Command Performance

A battalion of Bersaglieri, crack, sharpshooting troops of the Italian Army, was trudging along a dusty road near the town of Faenza one day last week when it was overtaken by an official automobile. At the head of the column the car stopped. Out stepped Premier Mussolini, nattily decked in a snow-white uniform of the Fascist militia. The 54-year-old Duce took his place in front of the battalion, challenged the soldiers to a one-mile trot into town.

The Bersaglieri are famed for their ability to move for hours at a steady trot. However, no nimble-footed sharpshooter was brash enough to forge ahead and when the startled populace at Faenza rushed into the streets to welcome Il Duce, he was still in the lead. Congratulating the Bersaglieri on their condition, he gave their commander 3,000 lire ($157) to buy them special mess kits.

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