M4- Impact of the Second World War 1940-43 (war)

Question 1

when did Italy enter WW2?

Answer 1

10 June 1940

Question 2

what concept was used to describe the war Germany and Italy had planned?

Answer 2

a parallel war

Question 3

what was Italy’s role in the ‘parallel war’?

Answer 3

to fight the Allies in the Mediterranean and North Africa

Germany would deal with the rest of Europe

Question 4

what concept was used to describe the war Germany and Italy had planned?

Answer 4

a parallel war

Question 5

when did Italy invade France?

Answer 5

20 June 1940

Question 6

why did Mussolini decide to send troops to occupy French territory?

Answer 6

he hoped to push his territorial claims for French land

Question 7

what were the major failures in the Italian invasion of France?

Answer 7

troops were poorly supplied
French fortifications could not be destroyed
terrain did not suit the warfare intended

Question 8

troops were poorly supplied

Answer 8

they were not given proper clothing for a war in the mountains

many died from frostbite

Question 9

French fortifications could not be destroyed

Answer 9

Italian air force did not have enough bombs or even bombers to destroy French defensive positions

Question 10

what was the main French defensive position that the Italians struggled to attack?

Answer 10

the Alpine Line
sub-section of the Maginot Line

Question 11

terrain did not suit the warfare intended

Answer 11

Mussolini had insisted on the use of tanks in the invasion

tanks struggled in the mountainous terrain where there was little manoeuvrability

Question 12

how many villages did the Italians capture in the invasion of France?

Answer 12

13

Question 13

how many Italians died taking the villages?

Answer 13

631

a lot against a massively weakened French side

Question 14

when did the French sign an armistice with Germany and what did this mean for Italy?

Answer 14

24 June 1940

saved Italy MAJOR embarrassment as they were struggling to defeat the French in the South

Question 15

what major mistake did Mussolini make after the invasion of France?

Answer 15

he ordered a partial de-mobilisation of the Italian armed forces

he believed that the war was effectively over with the defeat of France

Question 16

when did Mussolini order troops to attack British positions in Egypt?

Answer 16

October 1940

Italian troops in Libya managed to push the British back through Egypt and towards the Suez Canal

Question 17

when did Britain launch a counter-attack against the Italian forces in Egypt?

Answer 17

9 December 1940

Operation Compass

Question 18

how large was the Italian force which was holding Egypt in December 1940?

Answer 18

150,000 men
330 aircraft

Question 19

how large was the British force which counter-attacked Italian positions in Operation Compass?

Answer 19

36,000 men
140 aircraft

Question 20

what was the result of Operation Compass?

Answer 20

British victory

massively outnumbered British troops defeated the Italian forces and pushed them out of Egypt and half way across Libya

Question 21

which Libyan port was important to the Italians?

Answer 21

Tobruk

Question 22

when was Tobruk taken?

Answer 22

22 January 1941

Question 23

what saved the Italians from total capitulation in Northern Africa?

Answer 23

the arrival of German troops led by Erwin Rommel

Question 24

when did the Afrikakorps arrive in Tripoli?

Answer 24

11 February 1941

Question 25

what successes did Rommel have?

Answer 25

through his use of aggressive tactics he was able to retake Libya and push the Allies back into Egypt showed the poor Italian leadership which struggled showed the lack of fighting quality in the Italian armed forces as the Germans had great early success

Question 26

despite comebacks in North Africa, what happened to Italian territory in East Africa?

Answer 26

the territories of Eritrea, Somalialand and Abyssinia were all taken by the British by May 1941

Question 27

where was Rommel defeated?

Answer 27

Second Battle of El Alamein

Question 28

when was the Second Battle of El Alamein?

Answer 28

23 October 1942

Question 29

when did the German-Italian axis surrender in North Africa?

Answer 29

13 May 1943

Question 30

what had Italy lost in Africa?

Answer 30

ALL IT'S COLONIES Libya was gone so was Abyssinia, Eritrea and Somaliland

Question 31

what were the major failures of the Italian armed forces in Africa?

Answer 31

were poorly equipped were poorly led had to rely heavily on German support 380,000 Italians had surrendered no land was gained, instead all Italian land was lost

Question 32

how many Italian troops were killed in Africa?

Answer 32

40,000

Question 33

when was the Battle of Taranto?

Answer 33

11 November 1940

Question 34

what happened at the Battle of Taranto?

Answer 34

the Italian navy was crippled by an attack by the RAF

Question 35

what was the main reason why Italy struggled fighting in the Mediterranean?

Answer 35

IT HAD NO AIRCRAFT CARRIERS could not launch air offensives against British positions such as Malta, Gibraltar and Alexandria

Question 36

when did Italy invade Greece?

Answer 36

28 October 1940

Question 37

why did Mussolini decide to invade Greece?

Answer 37

Hitler had broken their agreement over separate spheres of influence as he had invaded Romania for their oil fields Mussolini believed that Hitler was trying to expand his influence in the Balkans and so though that taking Greece would reaffirm Italian control

Question 38

did Mussolini tell Hitler about his invasion of Greece?

Answer 38

NO there was growing distrust between the two

Question 39

what were MAJOR mistakes made by Mussolini when planning the invasion of Greece?

Answer 39

he misinterpreted the size of the Greek army he believed Bulgaria would join Italy in invasion lack of coordination between navy and air force poor choice of season

Question 40

how many Italian troops did Mussolini send to invade Greece?

Answer 40

60,000 he believed that the Greeks were 30,000 strong

Question 41

how had Mussolini misinterpreted the size of the Greek army?

Answer 41

Mussolini believed that the Greek forces were 30,000 strong in fact they were 300,000 strong the Italians were therefore massively outnumbered

Question 42

why was coordination important between the navy and air force for the invasion of Greece?

Answer 42

it was a seaborne invasion which meant that the air force and navy had to work together to attack Greek positions instead there was no cooperation which exemplified the lack of organisation in the Italian armed forces

Question 43

how had Mussolini made the wrong choice of season to invade Greece?

Answer 43

October is a wet season in Greece the mountainous regions were also very cold Italian troops struggled to fight in harsh conditions

Question 44

what happened to Italian uniforms in the Greek weather?

Answer 44

they disintegrated

Question 45

when did the Greeks launch a counter-offensive?

Answer 45

November 1940

Question 46

what was the result of the Greek counter-offensive?

Answer 46

they had pushed Italy out of Greece managed to take a 1/4 of Albania

Question 47

when was the German invasion of Greece?

Answer 47

6 April 1941

Question 48

what was significant about the German invasion of Greece?

Answer 48

took the German Army 2 weeks to take Greece majorly humiliated the Italian army which struggled to defeat the Greeks for 6 months

Question 49

how many Italians were killed in Greece?

Answer 49

32,000

Question 50

what was the impact of the failed Italian invasion of Greece?

Answer 50

was a major failure which showed the Italian public that Italy WAS NOT a great power the fact that Greece, a supposed weaker power, had humiliated the Italian armed forces showed Italians the truth about Mussolini's Italy it also showed the peak of Italian subservience to Germany with the Germans bailing them out in April 1941