Manjača ( Serbian Cyrillic : Мањача ) is a name of a mountain located 22 km south of the city Banja Luka , in northern part of Bosnia and Herzegovina . Its highest peak is 1,239 m (4,065 ft) high peak Velika Manjača .
127-458: The region was a stronghold during World War II for Serbian nationalist Chetnik fighters. After the climax of the war, the new communist government of Josip Broz Tito dispersed the local Serb population as retribution and established a large army base and firing range for the new Yugoslav People's Army (JNA). It held a significant military base of the JNA in the second part of 20th century and
254-576: A free port at Djibouti , control of the Addis Ababa-Djibouti railroad , Italian participation in the management of Suez Canal Company , some form of French-Italian condominium over French Tunisia , and the preservation of Italian culture on Corsica with no French assimilation of the people. The French refused the demands, believing the true Italian intention was the territorial acquisition of Nice , Corsica, Tunisia, and Djibouti. On 30 November 1938, Foreign Minister Galeazzo Ciano addressed
381-720: A Communist propaganda network in Sisak and nearby villages. At the same time, the CPY's Provincial Committee for Serbia made its decision to launch an armed uprising in Serbia and put together its Supreme Staff of the National Liberation Partisan Units of Yugoslavia to be chaired by Josip Broz Tito . On 4 July, a formal order to begin the uprising was issued. On 7 July, the Bela Crkva incident happened, which would later be considered
508-679: A bounty of 100,000 Reichsmarks offered by Germans for their heads. While "officially" remaining mortal enemies of the Germans and the Ustaše, the Chetniks were known for making clandestine deals with the Italians. The Second Enemy Offensive was a coordinated Axis attack conducted in January 1942 against Partisan forces in eastern Bosnia. The Partisan troops once again avoided encirclement and were forced to retreat over
635-1270: A cavalry regiment in Zagreb and an independent cavalry battalion at Sarajevo . Two independent motorized infantry battalions were based at Zagreb and Sarajevo respectively. Several regiments of Ustaše militia were also formed at this time, which operated under a separate command structure to, and independently from, the Croatian Home Guard, until late 1944. The Home Guard crushed the Serb revolt in Eastern Herzegovina in June 1941, and in July they fought in Eastern and Western Bosnia. They fought in Eastern Herzegovina again, when Croatian-Dalmatian and Slavonian battalions reinforced local units. The Italian High Command assigned 24 divisions and three coastal brigades to occupation duties in Yugoslavia from 1941. These units were located from Slovenia, Croatia and Dalmatia through to Montenegro and Kosovo. From 1931 to 1939,
762-733: A few days after the founding of the NDH. The force was formed with the authorisation of German authorities. The task of the new Croatian armed forces was to defend the new state against both foreign and domestic enemies. The Croatian Home Guard was originally limited to 16 infantry battalions and 2 cavalry squadrons – 16,000 men in total. The original 16 battalions were soon enlarged to 15 infantry regiments of two battalions each between May and June 1941, organised into five divisional commands, some 55,000 enlisted men. Support units included 35 light tanks supplied by Italy, 10 artillery battalions (equipped with captured Royal Yugoslav Army weapons of Czech origin),
889-523: A few hundred of each eventually being produced. The Carro Armato P40 tank, roughly equivalent to the M4 Sherman and Panzer IV medium tanks, was designed in 1940 (though no prototype was produced until 1942 and manufacture could not commence before the Armistice, owing in part to the lack of sufficiently powerful engines, which were themselves undergoing a development push; total Italian tank production for
1016-681: A few thousand dead so that I can sit at the peace conference as a man who has fought. Mussolini had the immediate war aim of expanding the Italian colonies in North Africa by taking land from the British and French colonies. About Mussolini's declaration of war in France, President Franklin D. Roosevelt of the United States said: On this tenth day of June 1940, the hand that held the dagger has struck it into
1143-662: A modern war fought in circumstances quite similar to those found in World War II Yugoslavia. In Slovenia, the Partisans likewise drew on the experienced TIGR members to train troops. Their other major advantage, which became more apparent in the later stages of the War, was in the Partisans being founded on a communist ideology rather than ethnicity . Therefore, they won support that crossed national lines, meaning they could expect at least some levels of support in almost any corner of
1270-435: A month beginning in the spring of 1940, an amount that exceeded even Mussolini's demand of August 1939 that Italy receive six million tons of coal for its first twelve months of war. The Italian Royal Army ( Regio Esercito ) was comparatively depleted and weak at the beginning of the war. Italian tanks were of poor quality and radios few in number. The bulk of Italian artillery dated to World War I . The primary fighter of
1397-463: A native Ethiopian army "to help conquer" Anglo-Egyptian Sudan . The war also marked a shift towards a more aggressive Italian foreign policy and also "exposed [the] vulnerabilities" of the British and French. This in turn created the opportunity Mussolini needed to begin to realize his imperial goals. In 1936, the Spanish Civil War broke out. From the beginning, Italy played an important role in
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#17330849175961524-774: A period of reinforcement and training the Allies assumed the offensive at the Second Battle of Alamein (October/November 1942) where they scored a decisive victory and the remains of Rommel's German-Italian Panzer Army were forced to engage in a fighting retreat for 2,600 km (1,600 mi) to the Libyan border with Tunisia. After the Operation Torch landings in the Vichy French territories of Morocco and Algeria (November 1942) British, American and French forces advanced east to engage
1651-599: A proportion of GNP derived from industry less than that of Czechoslovakia , Hungary and Sweden , in addition to the other great powers. In terms of strategic materials , in 1940, Italy produced 4.4 mega tonnes (Mt) of coal, 0.01 Mt of crude oil, 1.2 Mt of iron ore and 2.1 Mt of steel. By comparison, Great Britain produced 224.3 Mt of coal, 11.9 Mt of crude oil, 17.7 Mt of iron ore, and 13.0 Mt of steel and Germany produced 364.8 Mt of coal, 8.0 Mt of crude oil, 29.5 Mt of iron ore and 21.5 Mt of steel. Most raw material needs could be fulfilled only through importation, and no effort
1778-462: A reconciliation of German-Italian relations following years of a previously strained relationship, resulting in the signing of a treaty of mutual interest in October 1936. Mussolini referred to this treaty as the creation of a Berlin-Rome Axis, which Europe would revolve around. The treaty was the result of increasing dependence on German coal following League of Nations sanctions, similar policies between
1905-647: A resistance movement. Engaged in collaboration with Axis forces from mid-1942 onward, lost official Allied support in 1943. Full names: initially "Chetnik Detachments of the Yugoslav Army", then "Yugoslav Army in the Fatherland". ^ Casualties in the Balkan area, including Greece, from April 1941 to January 1945 Asia-Pacific Mediterranean and Middle East Other campaigns Coups Uprisings 1942 1943 1944 1945 World War II in
2032-640: A submarine base at Bordeaux, code named BETASOM , and thirty-two Italian submarines participated in the Battle of the Atlantic . Plans to attack the harbour of New York City with CA class midget submarines in 1943 were disrupted when the submarine converted to carry out the attack, the Leonardo da Vinci , was sunk in May 1943. The armistice put a stop to further planning. Within a week of Italy's declaration of war on 10 June 1940,
2159-575: A swath of French territory along the Franco-Italian border. During this operation, Italian casualties amounted to 1,247 men dead or missing and 2,631 wounded. A further 2,151 Italians were hospitalised due to frostbite . Late in the Battle of Britain , Italy contributed an expeditionary force, the Corpo Aereo Italiano , which took part in the Blitz from October 1940 until April 1941, at which time
2286-663: A thrust from Sudan. A supporting attack was made from Kenya by the South African 1st Division , the 11th African Division , and the 12th African Division . Finally, the British launched an amphibious assault from Aden to re-take British Somaliland. Fought from February to March, the outcome of the Battle of Keren determined the fate of Italian East Africa. In early April, after Keren fell, Asmara and Massawa followed. The Ethiopian capital of Addis Ababa also fell in April 1941. The Viceroy of Ethiopia, Amedeo, Duke of Aosta , surrendered at
2413-787: A treaty of friendship with Yugoslavia (prior to 22 June 1941 , Nazi Germany and Soviet Russia adhered to the non-aggression pact the parties had signed in August 1939 and in the autumn 1940, Germany and the Soviet Union had been in talks on the USSR's potential accession to the Tripartite Pact ). Having steadily fallen within the orbit of the Axis during 1940 after events such as the Second Vienna Award , Yugoslavia followed Bulgaria and formally joined
2540-423: A war would not take place for several years. However, despite the Italian impression, the pact made no reference to such a period of peace and the Germans proceeded with their plans to invade Poland . Mussolini's Under-Secretary for War Production, Carlo Favagrossa , had estimated that Italy could not possibly be prepared for major military operations until at least October 1942. This had been made clear during
2667-516: A week later by German forces without meeting resistance. On 13 October 1943, the Kingdom of Italy officially joined the Allied Powers and declared war on its former Axis partner Germany. The northern half of the country was occupied by the Germans with the cooperation of Italian fascists, and became a collaborationist puppet state (with more than 800,000 soldiers , police , and militia recruited for
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#17330849175962794-470: The Corpo Truppe Volontarie ("Corps of Volunteer Troops") had also been dispatched to fight for Franco. The financial cost of the war was between 6 and 8.5 billion lire, approximately 14 to 20 per cent of the country's annual expenditure. Adding to these problems was Italy's extreme debt position. When Benito Mussolini took office, in 1921, the government debt was 93 billion lire , un-repayable in
2921-570: The 1st Proletarian Assault Brigade ( 1. Proleterska Udarna Brigada ) – the first regular Partisan military unit capable of operating outside its local area. 22 December became the "Day of the Yugoslav People's Army ". On 15 January 1942, the Bulgarian 1st Army , with three infantry divisions, transferred to south-eastern Serbia. Headquartered at Niš , it replaced German divisions needed in Croatia and
3048-557: The AB 41 and the Camionetta AS 42 armoured cars, which were regarded as excellent vehicles of their type. None of these developments, however, precluded the fact that the bulk of equipment was obsolete and poor. The relatively weak economy, lack of suitable raw materials and consequent inability to produce sufficient quantities of armaments and supplies were thus the key material reasons for Italian military failure. On paper, Italy had one of
3175-504: The Allied invasion of Sicily , Mussolini was arrested by order of King Victor Emmanuel III , provoking a civil war . Italy's military outside of the Italian peninsula collapsed, its occupied and annexed territories falling under German control . Under Mussolini's successor Pietro Badoglio , Italy capitulated to the Allies on 3 September 1943, although Mussolini would be rescued from captivity
3302-745: The Axis Powers in 1940 (as the French Third Republic surrendered) with a plan to concentrate Italian forces on a major offensive against the British Empire in Africa and the Middle East, known as the "parallel war", while expecting the collapse of British forces in the European theatre . The Italians bombed Mandatory Palestine , invaded Egypt and occupied British Somaliland with initial success. However,
3429-616: The Cape of Good Hope to Bordeaux in France. Some Italians, after their defeat, waged a guerilla war mainly in Eritrea and Ethiopia, that lasted until fall 1943. Notable among them was Amedeo Guillet . In early 1939, while the world was focused on Adolf Hitler 's aggression against Czechoslovakia , Mussolini looked to the Kingdom of Albania, across the Adriatic Sea from Italy. Italian forces invaded Albania on 7 April 1939 and swiftly took control of
3556-571: The Case Anton , Italy occupied the French territories of Corsica and Tunisia . Italian forces had also achieved victories against insurgents in Yugoslavia and in Montenegro , and Italo-German forces had occupied parts of British-held Egypt on their push to El-Alamein after their victory at Gazala . However, Italy's conquests were always heavily contested, both by various insurgencies (most prominently
3683-573: The Chamber of Deputies on the "natural aspirations of the Italian people" and was met with shouts of " Nice ! Corsica! Savoy ! Tunisia! Djibouti! Malta!" Later that day, Mussolini addressed the Fascist Grand Council "on the subject of what he called the immediate goals of 'Fascist dynamism'." These were Albania; Tunisia; Corsica; the Ticino , a canton of Switzerland ; and all "French territory east of
3810-622: The Croatian Littoral and large chunks of the coastal Dalmatia region (along with nearly all of the Adriatic islands and the Bay of Kotor ). It also gained control over the Italian governorate of Montenegro , and was granted the kingship in the Independent State of Croatia, though wielding little real power within it; although it did (alongside Germany) maintain a de facto zone of influence within
3937-743: The Greek resistance and Yugoslav partisans ) and Allied military forces, which waged the Battle of the Mediterranean throughout and beyond Italy's participation. The country's imperial overstretch (opening multiple fronts in Africa, the Balkans, Eastern Europe, and the Mediterranean) ultimately resulted in its defeat in the war, as the Italian empire collapsed after disastrous defeats in the Eastern European and North African campaigns. In July 1943, following
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4064-477: The Igman mountain near Sarajevo. The Third Enemy Offensive , an offensive against Partisan forces in eastern Bosnia, Montenegro , Sandžak and Herzegovina which took place in the spring of 1942, was known as Operation TRIO by the Germans, and again ended with a timely Partisan escape. Over the course of the summer, they conducted the so-called Partisan Long March westwards through Bosnia and Herzegovina, while at
4191-519: The Independent State of Croatia (NDH) proclaimed on 10 April, which extended over much of today's Croatia and contained all of modern Bosnia and Herzegovina , despite the fact that the Treaties of Rome concluded between the NDH and Italy on 18 May envisioned the NDH becoming an effective protectorate of Italy. Mussolini's Italy gained the remainder of Slovenia, Kosovo , coastal and inland areas of
4318-512: The Italian capitulation , and thereon also with German and Ustaše forces. The Axis mounted a series of offensives intended to destroy the Partisans, coming close to doing so in the Battles of Neretva and Sutjeska in the spring and summer of 1943. Despite the setbacks, the Partisans remained a credible fighting force, with their organisation gaining recognition from the Western Allies at
4445-457: The Kingdom of Yugoslavia began on 6 April 1941, when the country was invaded and swiftly conquered by Axis forces and partitioned among Germany , Italy , Hungary , Bulgaria and their client regimes . Shortly after Germany attacked the USSR on 22 June 1941, the communist -led republican Yugoslav Partisans , on orders from Moscow , launched a guerrilla liberation war fighting against
4572-691: The Tehran Conference and laying the foundations for the post-war Yugoslav socialist state. With support in logistics and air power from the Western Allies, and Soviet ground troops in the Belgrade offensive , the Partisans eventually gained control of the entire country and of the border regions of Trieste and Carinthia . The victorious Partisans established the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia . The conflict in Yugoslavia had one of
4699-446: The unity promoted by the South Slavic state , two different concepts of anti-Axis resistance emerged: the royalist Chetniks , and the communist -led Partisans . Two of the principal constituent national groups, Slovenes and Croats, were not prepared to fight in defense of a Yugoslav state with a continued Serb monarchy . The only effective opposition to the invasion was from units wholly from Serbia itself. The Serbian General Staff
4826-484: The 10th Army retook Fort Capuzzo and crossed the border into Egypt. Lightly opposed, they advanced about 100 km (60 mi) to Sidi Barrani , where they stopped and began entrenching themselves in a series of fortified camps. At this time, the British had only 36,000 troops available (out of about 100,000 under Middle Eastern command) to defend Egypt, against 236,000 Italian troops. The Italians, however, were not concentrated in one location. They were divided between
4953-462: The 10th Army, and seemed on the point of sweeping the Italians out of Libya altogether. Winston Churchill, however, directed the advance be stopped, initially because of supply problems and because of a new Italian offensive that had gained ground in Albania, and ordered troops dispatched to defend Greece. Weeks later the first troops of the German Afrika Korps started to arrive in North Africa (February 1941), along with six Italian divisions including
5080-401: The 5th army in the west and the 10th army in the east and thus spread out from the Tunisian border in western Libya to Sidi Barrani in Egypt. At Sidi Barrani, Graziani, unaware of the British lack of numerical strength, planned to build fortifications and stock them with provisions, ammunition , and fuel , establish a water pipeline, and extend the via Balbia to that location, which was where
5207-413: The Allied enclave at Tobruk , which they failed to capture. After reorganising and re-grouping the Allies launched Operation Crusader in November 1941 which resulted in the Axis front line being pushed back once more to El Agheila by the end of the year. In January 1942 the Axis struck back again, advancing to Gazala where the front lines stabilised while both sides raced to build up their strength. At
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5334-426: The Axis forces and their locally established puppet regimes , including the Axis-allied Independent State of Croatia (NDH) and the Government of National Salvation in the German-occupied territory of Serbia . This was dubbed the National Liberation War and Socialist Revolution in post-war Yugoslav communist historiography. Simultaneously, a multi-side civil war was waged between the Yugoslav communist Partisans,
5461-497: The Axis on cooperation with as few concessions as possible, while attempting secret negotiations with the Allies and the Soviet Union, but these moves failed to keep the country out of the war. A secret mission to the U.S., led by the influential Serbian-Jewish Captain David Albala , with the purpose of obtaining funding to buy arms for the expected invasion went nowhere, while the Soviet Union's Joseph Stalin expelled Yugoslav ambassador Milan Gavrilović just one month after agreeing
5588-598: The Axis), while the south was officially controlled by monarchist forces, which fought for the Allied cause as the Italian Co-Belligerent Army (at its height numbering more than 50,000 men), as well as around 350,000 Italian resistance movement partisans (many of them former Royal Italian Army soldiers) of disparate political ideologies operated all over Italy. On 28 April 1945, Mussolini was assassinated by Italian partisans at Giulino , two days before Hitler's suicide. Unlike Germany and Japan, no war crimes tribunals were held for Italian military and political leaders, though
5715-425: The Axis; Serbian public and military circles preferred alliance with the Western European empires, while the then-banned Communist Party of Yugoslavia saw the Soviet Union as a natural ally. Following the fall of France in May 1940, Yugoslavia's Regent Prince Paul and his government saw no way of saving the Kingdom of Yugoslavia except through accommodation with the Axis powers. Although Germany's Adolf Hitler
5842-417: The Battle of Neretva and the Battle of Sutjeska after the rivers in the areas they were fought, or the Fourth and Fifth Enemy Offensive, respectively, according to former Yugoslav historiography. On 7 January 1943, the Bulgarian 1st Army also occupied south-west Serbia. Savage pacification measures reduced Partisan activity appreciably. Bulgarian infantry divisions in the Fifth anti-Partisan Offensive blocked
5969-649: The British 11th Hussars had seized Fort Capuzzo in Libya . In an ambush east of Bardia , the British captured the Italian 10th Army Engineer-in-Chief, General Lastucci. On 28 June Marshal Italo Balbo , the Governor-General of Libya , was killed by friendly fire while landing in Tobruk . Mussolini ordered Balbo's replacement, General Rodolfo Graziani , to launch an attack into Egypt immediately. Graziani complained to Mussolini that his forces were not properly equipped for such an operation, and that an attack into Egypt could not possibly succeed; nevertheless, Mussolini ordered him to proceed. On 13 September, elements of
6096-402: The British counterattacked , eventually necessitating German support to prevent an Italian collapse in North Africa. As the war carried on and German and Japanese actions in 1941 led to the entry of the Soviet Union and United States , respectively, into the war, the Italian plan of forcing Britain to agree to a negotiated peace settlement was foiled. The Italian dictator Benito Mussolini
6223-446: The British announced that they would block all coal exports from Rotterdam to Italy. Italian coal was one of the most discussed issues in diplomatic circles in the spring of 1940. In April, Britain began strengthening the Mediterranean Fleet to enforce the blockade. Despite French uncertainty, Britain rejected concessions to Italy so as not to "create an impression of weakness". Germany supplied Italy with about one million tons of coal
6350-474: The British to overcome in encounters from 1941 to 1943. On 8 December 1940, the British launched Operation Compass . Planned as an extended raid, it resulted in a force of British, Indian, and Australian troops cutting off the Italian 10th Army . Pressing the British advantage home, General Richard O'Connor succeeded in reaching El Agheila , deep in Libya (an advance of 800 kilometres or 500 miles) and taking some 130,000 prisoners. The Allies nearly destroyed
6477-439: The Chetnik army and stated that the National Liberation Movement was an independent movement, with no aid from the Soviet Union or the UK. Somewhat later, Đilas and Velebit were brought to Zagreb to continue the negotiations. In the Fourth Enemy Offensive, also known as the Battle of the Neretva or Fall Weiss (Case White), Axis forces pushed Partisan troops to retreat from western Bosnia to northern Herzegovina, culminating in
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#17330849175966604-400: The Chetniks, a conservative royalist and nationalist force, enjoying support almost exclusively from the Serbian population in occupied Yugoslavia, on the other hand. From the start and until 1943, the Chetniks, who fought in the name of the London-based King Peter II 's Yugoslav government-in-exile, enjoyed recognition and support from the Western Allies, while the Partisans were supported by
6731-558: The Ethiopians now." (This was a reference to the Second Italo-Abyssinian War where Italian forces had fought against a poorly equipped opponent.) Balbo had said "Our light tanks, already old and armed only with machine guns, are completely out-classed. The machine guns of the British armoured cars pepper them with bullets which easily pierce their armour." Italian forces around Sidi Barrani had severe weaknesses in their deployment. Their five main fortifications were placed too far apart to allow mutual support against an attacking force, and
6858-450: The Fascist regime , which aspired to restore the Roman Empire in the Mediterranean (the Mare Nostrum ), were partially met by late 1942, albeit with a great deal of German assistance. With the Axis invasion of Yugoslavia and the Balkans , Italy annexed Ljubljana , Dalmatia and Montenegro . Puppet regimes were also established in Croatia and Greece , which were occupied by Italian forces. Following Vichy France 's collapse and
6985-423: The German Wehrmacht and SS , Italy , Chetniks, the Independent State of Croatia, the Serbian collaborationist government, Bulgaria, and Hungary . The First Anti-Partisan Offensive was the attack conducted by the Axis in autumn of 1941 against the " Republic of Užice ", a liberated territory the Partisans established in western Serbia. In November 1941, German troops attacked and reoccupied this territory, with
7112-476: The German conquest of Poland, Mussolini hesitated to enter the war. General Sir Archibald Wavell , the head of Middle East Command , correctly predicted that Mussolini's pride would ultimately cause him to enter the war. Wavell would compare Mussolini's situation to that of someone at the top of a diving board: "I think he must do something. If he cannot make a graceful dive, he will at least have to jump in somehow; he can hardly put on his dressing-gown and walk down
7239-437: The German-Italian forces in the Tunisia Campaign . By February, the Axis forces in Tunisia were joined by Rommel's forces, after their long withdrawal from El Alamein, which were re-designated the Italian First Army (under Giovanni Messe ) when Rommel left to command the Axis forces to the north at the Battle of the Kasserine Pass . Despite the Axis success at Kasserine, the Allies were able to reorganise (with all forces under
7366-422: The Holocaust . In January 1943 the Italians refused to cooperate with the Nazis in rounding up Jews living in the occupied zone of France under their control and in March prevented the Nazis from deporting Jews in their zone. German Foreign Minister Joachim von Ribbentrop complained to Mussolini that "Italian military circles... lack a proper understanding of the Jewish question." The Italian Navy established
7493-414: The Indian Ocean through the Sudan and Abyssinia, or to the Atlantic by way of French North Africa". As early as September 1938, the Italian military had drawn up plans to invade Albania. On 7 April, Italian forces landed in the country and within three days had occupied the majority of the country. Albania represented a territory Italy could acquire for "'living space' to ease its overpopulation" as well as
7620-467: The Italian Air Force ( Regia Aeronautica ) was the Fiat CR.42 Falco , which, though an advanced biplane with excellent performance, was technically outclassed by monoplane fighters of other nations. Of the Regia Aeronautica's approximately 1,760 aircraft, only 900 could be considered in any way combat-worthy. The Italian Royal Navy ( Regia Marina ) had several modern battleships but no aircraft carriers . Italian authorities were acutely aware of
7747-435: The Italian resistance summarily executed some political members at the end of the war, including Mussolini. During the late 1920s, the Italian Prime Minister Benito Mussolini spoke with increasing urgency about imperial expansion, arguing that Italy needed an outlet for its " surplus population " and that it would therefore be in the best interests of other countries to aid in this expansion. The immediate aspiration of
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#17330849175967874-427: The Italians made several attempts to intermediate peace. While Hitler was open to it, the French were not responsive and the British only invited the Italians to change sides. For Mussolini, the risks of staying out of the war were becoming greater than those for entering, which led to a lack of consistency in planning, with principal objectives and enemies being changed with little regard for the consequences. Mussolini
8001-426: The Italo-German negotiations for the Pact of Steel, whereby it was stipulated that neither signatory was to make war without the other earlier than 1943. Although considered a great power , the Italian industrial sector was relatively weak compared to other European major powers. Italian industry did not equal more than 15% of that of France or of Britain in militarily critical areas such as automobile production:
8128-563: The Partisan escape-route from Montenegro into Serbia and also participated in the Sixth anti-Partisan Offensive in Eastern Bosnia. Negotiations between Germans and Partisans started on 11 March 1943 in Gornji Vakuf , Bosnia. Tito's key officers Vladimir Velebit , Koča Popović and Milovan Đilas brought three proposals, first about an exchange of prisoners, second about the implementation of international law on treatment of prisoners and third about political questions. The delegation expressed concerns about Italian involvement in supplying
8255-436: The Partisan retreat over the Neretva river. This took place from January to April, 1943. The Fifth Enemy Offensive, also known as the Battle of the Sutjeska or Fall Schwarz (Case Black), immediately followed the Fourth Offensive and included a complete encirclement of Partisan forces in southeastern Bosnia and northern Montenegro in May and June 1943. In that August of my arrival [1943] there were over 30 enemy divisions on
8382-509: The River Var", including Nice, but not Savoy. Beginning in 1939 Mussolini often voiced his contention that Italy required uncontested access to the world's oceans and shipping lanes to ensure its national sovereignty. On 4 February 1939, Mussolini addressed the Grand Council in a closed session. He delivered a long speech on international affairs and the goals of his foreign policy, "which bears comparison with Hitler's notorious disposition, minuted by colonel Hossbach ". He began by claiming that
8509-422: The Serbian royalist Chetniks , the Axis-allied Croatian Ustaše and Home Guard , Serbian Volunteer Corps and State Guard , Slovene Home Guard , as well as Nazi-allied Russian Protective Corps troops. Both the Yugoslav Partisans and the Chetnik movement initially resisted the Axis invasion. However, after 1941, Chetniks extensively and systematically collaborated with the Italian occupation forces until
8636-431: The Soviet Union had prepared communists for a guerrilla war in Yugoslavia. On the eve of the war, hundreds of future prominent Yugoslav communist leaders completed special "partisan courses" organised by the Soviet military intelligence in the Soviet Union and Spain. On the day Germany attacked the Soviet Union, on 22 June 1941, the Communist Party of Yugoslavia (CPY) received orders from Moscow-based Comintern to come to
8763-492: The Soviet Union's aid. On the same day, Croatian communists set up the 1st Sisak Partisan Detachment , the first armed anti-fascist resistance unit formed by a resistance movement in occupied Yugoslavia during World War II. The detachment began resistance activities the day after its creation; launching sabotage and diversionary attacks on nearby railway lines, destroying telegraph poles, attacking municipal buildings in surrounding villages, seizing arms and ammunition and creating
8890-403: The Soviet Union. The Chetniks initially enjoyed the support of the Western Allies (up to the Tehran Conference in December 1943). In 1942, Time Magazine featured an article which praised the "success" of Mihailović's Chetniks and heralded him as the sole defender of freedom in Nazi-occupied Europe. Tito's Partisans fought the Germans more actively during this time. Tito and Mihailović had
9017-438: The Soviet Union. At the very beginning, the Partisan forces were relatively small, poorly armed, and without any infrastructure. But they had two major advantages over other military and paramilitary formations in former Yugoslavia: the first and most immediate advantage was a small but valuable cadre of Spanish Civil War veterans . Unlike some of the other military and paramilitary formations, these veterans had experience with
9144-605: The Tripartite Pact on 25 March 1941. Senior Serbian air force officers opposed to the move staged a coup d'état and took over in the following days. On 6 April 1941 the Kingdom of Yugoslavia was invaded from all sides – by Germany, Italy, and their ally Hungary . Belgrade was bombed by the German air force ( Luftwaffe ). The war, known in the post-Yugoslavia states as the April War , lasted little more than ten days, ending with
9271-536: The Yugoslav Army in the Fatherland, JVUO) was organised following the surrender of the Royal Yugoslav Army by some of the remaining Yugoslav soldiers. This force was organised in the Ravna Gora district of western Serbia under Colonel Draža Mihailović in mid-May 1941. However, unlike the Partisans, Mihailović's forces were almost entirely ethnic Serbs. The Partisans and Chetniks attempted to cooperate early during
9398-562: The activities of the Partisan resistance, and Chetnik units attacked the Partisans in November 1941, while increasingly receiving supplies and cooperating with the Germans and Italians in this. The British liaison to Mihailović advised London to stop supplying the Chetniks after the Užice attack (see First Anti-Partisan Offensive ), but Britain continued to do so. On 22 December 1941 the Partisans formed
9525-452: The areas between were weakly patrolled. The absence of motorised transport did not allow for rapid reorganisation, if needed. The rocky terrain had prevented an anti-tank ditch from being dug and there were too few mines and 47 mm anti-tank guns to repel an armoured advance. By the summer of 1941, the Italians in North Africa had regrouped, retrained and rearmed into a much more effective fighting force, one that proved to be much harder for
9652-621: The back of its neighbor. The Italian entry into the war opened up new fronts in North Africa and the Mediterranean . After Italy entered the war, pressure from Nazi Germany led to the internment in the Campagna concentration camp of some of Italy's Jewish refugees . In June 1940, after initial success, the Italian offensive into southern France stalled at the fortified Alpine Line . On 24 June 1940, France surrendered to Germany. Italy occupied
9779-477: The bars of her Mediterranean prison and Gibraltar and Suez as the walls." Fascist foreign policy took for granted that the democracies—Britain and France—would someday need to be faced down. Through armed conquest Italian North Africa and Italian East Africa —separated by the Anglo-Egyptian Sudan—would be linked, and the Mediterranean prison destroyed. Then, Italy would be able to march "either to
9906-544: The beginning of the uprising in Serbia. On 10 August 1941 in Stanulović, a mountain village, the Partisans formed the Kopaonik Partisan Detachment Headquarters. Their liberated area, consisting of nearby villages and called the "Miners Republic", was the first in Yugoslavia, and lasted 42 days. The resistance fighters formally joined the ranks of the Partisans later on. The Chetnik movement (officially
10033-599: The borders of the NDH. Hungary dispatched the Hungarian Third Army to occupy Vojvodina in northern Serbia, and later forcibly annexed sections of Baranja, Bačka, Međimurje, and Prekmurje . The Bulgarian army moved in on 19 April 1941, occupying nearly all of modern-day North Macedonia and some districts of eastern Serbia which, with Greek western Thrace and eastern Macedonia (the Aegean Province), were annexed by Bulgaria on 14 May. The government in exile
10160-641: The conflict and Chetniks were active in the uprising in Serbia, but this fell apart thereafter. In September 1941, Partisans organised sabotage at the General Post Office in Zagreb . As the levels of resistance to its occupation grew, the Axis Powers responded with numerous minor offensives. There were also seven major Axis operations specifically aimed at eliminating all or most Yugoslav Partisan resistance. These major offensives were typically combined efforts by
10287-515: The conflict. Their military contribution was so vast, that it played a decisive role in the victory of the rebel forces led by Francisco Franco . Mussolini had engaged in "a full-scale external war" due to the insinuation of future Spanish subservience to the Italian Empire, and as a way of placing the country on a war footing and creating "a warrior culture". The aftermath of the war in Ethiopia saw
10414-490: The country liberated by the Partisans. In places, even limited arms industries were set up. To gather intelligence , agents of the Western Allies were infiltrated into both the Partisans and the Chetniks. The intelligence gathered by liaisons to the resistance groups was crucial to the success of supply missions and was the primary influence on Allied strategy in the Yugoslavia . The search for intelligence ultimately resulted in
10541-580: The country, unlike other paramilitary formations limited to territories with Croat or Serb majority. This allowed their units to be more mobile and fill their ranks with a larger pool of potential recruits. While the activity of the Macedonian and Slovene Partisans was part of the Yugoslav People's Liberation War, the specific conditions in Macedonia and Slovenia, due to the strong autonomist tendencies of
10668-539: The decline of the Chetniks and their eclipse by Tito's Partisans. In 1942, though supplies were limited, token support was sent equally to each. In November 1942, Partisan detachments were officially merged into the People's Liberation Army and Partisan Detachments of Yugoslavia ( NOV i POJ ). In the first half of 1943 two Axis offensives came close to defeating the Partisans. They are known by their German code names Fall Weiss (Case White) and Fall Schwarz (Case Black) , as
10795-571: The end of May, Rommel launched the Battle of Gazala where the British armoured divisions were soundly defeated. The Axis seemed on the verge of sweeping the British out of Egypt, but at the First Battle of El Alamein (July 1942) General Claude Auchinleck halted Rommel's advance only 140 km (90 mi) from Alexandria. Rommel made a final attempt to break through during the Battle of Alam el Halfa but Eighth Army , by this time commanded by Lieutenant-General Bernard Montgomery , held firm. After
10922-470: The foothold needed to launch other expansionist conflicts in the Balkans. On 22 May 1939, Italy and Germany signed the Pact of Steel joining both countries in a military alliance. The pact was the culmination of German-Italian relations from 1936 and was not defensive in nature. Rather, the pact was designed for a "joint war against France and Britain", although the Italian hierarchy held the understanding that such
11049-667: The freedom of a country is proportional to the strength of its navy. This was followed by "the familiar lament that Italy was a prisoner in the Mediterranean". He called Corsica, Tunisia, Malta , and Cyprus "the bars of this prison", and described Gibraltar and Suez as the prison guards. To break British control, her bases on Cyprus, Gibraltar, Malta, and in Egypt (controlling the Suez Canal ) would have to be neutralized. On 31 March, Mussolini stated that "Italy will not truly be an independent nation so long as she has Corsica, Bizerta , Malta as
11176-467: The highest death tolls by population in the war, and is usually estimated at around one million, about half of whom were civilians. Genocide and ethnic cleansing was carried out by the Axis forces (particularly the Wehrmacht ) and their collaborators (particularly the Ustaše and Chetniks), and reprisal actions from the Partisans became more frequent towards the end of the war, and continued after it. Prior to
11303-542: The last elements of the force were withdrawn. In November 1942, the Italian Royal Army occupied south-eastern Vichy France and Corsica as part of Case Anton . From December 1942, Italian military government of French departments east of the Rhône River was established, and continued until September 1943, when Italy quit the war. This had the effect of providing a de facto temporary haven for French Jews fleeing
11430-560: The latter terms without shattering their alliance with Germany. On 2 February 1940, however, Mussolini approved a draft contract with the Royal Air Force to provide 400 Caproni aircraft, yet scrapped the deal on 8 February. British intelligence officer Francis Rodd believed that Mussolini was convinced to reverse policy by German pressure in the week of 2–8 February, a view shared by the British ambassador in Rome, Percy Loraine . On 1 March,
11557-705: The local communists, led to the creation of separate sub-armies called the People's Liberation Army of Macedonia , and the Slovene Partisans led by the Liberation Front of the Slovene People , respectively. The most numerous local force, apart from the four second-line German Wehrmacht infantry divisions assigned to occupation duties, was the Croatian Home Guard ( Hrvatsko domobranstvo ) founded in April 1941,
11684-508: The majority of Partisan forces escaping towards Bosnia . It was during this offensive that tenuous collaboration between the Partisans and the royalist Chetnik movement broke down and turned into open hostility. After fruitless negotiations, the Chetnik leader, General Mihailović, turned against the Partisans as his main enemy. According to him, the reason was humanitarian: the prevention of German reprisals against Serbs. This however, did not stop
11811-511: The motorized Trento and armored Ariete . German General Erwin Rommel now became the principal Axis field commander in North Africa, although the bulk of his forces consisted of Italian troops. Though subordinate to the Italians, under Rommel's direction the Axis troops pushed the British and Commonwealth troops back into Egypt but were unable to complete the task because of the exhaustion and their extended supply lines which were under threat from
11938-454: The need to modernize and were taking steps to meet the requirements of their own relatively advanced tactical principles. Almost 40% of the 1939 budget was allocated for military spending. Recognizing the Navy's need for close air support, the decision was made to build carriers. Three series of modern fighters , capable of meeting the best allied planes on equal terms, were in development, with
12065-531: The number of automobiles in Italy before the war was around 374,000, in comparison to around 2,500,000 in Britain and France. The lack of a stronger automotive industry made it difficult for Italy to mechanize its military. Italy still had a predominantly agricultural-based economy, with demographics more akin to a developing country (high illiteracy, poverty, rapid population growth and a high proportion of adolescents) and
12192-451: The outbreak of war, the government of Milan Stojadinović (1935–1939) tried to navigate between the Axis powers and the imperial powers by seeking neutral status, signing a non-aggression treaty with Italy and extending its treaty of friendship with France . At the same time, the country was destabilized by internal tensions, as Croatian leaders demanded a greater level of autonomy. Stojadinović
12319-690: The outside edges of its European sphere of influence. Although it was not among his publicly proclaimed aims, Mussolini wished to challenge the supremacy of Britain and France in the Mediterranean Sea, which was considered strategically vital, since the Mediterranean was Italy's only conduit to the Atlantic and Indian Oceans . In 1935, Italy initiated the Second Italo-Ethiopian War , "a nineteenth-century colonial campaign waged out of due time". The campaign gave rise to optimistic talk on raising
12446-457: The people of the country. Partisan numbers were liable to increase rapidly. Military history of Italy during World War II Timeline The participation of Italy in the Second World War was characterized by a complex framework of ideology, politics, and diplomacy, while its military actions were often heavily influenced by external factors. Italy joined the war as one of
12573-743: The regime was political "hegemony in the Mediterranean–Danubian–Balkan region", more grandiosely Mussolini imagined the conquest "of an empire stretching from the Strait of Gibraltar to the Strait of Hormuz ". Balkan and Mediterranean hegemony was predicated by ancient Roman dominance in the same regions. There were designs for a protectorate over Albania and for the annexation of Dalmatia , as well as economic and military control of Yugoslavia and Greece . The regime also sought to establish protective patron–client relationships with Austria , Hungary , Romania , and Bulgaria , which all lay on
12700-470: The road to Alexandria began. This task was being obstructed by British Royal Navy attacks on Italian supply ships in the Mediterranean. At this stage Italian losses remained minimal, but the efficiency of the British Royal Navy would improve as the war went on. Mussolini was fiercely disappointed with Graziani's sluggishness. However, according to Bauer he had only himself to blame, as he had withheld
12827-568: The same time the Axis conducted the Kozara Offensive in northwestern Bosnia. The Partisans fought an increasingly successful guerrilla campaign against the Axis occupiers and their local collaborators , including the Chetniks (which they also considered collaborators). They enjoyed gradually increased levels of success and support of the general populace, and succeeded in controlling large chunks of Yugoslav territory. People's committees were organised to act as civilian governments in areas of
12954-429: The services, such that the bulk of personnel received much of their training at the front, too late to be of use. Air units had not been trained to operate with the naval fleet and the majority of ships had been built for fleet actions, rather than the convoy protection duties in which they were primarily employed during the war. In any event, a critical lack of fuel kept naval activities to a minimum. Senior leadership
13081-474: The short to medium term. Only two years later this debt had increased to 405 billion lire. In September 1939, Britain imposed a selective blockade of Italy. Coal from Germany, which was shipped out of Rotterdam , was declared contraband. The Germans promised to keep up shipments by train, over the Alps, and Britain offered to supply all of Italy's needs in exchange for Italian armaments. The Italians could not agree to
13208-509: The small country. Even before the invasion, Albania had been politically dominated by Italy; after the invasion it was formally made a protectorate of Italy and the Italian king took the Albanian crown. Along with the intervention in the Spanish Civil War and the invasion of Abyssinia, the invasion of Albania was part of the Italian contribution to the disintegration of the collective security
13335-438: The stairs again." Initially, the entry into the war appeared to be political opportunism though there was some provocation. The French and British, for their part had caused Italy a long list of grievances since during WWI through the extraction of political and economic concessions and the blockading of imports. Aware of Italy's material and planning deficiencies leading up to World War II, and believing that Italy's entry into
13462-528: The stronghold of Amba Alagi in May. He received full military honours. The Italians in East Africa made a final stand around the town of Gondar in November 1941. When the port of Massawa fell to the British, the remaining destroyers were ordered on final missions in the Red Sea, some of them achieving small successes before being scuttled or sunk. At the same time, the last four submarines made an epic voyage around
13589-422: The territory of Jugoslavia, as well as a large number of satellite and police formations of Ustashe and Domobrani (military formations of the puppet Croat State), German Sicherheitsdienst, chetniks, Neditch militia, Ljotitch militia, and others. The partisan movement may have counted up to 150,000 fighting men and women (perhaps five per cent women) in close and inextricable co-operation with several million peasants,
13716-457: The trucks, armaments, and supplies that Graziani had deemed necessary for success. Wavell was hoping to see the Italians overextend themselves before his intended counter at Marsa Matruh. One officer of Graziani wrote: "We're trying to fight this... as though it were a colonial war... this is a European war... fought with European weapons against a European enemy. We take too little account of this in building our stone forts.... We are not fighting
13843-576: The two countries over the conflict in Spain, and German sympathy towards Italy following European backlash to the Ethiopian War. The aftermath of the treaty saw the increasing ties between Italy and Germany, and Mussolini falling under Adolf Hitler 's influence from which "he never escaped". In October 1938, in the aftermath of the Munich Agreement , Italy demanded concessions from France. These included
13970-615: The unconditional surrender of the Royal Yugoslav Army on 17 April. Not only hopelessly ill-equipped compared to the German Army ( Heer ), the Yugoslav army attempted to defend all of its borders, thinly spreading its scarce resources. Additionally, much of the population refused to fight, instead welcoming the Germans as liberators from government oppression. As this meant that each individual ethnic group would turn to movements opposed to
14097-621: The unified direction of 18th Army Group commanded by General Sir Harold Alexander ) and regain the initiative in April. The Allies completed the defeat of the Axis armies in North Africa in May 1943. In addition to the well-known campaigns in the western desert during 1940, the Italians initiated operations in June 1940 from their East African colonies of Ethiopia , Italian Somaliland , and Eritrea . As in Egypt, Italian forces (roughly 70,000 Italian soldiers and 180,000 native troops) outnumbered their British opponents. Italian East Africa , however,
14224-579: The war on the side of Germany was inevitable, the English blockaded German coal imports from 1 March 1940 in an attempt to bring Italian industry to a standstill. The British and the French then began amassing their naval fleets (to a twelve-to-two superiority in capital ships over the Regia Marina) both in preparation and provocation. They thought wrongly that Italy could be knocked out early, underestimating its determination. Prior to this, from 10 September 1939,
14351-480: The war – about 3,500 – was less than the number of tanks used by Germany in its invasion of France). The Italians were pioneers in the use of self-propelled guns, both in close support and anti-tank roles. Their 75/46 fixed AA/AT gun, 75/32 gun, 90/53 AA/AT gun (an equally deadly but less famous peer of the German 88/55 ), 47/32 AT gun, and the 20 mm AA autocannon were effective, modern weapons. Also of note were
14478-406: The world's largest armies, but the reality was dramatically different. According to the estimates of Bierman and Smith, the Italian regular army could field only about 200,000 troops at the war's beginning. Irrespective of the attempts to modernize, the majority of Italian army personnel were lightly armed infantry lacking sufficient motor transport. Not enough money was budgeted to train the men in
14605-523: Was also a problem. Mussolini personally assumed control of all three individual military service ministries with the intention of influencing detailed planning. Comando Supremo (the Italian High Command) consisted of only a small complement of staff that could do little more than inform the individual service commands of Mussolini's intentions, after which it was up to the individual service commands to develop proper plans and execution. The result
14732-404: Was aware that Fascist Italy was not ready for a long conflict, as its resources were reduced by successful but costly pre-war conflicts: the pacification of Libya (which was undergoing Italian settlement), intervention in Spain (where a friendly fascist regime had been installed ), and the invasions of Ethiopia and Albania . However, he opted to remain in the war as the imperial ambitions of
14859-509: Was based at the port of Massawa in Eritrea. Despite a severe shortage of fuel, the flotilla posed a threat to British convoys traversing the Red Sea . However, Italian attempts to attack British convoys resulted in the loss of four submarines and one destroyer. On 19 January 1941, the expected British counterattack arrived in the shape of the Indian 4th and Indian 5th Infantry Divisions, which made
14986-528: Was isolated and far from the Italian mainland, leaving the forces there cut off from supply and thus severely limited in the operations they could undertake. Initial Italian attacks in East Africa took two different directions, one into Sudan and the other into Kenya . Then, in August 1940, the Italians advanced into British Somaliland . After suffering and inflicting few casualties, the British and Commonwealth garrison evacuated Somaliland, retreating by sea to Aden . The Italian invasion of British Somaliland
15113-529: Was made to stockpile key materials before the entry into war. Approximately one quarter of the ships of Italy's merchant fleet were in allied ports at the outbreak of hostilities, and, given no forewarning, were immediately impounded. Between 1936 and 1939, Italy had supplied the Spanish Nationalist forces, fighting under Francisco Franco during the Spanish Civil War , with large number of weapons and supplies practically free. In addition to weapons,
15240-466: Was not particularly interested in creating another front in the Balkans , and Yugoslavia itself remained at peace during the first year of the war, Benito Mussolini 's Italy had invaded Albania in April 1939 and launched the rather unsuccessful Italo-Greek War in October 1940. These events resulted in Yugoslavia's geographical isolation from potential Allied support. The government tried to negotiate with
15367-453: Was now only recognized by the Allied powers. The Axis had recognized the territorial acquisitions of their allied states. From the start, the Yugoslav resistance forces consisted of two factions: the Partisans, a communist-led movement propagating pan-Yugoslav tolerance (" brotherhood and unity ") and incorporating republican, left-wing and liberal elements of Yugoslav politics, on one hand, and
15494-544: Was one of the few successful Italian campaigns of World War II accomplished without German support. In Sudan and Kenya, Italy captured small territories around several border villages, after which the Italian Royal Army in East Africa adopted a defensive posture in preparation for expected British counterattacks. The Regia Marina maintained a small squadron in the Italian East Africa area. The " Red Sea Flotilla ", consisting of seven destroyers and eight submarines ,
15621-759: Was one of the military strongholds of the Army of Republika Srpska during the Bosnian War . The mountain became internationally renowned as it was the site of the Manjača Concentration camp run by Republika Srpska authorities. This Republika Srpska geography article is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . World War II in Yugoslavia Yugoslav Partisan – Allied victory ^ Axis puppet regime established on occupied Yugoslav territory ^ Initially
15748-512: Was sacked by the regent Prince Paul in 1939 and replaced by Dragiša Cvetković , who negotiated a compromise with Croatian leader Vladko Maček in 1939, resulting in the formation of the Banovina of Croatia . However, rather than reducing tensions, the agreement only reinforced the crisis in the country's governance. Groups from both sides of the political spectrum were not satisfied: the pro-fascist Ustaše sought an independent Croatia allied with
15875-467: Was that there was no central direction for operations; the three military services tended to work independently, focusing only on their fields, with little inter-service cooperation. Pay discrepancies existed for personnel who were of equal rank, but from different units. Nazi Germany 's invasion of Poland on 1 September 1939, marked the beginning of World War II. Despite being an Axis power , Italy remained non-belligerent until June 1940. Following
16002-472: Was united on the question of Yugoslavia as a "Greater Serbia" ruled, in one way or another, by Serbia. On the eve of the invasion, there were 165 generals on the Yugoslav active list. Of these, all but four were Serbs. The terms of the surrender were extremely severe, as the Axis proceeded to dismember Yugoslavia. Germany annexed northern Slovenia , while retaining direct occupation over a rump Serbian state . Germany also exercised considerable influence over
16129-467: Was well aware of the military and material deficiencies but thought the war would be over soon and did not expect to do much fighting. On 10 June 1940, as the French government fled to Bordeaux during the German invasion , declaring Paris an open city , Mussolini felt the conflict would soon end and declared war on Britain and France. As he said to the Army's Chief-of-Staff, Marshal Badoglio : I only need
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