- Joined
- Aug 23, 2007
- Messages
- 491
Here in detail and thruth are Italy's contributions to WW2. Before it began Mussolini had annexed Ethiopia, and in 1938 had taken Albania. When Hitler invaded Poland Mussolini stood watching, and when France was invaded Mussolini still watched, he had chickened out of joining the war. Foolishly his country remained highly inactive, he had made little effort to prepare his country for war. Finally in June, realizing that France was done for, invaded it, his troops met little resistance seeing as France was crippled by this time. He then decided that in order to create the new Roman Empire, he would need Egypt, and the oil fields beyond.
He began sending troops to his North African in Libya, he had 250 000 men there, but they were poorly equiped, trained and led. He also had 250 000 men in Ethiopia led by the Duke of Aosta, but almost all of these were African troops. Yet the Duke and Mussolini hadn't realized how useless these men were. In September his forces in Libya invaded Egypt. The enemy had maybe 40 000 men, and few planes, but this force was the best equiped in the entire British army. They had some modern planes, Matilda II tanks, and artillery. The enemy could muster 1000 planes, but the enemy lacked skilled pilots and their planes were inferior.
The Italians advanced 10-20 kilometers, and met little resitance, the enemy only had a Regimental size screening force and it quickly withdrew to El Alamein, where it joined the rest of the Western Desert Force. The Italias then built several forts, which were spread out. The Western Desert Force, under General O'Connor, (who was the only General in the British army to fully understand Modern Mobile Warfare) attacked the Italian forts. this was Operation Compass, in several weeks the pushed the Italians make hundreds of kilometers all the way to El Agheila. The Italians had surrended in masse, the amount of supplies equipment and troops that were captured in uninmaginable.
In November Mussolini realized that he needed a Victory to show that Italy wasn't week. He invaded Greece, several weeks later the best troops in his army had been mauled and 1/4 of Albania was in Greek hands. In the Spring of 1941 Germany came in and saved Italy. At the same time General Erwin Rommel was sent to Libya to help Mussolini, his command consisted of the
5th Light Division, and the 15t Panzer Division, the Italian forces there were also ordered to cooperate with him. The Western Desert force had to give up men to send to Greece, and was incredibly weak.
At around 6:00AM on March 31st 1941 Rommel struck, he only had maybe half of his troops, the rest were still en route. Quickly discovering how weak the British were he pressed on, the British lost much needed equipment and fuel, but the 9th Australian Division was able to fortify the port of Tobruk in time. The Germans and Italians would fight the British and Commonwealth troops all over the Deserts of North Africa for nearly 2 years, various Italian units actually preformed extreemly well over these 2 years. Most notably in the Battle of Gazala, the Ariete and Trieste Armored Divisions fought well. The axis were finally defeated at El Alamein, but by then Rommel had no fuel, no tanks, and no ammo. Despite the huge supply deficiancy, largely because of the Italian navy, the axis forces fought hard against an enemy who had every single advantage. In Febuary 1943 they surrended in Tunis.
The Italians had also fought on tthe East Front, here with little sucess though. However after the surrender of the 6th Army the Italian forces in Army Group South managed to delay the Soviets for several days, they had few AT guns. I can say with the most confidence that without these brave Italians, Field Marshall Manstein might have lost his entire army group.
So let me say, the Italians were not horrible troops. Many Italians were cowards, but many weren't. Many Italian units fought bravely, and hard. So don't steryotype them as cowards. Why don't we see how you like being sent 1000 miles from home and shelled by 25 pound guns for hours on end while the your Generals party in officer's clubs in Tripoli.
He began sending troops to his North African in Libya, he had 250 000 men there, but they were poorly equiped, trained and led. He also had 250 000 men in Ethiopia led by the Duke of Aosta, but almost all of these were African troops. Yet the Duke and Mussolini hadn't realized how useless these men were. In September his forces in Libya invaded Egypt. The enemy had maybe 40 000 men, and few planes, but this force was the best equiped in the entire British army. They had some modern planes, Matilda II tanks, and artillery. The enemy could muster 1000 planes, but the enemy lacked skilled pilots and their planes were inferior.
The Italians advanced 10-20 kilometers, and met little resitance, the enemy only had a Regimental size screening force and it quickly withdrew to El Alamein, where it joined the rest of the Western Desert Force. The Italias then built several forts, which were spread out. The Western Desert Force, under General O'Connor, (who was the only General in the British army to fully understand Modern Mobile Warfare) attacked the Italian forts. this was Operation Compass, in several weeks the pushed the Italians make hundreds of kilometers all the way to El Agheila. The Italians had surrended in masse, the amount of supplies equipment and troops that were captured in uninmaginable.
In November Mussolini realized that he needed a Victory to show that Italy wasn't week. He invaded Greece, several weeks later the best troops in his army had been mauled and 1/4 of Albania was in Greek hands. In the Spring of 1941 Germany came in and saved Italy. At the same time General Erwin Rommel was sent to Libya to help Mussolini, his command consisted of the
5th Light Division, and the 15t Panzer Division, the Italian forces there were also ordered to cooperate with him. The Western Desert force had to give up men to send to Greece, and was incredibly weak.
At around 6:00AM on March 31st 1941 Rommel struck, he only had maybe half of his troops, the rest were still en route. Quickly discovering how weak the British were he pressed on, the British lost much needed equipment and fuel, but the 9th Australian Division was able to fortify the port of Tobruk in time. The Germans and Italians would fight the British and Commonwealth troops all over the Deserts of North Africa for nearly 2 years, various Italian units actually preformed extreemly well over these 2 years. Most notably in the Battle of Gazala, the Ariete and Trieste Armored Divisions fought well. The axis were finally defeated at El Alamein, but by then Rommel had no fuel, no tanks, and no ammo. Despite the huge supply deficiancy, largely because of the Italian navy, the axis forces fought hard against an enemy who had every single advantage. In Febuary 1943 they surrended in Tunis.
The Italians had also fought on tthe East Front, here with little sucess though. However after the surrender of the 6th Army the Italian forces in Army Group South managed to delay the Soviets for several days, they had few AT guns. I can say with the most confidence that without these brave Italians, Field Marshall Manstein might have lost his entire army group.
So let me say, the Italians were not horrible troops. Many Italians were cowards, but many weren't. Many Italian units fought bravely, and hard. So don't steryotype them as cowards. Why don't we see how you like being sent 1000 miles from home and shelled by 25 pound guns for hours on end while the your Generals party in officer's clubs in Tripoli.
