Hello guys,
Nothing got done hobby-wise in the last week unfortunately. I was on another short trip to Italy with my dad, however, and we visited an Alpini (Italian mountain troops) museum in Bassano del Grappa (named after Monte Grappa, where Entente stopped Axis advance after the battle of Kobarid/Caporetto).
Bassano is a pretty unfortunate city and saw battles in Napoleon era, WW1 and WW2. The most prominent feature is it's bridge:
You can see some bullet holes on the houses on one side of the river:
Museum only holds a small collection and is accessible through a pub (clever, eh?)
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| Alpini uniforms through ages |
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| Mountain equipment, mind the wicker boots for soldiers on guard duties. |
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| Various WW2 helmets |
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| WW2 weapons |
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| Another Sten. I always find it interesting just how crude those SMGs were. |
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| Spiked traps of WW1 era. |
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| A very bad photo of German pickel haubes. I always liked those helmets. |
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| A military bicycle. |
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| Bersaglieri (not Alpini) hat, with an african fez next to it, I believe. |
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| WW1 US uniform left, Alpini officer middle, not sure about the last one. |
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| Another great case, bunch of WW1 grenades. |
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| Austro-Hungarian stormtroopers. Slovenes were in units like that, as well. |
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| Various allied hats, including highlanders' |
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| Made-shift periscope, French invention. |
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| It was not labeled, but those sickle-like swords were used by Ethiopians. Below is an A-H sabre |
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| They even had a concentration camp inmate uniform, along with US made "disinfection pump". |
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| Wire cutters and WW1 trench melee weapons. |
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| The one far left is German, others are Austro-Hungarian |
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| 1990's Alpini paratrooper |
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| Add caption |
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| WW2 Alpini soldier |
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| 1960's uniform |
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| Unlabeled exhibit, but looks like WW2 uniforms and a soviet machine gun. |
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| WW1 sentry |
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| Mule "saddle" |
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| German sentry equipment, I am really fond of the camouflage on the helmet. |
This is it for today and I will hopefully find enough time to play a game by next week!
Thanks for looking,
Mathyoo
That is a lot of interesting stuff. Thank you for sharing.
ReplyDeleteI am glad you found it interesting!
DeleteHope you had a good time in Italy. The museum does look terribly good. Totally interesting.
ReplyDeleteIt wasn't too bad, it's a private collection I think and as with people near the front line of our side of the border, almost everyone has some sort of trinket from the battlefield. It is forbidden to take what is left now - personal collectors like those are destroying the evidence for the proper archeological survey.
DeleteWhen you said that the museum had only a small collection, I imagined a single room. It looks like there was much more than that!
ReplyDeleteWell, it is just two rooms, really :D.
DeleteNice pics it had quite a varied bunch of exhibits. Interesting to see all those rifle grenades.
ReplyDeleteI find grenades very interesting as well, especially the make-shift racket ones. People didn't need long to figure out a way to toss some explosives at the enemy.
DeleteThanks Mathyoo, that was a great post.
ReplyDeleteYou get to go to some really interesting places with your Dad!
In my "defence", he is a tour guide and he has to go visit the places he is to guide. I come along so he doesn't go alone and well, there's nothing wrong with seeing stuff, is it now? :P
DeleteGreat looking museum- military mountaineering is always interesting. The WW1 trench weapons are as chillingly brutal as ever.
ReplyDeleteCheers,
Pete.
Forgot to say- putting a pub and museum in the same place sounds like a good idea to me- would be a lot better than the over priced cafes you get over here....
DeleteCheers,
Pete.
Hahaha, this is Italy, so by "pub" I certainly meant a cosy cafe. :D
DeleteSome interesting items there but that "sabre" looks remarkaby short.
ReplyDeleteThe mountain war is a fascinating part of WW1 and just as tragic as the trenches of the Western Front.
It is an infantry officer sabre, so probably not really useful as a weapon :D.
DeleteActually, on "Italian front", the most intense fighting was done closer to the sea, where there are no mountains. The terrain is rocky and there is next to no ground level water there, so it was not a pleasant place to be in any case.