Lecture 12.

Topic: Italy in the Second World War

1. The independent state of Italy.

2. Military actions of Italy.
3. Politics of Mussolini
4. Formation of a new government in Italy.

1. The independent state of Italy

The independent state of Italy emerged from a long nationalist struggle for unification that started
with the revolution of 1848. The southern kingdoms of Sardinia and Sicily joined in 1866 and by 1914 only
the Vatican and San Marino retained independence within Italy. However, a large Italian population
remained within Austria-Hungary in the Trentino and Trieste regions.
By 1911 Italy had a population of 34.7 million. Although primarily an agricultural economy, there
was considerable industry in the northern areas of the country. To feed its growing population, Italy
needed to import some foods, notably grain from Russia and Germany.
Italy was a constitutional monarchy. Victor Emmanuel III had been king since 1900. People were
appointed to the upper house of the National Assembly but the lower house was elected by universal
adult male suffrage. The prime minister was Giovanni Giolitti but after the 1913 elections when socialists
and radicals did well, he had a greatly reduced majority in the National Assembly.
Italy had been members of the Triple Alliance with Germany and Austria-Hungary since 1882.
However, this alliance was unpopular with large numbers of Italians and there was some doubt about
Italy's military involvement in event of a war with members of the Triple
Entente (Britain, France and Russia).

2. Military actions of Italy

The Italian Government introduced military conscription in 1907. However, only about 25 per cent
of those eligible for conscription received training and by 1912 there were only 300,000 men in the Italian
Army.
Over 5.2 million men served in the Italian Army during the First World War. Italy's total
wartimecasualties was 420,000 killed and almost 955,000 wounded.
After the war Benito Mussolini attacked Vittorio Orlando for failing to achieve Italy's objectives at
theVersailles Peace Treaty and helped to organize the various right-wing groups in Italy into the Fascist
Party. The next prime minister, Francesco Nitti, also came under attack and he was forced to resign in
1920.
After a series of riots in 1922 King Victor Emmanuel III appointed Benito Mussolini in an attempt
to prevent a communist revolution in Italy. Mussolini headed a coalition of fascists and nationalists and
parliamentary government continued until the murder of the socialist leader, Giacomo Matteotti in 1924.
Left-wing parties were suppressed and in 1929 Italy became a one-party state. Mussolini carried out an
extensive public-works programme and the fall in unemployment made him a popular figure in Italy.
Italy controlled Eritrea and Somalia in Africa but had failed several times to colonize
neighbouring Ethiopia. When Benito Mussolini came to power he was determined to show the strength of
his regime by occupying the country. In October 1935 Mussolini sent in General  Pietro Badoglio and
the Italian Army into Ethiopia.
The League of Nations condemned Italy's aggression and in November imposed sanctions. This
included an attempt to ban countries from selling arms, rubber and some metals to Italy. Some political
leaders in France and Britain opposed sanctions arguing that it might persuade Mussolini to form an
alliance with Adolf Hitler and Nazi Germany.
Over 400,000 Italian troops fought in Ethiopia. The poorly armed Ethiopians were no match for
Italy's modern tanks and aeroplanes. The Italians even used mustard gas on the home forces and were
able to capture Addis Ababa, the capital of the country, in May 1936, forcing Emperor Haile Selassie to
flee to England.
Adolf Hitler had been inspired by Mussolini's achievements and once he gained power
in Germany he sought a close relationship with Italy. In October 1936 the two men signed a non-military
alliance.

3. Politics of Mussolini
 In 1939 Italy invaded Albania and soon afterwards Benito Mussolini signed a full defensive
alliance with Nazi Germany (the Pact of Steel). However, Mussolini did not declare war
on Britain and France until 10th June 1940.
Mussolini already had over a million men in the Italian Army based in Libya. In
neighbouring Egypt the British Army had only 36,000 men guarding the Suez Canal and the Arabian
oilfields. On 13th September, 1940, Marshall Rodolfo Graziani and five Italian divisions began a rapid
advance into Egypt but halted in front of the main British defences at Mersa Matruh.
In October 1940, Benito Mussolini declared war on Greece. Attempts by the Italian Army to
invade Greece ended in failure. The war was also going badly in North Africa. Although outnumbered,
General Archibald Wavell ordered a British counter-offensive on 9th December, 1940. The Italians
suffered heavy casualties and were pushed back more than 800km (500 miles). British troops moved
along the coast and on 22nd January, 1941, they captured the port of Tobruk in Libya from the Italians.
By the end of 1941 Italy was totally dependent on Nazi Germany. The Minister of Foreign
Affairs, Galaezzo Ciano, became increasingly dissatisfied with the way Mussolini was running the
country. After a series of heated arguments with Mussolini, Ciano resigned in February, 1943.
At the Casablanca Conference Winston Churchill and Franklin D. Roosevelt discussed ways of
taking Italy out of the war. It was eventually decided to launch an invasion of Sicily, an island in the
Mediterranean Sea, south-west of Italy. It was hoped that if the island was taken Benito Mussolini would
be ousted from power. It was also argued that a successful invasion would force Adolf Hitler to send
troops from the Eastern Front and help to relieve pressure on the Red Army in the Soviet Union.
The operation was placed under the supreme command of General Dwight D. Eisenhower.
General Harold Alexander was commander of ground operations and his 15th Army Group included
General George Patton (US 7th Army) and General Bernard Montgomery (8th Army). Admiral Andrew
Cunningham was in charge of naval operations and Air Marshal Arthur Tedder was air commander.
On 10th July 1943, the 8th Army landed at five points on the south-eastern tip of the island and
the US 7th Army at three beaches to the west of the British forces. The Allied troops met little opposition
and Patton and his troops quickly took Gela, Licata and Vittoria. The British landings were also
unopposed and Syracuse was taken on the the same day. This was followed by Palazzolo (11th July),
Augusta (13th July) and Vizzini (14th July), whereas the US troops took the Biscani airfield and Niscemi
(14th July).
General George Patton now moved to the west of the island and General Omar Bradley headed
north and the German Army was forced to retreat to behind the Simeto River. Patton took Palermo on
22nd July cutting off 50,000 Italian troops in the west of the island. Patton now turned east along the
northern coast of the island towards the port of Messina.
Meanwhile General Bernard Montgomery and the 8th Army were being held up by German forces
under Field Marshal Albrecht Kesselring. The Allies carried out several amphibious assaults attempted to
cut off the Germans but they were unable to stop the evacuation across the Messina Straits to the Italian
mainland. This included 40,000 German and 60,000 Italian troops, as well as 10,000 German vehicles
and 47 tanks.
The loss of Sicily created serious problems for Benito Mussolini. It was now clear that the Allies
would use the island as a base for invading Italy. A meeting of the Fascist Grand Council was held on
24th July and Galaezzo Ciano got support for his idea that Italy should sign a separate peace with the
Allies. The following day Victor Emmanuel III told Mussolini he was dismissed from office. His
successor, Pietro Badoglio, declared martial law and placed Mussolini under arrest.
On 3rd September, 1943, General Bernard Montgomery and the 8th Army landed at Reggio.
There was little resistance and later that day British warships landed the 1st Parachute Division at
Taranto. Six days later the US 6th Corps arrived at Salerno. These troops faced a heavy bombardment
from German troops and the beachhead was not secured until 20th September.
While the Allies were arriving in Italy, Adolf Hitler sent Otto Skorzeny and group of airbourne
commandos to rescue Mussolini, who was being held in the Abruzzi Apennines. Mussolini was soon freed
and Skorzeny flew him to safety. After a short spell in Germany Mussolini was sent to Gargagno in
German-occupied northern Italy where he established the fascist Salo Republic.
On 23rd September 1943, Pietro Badoglio and General Dwight D. Eisenhower signed the Italian
surrender aboard Nelson off Malta. The German Army continued to fight ferociously in southern Italy and
the Allied armies made only slow progress as the moved north towards Rome. The 5th Army took Naples
on 1st October and later that day the 8th Army captured the Foggia airfields.
In danger of being captured by the German forces, Badoglio and the Italian royal family were
forced to escape to Pescara where a government was set up under the protection of the Allies. On 13th
October the Italian government declared war on Germany.
General Albrecht Kesselring now withdrew his forces to what became known as the Gustav Line
on the Italian peninsula south of Rome. Organized along the Garigliano and Rapido rivers it
included Monte Cassino, a hilltop site of a sixth-century Benedictine monastery. Defended by 15 German
divisions the line was fortified with gun pits, concrete bunkers, turreted machine-gun emplacements,
barbed-wire and minefields. In December 1943, the Allied suffered heavy loses while trying to capture the
monastery.
In January 1944, General Dwight D. Eisenhower and General Harold Alexander, Supreme Allied
Commander in Italy, ordered a new Cassino offensive combined with an amphibious operation at Anzio, a
small port on the west coast of Italy. The main objective of the operation was to cut the communication
lines of the German 10th Army and force a withdrawal from the Gustav Line.
Attacks on Monte Cassino on 17th January resulted in the Germans reserves moving to the
Gustav Line and on 22nd January troops led by General John Lucas landed at Anzio. Lucas decided not
to push straight away to the Alban Hills. This enabled General Heinrich Vietinghoff to order the 14th Army
to return to the area and contain the 6th Corps on the Anzio bridgehead.
On 12th February the exhausted US Army at Cassino were replaced by the New Zealand Corps.
Alexander now decided to use these fresh troops in another attempt to capture Cassino. General
Bernard Freyberg, who was in charge of the infantry attack, asked for the monastery be bombed. Despite
claims by troops on the front-line that no fire had come from the monastery, General Harold
Alexander agreed and it was destroyed by the United States Air Force on 15th February, 1944.
Once the monastery had been bombed, the German Army moved into the ruins. As Basil Liddell
Hartpointed out later in his book  The Other Side of the Hill the bombing "turned out entirely to the tactical
benefit of the Germans. For after that they felt free to occupy the ruins, and the rubble provided mud
better defensive cover than the Monastery would have been before its destruction. As anyone with
experience of street-fighting knows, it is only when buildings are demolished that they are converted from
mousetraps into bastions of defence."
On 18th May, 1944, Allied troops led by General Wladyslaw Anders (Polish Corps) and
General Alphonse Juin (French Corps) captured Monte Cassino. This opened a corridor for Allied troops
and they reached Anzio on 24th May. The German defence now began to disintegrate and
General Harold Alexanderordered General Mark Clark to trap and destroy the retreating 10th Army. Clark
ignored this order and instead headed for Rome and liberated the city on the 4th June.

4. Formation of a new government in Italy

After the capture of Rome Pietro Badoglio resigned and Invanoe Bonomi formed a new government. In an

attempt to unite the country against Benito Mussolini, Bonomi's government included long-time
campaigners against fascism such as Carlo Sforza , Benedetto Croce and Palmiro Togliatti, the leader of
the Italian Communist Party.
The Allied armies now pursued the German 10th Army and took Grosseto (16th June), Assisi (18th June),
Perugia (20th June), Florence (12th August), Rimini (21st September), Lorenzo (11th October) until being
held on the Gothic Line in the northern Apennines. The arrival of winter weather meant that a renewed
offensive did not begin until 9th April, 1945.
On 23rd April the 8th Army began to cross the River Po at Mantua. German resistance now began to
collapse and Parma and Verona were taken and partisan uprisings began in Milan and Genoa.
With Allied troops approaching, Benito Mussolini and his mistress, Clara Petacci, attempted to escape to
Switzerland. They were captured at Lake Como by Italian partisans on 27th April, 1945. The following day
they were shot and their bodies displayed in public in Milan.
German resistance came to an end on 29th April and General Karl Wolff , who had unofficially been
negotiating with the Allies for some time, signed a treaty of unconditional surrender at Caserta on 29th
May. Two days later General Heinrich Vietinghoff, commander of all German troops in Italy, agreed to the
terms signed by Wolff at Caserta.

Glossary:

Wartime - a period during which a war is taking place.

Bombardment - a continuous attack with bombs, shells, or other missiles.
Capture - take into one's possession or control by force.
Monastery - a building or buildings occupied by a community of monks living under religious vows.

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