‘World War II’ magazine, January 2004, article “The Last Horse Warriors: Horse-drawn flying shield artillery seemed like an anachronism in World War II,

but on the Russian Front it proved its worth”.  Page 47: “During the advance, members of Castelletto’s squad pose behind a wagon wheel in need of

repair.”  In fact, it’s not an extremely thin wagon wheel needing enlargement; it’s actually the loop antenna of an Italian Staz. 2 backpack radio. This

was a pretty simple set operating in the 2 MHz range; the only unique point was the round loop antenna. The loop antenna while a still limited size

antenna offered much higher efficiency than the standard ‘whip antenna’ such as used on the U.S. Army BC-611 talkie.

This is the first photo I have seen of the Staz. 2 radio in use outside of North Africa and Italy, but it makes sense.

-Hue Miller