147-771: 1941 1942 Associated articles The Babini Group ( Italian : Raggruppamento Babini , also known as the Special Armoured Brigade / Brigata Corazzata Speciale ) was an ad hoc armoured unit. The group was formed by the Italian Royal Army ( Regio Esercito Italia ) in Italian North Africa (Libya) at the start of the Western Desert Campaign of the Second World War . The group
294-689: A local language of Italy , most frequently the language spoken at home in their place of origin. Italian is a major language in Europe, being one of the official languages of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe and one of the working languages of the Council of Europe . It is the third-most-widely spoken native language in the European Union (13% of the EU population) and it
441-637: A British analysis found that the Italians had been unable to mass their tanks sufficiently and they had attacked the British piecemeal, which was believed to be because the tanks had been spread through the Italian columns. Prisoners had said that the lack of wireless prevented a tactical reorganisation in the confusion. The VI and XXI Medium battalions in M13s were considered to have shown inferior gunnery while on
588-787: A decision on 26 October 1939, to replace them with M13/40 tanks and the first batch, built by Ansaldo at Genoa in October 1940, were used to equip the III Tank Battalion M13/40 with 37 new M13/40s. In 1940, the Italian army had three armoured divisions in Europe, which were needed for the occupation of Albania and the invasion of Greece. The I Tank Battalion M11/39 (Major Victor Ceva) and the II Tank Battalion M11/39 (Major Eugenio Campanile) landed their M11/39 tanks in Libya on 8 July 1940 and transferred from
735-654: A delay in the Australian advance on Derna. The group then formed a rearguard for the 10th Army as it retreated from Derna and Mechili round the Jebel Akhdar towards the port of Benghazi. The Babini Group was destroyed south of the port at the Battle of Beda Fomm (6–7 February), when the Litoranea Balbo ( Via Balbia ) was cut by Combeforce . The Italians failed to concentrate their remaining tanks at
882-510: A huge number of civil servants and soldiers recruited from all over the country introduced many more words and idioms from their home languages— ciao is derived from the Venetian word s-cia[v]o ("slave", that is "your servant"), panettone comes from the Lombard word panetton , etc. Only 2.5% of Italy's population could speak the Italian standardized language properly when
1029-590: A large quantity of supplies and water, for a British loss of 56 men. After the battle an Australian war correspondent , Alan Moorehead , visited Nibeiwa and saw tanks inside the camp facing in all directions and light tank wrecks at the west wall where the Maletti Group had made its last stand. In his history of the 32nd Tank Infantry Regiment, Maurizio Parri wrote that a company of the II Tank Battalion M11/39s had tried to counter-attack
1176-471: A little over one million people in the United States speak Italian at home. Nevertheless, an Italian language media market does exist in the country. In Canada, Italian is the second most spoken non-official language when varieties of Chinese are not grouped together, with 375,645 claiming Italian as their mother tongue in 2016. Italian immigrants to South America have also brought a presence of
1323-626: A motorcycle battalion, an artillery regiment, two anti-tank gun companies, an engineer company and supply units. On 11 December the under-trained III Tank Battalion M13/40 and the LI Tank Battalion L in L3/35 tankettes, was made available to the 10th Army. Next day, two companies of the III Battalion were sent to Sollum, several tanks to Sidi Aziz and the rest to Halfaya, before the battalion was ordered to retreat west of Gazala to cover
1470-448: A plain devoid of cover, along the route of the smaller Italian column. D’Avanzo, formed a defensive square , with the four guns at the corners, the infantry along the sides and the twelve L3 light tanks patrolling outside. The British reinforced the 11th Hussars with the 7th Hussars armoured cars and a mixed force of light tanks, a cruiser squadron of Cruiser Mk I tanks and an artillery battery. The Italian tanks charged forward ahead of
1617-658: A poetic and literary origin in the works of Tuscan writers of the 12th century, and, although the grammar and core lexicon are basically unchanged from those used in Florence in the 13th century, the modern standard of the language was largely shaped by relatively recent events. However, Romance vernacular as language spoken in the Italian Peninsula has a longer history. In fact, the earliest surviving texts that can definitely be called vernacular (as distinct from its predecessor Vulgar Latin) are legal formulae known as
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#17327825355441764-417: A renewed interest in linguistics in the 16th century, sparked a debate that raged throughout Italy concerning the criteria that should govern the establishment of a modern Italian literary and spoken language. This discussion, known as questione della lingua (i.e., the problem of the language ), ran through the Italian culture until the end of the 19th century, often linked to the political debate on achieving
1911-522: A result. Starting in late medieval times in much of Europe and the Mediterranean, Latin was replaced as the primary commercial language by languages of Italy, especially Tuscan and Venetian. These varieties were consolidated during the Renaissance with the strength of Italy and the rise of humanism and the arts . Italy came to enjoy increasing artistic prestige within Europe. A mark of
2058-464: A seven-vowel system, consisting of /a, ɛ, e, i, ɔ, o, u/ , as well as 23 consonants. Compared with most other Romance languages, Italian phonology is conservative, preserving many words nearly unchanged from Vulgar Latin . Some examples: Frontier Wire (Libya) 1941 1942 Associated articles The Frontier Wire was a 271 km (168 mi) obstacle in Italian Libya , along
2205-564: A short-delay fuze shells exploded inside the tank. At 500 yd (457 m) a Boys anti-tank rifle dented the armour. Examination of wrecked tanks showed that a hit on the crew compartment almost always killed all the occupants, although the reason for this was not apparent. Only a few thousand men of the 10th Army and about nine medium tanks had escaped the disaster in Cyrenaica but the 5th Army had four divisions in Tripolitania and
2352-479: A single language is that they have evolved so that they are no longer mutually intelligible ; this diagnostic is effective if mutual intelligibility is minimal or absent (e.g. in Romance, Romanian and Portuguese), but it fails in cases such as Spanish-Portuguese or Spanish-Italian, as educated native speakers of either pairing can understand each other well if they choose to do so; however, the level of intelligibility
2499-487: A three-day journey to reach Mechili but in the crisis, tanks were rushed forward, driving on their tracks due to a lack of tank transporters, which reduced the serviceability of the vehicles. A defensive position was established by the 60th Infantry Division "Sabratha" on a line from Derna along Wadi Derna, with the Babini Group concentrating at El Ghezze Scebib, south of Mechili and Giovanni Berta and Chaulan, to guard
2646-513: A united Italian state. Renaissance scholars divided into three main factions: A fourth faction claimed that the best Italian was the one that the papal court adopted, which was a mixture of the Tuscan and Roman dialects. Eventually, Bembo's ideas prevailed, and the foundation of the Accademia della Crusca in Florence (1582–1583), the official legislative body of the Italian language, led to
2793-427: Is 89% with French, 87% with Catalan , 85% with Sardinian , 82% with Spanish, 80% with Portuguese , 78% with Ladin , 77% with Romanian . Estimates may differ according to sources. One study, analyzing the degree of differentiation of Romance languages in comparison to Latin (comparing phonology , inflection , discourse , syntax , vocabulary , and intonation ), estimated that distance between Italian and Latin
2940-759: Is also spoken by a minority in Monaco and France, especially in the southeastern part of the country. Italian was the official language in Savoy and in Nice until 1860, when they were both annexed by France under the Treaty of Turin , a development that triggered the " Niçard exodus ", or the emigration of a quarter of the Niçard Italians to Italy, and the Niçard Vespers . Giuseppe Garibaldi complained about
3087-534: Is higher than that between Sardinian and Latin. In particular, its vowels are the second-closest to Latin after Sardinian . As in most Romance languages, stress is distinctive. Italian is the official language of Italy and San Marino and is spoken fluently by the majority of the countries' populations. Italian is the third most spoken language in Switzerland (after German and French; see Swiss Italian ), although its use there has moderately declined since
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#17327825355443234-460: Is markedly lower between Italian-Spanish, and considerably higher between the Iberian sister languages of Portuguese-Spanish. Speakers of this latter pair can communicate with one another with remarkable ease, each speaking to the other in his own native language without slang/jargon. Nevertheless, on the basis of accumulated differences in morphology, syntax, phonology, and to some extent lexicon, it
3381-462: Is not difficult to identify that for the Romance varieties of Italy, the first extant written evidence of languages that can no longer be considered Latin comes from the ninth and tenth centuries C.E. These written sources demonstrate certain vernacular characteristics and sometimes explicitly mention the use of the vernacular in Italy. Full literary manifestations of the vernacular began to surface around
3528-594: Is spoken as a second language by 13.4 million EU citizens (3%). Including Italian speakers in non-EU European countries (such as Switzerland, Albania and the United Kingdom ) and on other continents, the total number of speakers is approximately 85 million. Italian is the main working language of the Holy See , serving as the lingua franca (common language) in the Roman Catholic hierarchy as well as
3675-549: Is used, and the town of Chipilo near Puebla, Mexico; each continues to use a derived form of Venetian dating back to the 19th century. Other examples are Cocoliche , an Italian–Spanish pidgin once spoken in Argentina and especially in Buenos Aires , and Lunfardo . The Rioplatense Spanish dialect of Argentina and Uruguay today has thus been heavily influenced by both standard Italian and Italian regional languages as
3822-619: The Jebel Akhdar mountains around Derna , was garrisoned by XX Corps (Lieutenant-General Annibale Bergonzoli) with the 60th Infantry Division "Sabratha" and the Babini Group, which had already lost some of its tanks in Tobruk. The III Medium Battalion and the V Medium Battalion had an establishment of 55 M13/40 tanks each, which should have amounted to at least 120 M13s in the group but 82 had recently been landed at Benghazi . The new tanks needed ten days to be made battle-worthy and
3969-670: The Riconquista of Libya, in the Second Italo-Sanussi War (1921–1931). The frontier wire was built by the Italian army under General Rodolfo Graziani in the early 1930s, to repress Senussi resistance against the Italian colonisation , by hindering the movement of Senussi fighters and materials from Egypt. The wire comprised four lines of 1.7 m (5.6 ft) high stakes in concrete bases, laced with barbed wire 320 km (200 mi) long, just inside
4116-551: The Via Balbia , the first wave of ten M13s from the Babini Group, advanced slowly at 8:30 a.m. and were surprised when turrets of the British cruisers appeared over a ridge 600 yd (549 m) away. Eight M13s were knocked out and then the British tanks disappeared below the ridge. The British tanks re-appeared over the ridge near the white mosque and the Pimple to knock out another seven M13s. Italian artillery opened fire on
4263-509: The Il Globo (Australia) and the La gazzetta del Sud Africa (South Africa). Italian is widely taught in many schools around the world, but rarely as the first foreign language. In the 21st century, technology also allows for the continual spread of the Italian language, as people have new ways to learn how to speak, read, and write languages at their own pace and at any given time. For example,
4410-991: The La Voce del Popolo ( Croatia ), the Corriere d'Italia (Germany), the L'italoeuropeo (United Kingdom), the Passaparola ( Luxembourg ), the America Oggi (United States), the Corriere Canadese and the Corriere Italiano (Canada), the Il punto d'incontro (Mexico), the L'Italia del Popolo ( Argentina ), the Fanfulla (Brazil), the Gente d'Italia ( Uruguay ), the La Voce d'Italia ( Venezuela ),
4557-488: The 2nd Blackshirt Division (28 October) ( Luogotenente Generale Francesco Argentino). On 29 June, the Maletti Group repulsed British tanks with its artillery and then defeated a night attack. During the frontier skirmishes from 11 June – 9 September, the British claimed to have inflicted 3,500 casualties for a loss of 150 men. On 16 December, during Operation Compass (9 December 1940 – 9 February 1941),
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4704-427: The 2nd Royal Tank Regiment (2nd RTR) as they did, which ignored the signals through complacency. By 11:00 a.m., the British had lost several light tanks and a cruiser tank , one cruiser had a jammed gun and the third was retiring at speed, after needing fifty rounds to knock out two M13s. Eventually the 2nd RTR was alerted, caught the Italian tanks while sky-lined on a ridge and knocked out seven tanks by 11:30 a.m.,
4851-559: The 4th Armoured Brigade of the Western Desert Force captured Sidi Omar and the Italians withdrew from Sollum, Fort Capuzzo and the other frontier forts. Number 9 Field Supply Depot was established at the fort for the 7th Armoured Division. The fortified camp at Sidi Omar was ringed with barbed wire, trenches and minefields. On 11 June 1940, the 11th Hussars in Rolls-Royce and Morris CS9 armoured cars closed up to
4998-524: The 7th Hussars and elements of the 1st Royal Tank Regiment , supported by Gloster Gladiator fighters of 33 Squadron Royal Air Force (RAF) and Bristol Blenheim bombers of 211 Squadron captured Fort Capuzzo as the 11th Hussars took Fort Maddalena, about 60 mi (97 km) further south. The fort was not occupied long, for lack of troops and equipment, but demolition parties visited each night to destroy Italian ammunition and vehicles. The Italians reoccupied Fort Capuzzo and held it with part of
5145-702: The Gallo-Italic linguistic panorama of Northern Italy , the Italo-Dalmatian , Neapolitan and its related dialects were largely unaffected by the Franco- Occitan influences introduced to Italy mainly by bards from France during the Middle Ages, but after the Norman conquest of southern Italy , Sicily became the first Italian land to adopt Occitan lyric moods (and words) in poetry. Even in
5292-619: The Kingdom of Italy in the Dodecanese ). Italian is widely spoken in Malta , where nearly two-thirds of the population can speak it fluently (see Maltese Italian ). Italian served as Malta's official language until 1934, when it was abolished by the British colonial administration amid strong local opposition. Italian language in Slovenia is an officially recognized minority language in
5439-773: The Kingdom of Lombardy–Venetia ), although the masses kept speaking primarily their local vernaculars. Italian was also one of the many recognised languages in the Austro-Hungarian Empire . Italy has always had a distinctive dialect for each city because the cities, until recently, were thought of as city-states . Those dialects now have considerable variety . As Tuscan-derived Italian came to be used throughout Italy, features of local speech were naturally adopted, producing various versions of Regional Italian . The most characteristic differences, for instance, between Roman Italian and Milanese Italian are syntactic gemination of initial consonants in some contexts and
5586-1033: The Middle Ages , the established written language in Europe was Latin, although the great majority of people were illiterate, and only few were well versed in the language. In the Italian Peninsula , as in most of Europe, most would instead speak a local vernacular. These dialects, as they are commonly referred to, evolved from Vulgar Latin over the course of centuries, unaffected by formal standards and teachings. They are not in any sense "dialects" of standard Italian, which itself started off as one of these local tongues, but sister languages of Italian. Mutual intelligibility with Italian varies widely, as it does with Romance languages in general. The Romance languages of Italy can differ greatly from Italian at all levels ( phonology , morphology , syntax , lexicon , pragmatics ) and are classified typologically as distinct languages. The standard Italian language has
5733-554: The Placiti Cassinesi from the province of Benevento that date from 960 to 963, although the Veronese Riddle , probably from the 8th or early 9th century, contains a late form of Vulgar Latin that can be seen as a very early sample of a vernacular dialect of Italy. The Commodilla catacomb inscription is also a similar case. The Italian language has progressed through a long and slow process, which started after
5880-691: The Roman Empire . Italian is the least divergent language from Latin , together with Sardinian (meaning that Italian and Sardinian are the most conservative Romance languages). Spoken by about 85 million people, including 67 million native speakers (2024), Italian is an official language in Italy , San Marino , Switzerland ( Ticino and the Grisons ), Corsica , and Vatican City . It has official minority status in Croatia , Slovenian Istria , and
6027-528: The Western Roman Empire's fall in the 5th century. The language that came to be thought of as Italian developed in central Tuscany and was first formalized in the early 14th century through the works of Tuscan writer Dante Alighieri , written in his native Florentine . Dante's epic poems, known collectively as the Commedia , to which another Tuscan poet Giovanni Boccaccio later affixed
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6174-709: The "Ariete" Division defeated the 22nd Armoured Brigade at Bir el Gubi on 19 November 1941, during Operation Crusader . In 2003, Ian Walker described the loss of the Ragruppamento Maletti in the Attack on Nibeiwa , the first encounter of Operation Compass, as a disaster which cost the Italians the initiative. The Action at Mechili by the Babini Group on 24 January 1941, showed that Italian armoured forces had more potential than at first appeared, gaining an advantage in their first encounter with British tanks and then withdrawing before they were cut off and enabling
6321-616: The 10th Army and the first Italian combined arms unit in North Africa. The group comprised the LX Tank Battalion L, the remaining M11/39 company from the II Tank Battalion M11/39, seven Libyan motorised infantry battalions, motorised artillery and supply units. After the invasion of Egypt in September 1940, the 10th Army began to prepare an advance to Mersa Matruh for 16 December but was forestalled by Operation Compass. Only
6468-420: The 10th Army column between Beda Fomm and the sea. After being ambushed by twenty British Cruiser tanks , all but four of the M13/40s of the VI Tank Battalion M13/40 were knocked out, only 24 days after arriving in Libya. The Italian rearguard arrived in the afternoon and the concentration of tanks and artillery enabled the Italians to recapture the Pimple, open the road south and continue the outflanking move to
6615-455: The 10th Army surrendered. The Beda Fomm area had become a 15 mi (24 km) line of destroyed and abandoned lorries, about a hundred guns, one hundred knocked out or captured tanks and 25,000 prisoners, including Tellera (found mortally wounded in one of the M13s), Bergonzoli and the 10th Army staff. The Babini Group lost more than a hundred and one M13s of which 39, mainly from the XXI Tank Battalion M13/40, were undamaged. On 15 February,
6762-406: The 111 Italian lecturer sections belonging to foreign schools where Italian is taught as a language of culture. As of 2022, Australia had the highest number of students learning Italian in the world. This occurred because of support by the Italian community in Australia and the Italian Government and also because of successful educational reform efforts led by local governments in Australia. From
6909-458: The 13th century in the form of various religious texts and poetry. Although these are the first written records of Italian varieties separate from Latin, the spoken language had probably diverged long before the first written records appeared since those who were literate generally wrote in Latin even if they spoke other Romance varieties in person. Throughout the 19th and 20th centuries, the use of Standard Italian became increasingly widespread and
7056-438: The 1970s. It is official both on the national level and on regional level in two cantons : Ticino and Grisons . In the latter canton, however, it is only spoken by a small minority, in the Italian Grisons . Ticino, which includes Lugano , the largest Italian-speaking city outside Italy, is the only canton where Italian is predominant. Italian is also used in administration and official documents in Vatican City . Italian
7203-465: The 2/11th Australian Battalion, as it attacked the airfield and high ground at Siret el Chreiba. The 10th Bersaglieriswept the flat ground with field artillery and machine-guns, stopping the Australian advance 3,000 yd (1.7 mi; 2.7 km) short of the objective. On 26 January, Graziani ordered Tellera to continue the defence of Derna and to use the Babini Group to stop an advance westwards from Mechili–Derna. Tellera requested more tanks but this
7350-417: The 32nd Tank Infantry Regiment moved with the Ariete Division from Veneto to the border with France, as part of the Army of the Po ( Armata del Po ), ready to exploit a breakthrough but the war ended so quickly that the division did not participate. On 28 July 1939, the I and II tank battalions M11/39 received 96 Fiat M11/39 tanks to replace their Fiat 3000s . The inadequacies of the M11/39 tanks led to
7497-454: The 32nd Tank Infantry Regiment to the command of the 4th Tank Infantry Regiment . The two battalions had an establishment of 600 men, 72 tanks, 56 vehicles, 37 motorcycles and 76 trailers. The medium tanks reinforced the three hundred and twenty-four L3/35 tankettes already in Libya. On 29 August 1940 the commander of the Northern Africa High Command Marshal Rodolfo Graziani ordered, on advice of General Valentino Babini , that
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#17327825355447644-476: The 4th Armoured Brigade ready to attack but the garrison surrendered, the British taking 18 prisoners and destroying equipment, then moving on to set an ambush on the Via Litoranea Libica . The Siege of Giarabub (now Jaghbub) in Libya , took place between the WDF and the Italian garrison. In the aftermath of Operazione E , the Italian invasion of Egypt by the 10th Army (10ª Armata ) from 9 to 16 September 1940, Operation Compass (9–16 December) by
7791-601: The 60th Infantry Division "Sabratha" at Derna to retreat. At Beda Fomm the Babini Group came close to overrunning the British defences, despite the disorganisation caused by the British ambush and being exposed to defeat in detail . To commemorate the destruction of the V and III Tank Battalion M13/40s, 8 February was chosen as Corpus Christi (the Feast of the Body of Christ) of the 32nd Tank Infantry Regiment. Babini Group , 18 November 1940. Data taken from Christie (1999) unless specified. Tanks Infantry Artillery 1st Libyan Armoured Division (Intended structure of
7938-432: The British Matildas but the crews misunderstood flag signals, which caused delays and the attack failed. Maletti was wounded while rallying his men, then retreated to his tent with a machine-gun where he was killed. In December, the V Tank Battalion M13/40 (Lieutenant-Colonel Emilio Iezzi), arrived at Benghazi with thirty-seven M13/40s in two companies and on 25 November, Graziani ordered the establishment at Marsa Lucch of
8085-402: The British blocking position and continue the retreat to Agedabia. The fort at Sceleidima had been garrisoned by the Bignami Group of the 10th Bersaglieri , to block the route towards the north end of the Italian column on the Via Balbia and Tellera detached another thirty tanks from the Babini Group as reinforcement. The breakthrough attempts to the south could not be fully reinforced and
8232-421: The British infantry resumed fire on Italian infantry following the tanks, to pin them down. The M13s knocked out all but one anti-tank gun and kept going; the last anti-gun was driven to a flank and fired as the last M13s advanced and knocked out the last tank. On the road, the Italians could hear British tank engines on the flanks, to the rear; in the north the British surrounded another Italian group, just before
8379-422: The British losing of the cruiser and six light tanks. Tellera intended to use the Babini Group to harass the British southern flank to cover a withdrawal from Mechili but Graziani ordered him to wait on events. By the evening, a report had arrived from Babini that the group was down from 50 to 60 tanks and that their performance had been disappointing, along with alarmist tales of 150 British tanks advancing round
8526-412: The British pursuit. At Benghazi and Beda Fomm , the Babini Group had almost a hundred M13/40 tanks. During the retreat from Benghazi, commanded by Lieutenant-General Annibale Bergonzoli (commander of XXIII Corps) the first convoy reached the area of Beda Fomm, ran into a minefield planted across the road and was engaged by the artillery, anti-tank guns and armoured cars of Combeforce, whose ambush threw
8673-422: The III Tank Battalion M13/40 was sent to Mechili and on 9 December, Operation Compass began to push back the 10th Army from Sidi Barrani , 62 mi (100 km) inside Egypt. The III Tank Battalion M13/40 was sent forward to Sollum and the Halfaya Pass . On 22 January, the VI Tank Battalion M13/40 arrived at Benghazi, with thirty-seven M13/40s and another thirty-six M13/40s for the XXI Tank Battalion L, which
8820-428: The IX Tank Battalion L, the II Tank Battalion M11/39, with the Maletti Group at Nibeiwa camp and the LXIII and XX Tank Battalion Ls were still in Egypt. The camp at Nibeiwa was a rectangle about 1.6 km × 2.4 km (1 mi × 1.5 mi), with a bank and an anti-tank ditch. A minefield had been laid but at the north-west corner, there was a gap for delivery lorries and a British night reconnaissance found
8967-448: The Italian declaration of war on 10 June 1940 until the conquest of Libya by the British in 1942, it was the scene of military engagements between Italian, British and German forces as the fighting ebbed and flowed across the frontier. While the installation was reasonably effective against the poorly equipped Senussi, it was ineffective against the well-equipped conventional army fielded by the British. In 1922, Benito Mussolini continued
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#17327825355449114-459: The Italian declaration of war, the 10th Army formed Raggruppamento D'Avanzo (Colonel Lorenzo D’Avanzo) with orders to end British penetrations of the frontier wire near Fort Capuzzo. The Raggruppamento comprised a Libyan motorised battalion from the 1st Libyan Division , the 3rd Company of the IX Light Tank Battalion with 16 × L3/33 tankettes and the motorised Libyan 17th Battery, IV Group with four 77/28 guns . Raggruppamento D'Avanzo
9261-417: The Italian dialects has declined in the modern era , as Italy unified under Standard Italian and continues to do so aided by mass media from newspapers to radio to television, diglossia is still frequently encountered in Italy and triglossia is not uncommon in emigrant communities among older speakers. Both situations normally involve some degree of code-switching and code-mixing . Notes: Italian has
9408-439: The Italian language into a lingua franca used not only among clerks, nobility, and functionaries in the Italian courts but also by the bourgeoisie . Italian literature's first modern novel, I promessi sposi ( The Betrothed ) by Alessandro Manzoni , further defined the standard by "rinsing" his Milanese "in the waters of the Arno " ( Florence 's river), as he states in the preface to his 1840 edition. After unification,
9555-459: The Italians could not expect to be undisturbed by British attacks along the convoy or the Australian advance down the Via Balbia , towards the tail of the column. When the rest of the Babini Group arrived at Beda Fomm, only improvised artillery and infantry groups could support it and without reconnaissance its personnel had little idea of British dispositions. The retirement of the 4th Armoured Brigade into laager , led Bergonzoli to believe that
9702-515: The Italians reinforced the Sirte , Tmed Hassan and Buerat strongholds from Italy, which brought the total of Italian soldiers in Tripolitania to about 150,000 men. In 2001, David French wrote that the Italian forces in Libya experienced a "renaissance" during 1941, when the 101st Motorized Division "Trieste" , 102nd Motorized Division "Trento" , the 132nd Armored Division "Ariete" arrived with better equipment. Italian anti-tank units performed well during Operation Brevity , Operation Battleaxe and
9849-411: The Italians, firing into the convoy, setting vehicles alight, forcing drivers to abandon their vehicles or leave the road for the dunes to the west, where they dodged British artillery-fire and attacks by light tanks, which took 350 prisoners. The Babini Group had only about thirty tanks left and Bergonzoli planned to us them to force a passage through Combeforce at dawn, before the British could attack
9996-406: The Jebel Akhdar.) The attack of the Bersaglieri had little effect, being unsupported by artillery, most of which was with the rearguard to the north. The vanguard of the Italian retreat had no tanks, few front-line infantry which were prevented by the ambush from manoeuvring and to fight where they stood. Italian rear-area personnel and civilians tried to escape by driving west off the road into
10143-416: The Libyan Tank Command ( Italian : Comando Carri Armati Della Libia ), entrusted to General Valentino Babini, be constituted under his direct control. All tanks in Italian Libya were to come under the new arrangements laid down in Graziani's order N. 1/210045 . When Operation Compass began on 9 December 1940, the IX Tank Battalion L was still with the 2nd Libyan Division , the II Tank Battalion M11/39
10290-497: The Mediterranean. The increasing political and cultural relevance of Florence during the periods of the rise of the Medici Bank , humanism , and the Renaissance made its dialect, or rather a refined version of it, a standard in the arts. The Renaissance era, known as il Rinascimento in Italian, was seen as a time of rebirth, which is the literal meaning of both renaissance (from French) and rinascimento (Italian). During this time, long-existing beliefs stemming from
10437-479: The Pimple and were engaged by the British tanks, wherever there were no Italian tanks to stop them. By noon, forty Italian M13s had been knocked out and only about fifty were left. At 1:00 p.m., the V Tank Battalion M13/40 engaged British tanks and then the III Tank Battalion M13/40 arrived and joined in. Three British tanks were knocked out and the British retired, leaving behind several prisoners. The III Battalion then repulsed another attack by twelve British tanks on
10584-627: The Special Armoured Brigade/Babini Group ( Brigata Corazzata Speciale/Raggruppamento Babini ) to be commanded by General Valentino Babini, with the III Tank Battalion M13/40 (less detachment) and the V Tank Battalion M13/40, combined with the L3/35s of the 4th Tank Infantry Regiment. The medium tank crews were inexperienced and lacked training, many of the officers having only recently come from very short courses at training schools. The Tank Battalion Ls remained with
10731-550: The Support Group of the 7th Armoured Division took over, to observe the wire for 97 km (60 mi) from Sollum south to Fort Maddalena, ready to fight delaying actions against an Italian advance. Fort Capuzzo ( Ridotta Capuzzo ) was one of the forts built near the border with Egypt and the frontier wire, part of a system of frontier control built in the early 1930s. The Via Litoranea Libica ran south from Bardia to Fort Capuzzo, 13 km (8 mi) west of
10878-470: The V Tank Battalion M13/40 of the 132nd Armored Division "Ariete" to join the III Tank Battalion M13/40. The V Tank Battalion M13/40 was sent Derna to join the Babini Group on 16 January 1941 but a lack of tank transporters meant that the M13/40 had to drive on their tracks, which caused many breakdowns and on 19 December, Comando Supremo arranged to rush every available M13/40 to Tripoli. The area east of
11025-429: The V Tank Battalion M13/40, twelve of the III Tank Battalion M13/40 at the rear, twenty-four guns, eighteen anti-tank guns, 320 assorted lorries and other small vehicles. At 8:30 a.m. the Babini Group advanced without artillery support and with no knowledge of the situation beyond the first ridge to the east. The 7th Support Group, which was left with only the 1st King's Royal Rifle Corps (1st KRRC) and some artillery,
11172-576: The WDF, the Battle of Sidi Barrani and the pursuit of the 10th Army into Cyrenaica (16 December 1940 – 9 February 1941), the fortified Italian position at the Al Jaghbub Oasis was besieged by part of the 6th Australian Division from December 1940 to 21 March 1941. The 6th Australian Divisional Cavalry Regiment (6th ADCR) began the siege in December 1940 and isolated the oasis , leaving
11319-427: The artillery and infantry and were knocked out. The British then circled the Italian square, firing at the lorries and infantry; after the second circuit, the Italian artillery opened fire. The Italian gunners had only high explosive ammunition and the British concentrated on the guns at each corner. Lacking cover the Italian gunners were soon shot down and then the infantry broke. The British destroyed twelve light tanks,
11466-452: The border from El Ramleh on the Gulf of Sollum, past Fort Capuzzo to Sidi Omar , then south, slightly to the west of the 25th meridian east , the border with Egypt and Sudan. Three large forts at Amseat (Fort Capuzzo), Scegga ( Fort Maddalena ) and Giarabub and six smaller ones at El Ramleh on the Gulf of Sollum, Sidi Omar, Sceferzen, Vescechet, Garn ul Grein, and El Aamara were built along
11613-528: The brigade when the division was formed) Tanks Infantry Artillery Books Journals Theses Websites Italian language Italian ( italiano , pronounced [itaˈljaːno] , or lingua italiana , pronounced [ˈliŋɡwa itaˈljaːna] ) is a Romance language of the Indo-European language family that evolved from the Vulgar Latin of
11760-444: The case of Northern Italian languages, however, scholars are careful not to overstate the effects of outsiders on the natural indigenous developments of the languages. The economic might and relatively advanced development of Tuscany at the time ( Late Middle Ages ) gave its language weight, although Venetian remained widespread in medieval Italian commercial life, and Ligurian (or Genoese) remained in use in maritime trade alongside
11907-653: The colonial period. In the early 19th century, Eritrea was the country with the highest number of Italians abroad, and the Italian Eritreans grew from 4,000 during World War I to nearly 100,000 at the beginning of World War II. In Asmara there are two Italian schools, the Italian School of Asmara (Italian primary school with a Montessori department) and the Liceo Sperimentale "G. Marconi" (Italian international senior high school). Italian
12054-411: The column into confusion. Part of the 10th Bersaglieri tried to advance down the road and others on the flanks. (Combeforce had reached Antelat during the morning and by 12:30 p.m. had observers overlooking the Via Balbia west of Beda Fomm and Sidi Saleh, about 30 mi (48 km) south-west of Antelat and 20 mi (32 km) north of Ajedabia, the rest of the force following on south of
12201-573: The country (some 0.42% of the total population). Their numbers dropped dramatically after World War II following the Istrian–Dalmatian exodus , which caused the emigration of between 230,000 and 350,000 Istrian Italians and Dalmatian Italians. Italian was the official language of the Republic of Ragusa from 1492 to 1807. It formerly had official status in Albania due to the annexation of
12348-518: The country to the Kingdom of Italy (1939–1943). Albania has a large population of non-native speakers, with over half of the population having some knowledge of the Italian language. The Albanian government has pushed to make Italian a compulsory second language in schools. The Italian language is well-known and studied in Albania, due to its historical ties and geographical proximity to Italy and to
12495-446: The country. A few hundred Italian settlers returned to Libya in the 2000s. Italian was the official language of Eritrea during Italian colonisation . Italian is today used in commerce, and it is still spoken especially among elders; besides that, Italian words are incorporated as loan words in the main language spoken in the country (Tigrinya). The capital city of Eritrea, Asmara , still has several Italian schools, established during
12642-525: The country. The official census, carried out in 2002, reported 2,258 ethnic Italians ( Istrian Italians ) in Slovenia (0.11% of the total population). Italian language in Croatia is an official minority language in the country, with many schools and public announcements published in both languages. The 2001 census in Croatia reported 19,636 ethnic Italians (Istrian Italians and Dalmatian Italians ) in
12789-482: The day, on the track to Sidi Omar. British patrols ranged north to the Via Litoranea Libica , on the coast between Bardia and Tobruk , west to Bir el Gubi and south to Giarabub. Italian reinforcements then arrived at the frontier, began to reconnoitre, improved the frontier defences and recaptured Fort Capuzzo. On 13 August, the British raids were stopped to conserve the serviceability of vehicles and
12936-464: The design and fashion industries, in some sports such as football and especially in culinary terms. In Italy, almost all the other languages spoken as the vernacular —other than standard Italian and some languages spoken among immigrant communities—are often called " Italian dialects ", a label that can be very misleading if it is understood to mean "dialects of Italian". The Romance dialects of Italy are local evolutions of spoken Latin that pre-date
13083-534: The diffusion of Italian television in the country. Due to heavy Italian influence during the Italian colonial period , Italian is still understood by some in former colonies such as Libya. Although it was the primary language in Libya since colonial rule , Italian greatly declined under the rule of Muammar Gaddafi , who expelled the Italian Libyan population and made Arabic the sole official language of
13230-446: The east. The XXI Tank Battalion M13/40 arrived late, found itself obstructed by a mine field and was unable attack as more British tanks arrived as night fell and intercepted the column as several Italian vehicles and thirty tanks got past the Pimple. Bergonzoli abandoned attempts to hook round the eastern flank and sent the last of the Babini Group west through the dunes, just as the British tanks had to rearm. Several British tanks pursued
13377-478: The educated gentlemen was to make the Grand Tour , visiting Italy to see its great historical monuments and works of art. It was expected that the visitor would learn at least some Italian, understood as language based on Florentine. In England, while the classical languages Latin and Greek were the first to be learned, Italian became the second most common modern language after French, a position it held until
13524-491: The entrance. The British attacked the rear of the camp from the north-west at 5:00 a.m. on 9 December, with infantry and Matilda infantry tanks leading and Bren carriers on the flanks, all firing on the move. About twenty of the Maletti Group M11/39s outside the camp, were destroyed in the first rush. By 10:40 a.m., the camp had been overrun and 2,000 Italian and Libyan prisoners captured, along with
13671-462: The establishment of Italian, and as such are sister languages to the Tuscan that was the historical source of Italian. They can be quite different from Italian and from each other, with some belonging to different linguistic branches of Romance. The only exceptions to this are twelve groups considered " historical language minorities ", which are officially recognized as distinct minority languages by
13818-433: The fact that it was linguistically an intermediate between the northern and the southern Italian dialects. Thus the dialect of Florence became the basis for what would become the official language of Italy. Italian was progressively made an official language of most of the Italian states predating unification, slowly replacing Latin, even when ruled by foreign powers (such as Spain in the Kingdom of Naples , or Austria in
13965-513: The flank and rear of the infantry. On 22 January, the British advanced towards Derna with the 19th Australian Brigade and sent another Australian brigade to reinforce the 4th Armoured Brigade , 7th Armoured Division, south of the Jebel Akhdar, for an advance on Mechili. Next day, the 10th Army commander, General Giuseppe Tellera ordered a counter-attack against the British as they approached Mechili, to avoid an envelopment of XX Corps from
14112-422: The flanks and rear of the column. The Babini Group was supported by artillery-fire, as soon as it became light enough to see movement by the British anti-tank guns portée. British infantry stayed under cover as they were overrun by the M13s, which concentrated their fire on the British anti-tank guns and British artillery fired on the infantry positions as the Babini Group passed through. After the tanks had moved on,
14259-404: The force would concentrate in defence of the roadblock and during the night, he organised an attack down the Via Balbia , to pin down the defenders. A flanking move by the Babini Group eastwards through the desert, just west of a feature known as the Pimple, was intended to get behind Combeforce. On the morning of 6 February, the Babini Group had 16 officers and 2,300 men, twenty-four M13s in
14406-432: The four guns and killed or captured 100 of the 400 Italian infantry. A Squadron of the 11th Hussars made three gaps in the wire on the night of 11 June, cut telephone poles on the Italian side and skirmished around the fort. On 13 June, an armoured car troop attacked the fort and was repulsed by the garrison, then attacked by Italian aircraft as they retreated. The 11th Hussars reconnoitred again on 14 June, with part of
14553-476: The free website and application Duolingo has 4.94 million English speakers learning the Italian language. According to the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs , every year there are more than 200,000 foreign students who study the Italian language; they are distributed among the 90 Institutes of Italian Culture that are located around the world, in the 179 Italian schools located abroad, or in
14700-401: The frontier wire, crossed during the night and exchanged fire with the garrison at Sidi Omar. Sidi Omar was captured on 16 December, during Operation Compass by the 7th Hussars, 2nd Royal Tank Regiment (2nd RTR) and the 4th Royal Horse Artillery (4th RHA). The British bombarded the fort, then tanks charged the fort and one broke through the wall. After a second tank drove through the hole in
14847-546: The garrison dependent on the Regia Aeronautica (Italian Royal Air Force) for supplies. Air transport proved insufficient and hunger prompted many of the locally recruited troops to desert. After being reinforced by the 2/9th Australian Battalion and a battery of the 4th RHA, the Australians attacked and captured Giarabub from 17 to 21 March 1941. The Australians left behind a salvage party and withdrew from
14994-484: The head of the column before Combeforce was reinforced and were defeated in detail, with possibly only nine tanks escaping to the south. The 32nd Tank Infantry Regiment was formed on 1 December 1938 and on 1 February 1939 became part of the 132nd Armored Division "Ariete" , the second armoured division of the Royal Italian Army ( Regio Esercito ). After the Italian declaration of war on 11 June 1940,
15141-539: The infantry divisions in Egypt, despite this interrupting training with the new M13/40s, which was complicated by the M13s coming from the first production batch with many mechanical defects. Only three of the III Tank Battalion M13/40 tanks had radios, which made the other crews reliant on flag signals limited to halt , forward , backwards , right , left , slow down and speed up . The Babini Group had an infantry regiment comprising three " Bersaglieri " battalions,
15288-489: The island of Corsica (but not in the neighbouring Sardinia , which on the contrary underwent Italianization well into the late 18th century, under Savoyard sway: the island's linguistic composition, roofed by the prestige of Spanish among the Sardinians , would therein make for a rather slow process of assimilation to the Italian cultural sphere ). The rediscovery of Dante's De vulgari eloquentia , as well as
15435-640: The language to that continent. According to some sources, Italian is the second most spoken language in Argentina after the official language of Spanish, although its number of speakers, mainly of the older generation, is decreasing. Italian bilingual speakers can be found scattered across the Southeast of Brazil as well as in the South. In Venezuela , Italian is the most spoken language after Spanish and Portuguese, with around 200,000 speakers. In Uruguay , people who speak Italian as their home language are 1.1% of
15582-498: The late 18th century when it tended to be replaced by German. John Milton , for instance, wrote some of his early poetry in Italian. Within the Catholic Church , Italian is known by a large part of the ecclesiastical hierarchy and is used in substitution for Latin in some official documents. Italian loanwords continue to be used in most languages in matters of art and music (especially classical music including opera), in
15729-534: The late 19th to the mid-20th century, millions of Italians settled in Argentina, Uruguay, Southern Brazil and Venezuela, as well as in Canada and the United States, where they formed a physical and cultural presence. In some cases, colonies were established where variants of regional languages of Italy were used, and some continue to use this regional language. Examples are Rio Grande do Sul , Brazil, where Talian
15876-567: The law. On the other hand, Corsican (a language spoken on the French island of Corsica ) is closely related to medieval Tuscan , from which Standard Italian derives and evolved. The differences in the evolution of Latin in the different regions of Italy can be attributed to the natural changes that all languages in regular use are subject to, and to some extent to the presence of three other types of languages: substrata, superstrata, and adstrata . The most prevalent were substrata (the language of
16023-678: The length of the border of British-held Egypt , running from El Ramleh, in the Gulf of Sollum (between Bardia and Sollum ) south to Jaghbub parallel to the 25th meridian east , the Libya–Egypt and Libya–Sudan borders. The frontier wire and its line of covering forts was built by the Italians during the Second Italo-Senussi War (1923–1931), as a defensive system to contain the Senussi population, who crossed from Egypt during their resistance against Italian colonisers. From
16170-407: The morning that the group was attacking round the southern flank, deterred the Australians from continuing the advance on Derna; forty Bersaglieri were killed and 56 captured. The 4th Armoured Brigade was ordered to encircle Mechili and cut the western and north-western exits, while the 7th Armoured Brigade cut the road from Mechili to Slonta but the Babini Group had retreated from Mechili during
16317-425: The mosque and every operational tank the Babini Group had left advanced towards the Pimple and the mosque. At 10:30 a.m. another big Italian convoy arrived from the north, escorted by M13s which forced back the British. The escorting tanks of the Babini Group kept the light tanks at a distance but they were still able to inflict damage and sow confusion. The weather turned to rain as more Italian columns arrived near
16464-528: The move, unlike the III and V Tank Battalion M13/40s at Mechili in January; the newer battalions had recently received M13s and possibly were inadequately trained on them. Tests on captured M13s found that armour-piercing shells fired by a 25-pounder field gun at 800 yd (732 m) went straight through the tank; when fired with an instantaneous fuze the shell made a large hole in the armour of one side and with
16611-820: The municipalities of Santa Tereza and Encantado in Brazil . Italian is also spoken by large immigrant and expatriate communities in the Americas and Australia . Italian is included under the languages covered by the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages in Bosnia and Herzegovina and in Romania , although Italian is neither a co-official nor a protected language in these countries. Some speakers of Italian are native bilinguals of both Italian (either in its standard form or regional varieties ) and
16758-412: The nation was unified in 1861. Italian is a Romance language , a descendant of Vulgar Latin (colloquial spoken Latin). Standard Italian is based on Tuscan , especially its Florentine dialect , and is, therefore, an Italo-Dalmatian language , a classification that includes most other central and southern Italian languages and the extinct Dalmatian . According to Ethnologue , lexical similarity
16905-413: The night. During 27 January, Australian attempts to attack were met by massed artillery-fire, against which the Australian artillery were rationed to ten rounds per-gun-per-day; the 2/4th Australian Battalion repulsed another battalion-strength counter-attack. A column of Bren carriers of the 6th Australian Cavalry Regiment was sent south to reconnoitre the area where the Italian tanks had been reported and
17052-408: The number of printing presses in Italy grew rapidly and by the year 1500 reached a total of 56, the biggest number of printing presses in all of Europe. This enabled the production of more pieces of literature at a lower cost and Italian, as the dominant language, spread. Italian became the language used in the courts of every state in the Italian Peninsula , as well as the prestige variety used on
17199-655: The oasis the next day, just before the Italo-German counter-offensive, Operation Sonnenblume , (24 March – 9 April) which recaptured Cyrenaica. After the Allied conquest in 1943, Tripolitania and Cyrenaica were ruled under the British Military Administration of Libya until independence in 1951, as a kingdom under Muhammad Idris bin Muhammad al-Mahdi as-Senussi (King Idris of Libya ) and
17346-590: The official language of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta . Italian has a significant use in musical terminology and opera with numerous Italian words referring to music that have become international terms taken into various languages worldwide. Almost all native Italian words end with vowels , and the language has a 7-vowel sound system ('e' and 'o' have mid-low and mid-high sounds). Italian has contrast between short and long consonants and gemination (doubling) of consonants. During
17493-630: The openness of vowels, the length of the consonants, and influence of the local language (for example, in informal situations andà , annà and nare replace the standard Italian andare in the area of Tuscany, Rome and Venice respectively for the infinitive "to go"). There is no definitive date when the various Italian variants of Latin—including varieties that contributed to modern Standard Italian—began to be distinct enough from Latin to be considered separate languages. One criterion for determining that two language variants are to be considered separate languages rather than variants of
17640-584: The original inhabitants), as the Italian dialects were most probably simply Latin as spoken by native cultural groups. Superstrata and adstrata were both less important. Foreign conquerors of Italy that dominated different regions at different times left behind little to no influence on the dialects. Foreign cultures with which Italy engaged in peaceful relations with, such as trade, had no significant influence either. Throughout Italy, regional varieties of Standard Italian, called Regional Italian , are spoken. Regional differences can be recognized by various factors:
17787-458: The other hand, almost everyone still speaks the Corsican idiom , which, due to its linguistic proximity to the Italian standard language, appears both linguistically as an Italian dialect and therefore as a carrier of Italian culture, despite the French government's decades-long efforts to cut Corsica off from the Italian motherland. Italian was the official language in Monaco until 1860, when it
17934-406: The population of Italy could speak Standard Italian. He reports that in 1951 that percentage had risen to 87%. The ability to speak Italian did not necessarily mean it was in everyday use, and most people (63.5%) still usually spoke their native dialects. In addition, other factors such as mass emigration, industrialization, and urbanization, and internal migrations after World War II , contributed to
18081-401: The port of Sollum in Egypt, then east across the frontier, down the escarpment to the coast. The fort was built with four crenellated stone walls around a yard with living quarters on the edges. A track ran south from the fort, just west of the frontier wire and the border, to Sidi Omar, Fort Maddalena and Giarabub. On 14 June, after the Italian declaration of war on Britain four days earlier,
18228-469: The proliferation of Standard Italian. The Italians who emigrated during the Italian diaspora beginning in 1861 were often of the uneducated lower class, and thus the emigration had the effect of increasing the percentage of literates, who often knew and understood the importance of Standard Italian, back home in Italy. A large percentage of those who had emigrated also eventually returned to Italy, often more educated than when they had left. Although use of
18375-528: The pronunciation of stressed "e", and of "s" between vowels in many words: e.g. va bene "all right" is pronounced [vabˈbɛːne] by a Roman (and by any standard Italian speaker), [vaˈbeːne] by a Milanese (and by any speaker whose native dialect lies to the north of the La Spezia–Rimini Line ); a casa "at home" is [akˈkaːsa] for Roman, [akˈkaːsa] or [akˈkaːza] for standard, [aˈkaːza] for Milanese and generally northern. In contrast to
18522-415: The publication of Agnolo Monosini 's Latin tome Floris italicae linguae libri novem in 1604 followed by the first Italian dictionary in 1612. An important event that helped the diffusion of Italian was the conquest and occupation of Italy by Napoleon in the early 19th century (who was himself of Italian-Corsican descent). This conquest propelled the unification of Italy some decades after and pushed
18669-518: The rear of Tobruk. The 1st Tank Company (Lieutenant Elio Castanello) was detached to reinforce Bardia and the drive from Sidi Aziz exposed many technical failings in the M13/40s, including defective fuel pumps, inconsistent fuel consumption between tanks, engine wear and brittle armour. In December, Comando Supremo (supreme command of the Italian armed forces) in Rome, reinforced the Babini Group with
18816-487: The referendum that allowed France to annex Savoy and Nice, and a group of his followers (among the Italian Savoyards ) took refuge in Italy in the following years. Corsica passed from the Republic of Genoa to France in 1769 after the Treaty of Versailles . Italian was the official language of Corsica until 1859. Giuseppe Garibaldi called for the inclusion of the " Corsican Italians " within Italy when Rome
18963-425: The sand dunes and bogged down. Lorries carrying petrol caught fire and lit the dusk, illuminating targets for the British gunners and giving the tanks en route a mark to drive on. The British artillery was not needed and the crews took about 800 prisoners. Tellera, commanding the rearguard, had to retain part of the Babini Group, rather than send all of it south to reinforce Bergonzoli for the attempts to break through
19110-463: The south but communication within the Babini Group was slow, only the tanks of senior commanders having wireless sets. Next day, 10–15 M13/40s of the Babini Group attacked the 7th Hussars of the 4th Armoured Brigade, which was heading west to cut the Derna–Mechili track north of Mechili. The Italians fired on the move, hit several tanks and pursued as the British swiftly retired, calling for help from
19257-512: The southern flank. Graziani ordered Tellera to disengage the Babini Group by next morning. Some tanks had been held back at Benghazi and work had begun on a defensive position at Sirte, 440 mi (710 km) to the south. In the north, on 25 January, the 2/11th Australian Battalion engaged the 60th Infantry Division "Sabratha" and the 10th Bersaglieri Regiment of the Babini Group at Derna airfield, making slow progress against determined resistance. Italian bombers and fighters flew sorties against
19404-473: The teachings of the Roman Catholic Church began to be understood from new perspectives as humanists —individuals who placed emphasis on the human body and its full potential—began to shift focus from the church to human beings themselves. The continual advancements in technology play a crucial role in the diffusion of languages. After the invention of the printing press in the 15th century,
19551-469: The title Divina , were read throughout the peninsula and his written dialect became the "canonical standard" that all educated Italians could understand. Dante is still credited with standardizing the Italian language. In addition to the widespread exposure gained through literature, the Florentine dialect also gained prestige due to the political and cultural significance of Florence at the time and
19698-542: The total population of the country. In Australia, Italian is the second most spoken foreign language after Chinese, with 1.4% of the population speaking it as their home language. The main Italian-language newspapers published outside Italy are the L'Osservatore Romano ( Vatican City ), the L'Informazione di San Marino ( San Marino ), the Corriere del Ticino and the laRegione Ticino ( Switzerland ),
19845-460: The wall, the garrison began to surrender. The Italians had concentrated their firepower on the east wall facing Egypt and had been surprised by an attack from the west. The fall of the fort left the way clear for the British to send reinforcements and supplies to the forces further north on the coast, free from the possibility of attack from the inland flank. On 16 June 1940, two days after the loss of Fort Capuzzo and Fort Maddalena and six days after
19992-517: The wire. The wire was patrolled using aircraft and armoured cars from the forts, by the Italian army and border guards, who attacked anyone seen in the frontier zone. British patrols closed up to the frontier wire on 11 June 1940 and began to dominate the area, harass the garrisons of the frontier forts and set ambushes along the Via Litoranea Libica (renamed Via Balbia later in 1940) and inland tracks. Some Italian troops were unaware that war had been declared and seventy were captured during
20139-561: Was also introduced to Somalia through colonialism and was the sole official language of administration and education during the colonial period but fell out of use after government, educational and economic infrastructure were destroyed in the Somali Civil War . Italian is also spoken by large immigrant and expatriate communities in the Americas and Australia. Although over 17 million Americans are of Italian descent , only
20286-604: Was ambushed by a party of the Babini Group with concealed anti-tank guns and machine guns; four Australians were killed and three taken prisoner. The 11th Hussars found a gap at Chaulan south of Wadi Derna, which threatened the Babini Group and the defenders in Derna with encirclement and Bergonzoli ordered a retirement. The Italians disengaged on the night of 28/29 January before the garrison could be trapped and Babini Group rearguards cratered roads, planted mines and booby-traps and managed to conduct several skilful ambushes, which slowed
20433-525: Was annexed to the Kingdom of Italy , but King Victor Emmanuel II did not agree to it. Italian is generally understood in Corsica by the population resident therein who speak Corsican , which is an Italo-Romance idiom similar to Tuscan. Francization occurred in Nice case, and caused a near-disappearance of the Italian language as many of the Italian speakers in these areas migrated to Italy. In Corsica, on
20580-415: Was formed in Libya, to be part of an armoured division assembled from tanks in the colony and from units sent from Italy. The new division was incomplete when the British began Operation Compass in December but the Babini Group fought in defence of the area between Mechili and Derna in late January. On 23 January, the group managed to inflict tank losses during a counter-attack on the 11th Hussars and force
20727-466: Was held up at Sceleidima by minefields covered by artillery and the Bignami Group. At dawn on 6 February, the Australians continued their attacks on Benghazi from the north and the British continued to attack at Sceleidima, where Bignami was ordered to retire at 10:00 a.m., keep the British off the rear of the column and send the Babini Group detachment south to reinforce the break-out attempt. On
20874-443: Was mirrored by a decline in the use of the dialects. An increase in literacy was one of the main driving factors (one can assume that only literates were capable of learning Standard Italian, whereas those who were illiterate had access only to their native dialect). The percentage of literates rose from 25% in 1861 to 60% in 1911, and then on to 78.1% in 1951. Tullio De Mauro , an Italian linguist, has asserted that in 1861 only 2.5% of
21021-490: Was refused, until the defences of Derna began to collapse the next day. During the day, the 2/4th Australian Battalion, in the Derna– Giovanni Berta area, attacked and cut the Derna–Mechili road, a company crossing Wadi Derna during the night. On the northern edge of the wadi, a bold counter-attack, with artillery support, was made across open ground by the 10th Bersaglieri of the Babini Group, which with reports in
21168-658: Was replaced by the French. This was due to the annexation of the surrounding County of Nice to France following the Treaty of Turin (1860) . It formerly had official status in Montenegro (because of the Venetian Albania ), parts of Slovenia and Croatia (because of the Venetian Istria and Venetian Dalmatia ), parts of Greece (because of the Venetian rule in the Ionian Islands and by
21315-400: Was sent from Gabr Saleh towards the area from Sidi Omar−Fort Capuzzo, to clear the area of British raiding parties. As Raggruppamento D'Avanzo advanced toward Fort Capuzzo in two columns, British forces in the vicinity were ordered to withdraw across the border. Two 11th Hussar armoured cars attacked the Italian column at Nezuet Ghirba, about 18 mi (29 km) west of Sidi Omar, on
21462-412: Was waiting at Benghazi to convert to the new vehicle, having lost its L3/35 tankettes in the fall of Tobruk. Neither battalion had time to acclimatise or train but were sent to reinforce the Bignami Group ( Raggruppamento Bignami ) of General Mario Bignami near Solluch. The Maletti Group ( Raggruppamento Maletti General Pietro Maletti ) was formed at Derna the same day as the main motorised unit of
21609-755: Was with the Maletti Group and the LXIII and XX Tank Battalion Ls were in reserve with the XXI Corps HQ east of the Frontier Wire in Egypt. The III Tank Battalion M13/40 (Lieutenant-Colonel Carlo Ghioldi) from the 1st Tank Infantry Regiment , equipped with thirty-seven M13/40 tanks in two companies, arrived in Benghazi in late September and joined the 417 vehicles of various types in the Libyan Tank Command to begin training. In November,
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