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The Italian armistice in WW2 was an appalling sequence of disasters, that lead in a couple of days to the disgregation of the Italian armed forces, the capture of a large chunk of them by the Germans and the fall in German hands of most of the Italian Peninsula, leading to a long and bloodt campaign to liberate it (and civil war between pro-German RSI troops and pro-allied Italian Partigiani).

The Italian army was underequipped and the Germans already controlled many ey points in Italy, but I think they were still outnumbered and would be rather easy to cut off from their supply lines, especially if the Italians manage to coordinate with the Allies at least a bit. It is really absurd that there was no plan for a defence of Italy and the army was left to its own devices, without coherent orders, while the King escaoed to Brindisi with the government...


Could this be avoided by a better management and preparations in the weeks just before the armistice? What would be the consequences? Could the war in the European theatre be shortened, without the impasse on the Gothic line?

Internal consequences for Italy? Possibly less destructions, better international standing, a lowered influence for the Communist partisans and an increased confidence in the Army and King, possibly leading to a continuation of the monarchy?

The problem is that we have to work with the utter incompetence of people like Badoglio...
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