Mare Nostrum

I don't know if any of you have noticed, but there seems to be a lot more interest these days in the Italian Army's role in World War II. I think that our friends at Battlefront.com might be largely responsible for this when they produced a very nice product line of Italian pieces and background information for the Flames of War rules.

I recently acquired a new book called "Iron Hulls, Iron Hearts," by Ian W. Walker, which proved to be a very interesting attempt to rehabilitate the image of the Italian Army in the North African campaign. The book focuses on the armored divisions and makes a very convincing argument that they achieved impressive results given the resources at their disposal.

Now our friends at Iron Ivan have published a companion book on the Italian army to their Disposable Heroes/Coffin for Seven Brothers rules. They have given it the title "Mare Nostrum," which is a reference to the Roman Empire and its attitude that the Mediterranean Sea was "Our Ocean." I have not purchased a copy yet, but I certainly intend to. My pals and I want to try some North African scenarios in the hopefully not-too-distant future, and we are bound and determined to not leave units like the Ariete and the Littorio out of it.