[Music] the Kingdom of Italy was roughly 61 years old when Benito musolini came to power the Italian people had yet to form a true national identity with a stronger sense of identification with and loyalty to one's immediate neighbors and church than to a distant government in Rome the disunified citizens of this young country were the clay from which Benito musolini intended to mold his new Roman Empire uch was determined to craft a fascist State reaching from Gibralter to the Parisian Gulf and in pursuit of his vision of Empire he set about a campaign of military adventures in the leadup to the second world war that expanded Italy's Imperial Holdings and advanced the fascist cause in Europe at their own expense looking back Italy was seen as the most immediate and natural Ally of Germany the two states were fascist by Design and were led by Firebrand dictators with grand Destinies for their people but that wasn't always the case despite Adolf Hitler's admiration for Italy's dictator Benito musolini the du's first impressions of the furer left much to be desired Italian General Petro bolio recalled a meeting in Venice between the two in May 1934 hit did not make a good impression on musolini he talked without stopping for an hour repeating in different words all the arguments from mine comp and only allowing musolini a few minutes in which to reply one might think that their ties could only worsen yet their relationship improved after the Allies hostile reaction to melini's campaign in Ethiopia Hitler gave musolini his implicit approval by sending his men much needed supplies which began a process of deant between the two Powers have you ever Googled yourself and were shocked to see your personal information Exposed on one of those public listing sites being a YouTuber means that I'm all over the internet but that doesn't mean I'm okay with having my personal information out there for everyone to see and neither should you that's why the sponsor of today's video is 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information or you can protect yourself by going to AA / armchair right now to start your 2E free trial also linked Below in the description uch had made no secret of his aspiration to conquer Ethiopia believing that an imperialist success would unite the country behind him and provide Italy with access to the Sea unfettered by Foreign presence melini's Minister for colonies AO debono received official orders in February 1934 to prepare offensive plan and in December of that same year musolini publicly ordered the conquest of Ethiopia the timing seemed perfect as most European powers were distracted by Nazi Germany's rearmament however as it spent 1935 preparing for war the Italian military's shortcomings became clear Marshall Petro bolio head of the Italian High command visited the staging grounds in Italian erria and returned with a grim opinion Italy was completely unprepared for an offensive war and bolio further warned that a war in Ethiopia would prove a potentially fatal Financial strain bolio said as much in a meeting of the high command in September 1934 his warnings were met with absolute indifference an indication of the Discord amongst Italy's leadership Uche had long ago decided on invading Ethiopia which they did in October of 193 5 debono was put in charge of the invasion and found himself at the head of an army under strength men and material were in short supply and progress proved so slow that musolini replaced debono with bolio who remember had been Against The Invasion under bolio the Italians leveraged their Superior weaponry and Communications ability to improve the conditions on the ground but ultimately resorted to deploying mustard gas to overcome Ethiopian troops and pacify civilians these blatant violations of the Geneva Convention saw Italy placed under economic sanctions which served to drive domestic support for both musolini and The Invasion when civil war broke out in Spain in 1936 between left-wing Republicans and right-wing nationalists Uche unilaterally committed Italy to Francisco Franco's nationalist cause musolini intended to use intervention in Spain to cement fascist control over the Mediterranean with him and Franco casting Long Shadows over the region like Germany Italy sent the nationalists arms and men but here is where things take a turn so excited to support Franco was musolini that he had more than 70,000 Italian soldiers in Spain at the peak of his nation's involvement and at times had more aircraft in Spain than the Spaniards did consisting of 1/10th of the estimated numbers fighting for Francisco Franco fascists Italy had deployed more soldiers than any other nation in Spain on either side of the conflict the Italian loss of life was estimated to be around 4,000 soldiers musolini was exceptionally generous to his fascist Ally giving these Spaniards more than 600 planes 150 tanks 800 artillery pieces 10,000 machine guns and nearly a quar million rifles these were men and Machinery that Italy could ill afford to lose and and though the Spanish Civil War proved a valuable training ground for Italian troops the impact of the loss of material to Spain would last throughout the entire second world war with these pre-war conflicts and their effects on Italy understood we must now turn to the key reason Italy even had the opportunity to be ineffective in the second world war their relationship to Nazi Germany although they had a rock start to their relationship Hitler avered his belief that he and musolini shared the destiny of saving Europe from democracy and judeo bolshevism in 1936 the Axis powers were born with the signing of the Rome burlin axis United by fascism bitterness over the end of the first world war shared hatred of Communists Jews and other out groups as well as their determination to conquer both dictators prepared for for war against any who would oppose them concluding a military Alliance in 1939 this pact of Steel mandated that both Nazi Germany and fascist Italy go to war against Any Nation the other attacked and that they keep constant diplomatic contact to coordinate their efforts Hitler kept This Promise as well as he'd kept every vow he'd made to the world that is to say he didn't without informing his ally Hitler planned the invasions of Czechoslovakia and Poland even stressing to German High command the importance of attacking before musolini discovered their plans this subterfuge put musolini on edge leaving him worried that Germany might next begin asserting dominance in the Balkans which he regarded as falling within Italy's sphere of influence when Poland was invaded in 1939 Italy was in no position to fight alongside Germany musolini had confided in Hitler that Italy would not be ready to wage war until 1943 but musolini feared being absorbed by Germany if Italy did not take decisive military action and though his advisor stayed his hand at first the imminent fall of France in 1940 gave The Duce his opening thus Italy plunged head first into a war even the Bellos Duce knew she was completely unprepared for the leadership of Italy was not in basilic and knew that they had to quite ly pick their battles better to be the hyena following Germany's lion gorging themselves on Hitler's kills the shest bet in mid1 1940 was on Hitler next invading Great Britain and the Soviet Union remaining out of matters thanks to the molotov ribbon trop pack besides Hitler had promised to help the Italian economy fascist Italy's Achilles heel like their aess partner Japan Italy was reliant on Foreign imports of raw materials Imports that were all but cut off during wartime unlike Germany who had long prepared for wartime economic self-sufficiency and had a strong industrial base Italy was never prepared for a state of autarchy and lacked the industrial capabilities and raw materials to compensate for it before the war Italy imported 9 million tons of coal to supplement their 1.5 to 4 million tons of domestic production 2/3 of which was brought in by sea when Italy entered the war alongside Germany a British blockade did away with this Seaborn coal and Italy had to scramble to increase Overland Imports and domestic production Italy's access to oil was likewise hindered as their previous suppliers the United States Iran and the Soviet Union cut off their sales when war broke out Italy found itself reliant on Romania to supplement its meager domestic oil production but as the Eastern Front opened up in 1941 Germany monopolized Romania's oil and while Italy did have access to Mammoth stores of raw aluminum their issues in fuel and power generation prevented them from exploiting this key resource to its fullest potential Italy barely managed to produce a third of the aluminum that Germany did throughout the war the upshot of all of these troubles was a military apparatus without reliable access to fuel and an overtaxed industrial sector prone to utter paralysis it was already a tiny part of the world's industrial base representing 3% of global industrial output compared to Germany's 11% this minuscule industrial capability was divided between producing Goods for the domestic economy and producing weapons for the entire axis war effort Italy produced roughly 21% of axis tanks 25% of axis fighter aircraft and every type of combat ship needed by the axis for Seaborn operations Germany relied heavily on Italy to build out access convoys in the Mediterranean Italy a small industrial producer was called upon to not only outfit themselves but to provide additional material for their access Partners a proposition they were simply not prepared for compounding these issues were the aimless nature of the Italian war effort and the endemic Corruption of Italian business culture economic planners also completely rejected the idea of a streamlined production line or the standardization of Parts instead relying on isolated groups of skilled workers painstakingly handcrafting small batches of largely obsolete weapons at a cripplingly slow pace the problems in industrial production served only to further hinder Italy's ability to wage war these production issues were not isolated to Small Arms production however and were plainly evident in the nation's inability to both manufacture a suitable number of tanks and generate designs that compared in quality to both their Ally and their foes Italian armored forces compared particularly poorly in both Doctrine and equipment to their Allied counterparts one such example would be the inability of Italian Industries to produce enough welded or cast armor plating and the mountainous Italian terrain discouraged the development of heavily armored vehicles in the first place therefore the most commonly produced tracked vehicle in the Italian Army was the Carol fce cv33 tankette a tiny 2-an armored vehicle that could be equipped with machine guns anti-tank rifles light cannons or even flamethrowers on paper this was a versatile tank that could be easily built with Italy's limited industrial capacity and saw extensive use in Italy's Colonial territories in practice the cv33 was poetically named casad de morto or dead man's Box by its Crews who hated the flimsy armor and cramped in interior after the war Allied observers would comment that the individual components of many italian tanks were well engineered and reliable showcasing a solid grasp of the technology needed for a successful modern vehicle the problem was the total lack of cooperation between companies leading to new ideas being viewed with suspicion and international deals being intentionally sabotaged for fear of competition the single exception was found with the Italian Air Force course which successfully replaced their outdated air cooled engines with licensed diimler Ben's liquid cooled engines in 1940 newer Italian Fighters like the Machi c202 Folger were noted for their excellent handling characteristics and remained competitive until 1943 even after this point the reani company was able to produce Advanced aircraft like the re 2005 Sagitario which British Aces considered Superior to even the Spitfire and BF 109 the issue lay within numbers fewer than 60 sagitarios were ever produced as if comparatively subpar equipment were not bad enough these inefficiencies would be compounded by severely strained Logistics and inept decision-making on the part of Italian commanders who were frequently at odds with their leader and each other at the outbreak of war the rja marina the Italian Navy only had two battleships they had also not significantly Incorporated radar and sonar Technologies as the Royal Navy had done which left them effectively blind to enemy Approach at night or in poor weather this would become a significant factor in losses of several battles such as the Battle of Cape mapon where not a single Italian ship possessed radar capabilities a notably poor strategic decision was the failure to take advantage of their close position to one one of Britain's most geographically significant bases Malta Malta was the only Allied base between jalter and Alexandria and was not reinforced by the British due to their belief that they could not defend it from the Raa arotica the Italian Air Force in the wake of the battle of Tanto in November of 1940 when the Royal Navy disabled much of the Italian Fleet there Italian High command became reluctant to attempt an amphibious takeover of the islands and opted to rely entirely on the Raa aeronautica to bomb the Islanders into submission in March 1941 the raid on Cape mapan by the Royal Navy badly damaged the rja Marina's only operational modern Battleship and sank three Cruisers and two destroyers while receiving almost no damage in return hindered by the resistance of their commanders in the wake of taranto and mapan unwillingness to focus their efforts on Convoy Escorts a lack of cover from the Ria aeronautica and Perpetual fuel shortages the Ria Marina failed to take advantage of its potential to cut the Mediterranean in half and ensure access supply lines to North Africa in 1939 Italy launched a full-scale invasion of Albania swiftly establishing a protectorate and absorbing its territory into melini's new Italian Empire this maneuver was part of melini's broader strategy to strengthen Italy's presence in the Balkans countering Nazi Germany's expanding influence in Europe despite King zag I's initial resistance and subsequent Exile Italian forces led by General Alfredo gson efficiently secured Albania solidifying Italy's strategic position in the region on the eve of war in Europe melini's Ambitions extended beyond the European theater in East Africa it it Alan forces emboldened by earlier conquests in Ethiopia eyed British held territories the East African front became a critical stage where Italy aimed to expand its Empire by targeting Sudan Kenya and British Somali land this campaign spearheaded by Marshall Rodolfo graziani was seen as an opportunity to solidify Italy's Imperial presence in Africa however the challenging terrain and resilient Allied resistance posed significant obstacles this front Often overshadowed by the European battles was still a crucial aspect of Italy's war strategy against the British in many ways Italy's invasion of Greece was an attempt to imitate the expansionist policies of their German Ally up to this point Italy's only conquests had been in Ethiopia and Albania while Italian participation in the second world war had been limited to the French Alps and North Africa but musolini was a man of boundless ambition and had become convinced that the fastest method of securing dominance over the Mediterranean lay in the annexation of Greece from the outset Italian Logistics and maneuverability were compromised by the harsh climate of the pendis mountains combined with an unusually cold winter by December conditions were nearly Arctic foreshadowing what was in store for their German allies one year later pack animals quickly began dying of hypothermia and tens of thousands of men on both sides developed frostbite but these were not insurmountable obstacles and the Hardy Italians were no strangers to bad weather or rough terrain they also possessed a substantial number of Tanks modern infantry weapons and a strong air core in contrast the majority of Greek troops had to make do with a truly archaic Arsenal consisting mostly of equipment left over from the Great War furthermore the axis strangle hold over Europe cut them off from ships of ammunition or spare parts in terms of air power the only Force the Greeks could muster consisted of a mere 79 planes yet despite their advantages the Italians would soon find that the armor which had proved instrumental in the deserts of Ethiopia were useless in the pendis mountains meanwhile the air force that had terrorized the Republicans in the Spanish Civil War would be given a harsh lesson in humility by the British RAF which flew many sorties in defense of Greek airspace from the island of cre during The Invasion the British were also able to supply the Greeks with accurate and reliable Intelligence on enemy troop movements and strategic objectives thanks to having cracked Italian military encryption protocols the character of the Italian military establishment was also a major contributor to the disaster a culture of mistrust created bitter personal feuds in which generals were more concerned with humiliating each other than they were were with defeating the enemy interservice rivalries were just as severe with each branch cooperating as little as possible at of fear that doing so would undermine their own political relevance this was not helped by internal competition for the limited resources they had to work with as Italy was a largely agrarian country which unlike Germany did not have large occupied territories to plunder the these issues prevented the use of the combined arms tactics that their German allies had used so successfully in France and in Poland Italian generals were also astonishingly unwilling to consider new tactics preferring instead to believe that properly motivated and equipped infantry units could accomplish anything in sufficient numbers this attitude was highlighted when Italian observers compiled a detailed and insightful report on German tactics and handed it to Chief of Staff badolo only for him to promptly dismiss it with the words we'll study it when the war is over but contrary to popular perception the Italian Army was not wholly incompetent the issue did not lie with the morale or training of the average Soldier but instead lay in the systemic failures of the military establishment as a whole even Irwin raml noted that when given proper leadership the Italian troops under his command displayed incredible bravery but this quote from the war Diary of a disgruntled Italian General underlines the lack of foresight or strategic planning that went in to the campaign someone will say in 15 days we must be ready to March against Yugoslavia or in 8 days we will attack Greece from Albania as easily as saying let's have a cup of coffee The Duce hasn't the least idea of the differences between preparing war on flat terrain or in mountains in summer or in Winter still less does he work wor about the fact that we lack weapons ammunition equipment animals raw materials the factors we've discussed so far though important were not enough to guarantee an Italian failure that was guaranteed by the resolve displayed by the Greek people before the war Greece was a nation suffering from many internal divisions prime minister ianis maexus had been a veteran of the Great War who had taken to politics after becoming alarmed by the growing communist movement among the Greek peasantry but after failing to secure popular support maexus was appointed prime minister by the king of Greece George II shortly thereafter maexus used the threat of a communist Uprising to abolish Parliament and establish himself as an authoritarian dictator but despite the fact that his regime was deeply unpopular the Texas was a genius propagandist whose total control over the Greek media allowed him to spin a narrative of Italian cowardice and incompetence then on August 15th weeks before the declaration of war an Italian submarine torpedoed a Greek Light Cruiser this coincided with a major Festival to the Virgin Mary and the pious Greeks reacted by elevating the deceased crew to the status of religious Martyrs met Texas could not have wished for a more perfect opportunity and these State propaganda machines went into overdrive whipping the nation into a patriotic frenzy for the coming righteous conflict against the vile Italian oppressors the subsequent tenacity with which the Greeks resisted invasion was seen on numerous occasions such as the Battle of Hill 731 in which an entire Italian division supported by an armored element was repeatedly repulsed by a single Battalion of Greeks defending an important mountain pass this act of heroism has often been called the modern thermopolymerization [Music] for a month of sustained fighting in total at least 250,000 Greek reservists never even saw combat as their country lacked the means to provide them with so much as a pair of boots as the mainland collapsed the government withdrew to the island of cre one of the last targets of the German Balkan campaign British Greek and Anzac forces would be tested against over 20,000 airborne troops in the largest Airborne Invasion up to that point Hitler would go on to blame the invasions of Greece and Yugoslavia for the failure of operation Barbarosa allegedly stating if the Italians hadn't attacked Greece and needed our help the war would have taken a different course the North African front serves as a perfect Showcase of everything wrong with The Way fascist Italy ran its military operations the Italians invaded Egypt through Libya in September 1940 and experienced a catastrophic loss only a few months later during Britain's first large-scale military operation Operation Compass during operation Compass a commonwealth and free French Force numbering no more than 36,000 crushed the Italian 10th Army a combined Italian Libyan force of 150,000 presiding over this disaster was Marshall rodulfo graani formerly considered one of the best Italian generals but gratian's experience had been earned against Italy's many Colonial enemies and he was left totally out of his depth when confronted by a modern European Army despite a tremendous numerical Advantage graziani quickly recognized his largely non-mechanized Force could be easily outmaneuvered by the motorized British force and with his supply lines already overstretched he reluctantly decided to dig in and fortify at key defensible positions but these strong points were strung out and incapable of supporting each other so the British simply drove through the gaps and encircled them these tactics enabled the British to use their full force of 36,000 men 275 tanks 120 guns and 60 Armored Cars against one or two Italian positions at a time often finding themselves encircled Italian and Libyan troops surrendered in their thousands by the end of the operation the British had taken more than 138,000 prisoners hundreds of Tanks thousands of guns and numerous aircraft whilst sustaining a few losses by comparison the Italians fortunes were briefly reversed by Hitler who s the newly formed Africa Corp under Irwin raml to bail musolini out the German intervention and subsequent moment of Triumph before the axis was eventually driven back to Sicily served to further highlight the Italian deficiencies in both leadership and Logistics German forces comprised the minority of total forces throughout the entire North African camp cign showing that the insertion of capable German leadership played a key difference in the performance of the Italian Army tactical prowess and a few German panzers can't solve logistical issues however and so the North African campaign was in many ways doomed from the start while assisting raml in North Africa Italian forces also engaged in operation Barbarosa against the Soviet Union in 1941 initially joining the Eastern front as part of the Italian expeditionary Corp in Russia their role soon expanded into the larger Italian Army in Russia where they participated in significant battles including the Battle of Stalingrad and operations along the dawn River the Italians achieved some early successes alongside their German allies during the initial push but this was not to last harsh weather and fierce resistance inflicted heavy casualties with their involvement culminating in a disastrous retreat in 1943 especially after the encirclement of German forces in Stalingrad the severe losses and Retreats marked a major setback contributing to the broader axis defeat on the Eastern Front American generals naturally argued that an invasion of Italy at this time would draw resources away from Cross Channel operations into France something that the Soviets had been demanding for months debate raid Ed throughout the twoe conference at Casablanca with Churchill's stirring rhetoric about Italy being the soft underbelly of Europe eventually persuading the Americans to consider his proposal thus operation husky was born a large scale amphibious Invasion from North Africa to the island of Sicily which could be used as a springboard for a subsequent attack on Mainland Italy General Dwight D Eisenhower was appointed supreme commander of operation but planning remained primarily in the hands of British general Harold Alexander General Alexander's plan of attack was simple land on the southern tip of Sicily and capture the large Port of Syracuse then Drive North to cut off an axis retreat at Messina which was also a logistical staging point for any future invasion of Italy the British would take center stage in the assault with the American forces operating in a supporting role something they weren't particularly happy about to reach Syracuse the Allies would need to cross the pon Grande bridge over the river anapo but given its strategic importance the Italians undoubtedly prepared to destroy the bridge at first sign of invasion left with no other options General Alexander authorized a risky Airborne operation to capture the bridge ahead of the main Invasion on the night of July 9th 1943 a large formation of gliders and transport planes entered axis airspace over the aisle of Sicily but with winds gustl at over 45 M or 72 km an hour the ambitious Airborne assault quickly turned into a confused mess anti-aircraft batteries and search lights added to the chaos leading to 65 of the 147 gliders being released prematurely by their Towing aircraft many of which plunged straight into to the ocean of the remainder only 12 landed near their objectives and the rest were scattered far and wide across the Sicilian Countryside had the axis forces been better prepared operation husky might now be considered one of the biggest disasters of the second world war but many factors transpired to give the Allies an easier time than they arguably deserved Sicily was defended by the entire Italian 6th Army backed up by several German divisions amounting to over 300,000 men accompanied by several hundred tanks and over 1,000 aircraft but Italian morale was at an all-time low following the loss of North Africa and the bulk of the sixth Army was made up of coastal and support divisions that had minimal combat experience and little incentive to stand and fight furthermore senior Italian General Alfredo guani and German field Marshal Albert Kastle ring were constantly at odds over every detail of the defense thanks to this bickering and the loss of North Africa the remaining German soldiers in Sicily had grown to despise their Italian counterparts and now refused to coordinate with them the tentative nature of the axis hold on Sicily was plainly Illustrated when a ragged group of 50 British paratroopers made their way to Pon Grande Bridge after scrounging up a meager handful of supplies with no expectations of success the men fired off a few half-hearted valys at the entrenched Defender only to watch in astonishment as the terrified Italians leapt from their bunkers and vanished into the night scenes like this were repeated across the island with paratroopers causing Havoc by cutting telephone wires intercepting message couriers and attacking isolated Coastal batteries as the next day dawned a fleet of transport ships made a daring rush through high seas towards the Sicilian Coastline lining their decks were the men of the US 7th Army under George Patton and the British eth army under Bernard Montgomery once again the treacherous winds and natural obstacles such as offshore sand bars were as dangerous as enemy fire with several Landing ships running around or finding themselves blown helplessly off course however as previously stated enemy resistance was remarkably light with no significant Force awaiting the Allies on the beaches with no tanks or mobile infantry divisions to contest The Landings The static defenses proved only temporary inconveniences when the confused dispirited Italian forces finally began to mobilize for a Counterattack on the beach heads they were easily repulsed by Naval gunfire with approximately 53,000 men put ashore in the first wave the Allies began their Advance Inland although Pote Grande Bridge had already been recaptured by the Italians the paratroopers held it long enough to delay the axis forces to destroy it and Syracuse fell within a day by the 12th much of Southern Sicily was in Allied hands the loffa was was being suppressed by strategic bombing raids and many Allied officers were already preparing to celebrate a swift Victory but then disaster almost struck when the British attempted a second major Airborne operation to capture a bridge over the river cimo which blocked their Northern Advance towards the city of katania while the initial attack was successful the bridge was deep Behind Enemy Lines and the isolated paratroopers had to hold out for three whole days before ground units could relieve them even after the bridge was secured Fierce Italian Resistance stalled the advance into the northern half of the island for another week Sicily would not be an easy Victory after all with delays mounting friction developed between the two halves of the invasion Force the American 7th Army had been intended to provide support from the flanks but was otherwise expected to hang back while the British eighth Army did most of the fighting to say this situation was not to General Patton's liking would be a vast understatement so he began badgering General Alexander for permission to break out to the western side of the island unable to endure Patton's pestering Alexander reluctantly mumbled that Patton could conduct a limited reconnaissance mission naturally Patton interpreted this as permission to charge the entire seventh Army West at break neck speed leaving Montgomery to continue trudging North in the face of increasingly stiff enemy [Music] resistance while Patton was busy crushing the remnants of the Italian Army stationed in Western Sicily field Marshall Kastle ring Was preparing his final defensive line in the mountainous terrain south of mesina this was known as the Etna line as it included the giant volcano Mount Etna as one of its key defensive components both sides knew that whoever controlled the mountain slopes could decide the course of the battle and fighting in the area was intense Montgomery planned to capture the town of adrano which linked the two halves of the etal line together around the base of the volcano but adreno was still well Behind Enemy Lines and to get there the Allies had to battle their way through some of the harshest terrains since the deserts of North Africa the first major Clash on the road to Mount Etna occurred at the town of Chen tpe situated at top a line of extremely steep hills that gave a commanding view of the surrounding Countryside and provided a nearly impregnable defensive position for the elite German foser or paratrooper regiment station there on August 2nd a heavy artillery barrage managed to destroy or dislodge The Defenders from several of their Hilltop fortifications but Chen to repay itself remained defiant left with no other choice the men of the British 78th Infantry Division pushed forwards across broken Rocky terrain constantly being hit by mortar fire and German snipers entering the town The Battered infantrymen found themselves confronted by a pair of Panzer 3es that had been hidden in the narrow streets with no armored support of their own the men of the 78 played hide and seek with these deadly opponents finally surrounding and destroying them with peat anti-tank weapons yet even without their tanks the outnumbered falam jagers held out for two whole days as the British were sweating up the steep hills around shent tpe General Patton had finished rolling up the Western half of Sicily and was now assaulting the town of Trona which was also part of the eoline once again the extreme terrain made for a iCal Advance with extensive minefields making the unsteady ground even more treacherous to Patton's great annoyance his forces were unable to achieve any easy breakthroughs and had to settle into an arduous routine of slowly prying the enemy off their fortified hilltops one by one the German and Italian forces were not content to Simply Hold the Line either launching numerous counterattacks that often managed to regain ground and reoccupy old positions The Assault on Trona lasted until August 6th and just like chent tpe the Allies were unable to prevent the Germans from making an orderly withdrawal that same day Ado was occupied by the 78th Division and just like that the etol line was finally broken and the end of the campaign was in sight in fact axis forces were already in the process of evacuating from Sicily Castle ring was under no Illusions about his chances of holding the island for much longer and had little reason to stand in fight after the loss of katania and its airfields on the fth beginning on August 11th a massive Fleet of transport ships assembled at the Port of mesina right at the northern tip of Sicily with rear guard units delaying the Allied Advance more than 100,000 German and Italian soldiers were able to cross the Straits of mesina and Escape into [Music] Italy it is late January 1944 and just south of Mont Casino the men of the 36th Infantry Division are attempting to secure a bridge head over the gari river enemy fire is intense with German artillery saturating the area in a Relentless deafening barrage despite enormous losses two regiments have made the crossing but now they are trapped their landing craft reduced to splinters by the ceaseless bombardment back on the opposite Shore Major General Fred Walker watches the disaster unfold through his binoculars a veteran of the Great War he knows an impossible situation when he sees one glancing backwards at the one remaining regiment under his command he debates ordering them forward but after a moment he dismisses the idea even if a miracle happens and this river is taken the cycle will just repeat at the next one sighing to himself he wonders how anyone could have been foolish enough to Envision Italy as the soft underbelly of Europe with this game of chess between Italy and the Allies seemingly coming to a conclusion after the abrupt realization that musolini only really knew how to play checkers a single handshake would end the game before it reached the Italian Countryside but no such handshake would happen as 16 new German divisions crossed the Alps into Northern Italy spoiling for a rematch but the Allies were not deterred as far in the East Joseph Stalin remained insistent that the Allies maintain pressure on the Western Front and divert as many axis forces as possible away from the Soviet Union thus the second match began on September 3rd when soldiers of the British 8th Army dashed Across The Straits of mesina this was intended as a diversion from the real Landings scheduled to take place a week later but Albert Kastle Ring The General enal in charge of the German troops stationed in Italy was no fool and simply ordered the men stationed in the area to retreat and consolidate their positions further north denied battle the frustrated British Advanced at a snail's pace delayed by minefields roadblocks and collapsed Bridges a few days later a second British operation took place this time aimed at taking the port of taranto and establishing a supply base for the eth Army again the initial Landings went unopposed as British forces established control over the south of the country news of the Italian surrender was made public and the situation promptly took a turn for the worse on Hitler's orders German forces undertook operation oxa quickly disarming the remainder of the Italian military while a few divisions chose to resist the majority either meekly surrendered or agreed to fight alongside their new occupiers the new Italian government fled Rome which was occupied on the 10th and musolini found himself self thrust back into the international Spotlight at the head of a new puppet state the Italian socialist republic with Italy controlled by Nazi Germany there was no hope of a swift Victory and the stage was set for the prolonged bloody conflict that would follow despite this setback many Allied planners remained optimistic holding on to the dream of a lightning campaign to liberate the peninsula the minimal resistance encountered by the British led to the belief that the Germans were still preoccupied dealing with the Italian Army and lack either the will or the manpower to defend territory south of Rome so on the 9th of September the Allies commenced operation Avalanche with a total of nine divisions from the US Fifth Army launching from staging points on Sicily and heading straight for a roughly 35 M or 56 km stretch of Italian Coastline near the port of solo at this point in time the Fifth Army was a combined force of both British and American troops the for former were to land in the North near Salo itself while the latter were directed further south from the start The Landings were severely mismanaged with historians arguing to this day over who deserves the most blame for the ensuing Fiasco despite strenuous protests from the leader of the naval task force Admiral Kent huitt the American Landing zones were not subjected to a preliminary bombardment this was due to the mistaken assumption that the operation had the element of surprise despite sightings of luk GAA reconnaissance planes over the task force as it crossed from Sicily predictably kessle ring had guessed the American plan of action and positioned his troops to contest The Landings left with no alternative the men of the Fifth Army waited ashore under intense bombardment from machine guns field artillery and panzers the beaches quickly turned into a slaughterhouse and for a brief moment the fate of the entire campaign hung in the balance then the guns of the naval task force finally opened up blasting gaps in the temporary German fortifications and opening the way for the baguer troops to rush through and establish a beach [Music] head but this was by no means an end to the Carnage as the entire 16th Panzer Division then thundered down from the hills to continue the onslaught during the Frantic fighting that ensued Naval gunfire again proved decisive with the cruiser and Destroyer escorts engaging a minimum of 130 Shore bound targets during the first day alone further north the British divisions had faced somewhat lighter resistance and had only gone ashore after their escort ships had spent 15 minutes softening up the German defenses after pushing Inland they were able to capture a vital Airfield and a force of SAS Commandos and US army rangers entered Salo itself and drove out the Defenders after a brief bout of Street Fighting but the situation was still dire and German counterattacks were Relentless the LOF vafa also conducted many sorties against both the beach heads and the naval task force sinking approximately 100 landing craft of various sizes and damaging various warships after another 6 days Kastle ring was forced to retreat on direct orders from high command Hitler had conferred with Irwin raml and both men had agreed it was pointless to try and defend southern Italy although they had very nearly succeeded in throwing the Fifth Army back into the sea German losses had been heavy especially among the precious Panzer divisions but these losses were not crippling and the rough Italian Countryside presented many opportunities for the Germans to make life hell for the Allies as they pushed up the peninsula having been battered almost to the point of breaking the weary men of the Fifth Army were reluctant to Drive North after their retreating enemies morale was extremely low and as a result the decision was made to delay the push on Rome until October in the meantime Allied Forces concentrated on consolidating their hold on Southern Italy and capturing the airfields located on the companion Plains while this was ongoing the civilian population of Naples Rose in an unexpected Revolt creating enough chaos for the Allies to force a German Retreat from the area on October 3rd the SAS conducted a daring amphibious assault on the city of of termoli part of the first defensive line south of Rome this was known as the Volo line and ran parallel to two large rivers The Raid was a remarkable success with the Commando team seizing the city and holding it until being reinforced by the Commonwealth eth Army however the river Crossings were delayed by the need to build Bridges capable of withstanding the weight of Allied tanks as the engineers got to work the 16th Panzer Division struck again further impeding Construction efforts and inflicting significant casualties but the two Allied armies pressed on reaching the second line of German defenses in late October known as the Barbara line once again the rough terrain proved as big an obstacle as enemy fire and it was only on the 9th of November that a significant breakthrough was finally made Bonito melini's mishandling of the war had turned the majority of his political party against him though holding near total Authority as prime minister musolini was technically subordinate to the reigning king of Italy Victor Emanuel III who could remove him from office at any time but Victor Emanuel was a notoriously cautious Monarch and had deliberately fostered the fascist regime in Italy to preserve his own authority it was not until shortly after the fall of Sicily that opposition forces dared to approach the king and it took multiple assurances from president of the chamber of fasis and corporations count Dino grandi before he agreed to back Marshall patro bolio as the next prime minister of Italy Emmanuel was desperate to cling to power and viewed bolio as an easily manipulated underling who could be relied on to help him reassert his authority over Italy and negotiate a favorable ceasefire with the Allies but even with Victor emanuel's backing grandi knew that a dangerous struggle lay ahead as several other members of the grand Council were still Ardent fascists who remained committed to the war effort on July the 24th the members of the grand Council of fascism met in The Palazo venetsia to decide the fate of their Nation outside smoke still Rose from ruined factories and Basilica of St Lawrence devastated by Allied bombing raids just 5 days prior the mood was exceptional tense with Dino grandi going so far as to conceal a pair of hand grenades under his jacket in case violence broke out though armed black shirts surrounded the building Benito musolini entered without his personal bodyguard and immediately launched into a furious defense of his own actions grandi replied with a speech that besieged the king to resume control over the nation and concluded with a vicious jab at The Duce himself let perish all actions so that the nation can live arguments raged back and forth throughout the evening as the various fascist members of the council Rose to argue their points with the supporters of the King after 9 hours the council was split over several ordina deljo or orders of the day each outlining a radically different course for the nation to break up this confused tangle of conflicting interests grandi demanded the unthinkable and actual ual vote the first to take place in the entire 15-year history of the council to his immeasurable relief Grand's order of the day carried a majority and a broken musolini was forced to deliver it to the king in person the next day Victor Emanuel then ordered his arrest and informed bolio that he was the new prime minister within hours huge crowds were swarming through the streets of all major Italian cities defacing statues chipping off mural and making bonfires out of former fascist regalia the grand Council would disband itself shortly thereafter bringing Italy's 21-year-old fascist regime to a stunningly abrupt and ignominious end unfortunately this extraordinary political upheaval left many unanswered questions most prominent of which was what exactly to do about the eight German divisions that began advancing into Northern Italy on the day of melini's arrest King Victor Emanuel was still backing a highly authoritarian government ruling under martial law and his pleas for assurances of Allied support for the monarchy delayed the opening negotiations to take Italy out of the war for 45 days the government struggled to assemble a coherent agenda while the king relapsed into passivity in the end bolio arranged secret talks with the allies in the Armistice of cibele which assigned Italy the role of co-belligerent against Germany but the Allies refused to alter their existing timetable for the invasion of Italy and bolio was unable to arrange a defense of the nation before being forced to publicly announce the Armistice in response case axis was devised as an operation to disarm the Italian military and set up a puppet regime in Northern Italy on September 9th with German troops racing toward the capital bolio Victor Emanuel and most of their government fled South into the waiting arms of the Allies the subsequent power vacuum in Rome allowed numerous opposition parties to emerge from hiding including the Christian democrats the Socialists and the Communists who quickly founded the committee of National Liberation or cln September 9th was also the starting date for operation Avalanche a massive amphibious landing at Salo by the US Fifth Army their goal was the capture of Naples which had already been heavily damaged by Allied bombing campaigns social order had almost entirely broken down thanks to the widespread arrest and Detention of the Carabiner or Italian police forces who had been deemed a monarchist threat by the German occupation on the 12th Colonel Walter scha took command of Naples and declared that up to 100 citizens would be executed for every German life lost scha then ordered 240 neopolitan living near the coastline to evacuate making it clear he planned to demolish the entire Port District to deny it to the attackers this was accompanied by a declaration that all Italian males aged between 18 and 30 would be conscripted for forced labor and a day later SCH dispatched troops to round up as many men as possible this caused huge crowds of mostly unarmed neapolitans to burst out onto the streets their ranks augmented by a few soldiers who had managed to escape detention The Following chaos would be known as the four days of Naples with uncoordinated but highly motivated groups of partisans striking at the occupiers in any way they could on the third day the part gained the upper hand after corralling Colonel scha inside the City Stadium where he was forced to negotiate for the release of Italian prisoners housed there a day later the German Garrison began to pull out of the city leaving the partisans battered but Victorious and the vital Port facilities intact for Allied usage while the people of Naples made their stand major events had been taking place further north after his arrest musolini had been contained in the heavily guarded graso mountain complex the question of what to do with the former Duce was solved for the Allies on September 12th when German special operative OT soreni rescued musolini from captivity and spirited him North to become the prime minister of the new Italian social Republic also known as the Republic of C or RSI but melini's failures had hardly left him in good standing with Adolf Hitler and his new fascist regime was all but completely subordinate to its Nazi counterpart with Germany seizing the Italian gold reserve and allowing the RSI only a token military force musolini however was allowed to recreate his personal militia who would quickly come to be known as the brigate ner or black brigades formed expressly to suppress partisan activity the black brigades would operate closely with the German military and assist in many massacres of Italian Ian civilians but news of these war crimes would strengthen the resolve of the Italian citizenry to resist the RSI and melini's first conscription campaigns drove thousands of middleclass Italians to flee into the mountains and take up arms against the fascist puppet government these initial Guerilla bands were primarily composed of Communists augmented by deserters or Italian soldiers who had managed to keep hold of their weapons weapons some were also outright Bandits who terrorized the local peasantry for personal enrichment the situation was made worse by constant Allied bombing campaigns focused primarily on the three industrial cities of Turin Milan and Genoa in March of 1944 several 100,000 Italian workers in Milan went on strike pleading with the RSI to stop making their Nation a Target by supplying weapons to Germany of course musolini rejected these demands and the protest was suppressed with thousands sent to German labor camps this was the last straw for many Italians and thousands began flocking to the banner of the cln in an effort to reassert dominance the Germans would retaliate by slaughtering 335 Italians in the rtina massacre a few months later German soldiers and black Brigade members surrounded the village of St Ana d stsa none of the villagers had been directly implicated in a partisan attack but the Germans executed 560 of them anyway in an effort to terrorize the rest of the populace into submission but far from Co the partisans the brutality of the RSI and its allies only encouraged more overt resistance as between the end of 1943 and summer of 1944 partisan membership exploded from fewer than 9,000 to well over 30,000 with winter rapidly closing in the Allies had little time to prepare for their assaults on Castle Ring's Masterpiece an innovator in both military tactics and apparently chess the Gambit we've named after the German general includes distracting your opponent and quickly switching out all of your pawns for castles on the 1st of December the first probing attacks began in the west made against a large bulge in the German defenses known as The Baron heart line L conditions were terrible with freezing temperatures and heavy snowfall making for an agonizing Trek for the soldiers as they struggled their way through hostile terrain after several weeks of intermittent engagements the Allies were only able to wrestle a number of small villages away from enemy control in the end it was the Germans who decided to withdraw falling back to the more tenable Gustav line in early January of 1944 while the Fifth Army was busy dying in the snow the eighth Army also found itself preoccupied with well dying in the snow the ath had attacked the Gustav line on the 4th of December and made significant Headway but then the Germans made a strategic withdrawal through a deep Gully which funnel the Commonwealth forces into a carefully prepared killing ground any unit entering the gulie was brutally mauled and Allied progress was completely stalled until German forces withdrew to a new position on the 20th the next set of battles for the Gustav line took place at at the towns of ortona and oronia the former proved an absolute nightmare for the Canadian units assigned to capture it as they were forced to engage in some of the bloodiest street fighting on the Western Front the German parachute Battalion defending the town had dug in deep and had to be fought from building to building in a protracted struggle that resulted in roughly 4,500 casualties altogether decimating both the first Canadian division as well as the civilian population oronia meanwhile resisted every attack holding out until a massive blizzard struck the Adriatic Coastline and forced the British to Halt their offensive but even this could not end the Bloodshed for long and on January 14th the two Allied armies launched yet another series of attacks on the line starting the notorious battle for Monte Casino the first assault was conducted by the British and resulted in little more than 3 days of pointless Slaughter two more attacks failed due to to either terrain or a lack of armored support and a fourth ended with minor gains that were promptly abandoned due to the lack of supplies after these repeated failures the Allies authorized operation Avenger which fixated on the Monte Casino Abbey as the Lynch pin of German defenses in the area on February 15th a huge bomber raid reduced the Abbey to a smoldering pile of rubble unfortunately the raid was badly coordinated and was not followed up by a ground assault so in the end little was accomplished while this was ongoing the Allies had also conducted a naval landing near the city of ano to outflank the Gustav line but after landing relatively unopposed General John P Lucas made the inexplicable decision to dig in and fortify his position rather than push Inland kessle ring promptly wheeled his reserves about and smashed into the beach head beginning a long Battle of attrition that would last until May meanwhile the third battle for Casino began on March 15th with a creeping barrage that disordered the German line but this Ray of Hope was quickly snuffed out by heavy rains giving the Germans time to prepare however by now it was clear that the axis was losing the battle of attrition and the final breakthrough came on May 11th when both the eighth and fifth armies attacked at once aided by the French expeditionary Corps and even some Polish forces this last tremendous push finally fractured the Gustaf line which held for nearly 6 months but although the main line of axis defenses had been breached there was still much to be done and the push North continued a breakout was also staged at anio with the help of an artillery bombardment and close air support in danger of becoming encircled Castle ring received orders to fall back but right at the pivotal moment General Mark Clark decided to ignore orders to pursue the German Army and instead drove towards Rome unable to believe his luck a delighted Castle rang quickly pulled back to yet another another set of defensive works codenamed the gothic line after so much blood had been shed the actual capture of Rome was something of an anticlimax with German attention turning towards the inevitable invasion of France the city had all but been abandoned after a few brief skirmishes Rome was liberated on June 4th just 2 days prior to The Landings in Normandy getting there had required 600,000 Allied troops over 100,000 of which had become casualties since the day they first landed in Italy but despite their Grievous losses there was little time to rest and recuperate kessle ring had proven a genius at defensive Warfare and leaving him to his own devices would undoubtedly prove disastrous thus British and American armies raced up the coast only to be checked yet again at the improvised try meni line encountered on on June 20th stalled for another week the Germans had ample time to move the bulk of its Army to the appenine mountains infuriated but impotent the Allies could do nothing but resign themselves to yet another long grinding Siege on August 25th the Allies launched operation Olive aimed at breaching the gothic line and finally ending the seemingly eternal battle for Italy the eighth Army was to attack German positions along the Adriatic coast and when Castle ring had committed his reserves to that area Mark Clark's Fifth Army would strike at the weakened Center breaking through to bolognia initial progress was good but Castle ring continued to pull his old tricks and refused to be lured into fighting on unequal terms by the end of September the Allies had clambered their way over the peaks of the appenine mountains having suffered 14,000 casualties then Autumn rains stalled further attacks grounding air support and turning vital supply routes into to impassible quag Meyers at this point the remainder of 1944 would be spent in a deadlock with a single axis counter attack in December managing to briefly reoccupy a section of the gothic line although Castle ring had done a spectacular job in Italy his position was about to change drastically he was severely injured in a car crash in October and upon his recovery found himself replacing field Marshall gett Von runat as commander of the entire Western Front on March 10th even he could do nothing but watch the final collapse of the Third Reich as Allied troops were already pouring into Germany itself in Spring of 1945 the Allies launched their final offensive in Italy operation grapes shot during the months long stalemate the fifth and eighth armies had been reinforced by a diverse collection of units from various Nations including several thousand British trained Italian volunteers and even a division from the Brazilian expeditionary Force the attack began on April 6th with a long artillery bombardment then attacks all along the line by Commonwealth troops without any reserves left the Germans could no longer do anything but desperately try to hold the line however the situation was Hopeless by the 20th of April the two Allied armies had broken into the po valley and only 5 days later musolini was dragged out of hiding by Italian partisans and summarily executed with no reason left to fight Castle Ring's replacement opened up negotiations with the allies and signed a surrender order on May 2nd just a few days before the official end of the war in Europe after so many gambits and clever plays the chess board of Italy had been cleared the final handshake between players would occur at last a year and a half after the start of their unexpected rematch in many ways the Italian campaign showcased both the best and worst moments from the second world war the idea to divert forces from the Eastern Front was sound but internal division quickly turned the campaign into an unfocused mess supplies were diverted to other operations and arguments among Allied generals led to missed opportunities and long delays kessle ring also demonstrated exactly how deadly the vermos could be on the defense Holding Out for over a year against a much greater force which by that point possessed total air superiority but the battles in Italy kept hundreds of thousands of German soldiers occupied at a time when Manpower was critically low and the experience gained from the amphibious Landings at salarno proved invaluable to the planners of D-Day still historians remained divided on the campaign with many arguing that it was an outright strategic failure but others see it as part of a bigger picture a necessary even vital component to the fall of the Axis powers into the liberation of Europe
