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Few Returned: Twenty-eight Days on the Russian Front, Winter 1942-1943 Paperback – May 28, 1997

by
Eugenio Corti (Author)
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Eugenio Corti (Author),
Peter Edward Levy (Translator)
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Peter Edward Levy (Translator), Carlo W. D'Este (Foreword)
4.3 out of 5 stars 17 customer reviews
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Product Details

  • Paperback: 272 pages
  • Publisher: University of Missouri; 2nd printing edition (May 28, 1997)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0826211151
  • ISBN-13: 978-0826211156
  • Product Dimensions: 6 x 0.7 x 9 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces
  • Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (17 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #875,441 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Top Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 starsgrigio verde
By il Furioso on May 15, 2000
Format: 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.Read more ›
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4.0 out of 5 starsItalians in the East
By A Customer on September 18, 1998
Format: 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.
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5.0 out of 5 starsTruth surpasses fiction
By Roberto T Helguera on May 2, 2000
Format: 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.
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4.0 out of 5 starsItalian veteran offers interesting Stalingrad memoir
By A Customer on May 8, 1998
Format: Paperback Verified Purchase
Few Returned provides a unique look at the retreat from Stalingrad in late 1942 and early 1943. The author was a member of the Italian forces caught up in the Soviet offensive that ended in the destruction of the German 6th Army in Stalingrad. The book is enjoyable because it offers the reader a chance to see what it was like to march days on end fighting the cold, hunger and, at time, your own comrades. It also offers interesting personal observations about the Axis troops caught up in the flight, both German and Italian. This book is highly recommended to anyone who has a good understanding of the larger confict and wants to study the events from the point of view of one who lived it.
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4.0 out of 5 starsSoldiers View of The Russian Front
By Grey Wolffe VINE VOICE on August 17, 2008
Format: Paperback
Corti who was a twenty-one year old artillery officer on the Stalingrad front, was part of the Eighth Italian Army that was cut off when Zhukov sent in the pincers that surrounded the Sixth German Army. His group was in a pocket northeast of Stalingrad that was made up of Italian and German soldiers.

Out of the 30 thousand Italians who held the front at the Don north of Stalingrad, less than four thousand made it out of the pocket and up to one thousand of those died from their wounds and exposure. Corti doesn't pull any punches as to what happened in the pocket or who was to blame.

Many of the Italians had just come to the front over the last two weeks. They were totally unprepared for what was going to become a retreat over one hundred kilometers while constantly under Russian fire. They had to walk most of the way in inadequate uniforms and boots while the Germans requestioned horse and mules and sleds for their own use.

Corti speaks of how the Germans were much better organized and kept their military lines-or-command intact, whereas the Italians in many cases became a mob without any reason or understanding of the situation. At times no one was in charge of taking care of the wounded or giving out provisions. While the German Luftwaffe dropped food and ammunition by parachute, the Italian Air Force was conspicuous by their absence.

The story is straight forward and brutal. Corti does not try to make excuses for anyone (including himself) in the treatment of fellow soldiers or of civilians. It was survive at any cost.

Zeb Kantrowitz
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