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Originally Posted by bf109 emil
-Hmmm, failed in Greece, causing Barbarosa to be 6 weeks late
-could not hold the flank at Stalingrad...
-delayed invasion in Malta, and such aircraft sent there after prevented this henceforth
-lost naval advantage in the mediterrannean because of malta
-became an ally of Germany in June 0f '40 after the cow was milked in europe
Italy was opposed to German expansion into Austria , and moved troops ready to declare war, but because of the German-Anglo naval pact was signed by Britian...France and Italy where opposed so in reprisal, Italy allowed Germany a free hand in Austria...and Germany was the only country in the league of nations not to oppose Italy's entering Abbasinia led to an increasing friendship..
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That's just too simplistic, don't you think? These kind of statements are pretty shallow, and looks like they all come from british literature. To be really short, I'll say:
-Marita was defensive operation. Hitler wanted to clear his south flank from the british before going into Russia. And there's more: the REAL cause of the delay was the invasion of Yugoslavia, which had nothing to do with the italians.
-At Stalingrad, NO ONE could hold the flank, not just the italians. And the main attack of Operation Saturn was made against the romenian sector of the over-stretched front. Troops with no tanks or antitank weapons against a full armored soviet attack force in freezing temperatures... geez, that doesn't sound too good, does it?
-(this one corresponds to the three following statements)The non-capture of Malta was due to lack of planning to do so, it's nothing related to cowardice of stupidity. Mussolini's bet when he entered the war in June, 1940, was to win without having to compromise himself with many real actions. Noble? Sure not. Smart? If Britain surrendered that summer, the world today would look at Mussolini as a top player of politics.
Your last paragraph is a little distorted too. In 1934 Italy supported the political movement called Austrofascism, headed by Engelbert Dollfuss. This movement had previously disbanded the nazi and communist parties in Austria, and when Dollfuss was murdered by nazi conspirators, Mussolini instantly put his troops in the border, ready to take action and maintain the government in place. Hitler (with Germany still weak) made a smart move and left the conspirators to their own luck.
The situation changed during the Anschluss in 1938 because Italy had been isolated by France and England after Abissinia, and Germany was the only regional power to offer an alliance to the italians, so they took it.