Remember Mimi? The little chap with his hat pushed so far back on his head that you wonder how it stayed on without hatpins? If you had written him off as a vainglorious poser suitable only for parades and propaganda photographs then think again.
Blackshirt Legionnaires scrounged from Peter Pig's Japanese WW2, PITS and ACW ranges.
During the assault on 150th Infantry Brigade to the north of BIR HACHIEM, I had given Trebian a couple of understrength Blackshirt battalions to make up infantry numbers. Mimi was lurking at the back, hoping not to be noticed. (You can play "Where's Mimi" over on Trebian's blog if you want to find him yourself)
The evidence that a Blackshirt Legion actually did some fighting. Photo copyright Graham Evans 2013
Imagine my surprise then, when browsing Trebian's website after the battle, to see Mimi in the centre of the enemy position, behind the Legion's eagle. This calls for a Medal! Although there are not many photos of Legionari fighting on the web, there is no shortage of parading and saluting footage. Medals abound too, with almost every unit seeming to cast its own!
Mussolini's propaganda machine got hold of the story and recreated this realistic propaganda photograph of the victory in a studio somewhere in Rome. Such is the skill of Roman cinematic artists that the result is indistinguishable from actual battle footage!
Oh no ... topless Italians in sight of the Pyramids! What next?!
ReplyDeleteGoogling "Italians in sight of the Pyramids" failed to bring up any Pictures of Blackshirts. "Topless Italians" seemed to have a lot of pictures of Berlusconi in the background, and the "Italian Food Pyramid" clamed to be Pasta at the base, then Sauce, then Vino and finally "everything else" in small amounts at the apex!
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