Thank you all for feedback, I'm sincerely impressed and I'm happy to see that it gathers comments also from new readers.
Wow.
Incredible work here, Mario - you've achieved the difficult task of describing an incredibly chaotic scenario with complete clarity - I must say that, even knowing what was to come, I was rather on the edge of my seat; the level of detail down to Regimental names and equipment is fascinating - I also enjoyed the bit of trivia about Italy's first shots in the war coming from a hunting rifle!
The divisions in Italy are very worrying, and I can't imagine the addition of a few megatons into the equation will do anything to calm the tensions. Chilling, plausible, exciting. I can't wait for the next installment!
I had some good teachers
I think that even not aiming at the accuracy (sometimes maniacal) of many techno-thriller or TLs, it is a good thing to do your best to offer a well-researched picture to the readers; regarding divisions, please note that some of them are straight from OTL
Good Job! Keep it up! I'm looking forward to see more.
Who are the unusually camouflaged troops? Italian Special Forces?
In a their own way they are "special" for sure; the answer is inside the chapter itself, and around a structure held very dear by Cossiga.
Two Yugoslav commandos get one-shotted by an Italian architect with a hunting rifle?
Bravo.
In several part of Italy hunting is an high developed custom (personally I do not enjoy it at all), so find a good shooter it's not difficult; the same for a single shot killing two when they are almost cheek-to-cheek
Probably they were just conscripted scouting troopers, because the bulk of the Yugoslav commando forces should have been busied by more glamorous targets like NADGE stations.
Very descriptive and engaging Mario; chilling too.
The best is yet to come
Could you explain where the Italian continuity of government bunkers are?
That would make it easier to understand.
The place where Italian government is (or should be...) headed will be revealed in the next installment
; however they are right now in the Alghero-Fertilia Airport, Sassari province, located in the western part of Sardinia.
Neutrality won't save Romania. As a long-time member of the Warsaw Pact, its on NATO targetting list whether it follows the Soviets in or not.
Albania, on the other hand, might be able to get away with it...
Assuming, of course, the Yugoslavs didn't overrun it.
Speaking in long term, they're on the same boat of other "aligned" countries; but right now, excepted for some "unavoidable" misfiring by both factions, no one is touching them: you're right, NATO has surely Romanian targets in their list, and USSR has surely plans to occupy the renegade Romania. Ceausescu stayin' out it's fine for everyone, at least for the moment: WP do not have to worry about them and Hungarians leap for each other throat or to protect Ploiesti; the West, and I have in mind mainly Italy and Greece, is an enemy short, still something good.
Waging war to Albania? Hoxha was paranoid about an invasion (he filled the beaches with Atlantic Wall-style turrets to prevent it from the sea and could count on the mountains in the rest of the country), it will be probably a long and bloody fight in the Balkan winter (ask to WWII Italian or Greece troops how hard it could be) for a Yugoslavia with his best alpine units in Italy and Austria. Remember what Soviets are getting in northern Norway...