dell'Ottocento" (The European soldier of the 19th century); binders of the volume will be on sale shortly. The figures can be collected in the "Album de lie Uniformi", titled "Gli eserciti tedeschi dal 1838 al 1843" (The German armies from 1838 to 1843) which is on sale at the price of Lit. 5,000. Purpose of the "Rivista Militare Europea" is to make the European Armed forces and their traditions better known. The first three issues, on Austrian, Belgium and French uniforms, published in 1985, have been very successful among collectors and experts, especially abroad. The coming issues will be on the uniforms of Germany, Great Britain, Italy, The Netherlands, Spain and Switzerland.

Residents abroad can send their payment by check or international money order to:

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RIVISTA MILITARE · Via di S. Marco, 8 • 00186 Koma (Italy)

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PRICES FOR t 986 Subscriptions: Italy: Lit. 28,000 Other countries: Lit. 36,000 One copy: Lit. 5,000 Back issues: Lit. I 0,000 (if available) Album delle uniformi: Lit. 5,000 Uniformi of the Royal Italian Army from 1898 to 1902: Lit. 30,000

Gli eserciti t,edesc}?i tlal 1838 al 1843

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BOOK

GUALTIERO STEFANON

UOMINI BIANCHI

contro

UOMINI ROSS.I 1830-1890

G. Stefanon: "White Men against Red Men". The wars for the conquest of the Great American West (1830-1890)", U. Mursia Ed., Milano, 1985, pp. 512, Lit. 30,000. The book pursues two aims wh ich. in a sense, are new: ou tlining an overall picture of the political, strategic and mi litary aspects of t he con fl icts which, in the 60 years under exam ination, have bathed the Great West in blood, and recon structing t he peak event of those wars, t he "tip of the iceberg" of which everybody has heard, and which everybody thinks to know: the battle of Little Big Horn between the Sioux and Cheyenne braves led by Sitting Bull, and th e squadrons of the 7th Cavalry Regiment of the United States. under the Command of Lt. Col. George A. Custer. After a brief sketch of the environment, of th e opposing societies and cultures and of the characters involved, the Author outlines the causes o f the long and harsh conflic ts between whites and redskins in the years from 1830 to 1890. and locates the first spark in the Sand Creek massacre, a t reacherous attack launched by Col. John M. Chivington, a former Methodist minister, against a Cheyenne village, wh ere tens of defenceless people were savagely murdered. This tragic episode was the beginning of a long series of chain reactions, which spread over the immense territories of th e West with the devastating force of an apocalyptic fi re. destroying an incalculable amoun t of human lives, goods and wealth. Th en, the Author recoun ts the fights engaged by the American Army in the three large geographical sectors where the conquest of the West took place: in the north against the Sioux. Cheyenne and Pierced Nose nations; in the

REVIEWS

center-south against the fi ve sou thern tribes: Kiowa, Comanche, Arapaho, Southern Cheyenne and Prairie Apache and on th e south-west against the Apach e, Modoc and Klamath tribes. We must mention that the ways and purpose of the military actions and how these were conducted in immense, very different and distant geographical areas, are things that perhaps th e Italian read er will find hard to understand in f ull. In the North. the whites· thrust was initially aimed at acqu iring gold and other precious metals, abundant in those territories; in the center-south. the motivation was th e wish to get hold of the extremely rich virgin land which the whites wanted to cultiva te, and th e need to build the firs t railways from th e A tlantic to the Pacific; in the south-west, after the inebriation of the gold rush in California. the purp ose was to strengthen the settlements established many years before, on a land that also the wh ites considered their own, since they righ tly considered themselves Americans in America. Many aspects underlined by the Author are little known to th e readers at large. The fact that the American Army has never been able to defeat on the field the proud, brave and very skilled warriors of the north-western tribes; the p lanned and deliberate fra gmenta tion of th e Grea t Prairies - where the centersou th ern tribes lived - which culminated in th e extermination of th e bison, carried out in order to subdue the redskin enemies. reducing t hem to hunger and starvation; the "extermination policy", carried out against the tribes of th e south-west, which went on with discontinuous results and ended with the mass deportation of the indomitable Apach es to faraway Florida. The book ends with short notes on the life of the Indian populations in th e America of the 20th century, link ing t he past with the present. At the centre of all th ese events there is the c ampaign of 1876, described very clearly in its causes, development and results, and a figure stands out. that of George Armstrong Custer, perhaps "the most overvalued character in the history of the United States". Ava iling himself o f ample documentary sources - mostly unpublished in Italy - the Author describes the peculiar vicissitudes of Custer's military career, outl ines the salient aspects of his charac ter, his ambitions and impulses, his weaknesses and virtues, and introduces the man in the war events which brought him. carried by a fatal destiny, to that 25th June 1876 and to the fight against the Sioux. near th e Little Big Horn river. · The book has a significant merit also from the documentary viewpoint: it has 20 appendixes with the reproducti ons of documents, for the most part unpublished in Italy, taken from th e libraries and National Archives of the United States; 30 maps and topograph ic

sketches of the ground where the battle took place, wh ich help the reader find his way in the vastness of the North American contin ent and keep the indispensable connection between facts and places; more than hundred photogra phs. which support our imagination in the reconstruct ion of places. faces and fee lings and help us to participate, with a better understanding, in the fantas ti c saga of the mythical and unforg ettable Great American West.

--~

1$, IS THEIR UNTOLD STORY. - ~ .•.coci0f!'IJ 11tvdlthctisr,otcnly,v:,,.,

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FRED KAPLAN

"The Wizards of Armageddon ". By Fred Kaplan. 452 pages. Simon and Schuster, New York, 1983, $ 21.95 (paperback, 1984, $ 9.95). "For thirty years, a small group in side the U.S. strategic commun ity has devised the plans and shaped th e policies on how to use the bomb. This is their untold story". These words, very effectively written astrid e the ti tle on the fron t cover of the book, are themselves a brilliant summary and an appealing introduction to "The Wiza rds of Armageddon"; bu t yet. they don't pay the book all th e tribu te it deserves. First of all, the book covers more than thirty years, as it starts with Bernard Brodie being struck - the morning of 7 August 1945 - by the news o f the "first atomic bomb dropped on Japan". Then t he book continues. almost as a chronicle - very accurate. detai led, and documented bu t at the same time very readab le and captivating - in tel1ing the evolution of the nuclear problem: fro m the significance of the weapons themselves and the concept on their value in avoiding conflicts, to the doctrines on an effective use of th e weaponry in case of a nuclear war, and to the consequen t measu res and policies for building and stru cturing the forces

BOOK both as a credible deterrent and as effective means to fig ht and term inaie a nuclear war. In doing. so, especially in explaini ng some th eoretica_l or environmental backgrounds, a few remarks date back to before 1945; while, on the other hand, the evolution of the "nuclear strategy", is updated to our times, as in t he las t chapter where reference is made to Secretary Wein berger's "Defense Guidance" of 1982. Secondly, it is not just "a small group" who is depicted in the book as affected by or affecting the "nuclear s trategy''. Maybe small is the group of the ma jor thinkers on the sub jects, like Brodie, Shelling, Von Neumann, Wohlsetter, Kahn, Kaufmann; but in fact Mr. Kaplan involves in his story quite a crowd of scientists, analysts, strategists. and leaders. including the Âˇ Presidents of the United States from Truman to Reagan and their main advisers. Secretaries and collabora tors in the administration. Hence, the book is also an account of one of the most powerful elites of our time : it discloses the even ts those people were involved in and often respons ible for. th e bureaucratic mechanism and the sometimes harsh rival ry of their environmen t, th e pressure for decisions t hey had to sustain, the outcome they provided in terms of studies, briefings, reports, policies, and strat-

REVIEWS

egies; but also it describes the person ali ties of the ma jor players. the intellec tual, moral, psychological. professional, political biases wh ich affected their thought process, the developmen t of their own t heories and th e merging of the severa l individual approaches into the nationa l posture. The book consists o f twenty-six chapters, an extensive series of endnotes (the reference system could be improved: it works only backwards, from th e endnotes to t he text), and a significant list of interviews, plus index, etc. All chap ters are for some reason very interesting and, being mostly chronologically arranged, they are rather closely interconnected. The initial chapters set the main problems ("how many bombs are necessary?") in the era of American superi ority. Then the 1950's overstretched mathematical theorie s are depicted and their consequences of an overestimated American vulnerability; thus the main concepts fo r the theory of nuclear war are presented: the bombers versus the ballistic missiles, the massive retaliation. the counterforce response, then the "no-citi es targeting" as opposed to "all out destruction", and "controlled escalation", "flexible response", "finite deterrence", "assured destruction", "graduated reprisals" etc., the cost of civil defense. the firs t strike validity as op-

posed to a more cost-effective second strike. th e ABM defense etc.. The last chapters deal wi th t he 70's and early 80's; the basic questions s till are: "how ca n a nuclea r war be avoided?" and "how does one fight a nuclear war?". Many other sources, far more authori tative than this rev iew, have already decreed and assessed the value of "The Wizards"; its success is basically due to the facts th at, because of being so understandable and absorbing, the book addresses the large public, thus spread ing interest fo r such a vital issue of our times; but because of its technical details and accurate information, the book also addresses a knowledgeable and professional audience. As such, and especially because of the comprehensive account on th e evolut ion of the nuclear strategy, "the Wizards of Armageddon" should be regarded as a must for all those approaching strategic studies: th ey will find the book an ind ispensable guide on how to "think about the unthinkable", a useful reference for more detai led studies on "nuclear deterrence", "nuclear warfare", "advanced strategy". and a powerful source of reflection on th e need to hopef ully avoid, possibly delay, and event ually be prepared to, and survive Armageddon. Alberto Ficuciello

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BOOK

REVIEWS

"TH E STRATEGIC THOUGHT,, Franco Angeli Editore, Milano. INTRODUCTION BY CARLO JEAN

After WWII, especially in Western Europe, there has been a split between poli ti co-military cul ture and strategic decision-making, and a separation be: tween strategic theory and strategic praxis. From the historic and politic al s tandpoint, the employment of a military fo rce as regulating factor in the international relations, f rom which its inst rumen tality vis-a-vis politics derives, was considered less legitimate and acceptable or, more pragmatically, less expedient and feasible. Moreover, th e European countriesÂˇ f rai l conditions and their geo-st rategic vulnerability seemed to render the planning of a secu rity policy and an ensuing national strategy of defence quite unsuitable. Both were rep laced by conceptions of collec ti ve and international security. A con sis tent acknowledgement of this new situation should have led to the establishmen t of "international" armies, under the command o f the United Nations, or to "supernational" armies, such as th at provided for by CEO, with the ensui ng t ransfer of the politico-military sovereignty to a level superior to that o f the country s tate. Once the choice wa s made in favou r of international alliances such as NATO, a lesser variant of "collective security", th ere s till rema ined the problem of the asymmetry between the country-states' formal possession of a polit ico-military sovereignty and the fo rmulation o f a collective strategic thought and doctrine. In particular it was, and often still is, unduly taken for granted that the supernational alliances had the capability to formulate their own strategic decisions. Such decisions should in theory be unitary and answer a well defin ed overall collective interest , whi ch should be un ivocal and capable of being determined separately from each ind ividual member's interest. In rea lity, the decisions are inf luenc ed by the difference of percept ions, o f geos trategic situations and by the involvement, also regard ing th e interna l policy, of each partn er in the Alliance. The "weight" that th e visions of the ind ividual state have in the formulation or the collective decisions is determined by the liberty of ac ti on and constraints of each nation: in sum, it depends on its streng th and its wea knesses. It ensues th at some o f the assumptions which conferred autonomy and specificity to the s trategic

thought o f th e preceding period loose t heir power. On one side, the "normality" o f war in the international relat ions. cornestone of the strategic thought's legitimacy; on the other, the national specificity o f th e military culture and consequently its close connec tion wi th the formulation of fin aliti es and strategic plans. From t he technical-military point of view, the fractu re between strategic thought and strategic praxis w as also emphasized by the failure to integrate nuclear s trategy whi ch is subs tantially grounded on a presupposed perfect bipolarism and on an assumed normativeness of the nuclear weapon with the ac tual area of global strategy (in its geographical meaning). The latter is indeed larger and more flexible and is experiencing an ungovernable explosion of multipolarity. Among other things, the question has been influenced by: the tensions arisen inside the two blocs; th e strategic instability deriving from the technological progress in the conventional and nucl ear weapons; the vigorous reemergence of national realitie s; t he Third Worl d conflictuality; the global consequences of the recent decisions concerning the s trengthe ning o f Western security. Th e very stability o f the bipolar system is endangered. The balances have changed. The technological progress in both convent ional and nuclear weapons challenges some of our past certainti es. The space- time dimensions of strategy have undergone a rad ical change. The advent of nucl ear missiles has deeply affected the p rinciples of the preceding strategic thought and has caused a dissociation between defencÂˇe and deterrence. Before the nuclear era, defence and deterrence were both entrusted to t he same weap ons. Now, on the contrary, unt il we cannot avail ourselves of effective antimissile defences, deterrence will be based mainly on th e possibility to carry out retaliations wi th arms different from those actually employed for our defence. De fence itself is subordinated to retaliat ion. Th is si tuation, taken for granted until the '70s, is now being ques tioned: first of all by the p ros pects of a possible deployment or effective active st rateg ic defences; second, by the development of new conven tional weapons and finally, by the emerg ence of new strateg ic conceptions (the so-called

"alternative defences"), which aim at linking deterrence with real defensive power rather than with a simple retaliation against the aggresso r. As regards the scientific aspect proper, the strateg ic thought has been hurt by the fail ure to establish its own epistemology. Until the second world conflict the formu lation of the strategic th ought took place pract ically only wi thin the military " corporation". There w as there-f ore a natural connecti on between theory and praxis, between cultural produc tion and results, which, in a way, permi tted one to ignore the question Now t he problem must be tackled, because the present s trategic thought has to absorb a seri es of extraneous cul tu ral con tents which, clearly, it cannot control yet. The resu lt has been a cultural subordination of the "military corporat ion" , pragma ti cally reso lved with the dissoci ation of concrete strategic decisions which are traditionally developed with in t he military sphere - from the internal strategic culture. The latter, for its part. lacks unity and s11nthesis. Not only did the con tribu tions coming fro m the most diffe rent doctrines fail to mix with th e cultural p roduction of the military world, but they did not even find an element of convergence and agrement among th emselves. Each one of these "sectoria l" approaches - fro m the sphere o f politi cal sciences and interna t ional rel ati ons to the field of social, h istorical, economic, t-echnological sciences, etc. - has its own language, its own methodoogical and descriptive structure, its own epistemology, and stems from foundat ions and assumptions that are o ften different when th ey are not com pletely in contras t. Fragmentariness. disparity, m isunderstandings and misconcep tions are the result. They have fu r th er deviated the developmen t of th e stra tegic thought from the concrete st rategic praxis, wh ich cannot fi nd in it its references and support. It ensues that pragmatism reigns, often re duced to simple empiricism or uncritical acceptance o f doctrines developed in other ambits. The decisive strategic process escapes all intellectual control. The sta tement that an interdisciplina ry approach must be used is o ften only an easy alibi, in which consciously or not. one seeks re fuge, given the impossib ility to obtain a convergence of the var-

BOOK

REVIEWS

r//.1 ious disciplinary contributions, t hat is, to unify them and accomplish an operative synthesis supporting tt)e actual strategic decisions. Within this picture, any reductive approach can emerge, in which the limits between rhetoric and Jogic, between the simply affirmative aims and those actually operative, remain uncertain. Moreover, there are no cultural tools for controlling the results of the decisions taken, and this owing also to the impossibility to check the t heoretic formulations with their practical application. In the past, the recurrence and normality of war allowed th e connection of cul tural production with practi cal experience. As regards the methodological aspects, it appears tha t the strategic culture should avail itself of dynamic approaches, which should incorporate the indeterminacy of the involved fa ctors and adequately consider their com plexity, and should also take into account the integration of the various disciplines, through conceptual implements that promote convergence and settle disparities. This is the only way of attaining theoretic conceptualizations which can be used as support for operative decisions and for the defi nition o f concrete strategic decisions. What seems to be lacking is an adequate methodological base, wh ich should be the attractor, the catalyst and compounder of various doctrines. In this regard, the meaning of strategy and its field of interest is a most crucial problem. Th e appearance, on one side, of a global strategy and, on th e other, of a "peace research", which confines strategy to the merely preventive task of avoiding a con flict, . preserving the balances defined after Âˇthe second world war, have helped to make strategic epistemology and methodology even more uncertain. One can indeed question himself about the real existence of a field tha t could be called strategic, placed between the political and technical - or tactical, if you want - fields, or whether it would not be better to assume that strategy in itself does not exist. but coincides with the methodology of the action restricted to the conflictual environment; a methodology which evidently has enough power to compose into a whole the complexities of the various disciplines concerned. These considerations have suggested the title of the book being reviewed. It could have been cal led "Strategy and Metastrategy". In fact, it represents an attempt at detecting an epistemological "status" in strategy, starting from the assumption that the determination of the goals p recedes the actual strategic sphere, and involves the political and ethic fields, requiring after all a particular vision of the world, of mankind and of the sta te. Its title could also have been "Strategic Culture", taking for granted the possibility

to defi ne a well delimited . strateg ic field and the ability to ponder over stra tegy "in re ipsa", as an autonomous science that begets a variety of its own. The preference has been given to th e title "Strategic Thought" , possibly because it seemed more ambiguous and shadowy, a bigger and more flexible container, capabl e of setting in motion contributions unforeseeable in advance but which could be brought to light as th e survey went on. To be more precise: the reasons for choosing this title are that the sub ject surveyed appears uncertain. Th e term "strategy" does not occupy a rigorously delimited seman tic field, not even within the politico-military literature, thus it must be preceded by an explanation of the language. There have been repeated attempts in this direction, but none of the definitions suggested has rea lly been able to emerge. This is a sign that the language's undeterminacy answers actual historical and cultural necessities and it is not the simple result of the reciprocal ignorance displayed by the various cultural contributors to this sector of studies. In tackling this question one needed obviously a starting point. The only unquestionable one is the vast literature on the subjec t rather heterogeneous as regards sources, literary kind and motivations - a literature that should be retraced to a unified reading,key. The approach !allowed is there fore the histori cal philological one, which is perhaps also idealistic, in that it identifies the concrete problem - i.e. what strategy is and how to work out an effe ctive strategy - with literature, i.e. wi th the existing concept of it. This approach seemed nevertheless necessary, not only fo r the proven inconclusiveness of the objective approach (" entity in itself approach") but also in order to explain the reasons of the strategic language's indeterminacy. In reality the various contributions have no intention or explaining the "mistery" of strategy, indeed they intend to explore the complexity of the various doct rinal con tributions and methodological approaches to the strategic though t. It is th erefore an extremely limited objective, due to the feeling of vagueness, when not of to tal confusion. that one has when confronted with the heterogeneity, complexity and multiplicity of the relevant literature. It seemed nevertheless a preliminary, necessary step in any attempt at a unified reading of the con tributions coming from the various disciplines. It is not real ly a matter of wanting to reestabl ish a unitary stra tegic science, but rather to provide a critical basis and a methodological contribution in order to make the strategic thought more clear. In this regard, it was deemed necessary to research and examine critically all contributions stemming from different contexts, visions

and disciplinary fields, asking each contributor to state his cultural foundations and language, without taking them for granted or assumingÂˇ th em as objective data, but seeing them instead as products - often non univocal and always complicated - of a given reality, of a precise sectorial vision of the world, of the st rategic problems and of the military reality. Th e book is divided in four sections. The first section considers the literature speci fic to the strategic field, the problems being debated and the evolutive trends. Virgilio llari studies in detail how the term "strategy" was introduced into the language and the various meanings that have been attributed to it at different times. He probes in particular the contents of the so-called global strategy and its connec tions with politics, with philological, historical and philosophical approaches, paying particular attention to the "political action" theories and the creation of st rategic goals. It clearly emerges from it the impossibility to objectively define a precise stra tegic fi eld. The various acceptations of the term and its different meanings prove the existing link between the language employed and the historical conditions and concrete interests th at generated it. Carlo Jean studies the problems of military strategy itself, and those regard ing the distinction between policy and strategy and the difference between strategic th eory, doctrine and praxis. He especially states tha t strategy does not exist by nature but is found only in literature and the definition of the stra te gic ambit is closely connected with the position o f the military institutions in society, with the role of force in the international relati ons, and wi th the relationsh ip between politics and the military. The strategic thought is outlined in its evolution and in the mod ifications occurred in the nuclear and planeta ;Âˇy era. Luciano Bozzo examines the various theories or deterrence, their arising and evolution. Starting from the assumption of a distinct solution of continuity from the pre-nuclear epoch, the "strategy of deterrence" shows now clear symptoms of convergence towards certain assump tions of th e "classical" strategic thought. It is not a simple return to the past, ii nothing else because there has been a deep change not on ly in the geostrategic and technological conditions but also in the political, psycholog ical and social situat ions. Th e classical s tra tegic thought must be re -read wi th historical and philological rigour: as a lesson, not as a dogma. Franco A. Casadio comp letes the first section evidencing the correlations between strategy and armamen ts control, as well as the contents of the "peace resea rch" and the influence that the conceptions of international security,

BOOK

REVIEWS

,.1.1.1 based on it, have had on the strategic thought. He points out how the deterrent and defensive strategies and the con tro l of armaments are convergent and complementary and, second, how the practical validity of the assumptions of t he "peace research" presupposes a substan tial change in the presen t pol itical system and in tha t o f internatio nal re lations. The second section is conceived with th e intention of clarifying certain sociological and economic dimensions o f strategy, which in literature constitute, with some noticeable exceptions, a not yet well explored field. Raimondo Strassoldo suggests a reading o f the strategic themes in a particular sociological view, oriented by a (geo)spatial approach. An ample survey of the doctrina ry evolu tion introduces a detailed description of the variety of disciplines that stu dy th e war phenomena. In this context, th e discussion singles out the fields of resea rch th at assume centra l prominence in the formulati on of the stra tegic thought. The main contribu tion emerging from within this essay is the sugges tion tha t t he strategic thou ght should enter the space era ("spatialization") . Sergio Rossi tackles the re-emerging problem of the connec ti on between strategy, economy and technology. Th e argumen ta t ion is shaped as a them atic map of the variety of factors that specify the essential points of such interdependence: the problem of "burden shari ng", the connection be tween the p rocesses of technological innovation and the decisions of the politico-military authorities, the "East-West" and "North-South" technological relations, the arms trade, the disarmament policies, the rel ation be tween military and civil research. The main contribution of thi s essay is the description of the economic dimension's influence on the formulation o f the stra tegic doctrines. The third section is devoted to the gnoseological and epistemological aspects o f the strategic conduct. Massimo Negrotti singles out the discrimination between "datum", "information" and "knowledge" as main problem of the strategic method. The analysis, by essential and general points, o f knowledge's limita tions, which characterize the current (techno) methodologies for processing information, ends in th e conceptualization of the sta te of uncertainty as strategic resource. Carlo Pelanda proposes the epistemological reg ulati on of "decisionism" as a problem of the stra tegic world. Th e arg ument, used as starting point, aff irms t hat the p rocedures of science and those of an aimed cognitive and accomplishing ac tion are substantially on an equal epistemological standing, i.e., that of being both decisions tha t tend to interrupt a conditi on of inability to decide. In this sense, knowledge is

a decision. Having found a genera l scenario in which th e rea lity-tru th is considered as having such enormous flexibility as to be produced on the basis of decisions valid only in themselves (position of "self-referential realism"). the author illustrates the criterion of "perfect self-reference" as main requisite in the process creating the levels of rea lity. Such criterion is seen as epistemological regÂˇulation of "decisionism", outside the traditional schemes o f both scientific rationa lism and conven tionalist pragma tism, and is then applied to the methodological problems of th e politico-military strategic action. The fina l section regards the connection between the strategic thought and the political and jurid ical-constitutional t heory of defence and is obviously devoted especially to the problem of national defence as significant component of sovereignty. Roberto Toniatti's essay discusses the problem of specific responsibility for strategic decisions and for the shaping of a defence policy, going through an ana lysis of comparati ve constitution al law, with reference to the major West ern democracies. Having delimited the sphere of research within the bounda Âˇ ries of "the constitutional law of defen ce", the analysis underlines the historical development and the contents of precise functional profiles typical of a government (the political direct ion, the high Command, the global and the military strateg ies). wh ich assume an au tonomous significance vis-a-vis the parliamentary control and the presidential command o f the Armed Forces (where this fu nction is separate from the leadership of th e Executive) . Of particular interest is the comparative analysis of the operation of the bodies entrusted with the ultimate decisions rega rding security and defence, such as the U.S. National Security Council. Gianfranco Miglio considers the ques tion of national sovereignty with an essentially politological approach, through which one can understand, beyond the juridical theorization of the concept, the historic rea lity of " limited sovereignty", placing the p rinciple of "equality" against that of "balance". Th e essay is a history of the principle of "balance", political foundation of the "Jus Publicum Europaeum", from the Treaty of Utrecht to the United Nations, considered a "revanche" o f th e principle of "balance" against the principle of "intervention" established by the Congress of Vienna. Particular attention is given to some jurid ical-political instruments limiting sovereign ty, such as the military alliances ("equal" and "hegemonic") and to the principle of "limited sovereignty" as theorized by the Marxist doctrine of "Imperialism". The essay shows how the sovereignty of the Wes tern democracies is being challenged

by the tendency of the "hegemonic" alliances to turn into "empires". The other two essays have a more distinct political character. The one by Gianni Baget-Bozzo sets out the connection between strategy and national question. The bipolar system was born with the demand of Germany's unconditional surrender and not with the Accord of Yalta. Deep inside, Europe has accepted the end of its system of nationstates and its ensuing inclusion in th e empires. New historic reali ties replace Europe on the pol itical stage: tha t of an imperial system grounded on an eschatological messianism, a'.ive not only in th e Soviet Union but also in the United States, and that of the rel ig ionpeoples, represented today by Israel and Ira n. Pacifism, military tral iti on, nuclear ba lance are the new dimensions of the European po! itico-stra tegic cul tu re, without any reference to nation and State, but also unfit to be linked - for the momen t, at least to a convincing supernational aggregation. An tonio Lombardo examines th e political conditi ons that in a democracy promote or hinder the formulation and the real ization of a military policy and the ensuing st ra tegy. These conditions are connec ted with the quality of the decisional political system and of the administrative-executive system. Th e first must be able to define and adopt choices over long-term ob jectives, th e second must be able to transform them into concrete measures. The contribution given by poli tical science is determinant in order to understant the prob lem. To every typology or a party and government system and to every qualitative level of a high administrative leadership correspond well defined capacities of s trategic ch~ice and management. In a democracy, a determinant influence is st ill exerted ' by a mass culture, provided that it does not contrast th e efficacy of the public structures and t he national strategic objectives. The political system, the quality of administration and the mass cultures are the prerequisites for the effectiveness of any st rategy. The volume has an introductory cha racter and essentially intends to be an initial exploration of the stra tegic questi ons. It is the beginning of a basic research that will be fo llowed by an examination of the st ructures of the international system, the conceptions of war as developed by the main pol itical cultures and ideologies, as well as theories of war, specifi cal ly relevan t to the pol itical, juridical, social and economic approaches. This initial analysis should serve as a base for applied resea rc h over systems and models of security and defence, fo r the evaluation of the s trategic picture of the world in general and of Italy in part icu lar, and for analyzing the contingent problems of security.

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