Few Returned: Twenty-eight Days on the Russian Front, Winter 1942-1943 [Paperback]

Eugenio Corti (Author), Peter Levy (Translator), Carlo D'Este (Foreword)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 28, 1997

After World War II more than one hundred books appeared that dealt with the experience of the Italian army in Russia, and particularly the terrible winter retreat of 1942-1943. Few Returned (I piu' non ritornano) is the only one of these that is still regularly reissued in Italy.

Eugenio Corti, who was a twenty-one-year-old second lieutenant at the time, found himself, together with 30,000 Italians and a smaller contingent of Germans, encircled on the banks of the River Don by enemy forces who far outnumbered them. To break out of this encirclement, these men undertook a desperate march across the snow, with constant engagements and in temperatures ranging from -20 to -30 degrees Fahrenheit. Whereas supplies were air-dropped to the Germans, the predicament of the Italians was far more difficult: lacking gasoline, they were compelled to abandon their vehicles and to proceed without heavy arms, equipment, ammunition, or provisions. Even the wounded had to be abandoned, though it was well known that the soldiers of the Red Army"enraged by the brutality of the German invasion"killed all the enemy wounded who fell into their hands. After twenty-eight days of encirclement, only 4,000 of the 30,000 Italians made it out of the pocket.

Why is it that Corti's book, which was first published in 1947, continues after fifty years to be reprinted in Italy? Because, as Mario Apollonio of the University of Milan said, when the book first appeared: "It is a chronicle . . . but it is much more than that: behind the physical reality, there is the truth" about man at his most tragic hour. Apollonio adds: "The power of the writing immediately transforms the document into drama"; the result is a "novel-poem-drama-history." The philosopher Benedetto Croce found in Corti's book "the not infrequent gleam of human goodness and nobility." Few Returned is a classic of war literature that succeeds in bringing home the full hatefulness of war.

Eugenio Corti began writing his diary at a military hospital immediately after being repatriated from the Russian front. When in September 1943 Italy found itself cut in two by the Armistice, Corti, loyal to his officer's oath, joined up with what remained of the Italian army in the south and with those few troops participated in driving the Germans off Italian soil, fighting at the side of the British Eighth and the American Fifth Armies.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

Published in 1947 and now available for the first time in English, this work is a stunning portrayal of the Eastern Front campaigns of World War II written by a common soldier. Corti, an artillery officer, was a member of the Thirty-fifth Army Corps, one of three corps of the Italian Army to serve with the invading Germans in the Soviet Union. He chronicles the destruction of his corps, beginning with the Soviet offensive of December 16, 1942, and the survivors' breakout of the encirclement on January 16, 1943. The monthlong march carried out in subzero weather by troops with little or no equipment or food is terrifying and heroic. This book is on the same level as Guy Sayer's The Forgotten Soldier (Brassey's, 1990, pap.) for its honest depiction of brutality and heroic resistance to defeat. Highly recommended.?David Lee Poremba, Detroit
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Language Notes

Text: English (translation)
Original Language: Italian

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Product Details

• Paperback: 272 pages
• Publisher: University of Missouri; First edition (May 28, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0826211151
• ISBN-13: 978-0826211156
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 6 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #627,775 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

37 of 41 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars grigio verde, May 15, 2000

By 

il Furioso (South Korea) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Few Returned: Twenty-eight Days on the Russian Front, Winter 1942-1943 (Paperback)

FEW RETURNED :BY EUGENIO CORTI

The famous translation of "I piu' non ritornano" in English. This is the account of the insanity, depravity, suffering and true war reality of an Italian Artillery lieutenant during the Soviet Don retreat.

This journal shows the bravery and fortitude of the Italian soldiers and the bare extents to which people will use to attempt to live. After twenty-eight days of encirclement, only 4,000 Italians of the retreating 30,000 made it out of the pocket. It shows the barbarity with which the Russians exacted on the Italians and the contempt and disrespect that the Germans also displayed to their allies.

Some notable parts of the book for me include:
1) The small contingent of Germans with which the Italians had in their ranks, executed Russian prisoners (captured by the Italians, not the Germans) without any authority of the Italian commanding officers. This led to the Russians killing countless Italian prisoners that they came across (many who could not move due to frostbite, wounds etc).

2) Corti writes about the callous disrespect that the Soviets showed to their own men One example is how the Soviets deployed an Uzbek company into an entrenched position where they were pounded by Italian 81 mm mortars and never got to fire a shot back...when the Uzbek company was completely destroyed the Soviets replaced them with another fresh Uzbek company to be mortared, essentially human life to absorb and use up the enemies ammunition.

3) Also interesting was Ukrainian and Italian relations (whilst fearing the Germans and the Soviets) .A notable part was when Ukrainian peasants helped the Italians build an underground/bunker type church so they could attend Christian mass.

4) A bizarre battle - when a joint Italian/German attempt to breakthrough the Soviet encirclement, consists of a single huge Panther Tank ,accompanied by several small French 1930s captured Hotchkiss tanks and "Battaglione M "Italian assault troops - they were able to knock out and force a withdraw of a force of over 15 T34/76 medium tanks.

This book is a first hand eyewitness account of the Italian eastern front, an area that is very often generalized and not well documented by English historians. It is among my favorite titles.

20 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Truth surpasses fiction, May 2, 2000

By 

Roberto T Helguera - See all my reviews

This review is from: Few Returned: Twenty-eight Days on the Russian Front, Winter 1942-1943 (Paperback)

They say that one writes best about that which one knows best and has experienced. This is true specially of accounts of war told by those in the front lines. This book is Corti's first person account of the retreat of the German and Italian forces from the Russian front during December 1942 - January 1943, under inhuman conditions and against all odds of survival. Corti's own diary written at the time of the events provides the material used and provides us with an accurate and honest account of the events described, the people involved, the emotions felt and the entire human experience of war. Better yet, Corti's perspective is from an Italian fighting someone else's war, and therefore has an objectivity lacking in many other accounts of similar events.

Yet, the value of this book is more its insight into the human soul in times of great distress. Corti is one of those rare human beings that underwent suffering beyond words and were able to talk about it accurately, as a lesson for those of us who want to hear. To read this book as a historical account only, would be to miss Corti's point. The lesson imparted is the inhumanity of war, and its effect on those directly and indirectly involved. It is also a song to the heroism of those unsung and forgotten Italians sent to fight someone else's war, ill-equipped and for reasons they did not share, but whose sacrifice was not in vain in the eyes of God.

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Italians in the East, September 18, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Few Returned: Twenty-eight Days on the Russian Front, Winter 1942-1943 (Paperback)

This book provides a very unique view of the Eastern Front. Not only is it a personal narrative of the great retreat from Stalingrad, but it was also written by an Italian. This means that it offers something very different from what most are used to reading--the German or Russian points of view. The Italian Army on the Eastern Front is not frequently written about in any detail and, therefore, this book would make a fine addition to any collection about the war in the east. Corti's personal narrative offers vivid description of the retreat few authors would be able to achieve. It's a good read.