During World War II, there was an Alpine battle between Italy and France. Oh no, it was two, and in 1944, the Free French, in order to regain their face and position in the Allies, launched the Second Alpine Campaign and defeated the Italians, swearing that the French army would successfully counterattack the homeland on its own.
First, for the face of France
Since the fall of France, the french position in the Allied camp has been delicate. As a weak chicken that has lost all its land for thousands of miles, the elite French legion in Vietnam has been flattened by the Japanese dwarfs, and France, which can only rely on black Africans and Middle Easterners to barely maintain its African colonies, has become a stepping stone for the British manatee and the United States.
Since 1943, the Free French had been planning a campaign to regain its face and elevate its position among the Allies.
The leader of free France, General de Gaulle, thinks that the best target is Italy, can't beat the German strong man in Germany, can't beat you an Italian rookie?
As early as the Battle of France, the Roosters of France had taught the Rookie Italian Army a harsh lesson.
Beaten in the Alps, the Italians could not lift their heads and could only kneel and sing conquest. If it were not for the hateful German Hans who spared the Maginot Line, the torrent of steel would have plunged straight into Paris, beating the weak French government at that time, and could only collapse on the ground with two legs and surrender to the Germanic strongman.
France had already blown up Italy and paraded victory in Rome.
But Italy surrendered in 1944.
That damn British manatee actually colluded with the American bald eagle,
A so-called armistice agreement was signed.
It also stipulated that the Free French army was not allowed to attack Italy, and without their permission, france could not even enter its own southern territory, let alone enter the Alps on the French side.
This was a great humiliation for the French army in exile,
So de Gaulle decided to send agents to stir up the mood of the French people so that the French army could return to its land. But in the Alps there are some disputed towns in France and Italy,
The French and Italians mixed in the area, and the Italian inhabitants were disgusted with the French and refused to support the French.
This move once again annoyed de Gaulle, but he, after calming down, thought that this was a good time to recover French territory.
Under this pretext, the French could land from the south and march into the Alps, controlling the disputed towns and telling the Italians to stay wherever they cooled.
Second, the preparation of France
In order to achieve the goal of teaching the Italians and controlling the disputed towns, de Gaulle ordered the reconvening of the former French Alpine infantry who had been discharged. These people had taught the Italian rookies a hard lesson in the previous First Alpine Battle, and surrendered to the Italians as victors.
The newly formed unit inherited the designation of the former French Alpine 27th Mountain Division.
In order to launch an offensive, de Gaulle also continued to ask the United States for help.
But representatives of the U.S. army believe that these French troops are made up of some veterans, and the recruits are basically some mountaineering enthusiasts. They lacked training, they had little fighting power, and they were armed with old French weapons that looked like a bunch of beggars.
It was not worth the United States investing in them at all, and it would be better to send all the equipment to the Anglo-American Allies in northeastern France.
nevertheless
De Gaulle reluctantly assembled a light tank regiment for the attacking troops,
The regiment was mainly equipped with the M3 light tanks used by britain and the United States for reconnaissance, but became the main weapon of battle here in the 27th Mountain Division.
In addition to these tanks, de Gaulle also formed a ski battalion.
In addition to the above-mentioned troops,
The 27th Mountain Division also included three mountain infantry brigades, totaling about 30,000 men.
But they were under the command of General Jacob Locks Verdes of the U.S. Sixth Army.
Initially General Fortes ordered them to be on the defensive, protecting the logistics lines of the Sixth Army and supporting allied military operations against the Nazi Germans in northern Italy.
Nazi Germany was now occupying northern Italy, sticking like a dog skin plaster.
They were the Imperial 75th Army under the command of General Hans Schlermer, with the 34th Infantry Division and the 5th Mountain Division.
Of these, the 34th Infantry Division fought in the Soviet Union,
He participated in the Battle of Brest, the Battle of Mogilev, the Battle of the Dnieper River and the Battle of Bryansk, and was an elite unit that had been in the battle for a long time.
The latter is a mountain warfare unit that has always been professional, and the soldiers are all mountaineering enthusiasts recruited before the war.
The Italian army stationed there consisted of two infantry regiments and an parachute regiment.
They were all trained by Germany before the war and equipped with a large amount of German equipment during the war, and when Italy surrendered,
Despite the low morale of the troops, these units continued to fight with the Germans.
Third, I wanted to teach Italy a lesson, but I encountered the German army
The French received orders from de Gaulle on 21 December 1944,
An attack began on fort St. Bernard Herred, where Italian troops were stationed.
According to the order, the French 27th Mountain Division must take out the Italians and ensure the safety of the control area, preventing the Italian diehards from forming guerrilla groups to threaten the security of the allied logistics line.
However, the French offensive was always hampered by bad weather conditions, so the battle dragged on until the beginning of 45 years.
It was not until 25 April, when the Germans, taking into account the strategic all-out factor and withdrawing from the battle with Italian troops, that the French occupied St. Bernard Petit. (Sure enough, I can't beat the Germans)
The fighting existed at Fort Lunyot lasted until the 29th,
Also because the German commander ordered a retreat, the French were victorious.
The french elite Seventh Mountain Infantry Brigade, on another offensive, encountered the elite German parachute regiment, and the two sides fought fiercely in the mountains at an altitude of 2700 meters.
Initially, with the support of artillery fire, the French destroyed some German and Italian bunkers,
But when the artillery ceased fire, the French fell into the ascendancy. Several attacks on the German and Italian lines ended in failure.
It was not until the Americans came to their aid and the Germans and Italians retreated that the French occupied the position.
Once again, it was proved that the French army was a bunch of weak chickens,
If it were not for the Germans fighting with the Italians, it is estimated that France and Italy would be half a pound against eight and two, pecking each other in the Alps.
The French, who fought on the Larsch Hill, were in a better position, with air support and an artillery battalion.
After heavy artillery preparations and air raids, the French successfully occupied the German and Italian lines without any decent resistance.
Because it had been abandoned long ago, the Germans and Italians had only about one reinforcement battalion left there, and when the German infantry platoon was all killed, the Italians chose to surrender.
The Germans made little decent resistance and soon dragged the Italian army back, allowing the French to occupy the disputed towns. Later, in the 1945 negotiations, France asserted sovereignty over the territory, but Britain and the United States blocked France's ambitions.
In the end, after mediation, some of the uninhabited peaks of the Alps were transferred to French territory, which not only preserved the security of Italian towns, but also satisfied the face of France.
epilogue
The Second Alpine Battle once again proved that the Italians were rookies, and the French who left the defensive line to attack were also rookies, and they could bully the Italians in the defensive line. If you face the Germans, I am afraid that you will only be beaten obediently. And the final victory was actually brought by the Allies, and sure enough, France could only achieve victory under the leadership of shorts, women and foreigners.
bibliography:
The War in the Alps
The Thoughts of De Gaulle
The Alpine Front 1944-1945