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Not all the British commanders depreciated the fighting skills of their Italian adversaries. During the [[Battle of Calabria]] in mid-June 1940, Admiral [[Andrew Cunningham]], called off further operations when Italian bombers appeared. The British commander never underestimated the Italian airmen in this type of attack. with Cunningham writing that, '''"Italian high-level-bombing was the best I have ever seen, far better than the Germans."''<ref>"The Commander-in-Chief never underestimated the Italian airmen in this type of attack. "Italian high-level-bombing",  he wrote, "was the best I have ever seen, far better than the Germans."" Forgotten Battles: Italy's War of Liberation, 1943-1945, Charles T. O'Reilly, p. 31, Lexington Books, 2001</ref>  

Not all the British commanders depreciated the fighting skills of their Italian adversaries. During the [[Battle of Calabria]] in mid-June 1940, Admiral [[Andrew Cunningham]], called off further operations when Italian bombers appeared. The British commander never underestimated the Italian airmen in this type of attack. with Cunningham writing that, '''"Italian high-level-bombing was the best I have ever seen, far better than the Germans."''<ref>"The Commander-in-Chief never underestimated the Italian airmen in this type of attack. "Italian high-level-bombing",  he wrote, "was the best I have ever seen, far better than the Germans."" Forgotten Battles: Italy's War of Liberation, 1943-1945, Charles T. O'Reilly, p. 31, Lexington Books, 2001</ref>  

Italian armored divisions fought well despite having few tanks, and those aptly described as 'steel coffins' by Germans soldiers.

Italian armored divisions fought well despite having few tanks, and those aptly described as 'steel coffins' by Germans soldiers. During [[Operation Crusader]] in late 1941, a US Army report to Washington noted the defiance of the ''Savona'' Division:{{cquote|All Italians captured on November 22 and 23 in the Omars belonged to the Savona Division and were reported to be tougher on the whole and better disciplined than the Italians of the Trento Division captured in December 1940 and June 1941. The prisoners were a well-clothed, well-disciplined group, who had put up a good fight and knew it. The 6 German and 52 Italian officers, as well as the 37 German technicians, were very bitter about their capture and would not speak.<ref>[https://archive.org/stream/BattleOmars/BattleOmars_djvu.txt THE BATTLE OF THE OMARS]</ref>}}

The defeat of the British commando raid on Tobruk on September 14, 1942 (Operation ''Agreement''), was an Italian victory. It was their marines from the 1st ''San Marco'' Regiment, coastal artillery and Italian fighter-bombers that did the most damage to the supporting [[Tribal Class Destroyer HMS Sikh (F82)]], her sister ship HMS ''Zulu'' and Motor Torpedo Boats (MTBs) involved, yet still today you can find countless fictional accounts of how it was a couple of German 88mm anti-aircraft guns and Luftwaffe aircraft that won the battle and sank the destroyers ''Sikh'', ''Zulu'' and MTBs.

The defeat of the British commando raid on Tobruk on September 14, 1942 (Operation ''Agreement''), was an Italian victory. It was their marines from the 1st ''San Marco'' Regiment, coastal artillery and Italian fighter-bombers that did the most damage to the supporting [[Tribal Class Destroyer HMS Sikh (F82)]], her sister ship HMS ''Zulu'' and Motor Torpedo Boats (MTBs) involved, yet still today you can find countless fictional accounts of how it was a couple of German 88mm anti-aircraft guns and Luftwaffe aircraft that won the battle and sank the destroyers ''Sikh'', ''Zulu'' and MTBs.