01 - Prelude & Context
--- VIDEO SUMMARY ---
After the declaration of “non-belligerence” in September 1939, Italy is facing more and more pressure to join the Germans in War. Wehrmacht successes are pushing more and more the fascist establishment in the arms of Hitler, with Mussolini meeting Hitler at Brenner Pass on March 18th, 1940, agreeing with Hitler that “Italy will join at the opportune moment”.
Italian military was deeply unready to participate in a modern war: the previous conflicts with Ethiopia and the involvement in Spanish Civil War bled Italian strategic reserves dry. The Army was experiencing the reorganization to the binary system (Pariani reform), in which a Division was now composed just by two regiments, creating a paper-tiger 75-division strong army. Majority of the units were not properly equipped and trained, the armored and artillery complement to the Army were insufficient; CV-35 tankettes were already obsolete while the artillery, was really in bad shape both at divisional and battalion level. Moreover, Italian division firepower was just a fraction of both the Wehrmacht and of the Allied divisions.
The Royal Navy was a modern force to be reckoned in the Mediterranean, countered by logistical difficulties (e.g. lack of fuel to operate its own battleships), missed chances (radar technology appliance) and organizational errors (e.g. lack of carriers and coordination with Royal Air Force).
Royal Air Force, which was deemed as the most fascist armed force, suffered heavy losses in trained personnel and materials during the Spanish Civil War and reinforced the idea of superiority of C.R.32 ed S.M.79 which indeed were already obsolete. Despite the Programma R (renewal program), the efforts were badly allocated in too many different designs, with excessive specialization and the evident disproportion between fighters and bombers. The doctrine was also in bad shape, with no indications for air-to-sea attacks, and the bad compromise between Douhetist and Mecozzian approach to Air Power.
King Victor Emmanuel III was aware, thanks to his correspondence with Marshal Badoglio, of the Italian armed force unpreparedness. Moreover, VE III deeply loathed Hitler, hating the idea of having signed the Racial Laws in 1938 and its relationship with Mussolini was more and more strained. The Minister of Royal House Acquarone, under VE III’s order, begin to contact more moderate and germanophobic gerarchi like Count Ciano (Mussolini’s son in law and Foreign Minister), Marshal Balbo (Lybia Viceroy) and Grandi (President of Camera dei Fasci e delle Corporazioni) to soften up the more war-like mind of Mussolini. Ciano began to talk with Viscount Halifax, which expressed the will of British Empire to have Italy on its side against the Germans. British were also willing to cede some colonial holding and push the French to accept some metropolitan territory losses to Italy (e.g. Corsica) or colonial ones (e.g. Tunisia). Balbo already expressed in 1939 its disapproval of Mussolini’s subservience to Hitler (“You will all wind up shining the shoes of the Germans!”) met with Hitler’s advice to the Duce of removing him (“no Gauleiter would speak up to me in this way”).
The swift German invasion of France, and its following fall, emboldened the interventionist factions in the Fascist establishment, led by the Duce himself. This escalated quickly when in the Spring of 1940 the Duce was more and more prone to Hitler’s request to join in. “I only need a few thousand dead, to be able to sit down as an ex-belligerent at the negotiating table”, this were the Duce’s words. A secret memo from Mussolini was also sent to all the Chief of Staffs, to the King, to the Italian Africa Minister and to the PNF Secretary on March 31st about the will to join Germany in War.
This moves promptly alarmed the Royalist faction and the neutralist faction in the Fascist Party. Acquarone and VE III plot began to proceed. Moreover, Pope Pius XII, sent a message praying Mussolini to stay out of the war, enlarging the neutralist front. Both Roosevelt and Churchill expressed via several messages in April-May their stance, asking Italy to remain neutral. OVRA’s Head, Mr. Guido Leto, reported to Mussolini that the sentiment about war was of concern of missed advantages in case of a full German victory without Italian intervention. The report also contained the increasing, despite “minoritarian”, neutralist sentiment in the public.
On May 28th, Mussolini called a meeting of the Chief of Staff of Royal Army, Royal Navy and Royal Air Force (Badoglio, Cavagnari and Pricolo) communicating that Italy will have to join the Germans on Wednesday 5th June and the Army will have to mount an offensive against France. Mussolini asked General Ubaldo Soddu to talk with the King for the formalities and the required transfer/joining of Mussolini as Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces. Soddu, himself a part of Acquarone – VE III plot, called in Count Ciano and Balbo, who had still some strength in the PNF.
Immediately, the Carabinieri commands received the orders to neutralize hardcore fascists. Marshal Badoglio himself begin to contact the military leadership, deeply Royalist, to get rid of hostile MVSN and CC.NN. complements in the Army. Mussolini, deceived by Soddu, asking him to go to Villa Savoia to meet the King to discuss about War Plans and to receive from the King the complete command of the Armed Forces.
Mussolini rushed to Villa Savoia to just find the King in his gardens, softly telling him that he was sacked, and that “the small folk call me the Soldier King, because of Piave victories, because of Vittorio Veneto... You promised me the Vittorio Veneto’s Italy in 1922, what you didn’t tell is that you were for real in this, with the country shattered by war, with families missing their fathers, mothers weeping on their children’ coffins. I cannot allow this, Duce.”
Mussolini was shocked and arrested by Carabinieri, while the King immediately called Marshal Badoglio, asking him to take charge of the Government. Balbo, according to the plot, have just landed at Urbe Airport from Lybia to be the “fascist clean face” to keep calm the Blackshirts.
The very same day, on Friday 31st May, the EIAR interrupted its transmissions to communicate that:
«Sua Maestà il Re e Imperatore ha accettato le dimissioni dalla carica di capo del Governo, Primo ministro, Segretario di Stato di Sua Eccellenza il Cavaliere Benito Mussolini, e ha nominato capo del Governo, Primo ministro, Segretario di Stato il Cavaliere, Maresciallo d’Italia, Pietro Badoglio». Ringrazio il Duce per l'incommensurabile impegno profuso nei confronti della Nazione e gli auguro un pronto recupero dalle sue precarie condizioni di salute per riaverlo con Noi, alla guida della Nazione, il prima possibile" - queste le parole del Re ed Imperatore Vittorio Emanuele III.
"His Majesty the King and Emperor has accepted the resignment from the offices of Head of Government, First Minister and State Secretary of His Eccellency the Knight Benito Mussolini, and has appointed, Head of Government, First Minister and State Secretary the Knight, Marshal of Italy, Pietro Badoglio". I am grateful to the Duce for the immeasurable commitment towards the Nation and I wish him a quick recovery from his own precarious health conditions to have him again with Us, at the helm of the Nation, as soon as possible" - these were the words of the King and Emperor
This is the first part of a ATL in which the Italian entry in WW2 at the side of Germany is stopped by a stiffer VE III. The idea is to explore a semifascist, militaristic regime on the side of the Western Allies and its long term implication on Italian, European and African politics. Please, feel free to reply and correct some of my blunders as I'm just an amateur and not an academic.
I apologize in advance for grammar mistakes, English isn't my native tongue.
Piave92
After the declaration of “non-belligerence” in September 1939, Italy is facing more and more pressure to join the Germans in War. Wehrmacht successes are pushing more and more the fascist establishment in the arms of Hitler, with Mussolini meeting Hitler at Brenner Pass on March 18th, 1940, agreeing with Hitler that “Italy will join at the opportune moment”.
Italian military was deeply unready to participate in a modern war: the previous conflicts with Ethiopia and the involvement in Spanish Civil War bled Italian strategic reserves dry. The Army was experiencing the reorganization to the binary system (Pariani reform), in which a Division was now composed just by two regiments, creating a paper-tiger 75-division strong army. Majority of the units were not properly equipped and trained, the armored and artillery complement to the Army were insufficient; CV-35 tankettes were already obsolete while the artillery, was really in bad shape both at divisional and battalion level. Moreover, Italian division firepower was just a fraction of both the Wehrmacht and of the Allied divisions.
The Royal Navy was a modern force to be reckoned in the Mediterranean, countered by logistical difficulties (e.g. lack of fuel to operate its own battleships), missed chances (radar technology appliance) and organizational errors (e.g. lack of carriers and coordination with Royal Air Force).
Royal Air Force, which was deemed as the most fascist armed force, suffered heavy losses in trained personnel and materials during the Spanish Civil War and reinforced the idea of superiority of C.R.32 ed S.M.79 which indeed were already obsolete. Despite the Programma R (renewal program), the efforts were badly allocated in too many different designs, with excessive specialization and the evident disproportion between fighters and bombers. The doctrine was also in bad shape, with no indications for air-to-sea attacks, and the bad compromise between Douhetist and Mecozzian approach to Air Power.
King Victor Emmanuel III was aware, thanks to his correspondence with Marshal Badoglio, of the Italian armed force unpreparedness. Moreover, VE III deeply loathed Hitler, hating the idea of having signed the Racial Laws in 1938 and its relationship with Mussolini was more and more strained. The Minister of Royal House Acquarone, under VE III’s order, begin to contact more moderate and germanophobic gerarchi like Count Ciano (Mussolini’s son in law and Foreign Minister), Marshal Balbo (Lybia Viceroy) and Grandi (President of Camera dei Fasci e delle Corporazioni) to soften up the more war-like mind of Mussolini. Ciano began to talk with Viscount Halifax, which expressed the will of British Empire to have Italy on its side against the Germans. British were also willing to cede some colonial holding and push the French to accept some metropolitan territory losses to Italy (e.g. Corsica) or colonial ones (e.g. Tunisia). Balbo already expressed in 1939 its disapproval of Mussolini’s subservience to Hitler (“You will all wind up shining the shoes of the Germans!”) met with Hitler’s advice to the Duce of removing him (“no Gauleiter would speak up to me in this way”).
The swift German invasion of France, and its following fall, emboldened the interventionist factions in the Fascist establishment, led by the Duce himself. This escalated quickly when in the Spring of 1940 the Duce was more and more prone to Hitler’s request to join in. “I only need a few thousand dead, to be able to sit down as an ex-belligerent at the negotiating table”, this were the Duce’s words. A secret memo from Mussolini was also sent to all the Chief of Staffs, to the King, to the Italian Africa Minister and to the PNF Secretary on March 31st about the will to join Germany in War.
This moves promptly alarmed the Royalist faction and the neutralist faction in the Fascist Party. Acquarone and VE III plot began to proceed. Moreover, Pope Pius XII, sent a message praying Mussolini to stay out of the war, enlarging the neutralist front. Both Roosevelt and Churchill expressed via several messages in April-May their stance, asking Italy to remain neutral. OVRA’s Head, Mr. Guido Leto, reported to Mussolini that the sentiment about war was of concern of missed advantages in case of a full German victory without Italian intervention. The report also contained the increasing, despite “minoritarian”, neutralist sentiment in the public.
On May 28th, Mussolini called a meeting of the Chief of Staff of Royal Army, Royal Navy and Royal Air Force (Badoglio, Cavagnari and Pricolo) communicating that Italy will have to join the Germans on Wednesday 5th June and the Army will have to mount an offensive against France. Mussolini asked General Ubaldo Soddu to talk with the King for the formalities and the required transfer/joining of Mussolini as Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces. Soddu, himself a part of Acquarone – VE III plot, called in Count Ciano and Balbo, who had still some strength in the PNF.
Immediately, the Carabinieri commands received the orders to neutralize hardcore fascists. Marshal Badoglio himself begin to contact the military leadership, deeply Royalist, to get rid of hostile MVSN and CC.NN. complements in the Army. Mussolini, deceived by Soddu, asking him to go to Villa Savoia to meet the King to discuss about War Plans and to receive from the King the complete command of the Armed Forces.
Mussolini rushed to Villa Savoia to just find the King in his gardens, softly telling him that he was sacked, and that “the small folk call me the Soldier King, because of Piave victories, because of Vittorio Veneto... You promised me the Vittorio Veneto’s Italy in 1922, what you didn’t tell is that you were for real in this, with the country shattered by war, with families missing their fathers, mothers weeping on their children’ coffins. I cannot allow this, Duce.”
Mussolini was shocked and arrested by Carabinieri, while the King immediately called Marshal Badoglio, asking him to take charge of the Government. Balbo, according to the plot, have just landed at Urbe Airport from Lybia to be the “fascist clean face” to keep calm the Blackshirts.
The very same day, on Friday 31st May, the EIAR interrupted its transmissions to communicate that:
«Sua Maestà il Re e Imperatore ha accettato le dimissioni dalla carica di capo del Governo, Primo ministro, Segretario di Stato di Sua Eccellenza il Cavaliere Benito Mussolini, e ha nominato capo del Governo, Primo ministro, Segretario di Stato il Cavaliere, Maresciallo d’Italia, Pietro Badoglio». Ringrazio il Duce per l'incommensurabile impegno profuso nei confronti della Nazione e gli auguro un pronto recupero dalle sue precarie condizioni di salute per riaverlo con Noi, alla guida della Nazione, il prima possibile" - queste le parole del Re ed Imperatore Vittorio Emanuele III.
"His Majesty the King and Emperor has accepted the resignment from the offices of Head of Government, First Minister and State Secretary of His Eccellency the Knight Benito Mussolini, and has appointed, Head of Government, First Minister and State Secretary the Knight, Marshal of Italy, Pietro Badoglio". I am grateful to the Duce for the immeasurable commitment towards the Nation and I wish him a quick recovery from his own precarious health conditions to have him again with Us, at the helm of the Nation, as soon as possible" - these were the words of the King and Emperor
This is the first part of a ATL in which the Italian entry in WW2 at the side of Germany is stopped by a stiffer VE III. The idea is to explore a semifascist, militaristic regime on the side of the Western Allies and its long term implication on Italian, European and African politics. Please, feel free to reply and correct some of my blunders as I'm just an amateur and not an academic.
I apologize in advance for grammar mistakes, English isn't my native tongue.
Piave92
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