24 FEBRUARY 1996, Page 25

Sir: Courageous the Italian Littorio (not Littori) division may have

been in Spain (Letters, 17 February); but where did that get them? Together with the other military units sent by Mussolini to fight for Franco, they were responsible, at the battle of Guadalajara in 1937, for the only significant defeat he suffered during the Civil War.

Simon Courtauld

The Close, Pewsey, Wiltshire