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Military history of Italy during World War II

  • Operation CompassOperation Compass began on the night of the 9th of December 1940 with a force of about 31,000 soldiers, 120 guns, 275 tanks, and sixty armoured cars…
  • Italian invasion of EgyptThe Italian invasion of Egypt began on the 13th of September 1940, when an army of tens of thousands crossed from Libya into British-held territory with one…
  • Case AntonCase Anton, known in German as Unternehmen Anton, was the military occupation of Vichy France carried out by Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy in November 1942.
  • Italian invasion of British SomalilandThe Italian invasion of British Somaliland lasted just sixteen days, from the 3rd to the 19th of August 1940, yet it produced one of the war's sharpest…
  • Italian occupation of FranceOn the 10th of June 1940, Italy declared war against France and Britain. Ten days later, Italian troops crossed into French territory.
  • Tunisian campaignThe Tunisian campaign ended on the 13th of May 1943 with a surrender so total it prompted Joseph Goebbels to reach for a comparison with Stalingrad.
  • Western Desert campaignThe Western Desert campaign was one of the longest and most grueling struggles of the Second World War, fought across hundreds of miles of Egyptian and…
  • Anglo-Iraqi WarThe Anglo-Iraqi War began in earnest at 05:00 on the 2nd of May 1941, when 33 aircraft lifted off from RAF Habbaniya into the pre-dawn dark.
  • Italian Social RepublicOn the 24th of July 1943, Dino Grandi presented a motion to the Grand Council of Fascism. The vote passed with twenty-one votes in favor and only seven…
  • Italian invasion of AlbaniaThe Italian invasion of Albania lasted only days in April 1939, yet its consequences rippled through the Second World War and reshaped the political map of…
  • Italian invasion of FranceThe Italian invasion of France lasted fifteen days in June 1940 and yet managed to change the shape of the entire war. On the evening of the 10th of June…
  • East African campaign (World War II)On the 9th of May 1936, the Italian dictator Benito Mussolini proclaimed the formation of Italian East Africa from Ethiopia after the Second Italo-Abyssinian…
  • Operation AchseOperation Achse began at 19:50 on the 8th of September 1943, when an aide to General Jodl broadcast a single coded word to every German command across the…