The Italian Campaign
Despite Germany being grounded to a halt by French troops on the Maginot Line, the Duce has assumed the war is nearly over and he wants a piece of spoils. His speech to the Italian people was met with feverish acclamation.
"I only need a few thousand dead so that I can sit at the peace conference as a man who has fought"'. - Mussolini Quoted by Foreign Minister Count Ciano.
Soldiers, sailors, and aviators! Black shirts of the revolution and of the [Fascist] legions! Men and women of Italy, of the Empire, and of the kingdom of Albania! Pay heed!
An hour appointed by destiny has struck in the heavens of our fatherland.
The declaration of war has already been delivered to the ambassadors of Great Britain and France. We go to battle against the plutocratic and reactionary democracies of the west who, at every moment have hindered the advance and have often endangered the very existence of the Italian people.
Recent historical events can be summarized in the following phrases: promises, threats, blackmail, and finally to crown the edifice, the ignoble siege by the fifty-two states of the League of Nations. Our conscience is absolutely tranquil. With you the entire world is witness that Fascist Italy has done all that is humanly possible to avoid the torment which is throwing Europe into turmoil; but all was in vain. It would have sufficed to revise the treaties to bring them up to date with the changing needs of the life of nations and not consider them untouchable for eternity; it would have sufficed not to have begun the stupid policy of guarantees, which has shown itself particularly lethal for those who accepted them; it would have sufficed not to reject the proposal [for peace] that the Fuhrer made on 6 October of last year after having finished the campaign in Poland.
But now all of that belongs to the past. If now today we have decided to face the risks and the sacrifices of a war, it is because the honor, the interests, the future impose and iron necessity, since a great people is truly such if it considers sacred its own duties and noes not evade the supreme trials which determine the course of history.
We take up arms to resolve, after having resolved the problem of our land frontier, the problem of our maritime frontiers; we want to break the territorial chains which suffocate us in our own sea; since a people of forty-five million should is not truly free if it does not have free access to the ocean.
This gigantic struggle is nothing other than a phase in the logical development of our revolution; it is the struggle of peoples that are poor but rich in workers against the exploiters who hold on ferociously to the monopoly off all the riches and all the gold of the earth; it is the struggle of the fertile and young people against the sterile people moving to the sunset; it is the struggle between two centuries and two ideas.
Now that the die are cast and our will has burned our ships at our backs, I solemnly declare that
Italy does not intend to drag into the conflict other peoples bordering her on land or on sea. Switzerland, Yugoslavia, Greece, Turkey, Egypt take note of these my words and it depends on them
and only on them whether or not they will be rigorously confirmed.
Italians!
In a memorable meeting, that which took place in Berlin, I said that according to the laws of Fascist morality, when one has a friend, one marches with him to the end. (“Duce! Duce! Duce!”). This we have done with Germany, with its people, with its marvelous armed forces. On this eve of an event of century wide scope, we direct our thought to the majesty of the King and Emperor (the multitudes break out in great cheers for the House of Savoy) which as always has understood the soul of the fatherland. And we salute with our voices the Fuhrer, the head of great ally Germany (The people cheer Hitler at length). Proletarian and Fascist Italy stands up a third time, strong, proud, and united as never before. (The crowd cries with one single voice: “Yes!”) The single order of the day is categorical and obligatory for all. It already spreads and fires hearts from the Alps to the Indian Ocean; Victory! (The people break out into raucous cheers). And we will win, in order finally to give a long period of peace with justice to Italy, to Europe, and to the world.
People of Italy!
Rush to arms and show your tenacity, your courage, your valor!
Italians advancing into Egypt
To oppose Italian aggression, the French army have 1 division stationed in Corsica, and 6 on the Alpine wall. This is enough to hold the line while Field Marshall Montgomery in Egypt and Field Marshall Auchinlek assume responsibility for the East and North African Theaters. Is the Duce`s boasts of 7 million bayonets the real deal or is it empty blustering? The next crop of infantry coming off the line will all be sent to the Italian theater where the French Forces shall march into Northern Italy and cripple her industrial heartland.
British PM Winston Churchill made a special visit to boost morale with British troops in Alexandria.
A Force of 24 divisons was assembled on the alpine border with Italy. 12 Divisions under Field Marshall Colson and supported by Field Marshall Gamelin advanced and attacked and occupied both Turin and Genoa. Italy`s massive IC provinces are already being occupied and more are within grasp. German reinforcements could change the tide however.
French troops continue their steady gains against the fascists. Field Marshall Gamelin occupies Venice to cut off Italy from her Nazi slavemaster Germany. The Italians are putting up a pathetic performance in their homeland despite the Duce`s boasts of Italy`s warrior spirit. The Italians are doing well in North Africa however, coming close to the Suez canal. But the smarter men know that the war with Italy is decided in Europe, not 0 IC 0 manpower desert wasteland provinces.
French forces continue their steady advance from the North Italian industrial areas into the hilly central Italian areas. The Duce rushed to Berlin to beg for German reinforcements but was swiftly rebuffed when the Fuhrer said his hands were full trying to break through in France and garrisoning the Eastern border with a hostile Bolshevik Soviet union on his doorstep. A strong garrison is held in the brenner pass other mountain areas in the tyrol to keep the Germans out all costs to isolate the Italians. French troops around Rome have seen young children and old men being drafted into the army. The Italians continue to give the British a good go in North Africa, fighting them ti a stalemate just outside El Alamein.
1 down, 2 to go. French troops marched triumphantly through the coliseum today and occupied the Italian capital Rome. Mussolini humilated by such a disaster has fled to Naples and has refused any type of compromise peace. The allied supreme war council agrees on a policy of unconditional surrender and for all of Italy to be placed under French Military occupation until the war is over.
Civilians in Rome cheering french liberation.
The situation after Rome fell.
The collapse continued until Italy was left with Sicily and the soon to be wiped out Taranto left. The Duces Mare nostrum has become a complete allied lake. Franco-British negotiations take place and it is agreed that all of Italy proper shall be french occupied while Libya and Albania will be British occupied. After the war a democratic regime may be established.
The Duce claimed a national reboubt in Sicily and Sardinia and claimed that any allied transports would be destroyed by the Regia Marina, however the allied navies had complete dominance which allowed French Marines supported by Infantry to land and occupy Sicily and Sardinia which allowed France to occupy Italy. The Duce was found by a group of French troops, however a group of mob backed local bandits attacked the column and captured the Duce. He was hung in a public square in Palermo to the cheers of all.
