The italians fought hard in WW2 on the eastren front, but where simply bad equipped and trained
Italian POW's sufferd the hardest of any axis POW, a mortality rate of 85%
There was many hardship from Partizans and communist inspired troops. But there are many accounts of russian soldiers and russian civilians doing whatever they could to help them, risking there own lives because it was forbidden by the stalin and communist party to help POW's