Beyond the numbers: a search through sources to identify the casualties of an Italian unit in the Great War of 1915-18

Journal title SOCIETÀ E STORIA
Author/s Pierluigi Scolè
Publishing Year 2016 Issue 2016/152
Language Italian Pages 22 P. 315-336 File size 633 KB
DOI 10.3280/SS2016-152004
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The author offers a review of the available sources to identify the casualties in a unit of the Italian army during the Great War. The main purpose is supplying the data for a social inquiry into Italian fighters, so that it may be possible to piece together a regimental history capable of solving some of the questions that remain unanswered even after a hundred years: age, origin, social background of the members of an army unit, duration of their permanence in the front line before decease, disciplinary situation, precise amount of the unit’s casualties. These include not only the soldiers killed in action, but also the ones who died from wounds or diseases, who were taken prisoners or executed. This appears to be the only way to fill the voids in our knowledge of the history the Italian army in 1915-18.

Keywords: Casualties, Great War 1915-1918, military history, regimental history, social history, sources

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Pierluigi Scolè, Oltre i numeri: un percorso tra le fonti per identificare i morti di un reparto italiano nella Grande Guerra 1915-18 in "SOCIETÀ E STORIA " 152/2016, pp 315-336, DOI: 10.3280/SS2016-152004