In the first half of the 20th century, two of the most tragic world wars in human history broke out. The Italian army, which participated in the war twice, was ridiculed as a funny army used as a war seasoning.
In World War II, there was a famous saying circulating in the German army that if Italy remained neutral, we only needed 10 divisions stationed on the border to deter the Italians; if Italy were the enemy, we would only need 5 divisions to completely destroy them; but now Italy is our ally, and we must send 20 divisions to protect them. So is the Italian army really as bad as rumored?
It should be noted that compared with Germany and Britain, the Italian army in World War II did have problems such as insufficient number, insufficient weapon performance, and insufficient industrial capacity. And due to the improvement of the domestic economic situation in the 1920s and 1930s, there was a tendency of high-level self-protection and war-weariness among the people in Italy, which subjectively restricted the combat effectiveness of the Italian army.
When Italy officially entered the war in June 1940, its army was only 450,000 men, less than Poland and Czech Snoedak. However, this did not mean that the Italian army was really as weak as it was rumored, as early as the invasion of Ethiopia before the outbreak of World War II, Italy caused 770,000 casualties in Ethiopia at a cost of more than 20,000 people, ending the war and successfully annexing it in just 7 months. It should be known that at this time, the Ethiopian army had a series of German weapons such as 10,000 rifles, 10 million rounds of ammunition, more than 60 artillery pieces, 3 aircraft and so on.
If the comparison with the Ethiopian army is not convincing, then when Germany launched the Barbarossa Plan, Italy also participated in the German operation. The Italian Expeditionary Force swept through Ukraine at the beginning of the war, captured 100,000 Soviet troops, and independently captured important towns such as Stalino, which shows that its combat ability is not weak.
When the Soviets launched a counterattack, the Italian army, in the absence of anti-tank guns and mechanized ordnance, single-handedly defended one or two hundred kilometers of defense on the northern flank of Stalingrad. In the face of the attack of the Soviet Union's absolutely superior tank troops, the Italian army, without reinforcements and insufficient heavy weapons, continued for nearly a month until it received the order to retreat. After a bitter battle, an Italian army group of 30,000 people was finally able to successfully break through and survived more than 4,000 people. However, the loss of armor on the Soviet-German battlefield led to the collapse of Italy's attempt to grab a large amount of booty from the Soviet Union to replenish military supplies.
In the North African battlefield, the performance of the Italian army should not be underestimated, in the Battle of Gubi well in November 1941, the Italian Ariate Panzer Division, which was not yet fully equipped, faced the British army with superior strength, but still achieved good results.
However, when the British stabilized their positions and began to launch a counterattack, the Italian army, which was inferior in numbers and equipment, began to fall into a rout. But with the arrival of Rommel, an important German general, the German-Italian coalition began to take control of the situation in North Africa. However, the German troops led by Rommel, even with the reinforcements in the later period, were only three divisions, and the Italian army was the main combat force under Rommel.
During the North African Campaign, it was precisely because hundreds of thousands of Italian troops confronted the British on the front line that Rommel was able to draw sufficient troops from the southern desert back to the British rear to launch an offensive. Therefore, the Italian army has played a positive role in the entire North African campaign, which has also achieved the reputation of the fox of the desert in Rommel.
It can be said that during World War II, not only can it not be said that the Italian army is a burden for the German army, but on the Soviet-German battlefield and the North African battlefield, the German army is the main master who has repeatedly harmed friendly forces. In the Soviet-German battlefield, Italian trucks were requisitioned by the Germans; after the defeat at the Battle of El Alamein, the Germans snatched all the Italian trucks and other motor vehicles, resulting in a large number of Italian troops dying of thirst in the desert or being captured by the British during the retreat. It can be said that without a large number of Italian troops, it is not known whether the German army led by Rommel can escape from North Africa.
Of course, even if the strength of the Italian army in World War II was not as weak as rumored, it could not be compared with Germany, Britain, the United States and the Soviet Union. This is not due to the lack of personal combat quality of the Italians, but because as a country, Italy has serious deficiencies in terms of industrial capacity, hardware configuration and strategic intentions.
When the war officially began, Germany's blitzkrieg shocked the Italian hierarchy. The opportunistic trend of following the victors and intending to make a war windfall was widespread among the Italian government and military elite. Because of this, Mussolini did not even have sufficient war mobilization and preparation materials, so he rushed to participate in World War II.
The Italian army, which did not enjoy the full support of the state, seriously lacked a sense of combat mission, which was the reason why its combat effectiveness in World War II was not fully released. However, without the Italian army, especially the navy, in the Mediterranean for a long time to negotiate with the British army, Germany would not be able to ensure the security of southern Europe, and would inevitably be involved in more troops on the southern front.
In summary, the reason why the Italian army during World War II gave people the impression of being weak as a pit ally was mainly due to the serious lack of preparation for war in Italy, which objectively limited the normal combat effectiveness of the Italian army. But even so, without Italy's help, the German army would face more tragic losses and great pressure in the Soviet-German battlefield, the North African battlefield, and the southern European direction.