On the pages of this book, the Russian reader for the first time has the opportunity to get acquainted with the little - known pages of the Great Patriotic War-the participation of the Italian Expeditionary Corps in Russia (CSIR) in the war against the USSR. The authors offer the reader materials not previously published in Russia related to the life of one of the main participants and organizers of the campaign of Italian troops to the East (1941-1943). Marshal of Italy Giovanni Messe went down in history as a participant in almost all the wars waged by Royal Italy in the twentieth century. These are the campaigns in China and Libya, the First World War, the Ethiopian Campaign of 1935-36, and the Second World War. But the most striking period of his life can be considered the command of the Italian Expeditionary Corps in Russia in 1941-1942. This event is dedicated to his memoirs, published in 1947 in Rome, as well as the memories of other participants in those events. The authors make an attempt to summarize the documentary sources published in the West and convey to Russian readers the thoughts and experiences of people who came to our land with far from friendly intentions and experienced a complex range of feelings: from delight to disappointment, from emotional uplift to moral decline and desolation. How objectively the events of more than 75 years ago are reflected is for the reader and time to judge.