Painting Desert & Temperate Italian Uniforms - The Longest How I Paint Things!

The Italian Royal Army - the Regio Esercito - was active across multiple fronts during the Second World War. Looked down on by its German allies as very much a junior partner more often than not, the Italian infantryman was nonetheless a formidable foe when in their defensive positions, and one that British troops of the 8th Army in particular would learn to respect in their battles across North Africa. Italian troops were also deployed to the line on the Russian front, where they braved the same terrible hardships faced by all those who fought in those impossible conditions. Finally, with the fall of Sicily to Allied forces, the Regio Esercito would sign an armistice ending its time as a branch of the Axis powers on September 8th, 1943. Almost immediately, chaos ensued as troops loyal to Mussolini set up a government in northern Italy to form the Repubblica Sociale Italiana, and tired Italian soldiers loyal to the King and determined to throw the hated fascisti out of their homeland joined the Allies