Italian battle honours in World War II. A contradiction in terms? Italian bravery. Italian tanks had 6 gears – 1 forward and 5 reverse. The Italian battle flag - a white lion rampant on a white background.

But in this programme and a few of the following maybe, like me, you’re going to have second thoughts about these jokes that were and still are widely made at the expense of the Italians. In English speaking countries their story simply isn’t told. If it is, it’s written by the major players who were more interested in telling their own puffed up story, rather than giving the Italians credit where credit was due. I’m just going to tell you the facts – and you decide. I’m starting off with a great story that I started in the last programme. What happened next, is, I think very revealing.

Operation Crusader; British 22nd Armoured Brigade; Bir-el-Gubi; Ariete Armoured Division; 1st  South African Division; 1st South African Brigade; British 7th Armoured Division; Sidi Rezegh; British 7thArmoured Brigade; General Gastone Gambara; General Mario Balotta; The Lozenge; M13/40 tanks; Field Marshall Erwin Rommel; General Cruwell; British 4th Armoured Brigade; Trieste Motorised Division; Deutsche Afrika Korp;