Italy in World War II

Benito Mussolini had territorial and imperial ambitions and saw an alliance with Nazi Germany as a chance to achieve these goals. When Fascist Italy joined the war, the main part of the fighting between Germany and the British concentrated on the Battle of Britain, too far north for the Italians to be of much help. But Italy's entrance brought the war to the Mediterranean. Italy invaded British-occupied Egypt, then invaded Greece without consulting Adolf Hitler, with Germany eventually forced to intervene in both campaigns with forces that it needed badly for the execution of Operation Barbarossa . Germany invaded Yugoslavia in April 1941 in order to get to Greece to abandon Albania. After the Allies invaded Sicily, the other Italian Fascist leaders removed Mussolini from power. Then, they withdrew from the alliance with Germany and signed a peace treaty with the Allied powers. From 1943 to 1945, the Allies had a grueling campaign to force the German occupation forces and supporting Repubblica Sociale Italiana (RSI) Divisions out of Northern Italy.

In 1939 Italy invaded Albania and soon afterwards Rome signed a military alliance with Berlin (the Pact of Steel). However, Mussolini did not declare war on Britain and France until June 10, 1940. In October 1940, Benito Mussolini declared war on Greece.

North Africa

Military commentators on the North African Campaign, in general focus on the actions of General Erwin Rommel who was an acknowledged master of maneuver. His Afrika Korps became legendary, so much so that in many accounts of the fighting, Italians seem relegated to support roles and they were much depreciated in the Allied Official Histories of the war.

Not all the British commanders depreciated the fighting skills of their Italian adversaries. During the Battle of Calabria in mid-June 1940, Admiral Andrew Cunningham, called off further operations when Italian bombers appeared. The British commander never underestimated the Italian airmen in this type of attack. with Cunningham writing that, '"Italian high-level-bombing was the best I have ever seen, far better than the Germans."

Italian armoured divisions fought well despite having few tanks, and those aptly described as 'steel coffins' by Germans soldiers.

Despite the often heroic efforts by the Italian Navy described by Professor James Sadkovich, fuel and other vital supplies were gradually denied to the Axis troops. Half of the convoys to North Africa were sunk by the Allies.

The fall of the Tunis and Bizerte ports in Tunisia was inevitable, but US Army General Omar Bradley admitted that the American formations encountered serious opposition, writing that the Axis defenders were, "the elite of the German and Italian armies, desert hardened young men."As a junior officer in the final stages of the Tunisian fighting, future US Army General Vernon Walters interrogated captured Germans and Italians and concluded, "The Italians were from the Wolves of Tuscany Division, very tough."

The war in North Africa ended on May 13, 1943. American losses in the Tunisian Campaign were 2,715 dead, 8,978 wounded and 6,528 captured/missing. British Commonwealth losses were 9,233 dead, 21,528 wounded and 10,599 captured/missing. After the surrender there were 101,704 German POWs and 89,442 Italian POWs.

Fall of Mussolini

During a war filled with defeat and air raids, Gerhard Weinberg concluded that, "The astonishing thing is ... that the home front held together as long as it did, and that elements of the armed forces often fought valiantly and effectively."