Foreword
When it comes to world wars, you may think of the Battle of Verdun in World War I, and you may also think of the Nanjing Da** and the attack on Pearl Harbor in World War II.
But whatever you think about, these events are all about cruelty and killing.
It can be said that the world war has cast an atmosphere of terror and slaughter over the whole world.
However, there is one country that has single-handedly made the war less serious and even added a bit of a joke to the world war. It is also a series of mysterious operations in this country that neutralize the dark, terrifying, and bloody atmosphere of war.
That country is Italy.
Lovers of German affairs once commented on Italy's performance in World War II:If Italy remained neutral, it would be equivalent to an increase of 10 divisions for Germany; If Italy were to be on the opposite side of Germany, it would be equivalent to Germany adding 20 divisions; If Germany were to form an alliance with Italy, then Germany would have to expend 50 divisions to protect Italy. (quote).
So, how weak was Italy's combat power in a world war? What kind of mystery do they have? What did the romantic Italians do on the battlefield that are jaw-dropping and laughable?
In the First World War, Italy was on the verge of defection
After 1877, Germany and Austria-Hungary concluded the German-Austrian Treaty of Alliance in order to counter the increasingly powerful France and the Tsar**.
In 1881, France invaded Tunisia. Italy, which has always coveted Tunisia, wants to compete with France, but it is weak and weak, and for the sake of its own national interests, Italy accepts Germany's invitation to join the German-Austrian League. The following year, the three countries signed a treaty of alliance.
At this point, the Allied camp was officially formed.
However, although the three countries had the name of an alliance, there was no alliance, and there were great contradictions and differences between Austria-Hungary and Italy, as an ally power.
First of all, the Austro-Hungarian Empire had been encroaching on the territories that belonged to Italy - the Trento, the Grizia and the Adriatic coast. Secondly, the Triple Alliance Treaty is only a treaty of a defensive nature. The treaty stipulates that one of the countries in the alliance initiates war against the fourth country, and the other two countries are not obliged to participate in the war; If one of the Central Powers is attacked by two or more Powers, the other two States are obliged to participate.
From the above two points, it can be analyzed that the relationship between this so-called allies is not so solid, which also laid the groundwork for Italy's later grandiose defection.
On June 28, 1914, the Austro-Hungarian Crown Prince Archduke Ferdinand and his wife were assassinated on the streets of Sarajevo, and World War I began. On 28 July, Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia. On August 1, Germany took the initiative to declare war on Russia.
Under the terms of the Treaty of Alliance, Italy was not obliged to participate in the war, so how did Italy get involved in the war?
Despite Italy's declaration of absolute neutrality, it is impossible to stay out of it in a united Europe. In addition, Italy is a big country, and both camps are constantly courting Italy, among which the empty promises written by the Entente to Italy are very tempting.
After measurement, Italy, as an important member of the Central Powers, chose to withdraw from the Central Powers and join the Entente, turning the gun on its allies.
Italy's defection is nothing more than a matter of national interest, and this is also the country's primary criterion for handling international affairs in the international community. It is indeed understandable to proceed from the interests of the country, but it is really unacceptable to turn the gun around the battlefield.
On June 23, 1915, the Italian army launched the First Battle of the Isonzo River against Austria-Hungary, and until September 1917, a total of 11 battles were fought. As a result, Italy paid nearly 1 million **, but only occupied a small part of the land of Austria-Hungary.
You must know that the Austrian army defending here is only a 100,000 second-rate army drawn from the army that fought with the Russian army.
In 1917, the October Revolution was successful, the proletariat began to become the ruling class, and the world's first socialist state was established. Lenin announced his withdrawal from the war in Europe.
At this time, Austria-Hungary and Germany were able to pull out against the soft persimmon of Italy. Under the blows of the combined forces of Austria-Hungary and Germany, the Italian army was routed 300 kilometers. Although the situation was gradually stabilized with the support of the Anglo-French forces, Italy still paid a heavy price for it.
Because Italy's performance in the First World War was really not very good, when it participated in the Paris Peace Conference as a victorious power after the war, Italy did not receive the rights that satisfied him. This gave rise to great national sentiment within Italy, and gave the fascists an opportunity to take advantage of it.
Taking advantage of this, Mussolini of the fascist party became the leader of the country.
It also planted the seeds for World War II.
In World War II, Italy and Germany became allies again. This started the second time that Italy pit Germany; At the same time, it also began the tragic journey of Germany to rescue Italy.
World War II, the "heroic" performance of the Italian army
When it comes to World War II, everyone is very familiar with it.
At that time, there were two major camps in the world: the Axis powers composed of Germany, Italy and Japan, and the allies led by the United States, the Soviet Union, Britain, France, and China.
In World War II, Germany's "blitzkrieg" was a siege of Western Europe with few rivals; Japan's so-called "Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere" has also caused unprecedented disasters to China and other Asian countries.
However, Italy, an ally of Germany and Japan, was amused in World War II. Through the following short stories, you may have such doubts:Wasn't Italy an undercover agent sent by the Allies?
1. Italy took advantage of the fire to rob
In 1940, Germany prepared to attack France, which claimed to be the largest army in the world, and invited Italy to enter the war. However, what Hitler did not expect was that Mussolini refused to enter the war on the grounds that he was "not ready for war". This annoyed Hitler.
Since allies can't be relied on, they can only do it themselves.
On May 10, 1940, Germany launched a war of aggression against France, the Netherlands and other countries. By June 10, 1946, the French** withdrew from Paris and moved to Tours. In just one month, Germany captured the capital of France, which claimed to be the largest army in the world. This cannot but amaze one at the military capabilities of Germany.
At this time, Italy saw that France, which was originally so powerful, was so vulnerable to the torrent of steel in Germany. In order to reap the fruits of the war, Italy declared war on France on June 10, 1940, and sent troops to France.
In the face of such shameless behavior of Italy, Hitler, as an ally, could not say anything, after all, the subsequent war against Russia still needed the help of this good brother.
In Mussolini's plan, Italy would fight an "Italian-style blitzkrieg" along the Alps.
He confidently believes: "As long as the cannon goes off, you can get what you want." ”
Just as Germany was about to occupy France, Italy finally sent 450,000 troops into the Alps to take France. What is surprising is that although the equipment and strength of the French team defended by the Alps were far inferior to the Italian army, the Italian army repeatedly failed to attack.
When the elite Italian Alista Division took three days to capture Fort Cénellitte, it was embarrassing to find that there were only 19 French soldiers and two machine guns here.
Fortunately, the German team finally occupied France, and France had to sign an armistice with Italy. If Italy and France continue to fight, perhaps Italy will have to turn against Germany with the Allies, as it did in World War I.
2. A "military walk" in Greece
Italy has paid a heavy price in France, but has not reaped the corresponding benefits, which makes Italy feel very shameless. Mussolini, unwilling to lose, vowed to fight a war miracle of his own. So he took aim at the weaker Greece.
Upon seeing the Greek defenders, Mussolini said with great confidence: "This is not a war at all, it is just a military walk." Yes, Mussolini was once again moved by the advanced equipment and majestic momentum of his own army, and at this time he had already thrown the defeat of France into the clouds.
However, things did not go according to Mussolini's fantasy. Greece, the soft persimmon that Mussolini fancied, relied on the favorable terrain to defeat the Italian army, which had launched many attacks, and returned with a crushing defeat.
There was really no way, and Italy had no choice but to turn to Germany.
With the help of Germany, Italy was able to gain a foothold in Greece.
Soon after, in order to save face with his allies, Mussolini assembled a reinforcement force of 500,000 men.
But the result was repeated defeats, not only was the attack blocked, but also the Greek army, Greece even occupied Italian Albania, which Italy used as a springboard to attack Greece. Eventually, Germany was forced to suspend its plans to attack the Soviet Union and turn south to clean up the mess for its younger brother.
After that, it took nearly four months for Germany to annex the Balkan Peninsula, including Greece, and thus lost the best opportunity to attack the Soviet Union. It also laid the foundation for Hitler's defeat later.
And all this is thanks to Mussolini.
3. Taking advantage of Dunkirk, Italy attacked North Africa
In June 1940, more than 200,000 British troops retreated at Dunkirk.
Mussolini "keenly" sensed that the time had come to seize the African colonies, so Mussolini gathered a team of more than 600,000 people as quickly as possible and drove into Africa.
Perhaps, Mussolini thought that he could not take advantage of Europe, so he bullied the primitive tribes of Africa to relieve his anger. But he never expected that his 600,000 troops would be defeated in the hands of tens of thousands of British people left behind in Africa.
Italy once again created a joke in the history of warfare, and once again achieved the glory of the opponent winning more with less.
There is really no way, his little brother does not listen to the advice and causes trouble, so he can only help him clean up. True, Hitler was forced to send Rommel to North Africa to deal with the mess left by Mussolini.
Mussolini's several operations forced Hitler to attack the Soviet Union on the one hand, Britain in the west, and North Africa in the south.
I have to say that Italy is not good at fighting, and the pit teammates are the first.
[The Italian army "zealous to surrender"].
Mussolini has always wondered why the elite division in his eyes became a "paper tiger" once he went to the battlefield? Is it true that the Italian army cannot win the battle?
Of course not. There is such a thing that seems ridiculous, butIt also proves that the Italian army is indeed capable of fighting.
In November 1941, the British launched a fierce attack on the German-Italian forces in Africa. In this battle, an Italian armored division met the British 7th Panzer Division. During the fierce fighting, the British reinforcements of the 22nd Panzer Division arrived on the battlefield, and the Italian troops surrendered when they saw that the situation was wrong.
This made the arrogant British think that the Italian army was making fun of themselves, so they were furious, and not only refused Italy's request for surrender, but also killed the envoy sent by the Italian army.
This move of the British army completely angered the Italian army, and the Italian army took the most serious attitude since the beginning of the war to attack the British army, and taught the British army a harsh lesson. In the end, Italy won a great victory by destroying 133 British tanks at the cost of losing 43 tanks.
I'm afraid that the bowels of the British army at this time will be repentant.
Judging by this incident, the Italian army still has a strong combat capability. So why did Italy become the laughing stock of World War II? The reason for this is that Italy doesn't seem to want to go to war, they want to go home and eat pasta and macaroni after surrendering. Therefore, the Italians on the battlefield thought most not about victory, but about surrender.
Here are a few stories that reflect this Italian character.
First story: Five acres of officers, 200 acres of soldiers
It is said that in one battle, more than 5,000 Italian troops surrendered when they encountered a barricade set up by a company of British troops. However, because of the large number of surrenderers, the British army did not have time to build a prisoner of war camp, so they sent raw materials to the Italian soldiers, and asked them to build their own prisoner of war camps to hold themselves.
Later, the British Prime Minister asked the British commander how many Italian soldiers had been captured in the battle.
The commander replied, "Five acres of officers, 200 acres of soldiers." ”
Second story: we don't have a crowbar
On the African battlefield, a 400-strong British ** team actually attacked the Italian military camp. You know, there are tens of thousands of people in the Italian military camp, and this commander is almost insane.
But not long after the start of the battle, the Italian army actually announced its surrender, which surprised the British troops on the opposite side, and the reason for the surrender of the Italian army was that there was no ammunition.
However, the British army found hundreds of boxes of ammunition in the Italian barracks, which puzzled the British army. It turned out that the Italian army could not find a crowbar and could not open the ammunition box before surrendering in a fit of rage.
The third story: one man captured two thousand people
On the battlefields of World War II, Italy always surprised us.
One day, the Allied pilot was hit over Sicily, and the pilot had to parachute to escape. Having just gotten rid of the danger of the crash, the pilot looked down and felt half cold, it turned out that an Italian army was stationed underneath. The pilot had no choice but to wait for landing and become a prisoner.
But the unthinkable happened. The Italian army, more than 2,500 people, surrendered to an Allied pilot.
Single-handedly captured 2,500 enemy soldiers, a rarity in the world.
So why was the Italian army keen to surrender? Obviously, they have good combat effectiveness. There can only be one reason for this, and that is that the Italians are disgusted with war. That's why they will try to surrender.
[Summary].
Italy's performance in the world war was really like a joke, we can laugh and laugh. After laughing, we have to think about it, and what we should think about is war.
If there had been no war, perhaps the Italians would have been basking in the sun on the beach, eating pasta and macaroni.
So what does the war bring us? Nothing but pain.
We will never forget the more than 300,000 compatriots who died in Nanjing; We will not forget the more than 3.8 million heroes who died for the war of resistance; We should not forget the more than 35 million Chinese who died during the War of Resistance. Just as the United States will never forget the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor; The Soviet Union will never forget the Battle of Moscow and the Battle of Stalin; France will never forget the pain of its loss.
Finally, I hope to return the world to a peaceful, tranquil and happy environment.