Figure 1.--This American press photo was taken February 18, 1934. The caption read, :"An officer of the Italian Fascisti instructs young men in art of warfare.

While the Fascists goverened Italy since 1922, the youth movement appears to have been much less effective than the NAZI Hitler Youth movement in Axis partner Germany. The Fascists had nearly two decades to prepare Italian youth for battle. Hitler and the NAZIs on the oher hand had only 6 years. The Hitler Youth provd extrodinarily syccessful in preparing German boys for war. Not only was their some actual military training, but the boys were prepared pscholgically for war. So effective was this that the Wehrmacht received boys that in effect had already gone through basic training. In addition the Hitler Youth ditcted the older boys into brnches of the militry. Boys that demonstrated particular promise were directed unto the SS for officer training. Unlike the HJ, the Balial failed to intill Italian youth with the same martial vigor as the Gemans. The Italian commitment to and readiness for war were far below the level achieved in Germany. The Hitler Youth boys delivered youths to the military with a widec range of useful military skills as well as military discipline. Hitler Youth boys fought with great intensity in the War. The Hitler Youth Division in Normandy was a noted example of this. The Balilla appears to have failed to achieve little to enthuse Italian boys with a martial spirit. Italian army failed repeatedly in operations against the French, Greeks, British, and Americans, often facing numerically inferior forces. At the end of the war, a hole armored division was formed out of HJ boys that proved to be one of the most tenacious in the Germany militry. Even after the war was lost, HJ boys would fight to the death. None of this occurred in Italy. In fct the performanceof the Italian army ws the worst of any major Wrld War II combatant. Virtually all of the solddiers involved would have been involved in the Balial. One has to ask why the HJ leaders were so successful and why the Balial leaders filed in their efforts to instill martial spirit.