When it comes to Italy, everyone is no stranger to it. The Roman Empire that swept through Europe in the Middle Ages, and the country of origin of the Renaissance in the fifteenth century, even now, is one of the world's top football powers. It can be said that Italy's figure has always been active on the world stage and has never been absent.
However, during World War II, Italy committed heinous crimes, and under the leadership of Mussolini, Italy, Germany, and Japan formed axis powers, launched the Second World War, and were spurned by the whole world. Germany played a major role in World War II, waging wars, invading other countries and killing Jews. But Italy is a crane tail, dragging oil bottle role, not only weak combat effectiveness, but also delay the battle, passive combat, made a lot of jokes, has become the laughing stock in the history of war.
At the beginning of World War II, Germany, Italy, and Japan formed axis powers with the intention of starting a global war, and all three sides began the production of armaments and materials. As the saying goes, the soldiers and horses did not move the grain and grass first, so when Japan and Germany accelerated the production of weapons and ammunition, and when raising troops, Italy urgently purchased 30 million tons of red wine, and a certain red wine brand manufacturer in Italy actually wrote: "When drunk, you will not be afraid of fighting" such a slogan. So that later, whenever the Italian army was captured, the amount of red wine was more than the ammunition in the captured materials.
In addition to red wine, Italian soldiers loved to eat pasta. Once on the battlefield, which was still ten kilometers away from the supply station, because the stomach was hungry, the whole army began to rest in place and cook pasta to eat. When the enemy found out, they easily captured the Italian unit. On another occasion, when an Italian army was fighting in North Africa, because of the harsh desert environment, it sent a distress signal to the German army. When a German squadron struggled to find this friendly army, it found that they were cooking macaroni in the desert.
On one occasion, italy occupied a city, but no warehouse was found to store ammunition. They believed that churches in the center of the city would not be attacked by the enemy. A hundred tons of ammunition were stored in the church, but the spire of the tower was struck by lightning and caused an explosion, affecting half the city.
During a battle in North Africa, a small group of British tank troops charged at the Italian anti-tank positions, and the Italians initially fought back, but after a few minutes, they raised their white flags to indicate surrender. When the British took them prisoner and asked why, they replied that the ammunition box had not been pried open with a crowbar. For this reason, they gave up a battle and were willing to be captured.
By the end of World War II, France was in tatters, with only about 50,000 remnants of the country. The charge could not be finished, so Italy sent an army of 400,000 men to "finish the end". According to estimates, 400,000 Italians could easily eat 50,000 remnants of the French army.
Unexpectedly, under the French Jedi counterattack, 270,000 of Italy's 400,000 elite troops lost their armor and temporarily escaped. Another 130,000 were taken prisoner, and if it were not for the German army rushing to the rescue, I am afraid that the Italian army would be completely destroyed.
As we have already said, Italy is an old capitalist power, but why did it perform so badly in World War II? The main reasons are as follows.
Compared with other countries in Europe and the United States, Italy's industrial base is relatively weak. You know, the Second World War was a confrontation and comparison of the industrial base, and Italy's industrial base was the weakest compared to several other old European powers. According to data at the time, Italy's industrial output was only one-third that of Britain and one-half of That of France.
In addition, because Italy is a peninsula country, resources are very scarce and have been imported for a long time. After the outbreak of World War II, imports were blocked, which also affected Italy's industrial production and led to stagnation of economic development. Thus affecting military strength.
Italians, on the other hand, are by nature a dislike of war. Their bones flow with the blood of Renaissance romance. Not only is the war-weariness of the Italian people very high, but it is also spread in the army, which is very serious. Often on the battlefield, the army has no fighting spirit, is unwilling to contribute in the war, and collapses at the touch of a button.
But this does not mean that their combat effectiveness is low, but it only means that they have no desire to fight. In the Battle of Gubijing, because the British army refused the surrender of the Italian army, the desperate Italian army stubbornly resisted, and even defeated the well-equipped British Twenty-second Armored Brigade, which showed that they were not incompetent, but just tired of war.
Italy did not perform well in World War II, and even made a lot of jokes, and some troops heard that it was the Italian army that was engaged, full of confidence in victory. In fact, Italy itself does not have the same ambitions as Germany, Italy just wants to use Germany to launch a war to take advantage.
Italy's outcome was better than that of the other Axis powers, and in 1943, after hitting a wall everywhere, Italy announced its withdrawal from the Axis powers, avoiding the same division as Germany.