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Chapter IV: The Battle of Italy, September 1940-January 1941.
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Chapter IV: The Battle of Italy, September 1940-January 1941.
From late June to August 1940, using Lend-Lease aid from the United States, the British managed to re-equip a total of 125.000 soldiers of the British Expeditionary Force out of the more than 198.000 that had been evacuated from Dunkirk. With France occupied, French pride had taken a dent and therefore Reynaud agreed to a joint “Allied Expeditionary Force” to Italy under British command, even though the French contributed a far greater number of troops (still commanded by General Maxime Weygand). This force of circa 625.000 men would be commanded by Archibald Wavell, who replaced the defeated General Harold Alexander. This force in turn would be subordinate to the Italian Comando Supremo under Marshal Pietro Badoglio. At sea, however, the French Navy and the Regia Marina formed a joint command that also included the British Mediterranean Fleet. The British left them in charge of the Mediterranean Sea and transferred units to the Atlantic (as well as the Pacific due to the possibility of war with Japan).
In the meantime, while Italy’s geography certainly lent itself for a defensive war, it did little to diminish German air superiority. The Luftwaffe was able to field 4.201 airplanes in September 1939: 1.191 bombers, 361 dive bombers, 788 fighters, 431 heavy fighters and 488 transports. The Regia Aeronautica fielded 3.296 during the same timeframe, of which circa 2.000 were fit for operations and of which 166 were modern fighters (it was the smallest air force among the European great powers). Increased defence spending had increased numbers, but only to 3.480 by March 1940. Even after aircraft factories had been mobilized for wartime production, production never got far above one hundred aircraft a month (in part also because the Luftwaffe attacked Italian industry). In September, the Regia Aeronautica numbered 3.922 aircraft, of which ~ 3.200 were combat-ready and of which 820 were modern fighters, which meant that they were still outnumbered. 300 British aircraft and 150 French machines somewhat amended this major strategic disadvantage. These reinforcements were sorely needed because superior German aircraft production had only widened the numeric and qualitative gap between the Luftwaffe and the Regia Aeronautica.
The modern Macchi C.200 fighters with a top speed of 504 km/h were slow compared to the Messerschmitt Bf-109, which had a top speed of 640 km/h; they also had weak armament with only two 12.7 mm machine guns. Their sturdy design and their agility, however, allowed them to effectively fight against the Germans, and German pilots found their adversaries to be more than competent. A handful of the novel Macchi C.202 were rushed into service in time to fight and, especially when they were piloted by experienced airmen from the Spanish Civil War, they easily matched their German opponents blow for blow. For example, in less than three days, Vittorio Mussolini managed to shoot down eleven German fighters in a C.202, which he partially did in order to earn the recognition of his father, who seemed to prefer Vittorio’s younger brother Bruno (Vittorio was successful, with the Italian press glorifying him as the greatest Italian ace, which earned him his father’s recognition). Later versions of the C.202 would sport Rolls-Royce Merlin engines since a lot of Italy’s industry was under occupation.
The German general staff knew that the German-Austrian border didn’t lend itself to an invasion, more so because Italy still held some buffer zones dating back to 1938. Hitler hoped that a strategic bombing campaign would soften Italy to the point of a separate armistice, but he was quickly disillusioned. The other options were to invade through the French-Italian border (which was difficult as the French still defended the Rhone Valley) or the Yugoslav-Italian border. Hitler figured that France would withdraw from the continent with an Italian defeat and he was willing to do whatever it took to make that happen.
Because pretty much every invasion route on the Austro-Italian border had disastrous geography for the offensive force, the German OKW focused on invading via Yugoslavia through the Ljubljana Gap. Unfortunately, Yugoslavia’s geography wasn’t much friendlier than Italy's, but on the bright side Belgrade would face a multi-front war if it chose to defy Germany: Germany and Hungary would come in from the north and Bulgaria from the southeast (Romania, on the other hand, was fuming because it had been forced to cede northern Transylvania to Hungary in the Second Vienna Award, prompting Bucharest to improve its relations with Belgrade). Hitler chose to use Yugoslavia’s hopeless strategic situation as a stick, while also dangling a carrot in front of the face of Prince Paul (the regent for the 17 year-old King Peter II). The carrot was that Yugoslavia would get Albania on a silver platter if it joined the Axis, which not coincidentally removed a threat to the Ploiesti oilfields in Romania on which Germany depended. Additionally, the Allies harboured Ustashe leader Ante Pavelic and Italian fascist leaders had violently opposed the existence of the Yugoslav state in the past: this, as well as the fact that Germany seemed to have the upper hand, further strengthened the pro-Axis faction.
On August 13th 1940, Prince Paul responded to restiveness in Croatia – surreptitiously stirred up by Italian agents-provocateurs working for the Ustashe – by declaring martial law on the advice of the Germans. General Milan Nedic, Minister of Army and Navy, was thrust forward to the position of Prime Minister and also got the Ministry of Internal Affairs: he now was the head of the Yugoslav armed forces, the head of the country’s police forces and head of government. The country effectively became a military dictatorship and Nedic’s regime responded brutally to Croatian demands for more autonomy and violence against ethnic Serbs, engaging in ethnic cleansing. On August 23rd, just ten days after the 1940 August Coup, Nedic allowed the Germans to invade Italy via the Ljubljana Gap after, momentarily at least, crushing the Croats with help from the Waffen SS (the latter started to forcibly recruit “racially superior specimens” from the German minority in Yugoslavia, which was soon also subjected to conscription by the Wehrmacht). The WW I vintage Royal Yugoslav Army simultaneously attacked Albania, but it got stuck not far across the border and was actually repulsed, suffering for Belgrade’s arrogance. Much to his annoyance, Hitler was forced to deploy a fighter squadron and a Stuka dive bomber squadron to assist them. The Yugoslavs, to their own annoyance and surprise, encountered civilian resistance from the Albanians, who didn’t see Yugoslavian control as an improvement over Italy’s (Albania’s resistance movement was among the few not supported by the Allies because it opposed both sides). The resistance to Yugoslavia, however, wasn’t surprising: news of ethnic cleansing perpetrated by the Serbs predictably alienated supposed “allies.”
Yugoslavia annexed Albania, but at the cost of becoming a satellite state to Germany and of Allied support for the Croatian Ustashe movement. Italy promptly declared war on Yugoslavia on August 24th 1940, followed by France and Britain a few days later, but they did little to back it up. In the meantime, Nedic was pressured to sign a commercial treaty that allowed Germany to purchase metallic ores for its war industry for advantageous, below-market-price prices. And Yugoslavia was well endowed with metals (and other materials that the German war machine required). Slovenia, Bosnia, Herzegovina and Macedonia had major iron ore deposits and the country was also rich in non-ferrous ores: Bosnia and Herzegovina had bauxite, Kosovo had reserves of lead, zinc and chrome, Serbia provided copper and antimony, and Macedonia held chrome, manganese, uranium and mercury.
Nedic kept his part of the deal, allowing the Germans to invade Italy through the Ljubljana Gap. What also helped the Germans was the fact that the Italians were distracted by the simultaneous Yugoslav offensives on Fiume, Trieste and Pola, which had been cut off from the rest of Italy by the German breakout into the country’s northeast. These cities themselves were ethnically Italian, but the countryside around them was decidedly Slavic, and ethnic violence took place against the Italian minority. On September 19th, members of the Slovene militantly anti-fascist and insurgent organization TIGR killed a few dozen Italians, but not before raping the women. The entire event was broadly meted out by the Italian press.
On September 20th, an angry Mussolini ordered the Regia Marina to bombard the Yugoslav naval base at Kotor and to evacuate as many of the besieged Italian civilians as possible. The Royal Yugoslav Navy was equipped with one elderly ex-German light cruiser (suitable only for training purposes), one large modern destroyer flotilla leader of British design, three modern destroyers of French design, one seaplane tender, four modern submarines (two older French-built and two British-built) and ten modern motor torpedo boats (MTBs), of the older vessels, there were six ex-Austrian Navy medium torpedo boats, six mine-layers, four large armoured river monitors and various auxiliary craft. That afternoon Italian light cruiser Luigi Cadorna and escorting destroyers Alpino and Artigliere, drew out the Royal Yugoslav Navy by shelling the coastal town of Zanjic for twenty minutes with their eight 152 mm (4x2) and eight 120 mm guns (2x2, twice).
The obsolete, WW I vintage ex-German light cruiser, three destroyers, four motor torpedo boats and five patrol boats steamed toward the inferior Italian force and drove it off. The Luigi Cadorna and its escorts fled southwest and, with the setting sun they provided good targets for Yugoslav gunners. They didn’t realize that a taskforce – composed of Italian battleship Andrea Doria, heavy cruiser Zara and a destroyer escort – was coming in from the south and that they were being led to them. The Italian force crossed the Yugoslav T and could therefore bring all its guns to bear; besides, Yugoslav 152 and 120 mm guns didn’t do much to Zara’s 100-159 mm (3.9-5.9 inch) armoured belt. In the meantime, Zara’s 203 mm (8 inch) and Andrea Doria’s ten 320 mm (12.6 inch) guns had no difficulties in obliterating the Yugoslav force, while a raid by SM.79 medium bombers bombed Kotor, damaging several ships, docks and supply facilities. The September 22nd Kotor Raid was an Italian tactical victory and a major morale boost, but it was of limited strategic value. Italian dominance in the Adriatic Sea had already been a given anyway.
Firstly, feints on the Brenner Pass, the Lienz-Belluno route and several other mountain passes took place. Then the Luftwaffe started to bomb the somewhat neglected segment of the Alpine Wall on the Yugoslav border while simultaneously 2.200 artillery pieces opened fire on September 1st. Even though Italian troops on the Yugoslav border were thinly spread – leaving the entire region lightly defended by only a screening force – the Wehrmacht took until September 10th to push through the Ljubljana Gap against determined defenders utilizing the natural features as much as possible. Any effort to attrite the Germans ended after the breakout and the crossing of the Isonzo a few days later, for the time being. Before the German Panzer Divisions lay the wide open Venetian-Friulian Plain followed by the Po Valley (the flatlands of Veneto and Friuli do not drain into the Po, but they effectively combine into an unbroken plain and are therefore often considered a part of the Po Valley). Among them was the 7th Panzer Division commanded by a Lieutenant-General Erwin Rommel, which had been so wildly successful in France and was transferred to Italy precisely for that reason (as well as his experiences there in WW I).
The Luftwaffe started to attack Regia Aeronautica facilities all over northern Italy in the hopes of destroying as many Italian aircraft on the ground, but the Italians had the luxury of radar thanks to their British allies. The majority of Italian aircraft managed to take to the skies and fight the enemy, which they did surprisingly well. The modern Macchi C.200 fighters with a top speed of 504 km/h were slow compared to the Messerschmitt Bf-109, which had a top speed of 640 km/h; they also had weak armament with only two 12.7 mm machine guns. Their sturdy design and their agility, however, allowed them to effectively fight against the Germans, and German pilots found their adversaries to be more than competent. A handful of the novel Macchi C.202 were rushed into service in time to fight and, especially because they were piloted by experienced airmen, easily matched their German opponents blow for blow. For example, in less than three days, Vittorio Mussolini managed to shoot down eleven German fighters, which he partially did in order to earn the recognition of his father, who seemed to favour Vittorio’s younger brother Bruno (Vittorio was successful, with the Italian press glorifying him as the greatest Italian ace, which earned him his father’s recognition). Besides displaying a great deal of skill, the Regia Aeronautica in general fought much more aggressively than the French air force had done. As a result, Luftwaffe losses were significantly greater than in previous campaigns, but they still outnumbered the Italians and attacked columns of troops that retreated from the Austrian border to avoid being cut off.
On the ground, Von Rundstedt ordered his forces to advance carefully, but he didn’t count on Rommel, a general who seized an opportunity when he saw one. He advanced 35 km (22 mi) just on the first day, crossing the Tagliamento and Livenza rivers with little effort, successfully utilizing flanking attacks. He reached the left bank of the Piave River during the evening of September 11th, and he was again lauded as a war hero in German propaganda. Two days later his troops were in Venice and Hitler made him a full general while also awarding him the Iron Cross with the Oak Leaves for his successful leadership. Venice, Vicenza, Treviso and Udine among others were under German control while Trieste, Fiume and Pola befell Yugoslavia. Verona became a frontline city and was devastated by aerial and artillery attack. Rommel was later transferred to Army Group North as a corps commander for Operation Barbarossa for propaganda reasons: Hitler didn’t want him to be associated with the bloody stalemate in the Apennines.
In the meantime, Mussolini was royally pissed off that his army commander Marshal Pietro Badoglio had let himself be blindsided like this, failing to respond adequately the moment that Yugoslavia had entered the war by reinforcing that border. Mussolini fired him and sent him to London to become the military attaché there, although he spent his first two months on lessons in English from a tutor provided by ambassador Grandi (Churchill nicknamed him “Marshal yes, but” because Badoglio always said “yes, but” whenever Churchill complained about Italian performance or slow progress on the Italian front). His replacement was Marshal Rodolfo Graziani, who had been successful in the Italo-Ethiopian War, but who unfortunately was no miracle worker. He hastily organized a new defensive line on the Adige River. Sappers blew up most of the bridges across the river while Italian artillery and aerial attacks did so where they failed. The Regio Esercito dug trenches, placed machine gun posts, placed rolls of barbed wire, built Czech hedgehogs and other obstacles, and laid land mines while a concerted effort by Allied air forces challenged the Luftwaffe enough to distract them from preventing the consolidation of the Adige Line.
The Germans immediately noticed that Italian resistance noticeably stiffened after Graziani successfully managed to redeploy his forces to this new frontline while Anglo-French reinforcements arrived as well. German probing attacks were all easily repulsed while Luftwaffe attacks proved ineffective, both proving to be costly. Besides that, autumn rains that continued for much of October reduced many country roads to mud, hampering the German logistical situation. Hitler ordered the offensive to recommence once frost set in. After wearing down the defenders for weeks with an artillery and aerial offensive, the Germans broke through on December 6th, but still needed a week to reach the river Po, merely 24 km (15 mi) away. There was plentiful time for the Allies to destroy bridges across the Po, although their defences on the Po were more improvised than those on the Adige. The Wehrmacht crossed the Po in mid December but, with its resources depleted, they grinded to a halt the moment they got to the Apennines proper, where they encountered fierce opposition. The frontline stabilized on the Arno River over the course of December 1940/January 1941. The Battle of Italy ended in a stalemate, and it wasn't a total German victory since it had failed to achieve its goal of controlling the continent. The Italian Campaign, however, had only just begun.
.Chapter IV: The Battle of Italy, September 1940-January 1941.
From late June to August 1940, using Lend-Lease aid from the United States, the British managed to re-equip a total of 125.000 soldiers of the British Expeditionary Force out of the more than 198.000 that had been evacuated from Dunkirk. With France occupied, French pride had taken a dent and therefore Reynaud agreed to a joint “Allied Expeditionary Force” to Italy under British command, even though the French contributed a far greater number of troops (still commanded by General Maxime Weygand). This force of circa 625.000 men would be commanded by Archibald Wavell, who replaced the defeated General Harold Alexander. This force in turn would be subordinate to the Italian Comando Supremo under Marshal Pietro Badoglio. At sea, however, the French Navy and the Regia Marina formed a joint command that also included the British Mediterranean Fleet. The British left them in charge of the Mediterranean Sea and transferred units to the Atlantic (as well as the Pacific due to the possibility of war with Japan).
In the meantime, while Italy’s geography certainly lent itself for a defensive war, it did little to diminish German air superiority. The Luftwaffe was able to field 4.201 airplanes in September 1939: 1.191 bombers, 361 dive bombers, 788 fighters, 431 heavy fighters and 488 transports. The Regia Aeronautica fielded 3.296 during the same timeframe, of which circa 2.000 were fit for operations and of which 166 were modern fighters (it was the smallest air force among the European great powers). Increased defence spending had increased numbers, but only to 3.480 by March 1940. Even after aircraft factories had been mobilized for wartime production, production never got far above one hundred aircraft a month (in part also because the Luftwaffe attacked Italian industry). In September, the Regia Aeronautica numbered 3.922 aircraft, of which ~ 3.200 were combat-ready and of which 820 were modern fighters, which meant that they were still outnumbered. 300 British aircraft and 150 French machines somewhat amended this major strategic disadvantage. These reinforcements were sorely needed because superior German aircraft production had only widened the numeric and qualitative gap between the Luftwaffe and the Regia Aeronautica.
The modern Macchi C.200 fighters with a top speed of 504 km/h were slow compared to the Messerschmitt Bf-109, which had a top speed of 640 km/h; they also had weak armament with only two 12.7 mm machine guns. Their sturdy design and their agility, however, allowed them to effectively fight against the Germans, and German pilots found their adversaries to be more than competent. A handful of the novel Macchi C.202 were rushed into service in time to fight and, especially when they were piloted by experienced airmen from the Spanish Civil War, they easily matched their German opponents blow for blow. For example, in less than three days, Vittorio Mussolini managed to shoot down eleven German fighters in a C.202, which he partially did in order to earn the recognition of his father, who seemed to prefer Vittorio’s younger brother Bruno (Vittorio was successful, with the Italian press glorifying him as the greatest Italian ace, which earned him his father’s recognition). Later versions of the C.202 would sport Rolls-Royce Merlin engines since a lot of Italy’s industry was under occupation.
The German general staff knew that the German-Austrian border didn’t lend itself to an invasion, more so because Italy still held some buffer zones dating back to 1938. Hitler hoped that a strategic bombing campaign would soften Italy to the point of a separate armistice, but he was quickly disillusioned. The other options were to invade through the French-Italian border (which was difficult as the French still defended the Rhone Valley) or the Yugoslav-Italian border. Hitler figured that France would withdraw from the continent with an Italian defeat and he was willing to do whatever it took to make that happen.
Because pretty much every invasion route on the Austro-Italian border had disastrous geography for the offensive force, the German OKW focused on invading via Yugoslavia through the Ljubljana Gap. Unfortunately, Yugoslavia’s geography wasn’t much friendlier than Italy's, but on the bright side Belgrade would face a multi-front war if it chose to defy Germany: Germany and Hungary would come in from the north and Bulgaria from the southeast (Romania, on the other hand, was fuming because it had been forced to cede northern Transylvania to Hungary in the Second Vienna Award, prompting Bucharest to improve its relations with Belgrade). Hitler chose to use Yugoslavia’s hopeless strategic situation as a stick, while also dangling a carrot in front of the face of Prince Paul (the regent for the 17 year-old King Peter II). The carrot was that Yugoslavia would get Albania on a silver platter if it joined the Axis, which not coincidentally removed a threat to the Ploiesti oilfields in Romania on which Germany depended. Additionally, the Allies harboured Ustashe leader Ante Pavelic and Italian fascist leaders had violently opposed the existence of the Yugoslav state in the past: this, as well as the fact that Germany seemed to have the upper hand, further strengthened the pro-Axis faction.
On August 13th 1940, Prince Paul responded to restiveness in Croatia – surreptitiously stirred up by Italian agents-provocateurs working for the Ustashe – by declaring martial law on the advice of the Germans. General Milan Nedic, Minister of Army and Navy, was thrust forward to the position of Prime Minister and also got the Ministry of Internal Affairs: he now was the head of the Yugoslav armed forces, the head of the country’s police forces and head of government. The country effectively became a military dictatorship and Nedic’s regime responded brutally to Croatian demands for more autonomy and violence against ethnic Serbs, engaging in ethnic cleansing. On August 23rd, just ten days after the 1940 August Coup, Nedic allowed the Germans to invade Italy via the Ljubljana Gap after, momentarily at least, crushing the Croats with help from the Waffen SS (the latter started to forcibly recruit “racially superior specimens” from the German minority in Yugoslavia, which was soon also subjected to conscription by the Wehrmacht). The WW I vintage Royal Yugoslav Army simultaneously attacked Albania, but it got stuck not far across the border and was actually repulsed, suffering for Belgrade’s arrogance. Much to his annoyance, Hitler was forced to deploy a fighter squadron and a Stuka dive bomber squadron to assist them. The Yugoslavs, to their own annoyance and surprise, encountered civilian resistance from the Albanians, who didn’t see Yugoslavian control as an improvement over Italy’s (Albania’s resistance movement was among the few not supported by the Allies because it opposed both sides). The resistance to Yugoslavia, however, wasn’t surprising: news of ethnic cleansing perpetrated by the Serbs predictably alienated supposed “allies.”
Yugoslavia annexed Albania, but at the cost of becoming a satellite state to Germany and of Allied support for the Croatian Ustashe movement. Italy promptly declared war on Yugoslavia on August 24th 1940, followed by France and Britain a few days later, but they did little to back it up. In the meantime, Nedic was pressured to sign a commercial treaty that allowed Germany to purchase metallic ores for its war industry for advantageous, below-market-price prices. And Yugoslavia was well endowed with metals (and other materials that the German war machine required). Slovenia, Bosnia, Herzegovina and Macedonia had major iron ore deposits and the country was also rich in non-ferrous ores: Bosnia and Herzegovina had bauxite, Kosovo had reserves of lead, zinc and chrome, Serbia provided copper and antimony, and Macedonia held chrome, manganese, uranium and mercury.
Nedic kept his part of the deal, allowing the Germans to invade Italy through the Ljubljana Gap. What also helped the Germans was the fact that the Italians were distracted by the simultaneous Yugoslav offensives on Fiume, Trieste and Pola, which had been cut off from the rest of Italy by the German breakout into the country’s northeast. These cities themselves were ethnically Italian, but the countryside around them was decidedly Slavic, and ethnic violence took place against the Italian minority. On September 19th, members of the Slovene militantly anti-fascist and insurgent organization TIGR killed a few dozen Italians, but not before raping the women. The entire event was broadly meted out by the Italian press.
On September 20th, an angry Mussolini ordered the Regia Marina to bombard the Yugoslav naval base at Kotor and to evacuate as many of the besieged Italian civilians as possible. The Royal Yugoslav Navy was equipped with one elderly ex-German light cruiser (suitable only for training purposes), one large modern destroyer flotilla leader of British design, three modern destroyers of French design, one seaplane tender, four modern submarines (two older French-built and two British-built) and ten modern motor torpedo boats (MTBs), of the older vessels, there were six ex-Austrian Navy medium torpedo boats, six mine-layers, four large armoured river monitors and various auxiliary craft. That afternoon Italian light cruiser Luigi Cadorna and escorting destroyers Alpino and Artigliere, drew out the Royal Yugoslav Navy by shelling the coastal town of Zanjic for twenty minutes with their eight 152 mm (4x2) and eight 120 mm guns (2x2, twice).
The obsolete, WW I vintage ex-German light cruiser, three destroyers, four motor torpedo boats and five patrol boats steamed toward the inferior Italian force and drove it off. The Luigi Cadorna and its escorts fled southwest and, with the setting sun they provided good targets for Yugoslav gunners. They didn’t realize that a taskforce – composed of Italian battleship Andrea Doria, heavy cruiser Zara and a destroyer escort – was coming in from the south and that they were being led to them. The Italian force crossed the Yugoslav T and could therefore bring all its guns to bear; besides, Yugoslav 152 and 120 mm guns didn’t do much to Zara’s 100-159 mm (3.9-5.9 inch) armoured belt. In the meantime, Zara’s 203 mm (8 inch) and Andrea Doria’s ten 320 mm (12.6 inch) guns had no difficulties in obliterating the Yugoslav force, while a raid by SM.79 medium bombers bombed Kotor, damaging several ships, docks and supply facilities. The September 22nd Kotor Raid was an Italian tactical victory and a major morale boost, but it was of limited strategic value. Italian dominance in the Adriatic Sea had already been a given anyway.
Firstly, feints on the Brenner Pass, the Lienz-Belluno route and several other mountain passes took place. Then the Luftwaffe started to bomb the somewhat neglected segment of the Alpine Wall on the Yugoslav border while simultaneously 2.200 artillery pieces opened fire on September 1st. Even though Italian troops on the Yugoslav border were thinly spread – leaving the entire region lightly defended by only a screening force – the Wehrmacht took until September 10th to push through the Ljubljana Gap against determined defenders utilizing the natural features as much as possible. Any effort to attrite the Germans ended after the breakout and the crossing of the Isonzo a few days later, for the time being. Before the German Panzer Divisions lay the wide open Venetian-Friulian Plain followed by the Po Valley (the flatlands of Veneto and Friuli do not drain into the Po, but they effectively combine into an unbroken plain and are therefore often considered a part of the Po Valley). Among them was the 7th Panzer Division commanded by a Lieutenant-General Erwin Rommel, which had been so wildly successful in France and was transferred to Italy precisely for that reason (as well as his experiences there in WW I).
The Luftwaffe started to attack Regia Aeronautica facilities all over northern Italy in the hopes of destroying as many Italian aircraft on the ground, but the Italians had the luxury of radar thanks to their British allies. The majority of Italian aircraft managed to take to the skies and fight the enemy, which they did surprisingly well. The modern Macchi C.200 fighters with a top speed of 504 km/h were slow compared to the Messerschmitt Bf-109, which had a top speed of 640 km/h; they also had weak armament with only two 12.7 mm machine guns. Their sturdy design and their agility, however, allowed them to effectively fight against the Germans, and German pilots found their adversaries to be more than competent. A handful of the novel Macchi C.202 were rushed into service in time to fight and, especially because they were piloted by experienced airmen, easily matched their German opponents blow for blow. For example, in less than three days, Vittorio Mussolini managed to shoot down eleven German fighters, which he partially did in order to earn the recognition of his father, who seemed to favour Vittorio’s younger brother Bruno (Vittorio was successful, with the Italian press glorifying him as the greatest Italian ace, which earned him his father’s recognition). Besides displaying a great deal of skill, the Regia Aeronautica in general fought much more aggressively than the French air force had done. As a result, Luftwaffe losses were significantly greater than in previous campaigns, but they still outnumbered the Italians and attacked columns of troops that retreated from the Austrian border to avoid being cut off.
On the ground, Von Rundstedt ordered his forces to advance carefully, but he didn’t count on Rommel, a general who seized an opportunity when he saw one. He advanced 35 km (22 mi) just on the first day, crossing the Tagliamento and Livenza rivers with little effort, successfully utilizing flanking attacks. He reached the left bank of the Piave River during the evening of September 11th, and he was again lauded as a war hero in German propaganda. Two days later his troops were in Venice and Hitler made him a full general while also awarding him the Iron Cross with the Oak Leaves for his successful leadership. Venice, Vicenza, Treviso and Udine among others were under German control while Trieste, Fiume and Pola befell Yugoslavia. Verona became a frontline city and was devastated by aerial and artillery attack. Rommel was later transferred to Army Group North as a corps commander for Operation Barbarossa for propaganda reasons: Hitler didn’t want him to be associated with the bloody stalemate in the Apennines.
In the meantime, Mussolini was royally pissed off that his army commander Marshal Pietro Badoglio had let himself be blindsided like this, failing to respond adequately the moment that Yugoslavia had entered the war by reinforcing that border. Mussolini fired him and sent him to London to become the military attaché there, although he spent his first two months on lessons in English from a tutor provided by ambassador Grandi (Churchill nicknamed him “Marshal yes, but” because Badoglio always said “yes, but” whenever Churchill complained about Italian performance or slow progress on the Italian front). His replacement was Marshal Rodolfo Graziani, who had been successful in the Italo-Ethiopian War, but who unfortunately was no miracle worker. He hastily organized a new defensive line on the Adige River. Sappers blew up most of the bridges across the river while Italian artillery and aerial attacks did so where they failed. The Regio Esercito dug trenches, placed machine gun posts, placed rolls of barbed wire, built Czech hedgehogs and other obstacles, and laid land mines while a concerted effort by Allied air forces challenged the Luftwaffe enough to distract them from preventing the consolidation of the Adige Line.
The Germans immediately noticed that Italian resistance noticeably stiffened after Graziani successfully managed to redeploy his forces to this new frontline while Anglo-French reinforcements arrived as well. German probing attacks were all easily repulsed while Luftwaffe attacks proved ineffective, both proving to be costly. Besides that, autumn rains that continued for much of October reduced many country roads to mud, hampering the German logistical situation. Hitler ordered the offensive to recommence once frost set in. After wearing down the defenders for weeks with an artillery and aerial offensive, the Germans broke through on December 6th, but still needed a week to reach the river Po, merely 24 km (15 mi) away. There was plentiful time for the Allies to destroy bridges across the Po, although their defences on the Po were more improvised than those on the Adige. The Wehrmacht crossed the Po in mid December but, with its resources depleted, they grinded to a halt the moment they got to the Apennines proper, where they encountered fierce opposition. The frontline stabilized on the Arno River over the course of December 1940/January 1941. The Battle of Italy ended in a stalemate, and it wasn't a total German victory since it had failed to achieve its goal of controlling the continent. The Italian Campaign, however, had only just begun.
- Onkel Willie
- Word Count: 2.9k