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Enemy Air-Borne Forces, Military Intelligence Service, Special Series No. 7, December 2, 1942
[DISCLAIMER: The following text is taken from the wartime U.S. War Department publication. As with all wartime intelligence information, data may be incomplete or inaccurate. No attempt has been made to update or correct the text. Any views or opinions expressed do not necessarily represent those of the website.]

50. GERMAN INFLUENCE UPON ITALIAN TRAINING AND TACTICS

The dearly bought lessons from the invasion of Crete and the important German technical advances are presumably well known to the Italians, who have doubtless copied freely from the Germans in their most recent training. It is said that 7 of Mussolini’s men, with a Beretta machine carbine strapped to the right leg, can make a practice jump within a period of 4 seconds. Blue-colored parachutes buoying sacks containing a 3-day iron ration, a liter of water, and 400 rounds of small-arms ammunition have been known to be dropped. The signal designations on such dropped parcels have in at least one instance been noted as follows: red circle, ammunition; yellow flag, gun barrel; black circle, carriage; blue circle, wheels and trail. Such bits of information show that Italy, despite her difficulties, is actively interested in bidding for air-borne power.
 

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