Talk:British and French forces in Italy during World War I

Independent commands
I am positive that the French and British forces were separate and never under unified command or even part of the same chain of command in Italy, since Plumer's command was entirely independent. In what sense was there an "Italian Expeditionary Force"? I could not find a formal name for Plumer's command. American troops were under Italian command, and there was also a Czechoslovak unit. Srnec (talk) 03:56, 8 January 2014 (UTC)


 * Thank you for your concerns. Perhaps you could reconsider the removal of separate headings which reflected that although the concept of an Italian Expeditionary Force was shared by different nationalities, they retained independent command. As regards a formal name, it seems that it was known as the BEF, Italy in the Durham Light Infantry records, although Francis Mackay puts Italy in brackets in his book ''Touring the Italian Frontt. Leutha (talk) 13:53, 8 January 2014 (UTC)


 * Perhaps you could reword the first sentence—"Italian Expeditionary Force was a joint Franco-British military force sent to Italy in October 1917"—which seems false and is unsourced—to provide an answer to the question I asked above, "In what sense was there an 'Italian Expeditionary Force'?" What source makes you think there existed "the concept of an Italian Expeditionary Force ... shared by different nationalities"? I'd like to believe it, but I have never heard about it before. (Nor have I read widely on this topic, for that matter.) Srnec (talk) 04:22, 10 January 2014 (UTC)
 * Well, if you have chance to look at tehfirst source you will see the vidence that I came across that there was an 'Italian Expeditionary Force'. I have no great desire to believe it or disbelieve it actually. However it is apparent that a process developed post Caporetto whereby the Italians appealed for support from their allies. If you can come up with a better approach I would love to here it. 86.132.99.196 Leutha (talk) 21:34, 12 January 2014 (UTC)

Official use of "Italian Expeditionary Force" in source documents
Whilst there are instances of a prefix based on the theatre of war, and a suffix of "Expeditionary Force", was this term used in official documents, or has the phrase "Italian Expeditionary Force" come about as an unofficial catch-all? Lord Cavan's appointment, as noted in the London Gazette, is as commander-in-chief of British Forces in Italy rather than "Italian Expeditionary Force".

Keith H99 (talk) 13:51, 17 August 2020 (UTC)


 * I have boldly moved the page because this same concern was raised 7 years ago. Srnec (talk) 23:29, 17 August 2020 (UTC)