introduction
Generally speaking, if a war involves several political forces or countries, there will be alliances. In the "Chronicle of the Chronicle of the Plains Junyu Qinglie", it is written: "The king should obey the blood, the second is my king, and the second is fulfilled." "This is also an alliance of blood. A good ally has a crucial influence on the ultimate victory, and likewise, if you don't choose the best ally for you, you're likely to lose.
In World War II, Italy, Germany, and Japan were all Axis powers. However, before and after Italy entered the war, due to insufficient economic resources and military preparations, coupled with the lack of military leadership capabilities, it did not perform well overall. It can be said that during World War II, the main combat strength of the Axis powers was concentrated on Japan and Germany.
▲ Old photos of World War II soldiers
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So throughout the war, Italy was not a good ally for Germany and Japan. Churchill is said to have said that it was fortunate that Italy was an ally of Germany and not ours. In the Axis powers of World War II, Italy was the first to surrender, and on the whole, it seems that the will of Italian soldiers to fight is not very firm. There are also many jokes about Italy in World War II.
It is said that when the Italian army was preparing to march to Greece, the commander of the front line once sent a telegram to Mussolini, saying that the soldiers at that time learned that there were Finnish troops stationed in Greece, but because the Finnish army was very strong and had defeated the Soviet Union before, he thought that the odds of winning the battle were low, and the morale of all the soldiers was low. When Mussolini learned of this, he asked the army to retreat.
▲ Photos of the Italian army in World War II
But he conducted an investigation into the Finnish army in Greece and wanted to know the specifics. Soon after, with the help of the Germans, Mussolini learned the truth of the matter, when there were only 6 Finnish volunteers in Greece. This situation made Mussolini very angry.
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Another very absurd thing happened on the Battlefield in North Africa, where a British force of about 400 men was in short contact with an Italian force of about 500 men, and the Italian army had anti-tank weapons, and the British army happened to be tank troops, which were at a disadvantage. The British commander at the time felt that he could only give it a go, but there was a high probability that his side would suffer heavy casualties. But unexpectedly, the Italian army did not attack in a big way, but only fired a few shots before raising the white flag.
▲ Photo of a white flag raised
To the displeasure of the British commander, he inexplicably accepted the surrender of the Italian army. Later, the British commander specifically asked the commander of the Italian army why he surrendered, and the Italian commander's answer surprised everyone: he said that because he had not found a suitable crowbar, he could not open the ammunition box, and he had to choose to surrender.
The Italian army not only surrendered quickly, but also built its own prisoner-of-war camps for itself. Due to the low morale of the Italian soldiers, it did not take long for the Italians to surrender in a confrontation with the British army. The Italian soldiers were not much resistant to being taken prisoners, and they lined up to wait for the British to take them into the prisoner-of-war camp.
▲ Old photos of the prisoner of war camp
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But the British soldiers were busy cleaning up the battlefield, classifying the spoils, and because there were not enough prisoner-of-war camps, there were no timely arrangements for the Italian soldiers to surrender. So an Italian soldier suggested to the British that they could help build a prisoner-of-war camp. The British army accepted this proposal, transported many building materials, and distributed them to the Italian soldiers, who built a prisoner-of-war camp in full swing, and finally moved in.
It is precisely because of these circumstances that many Italian POW camps are extremely lax in their management. But one day, all the Italian soldiers in a prisoner-of-war camp fled, and although they were successfully recovered, the reason for the escape of these Italian soldiers was even more ironic. It turned out that the prisoners of war believed that there was no macaroni provided here, so they dug a tunnel of more than 100 meters and prepared to flee to another nearby prisoner of war camp.
▲Italian macaroni photo
In World War II, there were many similar jokes about the Italian army, and in a book called "The History of Italian Laughter in World War II", the author wrote: "Because the Italians were too clever, the number of people killed on the battlefield was very small, and the number saved was filled into the Allied prisoner camps, and a large amount of allied food was consumed." Perhaps they were helping their ally, Germany, in this way. ”
epilogue
However, in recent years, it has also been pointed out that a large number of jokes circulating on the Internet about the Italian army in World War II are actually fabricated or exaggerated. The Italian army was indeed not very effective in World War II, so it was often ridiculed. But war is war, and on a brutal battlefield, any army that tries to play tricks on it is tantamount to killing itself.
Resources:
Historia
The Hilarious History of Italy in World War II