The Italian Invasion of France during World War II,When Germany invaded Belgium the Netherlands, and

The Italian Invasion of France during World War II,When Germany invaded Belgium the Netherlands, and France on May 10th, 1940, the Italian dictator Mussolini chose to stay out of the war, being advised that the Italian Army was not ready for major combat operations.  However, by June of that year German forces had blitzkrieged through the French Army and were driving deeply into French territory.  With victory almost assured for the Axis forces, it seemed to Italy that it needed to get on the conquest bandwagon.  The new fascist Roman Empire had its eye on the provinces of Nice and Savoy, lands once a part of Italy that were sold to France in 1858.Between June 10th and June 19th Italian bombers and warships bombarded strategic towns and cities along the French Alpine border.  Then on June 20th, 300,000 Italian troops attacked, crossing the border and driving into Southern France.  At first the French were unprepared for the invasion.  Suffering defeat after defeat at the hands of the German Wehrmacht, the French were taken by surprise by Italy’s assault.  Due to the fighting in the north, the French Army could only spare 85,000 men to counter the 300,000 man Italian invasion force.  However by June 22nd, the French had manned heavily fortified positions that guarded several key strategic passes through the Alps.  The Italian Army immediately halted, then slowly began to fall back under heavy French artillery fire and a stalwart French defense.  Worse yet, the Italians suffered from shortages of everything as Italian Army logistics were unprepared for combat operations.  Especially in short supply was cold weather gear, a must when fighting in the cold climate of the French/Italian Alps.  Many Italian troops suffered from frostbite and hypothermia.On June 22nd, 1944 France formally surrendered to Germany.  However France was still at war with Italy, and the fighting continued.  By June 23rd, France’s elite Alpine troops attacked using a massive snow storm for cover.  They made short work of the Italian infantry, who were poorly trained, equipped, and disciplined.  By June 24th, the situation was growing even worse for Italy.  The French Air Force engaged and defeated the Italian Air Force, grounding and destroying Italy’s bomber fleet in the Alps while French battleships and other naval units bombarded Italian ports.By the end of June 24th, the Italian Army was near breaking point.  The next day the French planned an offensive with heavy artillery and air support that would have certainly sent the Italians in full retreat. It’s ironic that while at the same time France was preparing to finalize its surrender to the Germans, It was also preparing to invade Northern Italy. However, on June 25th, the Italian Army was saved by the bell.  Under pressure from Hitler, what remained of the French government issued orders for all French forces to stand down and surrender.  A formal armistice with Italy was signed later that day.The performance of the Italian Army during the Battle of France was a major embarrassment to Mussolini and the Fascist Party. During the four day battle Italian losses numbered over 6,000 dead.  French forces lost only 40 men.  As a result of Italy’s lackluster combat performance, Italian territorial demands were exceptionally modest.  The Germans granted Italy control of a 50 km wide strip of land along the Italian border, as well as control over the Island of Corsica.  As the Third Reich pillaged France throughout the war, the Italian zone of occupation became a refuge for French Jews, with 80% of Jews from Vichy France fleeing to the zone after Nazi persecution. The Italian occupation zone was taken over by Germany when Italy signed an armistice with the Allies on Sept. 8th, 1943. -- source link

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