Quote:
Originally Posted by anaruka
Italy was not a real threat, no way to deploy its army, the fighting in the Alps and at the Côte d'Azur could have gone on forever and once a supply system had been built up between Algeria and Southern France. No to forget also, that the control of the occupied territory would have been much more complicated. With no national WWI hero backing up the occupant, resistance would have been the only patriotic attitude, right from the beginning.
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We all know how minimal a threat Italy really was in World War II because we have the benefit of hindsight. But looking at it from the writings of that period, Italian military strength was viewed differently, at least before the involvement in Greece.
This article appeared on Sept. 30, 1940 in the weekly news magazine Time. I'll put in a few excerpts.
Fighting in Africa's deserts is like playing chess with nothing but rooks and pawns. Water is as vital as ammunition; sand finer than talcum makes its way into the eyes. . . Mirages, blistering wind, sand blizzards, germs, all constitute hazards more dangerous than point blank enemy fire.
From Libya, a fortnight ago, started the Italian spearhead--a long thin line of ight Fiat tanks in Indian file, three infantry regiments, a machinegun battalion, an artiller regiment, sapper companies, communication units, bringing total strength to about 250,000. This well-balanced striking force drove first for Salum, five miles across the border inside Egypt.
The defenders--perhaps 70,000 Britons, Australians, New Zealanders, Rhodesians, Indians--have been braced for the attack for some time. The British defense was apparently to fall back, harassing the invaders and avoiding serious action until the British were in an area with good supply lines and the Italians were far from their base.
The Italian press cried that this was a "war for Egyptian independence"--"liberating Egypt from the oppressing domination of the English." One reason for Italian confidence was apparent superiority in the air. With a pronounced margin in numbers, the Italians also had at least parity in quality, since the British use mostly planes like the Gloster Gladiators in Egypt, where dust and sand jam modern retractacble landing gear. There was no question that these hopeful factors had made the Italians a little giddy. Wrote Benito Mussolini's mouthpiece Virginio Gayda: "Nothing can save Britain now."
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As for establishing a supply line from North Africa to Southern France, it's been pointed out earlier in this thread that Algeria didn't have the industrial base to support a large force, let alone supply those French units that would remain in Southern France.
I think what would have been better was turn this French position into a large logistical base with Allied help but that would take time. Remember that at this stage of the war, only Roosevelt's administration was pushing for US involvement in World War II. There existed a very strong anti-war sentiment among Americans before Japan came into the picture.