WW2 (1940-43) Flashcards
What was Italy and Germany’s plan in the war?
- They would fight a ‘parallel war’; Italy would fight in the Mediterranean and North Africa
- The Germans would fight in northern, central and eastern Europe
How did the first stage of the war go for Italy? Give 4 details.
- On the 21st June France announced they would sign an armistice with Nazi Germany
- On the same day, Italy launched an offensive into the French Alps
- They advanced a few kilometres into France before they were stopped by the French army
- Hitler and Marshal Pétain signed an armistice on 22nd June
What were 4 issues/ consequences the invasion of France had?
- Troops didn’t have the right clothing for an Alpine war
- The Italian Air Force didn’t have the bombs needed to destroy French fortifications
- Mussolini insisted on using tanks that were unsuitable for the terrain
- 631 men died, of which many died from frostbite
What gains did the Italian army make from its attack on France?
- They gained the 2 towns they had captured in their offensive
What had Mussolini hoped to gain from the invasion of France, and why didn’t he?
- Tunisia, Corsica and south France
- Hitler felt that Italy had not significantly contributed to the defeat of France, so they didn’t deserve more
What did Mussolini do as a result? Give 4 details about it.
- He wanted to make his own gains in North Africa and Greece while Germany was busy fighting the Battle of Britain
- He sent troops into British Somaliland, Sudan and Kenya
- In September 1940 he ordered an invasion of Egypt and the Suez Canal
- In October 1940 he delivered an ultimatum to the Greek government requesting the right to occupy key areas of Greece in return for being neutral
- When Greece refused, Italy invaded 2 days later
How close did Mussolini get to his goal of controlling the Mediterranean? Why was this important?
- Mussolini had not had a strategy to deal with British positions in the Mediterranean
- The Italian navy had been crippled by a British air attack in November 1940
How did the British counter-attack in North Africa go? Give 3 details.
- The Italian army was 4 times as large as the British force
- By January 1941 125,000 Italians were taken prisoner
- By April 1941 the British forces had taken Abyssinia
What happened after the defeat of Italy in Abyssinia?
- Hitler sent German forces led by General Rommel to prevent a disorderly retreat from North Africa
What happened in North Africa during the rest of the war? Give 4 details.
- Axis forces were on the retreat in North Africa in 1942
- Rommel’s forces were halted at El Alamein in June 1942, which made it very unlikely for them to be able to seize the Suez Canal
- In the second battle of El Alamein in October 1942 the Axis were forced to retreat
- They surrendered in May 1943 (this allowed an Allied invasion of Sicily from Tunisia)
Give 3 details about the start of the invasion of Greece.
- 70,000 troops were sent to Greece
- They invaded from Albania
- The Italian air force had complete air superiority
How was the invasion of Greece expected to go?
- It was expected to take 2 weeks
List 5 issues the Italians faced when invading Greece.
- The invading force was small since Mussolini believed there would only be 30,000 Greek troops, while in reality there was 300,000
- It was poorly led
- The Greek Army knew the terrain well
- The Greek Army was determined, which kept the conflict going into the winter, which the Italians were not prepared for
- Mussolini hadn’t coordinated the attack with the navy or the air force despite the fact that it was a seaborne invasion
What happened in Greece after the invasion of Italy? Give 3 details.
- A Greek counter-attack in December 1940 pushed the Italians back into Albania
- Although Marshal Badoglio was replaced and reinforcements were sent, the Greeks couldn’t be beaten by the Italians
- In spring 1941 the Germans came and invaded Greece within weeks
What were 2 impacts of the failed invasion of Greece?
- Mussolini’s dictatorship was shown to be weaker than Greece, which lost him popularity in Italy
- It confirmed Italy’s subservience to Germany, and ended any hopes of a parallel war