No, the first one is not Italian. It is a Romanian I.A.R. over the Ploesti oil fields.
The second is a Hawker Typhoon.
The third is definitely Italian per the roundel, which can just be made out on the starboard wing.
Famous WW2 quotes needed
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" Before we’re through with them, Japanese language will be spoken only in hell."
Admiral Halsey
" In case opportunity for destruction of a major portion of the enemy fleet is offered, or can be created, such destruction becomes the primary task."
Admiral Nimitz
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Some quotes attributed to Isoroku Yamamoto:
The fate of the Empire rests on this enterprise. Every man must devote himself totally to the task at hand."
This one is the front runner for a Yamamoto quote…
Some quotes for the ANZACs:
I believe the ANZAC quote search will be the most difficult…
Some quotes for the Italians:
Until face to face with the enemy, who inexorably advanced well protected toward sure prey, they cried with the last spark of life, “Long Live Italy!” - Gen. Rodolfo Graziani
This seems to be the best quote (not from Mussolini) so far for the Italians…
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@CWO:
“My men can eat their belts, but my tanks need gas!”
- George S. Patton
“He either fears his fate too much, or his deserts are small, that dares not put it to the touch to win or lose it all.”
- Bernard L. Montgomery, quoting James Graham, 1st Marquess of Montrose
Good suggestions, really like that Patton quote although a little demoralizing to count in the cheerleader category… I like the ones I have so far in regards to UK and USA.
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@Young:
Some quotes attributed to Isoroku Yamamoto:
The fate of the Empire rests on this enterprise. Every man must devote himself totally to the task at hand."
This one is the front runner for a Yamamoto quote…
Regretably, it’s not a Yamamoto quote. It’s the Z-flag signal which Admiral Togo hoisted at the Battle of Tsushima in 1905 (at which Yamamoto was present as a junior officer). The signal was duplicated by Admiral Nagumo just before he launched his air strike at Pearl Harbor.
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@CWO:
“In the Red Army, it takes a very brave man to be a coward.”
- Georgi Zhukov
This one has definitely replaced my earlier Zhukov quote…
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@CWO:
@Young:
Some quotes attributed to Isoroku Yamamoto:
The fate of the Empire rests on this enterprise. Every man must devote himself totally to the task at hand."
This one is the front runner for a Yamamoto quote…
Regretably, it’s not a Yamamoto quote.�  It’s the Z-flag signal which Admiral Togo hoisted at the Battle of Tsushima in 1905 (at which Yamamoto was present as a junior officer).�  The signal was duplicated by Admiral Nagumo just before he launched his air strike at Pearl Harbor.
Did Yamamoto really say that he was looking forward to dictating peace with America at the White House in Washington… or was that just US propaganda?
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@Young:
Did Yamamoto really say that he was looking forward to dictating peace with America at the White House in Washington… or was that just US propaganda?
Actually, it’s neither. Yamamoto once wrote a letter in which he argued that defeating the US was not going to be easy; in it, he said that if Japan was going to go to war against the US it had better be prepared to fight a war that could only be won if Japan got all the way to Washington and dictated peace terms in the White House. Yamamoto’s enemies in the Japanese Army quoted his letter out of context to give the impression that Yamamoto was planning to dictate peace terms in the White House. The Americans grabbed onto the Army’s version of the text and used it in their propaganda, apparently unaware that Yamamoto was being misquoted by his own fellow Japanese officers.
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" Until face to face with the enemy, who inexorably advanced well protected toward sure prey, they cried with the last spark of life, ‘Long Live Italy!’ "
- Marshal Rodolfo Graziani
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OK, thanks… The Yamamoto quote provided by Trenacker seems to be the best, and that Italian quote seems to be the best Non-Mussolini quote. Anything, good from ANZAC… all the really good ones seem to be from WW1.
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“We’re not here to take it, we’re here to give it.”
- Lieutenant General Sir Leslie James Morshead, commander of the 9th Australian Division at Tobruk, after hearing of a British propaganda article entitled “Tobruk can take it!”
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“This time the Kraut’s stuck his head in the meat grinder, and I’ve got hold of the handle.”
- George S. Patton, during the Battle of the Bulge
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@CWO:
“We’re not here to take it, we’re here to give it.”
- Lieutenant General Sir Leslie James Morshead, commander of the 9th Australian Division at Tobruk, after hearing of a British propaganda article entitled “Tobruk can take it!”
That’s the one… but DAM, the name is longer than the quote itself  :lol:
…Although a few rude boys drinking beers around the game table might taught the ANZAC player
“Ohhh, you like to give it do ya?”
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@CWO:
“This time the �����’s stuck his head in the meat grinder, and I’ve got hold of the handle.”
- George S. Patton, during the Battle of the Bulge
That’s good… but I still like the first one from Patton for what I’m trying to achieve.
“A good plan violently executed now is better than a perfect plan executed next week” - George S. Patton
It’s got a great fortune cookie vibe to it :lol:
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I gave Morshead’s full name and title because he’s not as famous as officers like Patton and Montgomery. An even more extreme quote-to-name ratio can be found in Brigadier General Anthony McAuliffe’s one-worder “Nuts!” (There was a somewhat fictionalized version of this historical event in a movie in which McAuliffe delivers his famous statement verbally to some German envoys, who look at each other in puzzlement, then turn back to McAuliffe; one of them says, “What is this ‘Nuts’? I do not understand.” McAuliffe retorts, “Do you understand ‘Go to hell’, son?” The German nods and answers, “Ja, that I understand.”)
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@CWO:
I gave Morshead’s full name and title because he’s not as famous as officers like Patton and Montgomery.�  An even more extreme quote-to-name ratio can be found in Brigadier General Anthony McAuliffe’s one-worder "Nuts!"�  (There was a somewhat fictionalized version of this historical event in a movie in which McAuliffe delivers his famous statement verbally to some German envoys, who look at each other in puzzlement, then turn back to McAuliffe; one of them says, "What is this ‘Nuts’?�  I do not understand."�  McAuliffe retorts, “Do you understand ‘Go to hell’, son?” The German nods and answers, “Ja, that I understand.”)
How is Lieutenant General abbreviated, and was he Sir during the war… or was he knighted afterwards?
The best ANZAC quotes are from WW1…
“I can’t surrender, I’m in command of Australians… and they would cut my throat if I dared”
- Unknown
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@Young:
How is Lieutenant General abbreviated, and was he Sir during the war… or was he knighted afterwards?
You may not need to include everything; it depends on what consistent practice you’ll be using for the other people you’re quoting. Bernard L. Montgomery, for example, was known in full as Field Marshal Bernard Law Montgomery, 1st Viscount Montgomery of Alamein – and that’s even leaving out his KG, GCB, DSO and PC designations. A good standard form to use for everyone would be simply rank + commonly used form of name (including initials as just initials), without any knighthoods.
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@CWO:
@Young:
How is Lieutenant General abbreviated, and was he Sir during the war… or was he knighted afterwards?
You may not need to include everything; it depends on what consistent practice you’ll be using for the other people you’re quoting. Bernard L. Montgomery, for example, was known in full as Field Marshal Bernard Law Montgomery, 1st Viscount Montgomery of Alamein – and that’s even leaving out his KG, GCB, DSO and PC designations. A good standard form to use for everyone would be simply rank + commonly used form of name (including initials as just initials), without any knighthoods.
Than I might need help with the ranks once I lock down all the quotes.
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These are the US Army abbreviations…
2LT 1LT CPT MAJ LTC COL BG MG LTG GEN GA
…for these ranks:
Second Lieutenant
First Lieutenant
Captain
Major
Lieutenant Colonel
Colonel
Brigadier General
Major General
Lieutenant General
General
General of the ArmyThese are the US Navy abbreviations…
ENS LTJG LT LCDR CDR CAPT RDML RADM VADM ADM FADM
…for these ranks:
Ensign
Lieutenant (junior grade)
Lieutenant
Lieutenant Commander
Commander
Captain
Rear Admiral (lower half)
Rear Admiral
Vice Admiral
Admiral
Fleet Admiral -
slightly off topic, but if you search for 15 quotes from Gen. Mad Dog Mattis, slayer of bodies, some of them are pretty funny
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As YG has noted, there are plenty of rousing Italian military phrases available for the WWII period if we go by Mussolini alone (I once read an amusing one-liner that said “If slogans could win a war by themselves, Italy will be a world power”), but apparently not much if we look in the direction of generals and admirals. One compromise solution might be to quote General Giulio Douhet, one of his era’s greatest experts on aerial warfare in general and strategic bombing in particular. I’ve copied below various quotes from him; I particularly like the first one, which sounds like something Clausewitz might have said. From the point of view of YG’s project requirements, however, there’s the potential problem that Douhet was mainly a theorist and that he died in 1930. On the other hand, if nothing better can be found, he might do.
Victory smiles upon those who anticipate the change in the character of war, not upon those who wait to adapt themselves after the changes occur.
- Giulio Douhet
To conquer the command of the air means victory; to be beaten in the air means defeat and acceptance of whatever terms the enemy may be pleased to impose.
- Giulio Douhet
The one effective method of defending one’s own territory from an offensive by air is to destroy the enemy’s air power with the greatest possible speed.
- Giulio Douhet
Тhe battlefield in the air will be the decisive one
- Giulio Douhet
Because of its independence of surface limitations and its superior speed the airplane is the offensive weapon par excellence.
- Giulio Douhet
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