Download or read book Battle Of The Alps 1940 written by Marek Sobski and published by Independently Published. This book was released on 2022-05-12 with total page 278 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The favourite weapon of Benito Mussolini was a bluff calculated for the intimidation of adversaries to force them to yield according to his will. This game of appearances the Italian dictator also practised in the military field. In order not to remain groundless, in 1936, General Alberto Pariani became the Secretary of the State in the Ministry of the War, and Mussolini managed the Ministry personally, and liked to stress the strength of the Italian Army in his cocky speeches, which, if necessary - according to him - would be able to deploy sixty fully equipped divisions. Reality, however, was very different, as for sixty whole divisions there was not enough weapons or even the appropriate number of officers. Thus, Pariani suggested that every infantry division will be reduced from three to two infantry regiments and in this wonderful way the Duce was still able to put a good face to bad game and claim that he had a large and well armed army. The time of checking this view in a clash with reality, however, was approaching inexorably. On 1 September 1939, Adolf Hitler's troops attacked Poland, on 3 September, the Allies, Britain and France, supported her by declaring war on the Third Reich. A series of small conflicts and political tensions in Asia, Africa and Europe finally led to the outbreak of another war on a global scale. The Italian dictator, associated with Hitler by the Steel Pact, announced Italy as a "non-belligerent". Being aware that the country and the armed forces were exhausted by the costs of wars in Ethiopia, Spain and the invasion on Albania, he waited. He compared himself to a cat prowling for a mouse, as he must have had practically mathematical certainty that his attack would succeed and he would not be left with nothing. The French armed forces in the interwar period had the reputation of the most powerful in the world, additionally protected by the widely-publicised Maginot Line. Moreover supported by Britain and her population and the economic potential of His Majesty's Empire, they seemed unbeatable. Therefore, it was a surprise to the world when German armoured divisions broke through the forests of the Ardennes and threatened the rear of the Anglo-French troops trying to rescue the Low Countries. After Sedan and Dunkirk, the Duce came to the conclusion that the time for his decisive leap had just arrived, after which his victim would accept any of his conditions. On 10 June 1940, Benito Mussolini, while speaking to the nation, stated that Italy was in a state of war with the western democracies. Completely unprepared for war, the Italian Royal Army, in the dictator's intention, had to perform one serious effort so that he could then, as a victor, sit at the peace negotiations table and impose his will on the world. Italian soldiers, despite the collapse of the weather in the Western Alps, were thrown into a frontal attack on the Maginot Line. The Duce calmly calculated that a few thousand corpses would be a small price for a success that he would achieve. The Germans, whenever they undertook frontal assaults on French fortifications, were slaughtered. Could the Italians possibly fare any better? The book is being illustrated by 8 maps and 94 photographs of the main theme of the work as well as photo album: Blitzkrieg in the Western Europe as seen in the Italian press at the time. List of chapters: I. Political Relations of Italy and France in the Interwar Period II. Time For The Final Decisions III. The Maginot Line in the Alps IV. Opposing Forces V. The First Fighting VI. Operation "B" - The Battle for the Small Saint Bernard Pass VII. Advance In the Direction of the Town of Modane VIII. Briançon: Italian Attack On The Town-Fortress IX. Advance Of The 1st Italian Army In The Alps X. Battle of Menton XI. The Armistice XII. The Situation On The Border Of Italian And French Possessions In North Africa
Download or read book Cassino to the Alps written by Ernest F. Fisher and published by . This book was released on 1993 with total page 584 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Battles in the Alps written by G. Irving Root and published by Publishamerica Incorporated. This book was released on 2008 with total page 352 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Far removed from the bloody battles of attrition in the rain and mud of northern France, there raged another desperate struggle between two of Europeas strongest yet most underrated powers, the Kingdom of Italy and the Empire of Austria-Hungary. Here, along a twisting, curving 475-mile-long battle line, fierce fighting was conducted among the lofty peaks and rugged countryside of the continentas most notorious mountain range, replete with all the difficulties of weather and the awesome challenges of movement and supply. Contingents of troops from all of the major warring powers eventually became involved in this war of extremes. Before it was over, two and one-half million casualties had been suffered and the map of Europe had been changed forever. Battles in the Alps chronicles this important theatre of the Great War, and explains in text and in maps the consequences of Italyas entry into hostilities and the changes resultant from its aftermath. Related incidents in the skies over the Front and on the waves of the adjacent Adriatic Sea are also narrated.
Download or read book Vercors 1944 written by Peter Lieb and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2012-12-20 with total page 98 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A highly illustrated account of the conflict between the German Army and security forces and the French resistance in the Alps. Fighting insurgents has always been one of the greatest challenges for regular armed forces during the 20th century. The war between the Germans and the French resistance, also called FFI (Forces Françaises d'Intérieur), during World War II has remained a near-forgotten chapter in the history of these 'Small Wars'. This is all the more astonishing as agencies like the British SOE (Special Operations Executive) and the American OSS (Office of Strategic Services) pumped a good amount of their resources into the support of the French resistance movement. By diversionary attacks on German forces in the occupied hinterland the Allies hoped the FFI could provide assistance in disrupting German supply lines as well as crumbling their morale. The mountain plateau of the Vercors south-west of Grenoble was the main stronghold of the FFI, and in July 1944 some 8,000 German soldiers mounted an operation on the plateau and destroyed the insurgent groups there. This compact volume examines the battle of the Vercors, the largest operation against the FFI during World War II, and shows how the Germans' suit and crushing victory has caused traumatic memories for the French that persist to the present day.
Download or read book Mussolini s Army in the French Riviera written by Emanuele Sica and published by University of Illinois Press. This book was released on 2015-12-30 with total page 313 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In contrast to its brutal seizure of the Balkans, the Italian Army's 1940-1943 relatively mild occupation of the French Riviera and nearby alpine regions bred the myth of the Italian brava gente, or good fellow, an agreeable occupier who abstained from the savage wartime behaviors so common across Europe. Employing a multi-tiered approach, Emanuele Sica examines the simultaneously conflicting and symbiotic relationship between the French population and Italian soldiers. At the grassroots level, Sica asserts that the cultural proximity between the soldiers and the local population, one-quarter of which was Italian, smoothed the sharp angles of miscommunication and cultural faux-pas at a time of great uncertainty. At the same time, it encouraged a laxness in discipline that manifested as fraternization and black marketeering. Sica's examination of political tensions highlights how French prefects and mayors fought to keep the tatters of sovereignty in the face of military occupation. In addition, he reveals the tense relationship between Fascist civilian authorities eager to fulfil imperial dreams of annexation and army leaders desperate to prevent any action that might provoke French insurrection. Finally, he completes the tableau with detailed accounts of how food shortages and French Resistance attacks brought sterner Italian methods, why the Fascists' attempted "Italianization" of the French border city of Menton failed, and the ways the occupation zone became an unlikely haven for Jews.
Download or read book Storming the Eagle s Nest written by Jim Ring and published by Faber & Faber. This book was released on 2013-09-03 with total page 247 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From the Fall of France in June 1940 to Hitler's suicide in April 1945, the swastika flew from the peaks of the High Savoy in the western Alps to the passes above Ljubljana in the east. The Alps as much as Berlin were the heart of the Third Reich.'Yes,' Hitler declared of his headquarters in the Bavarian Alps, 'I have a close link to this mountain. Much was done there, came about and ended there; those were the best times of my life . . . My great plans were forged there.'With great authority and verve, Jim Ring tells the story of how the war was conceived and directed from the Fuhrer's mountain retreat, how all the Alps bar Switzerland fell to Fascism, and how Switzerland herself became the Nazi's banker and Europe's spy centre. How the Alps in France, Italy and Yugoslavia became cradles of resistance, how the range proved both a sanctuary and a death-trap for Europe's Jews - and how the whole war culminated in the Allies' descent on what was rumoured to be Hitler's Alpine Redoubt, a Bavarian mountain fortress.
Download or read book The Italian Blitz 1940 43 written by Richard Worrall and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2020-06-25 with total page 97 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Between June 1940 and August 1943, RAF Bomber Command undertook a little-known strategic bombing campaign in Europe. The target was Mussolini's Italy. This air campaign was a key part of the strategic policy of Britain from 1940 to 1943, which aimed at securing Italy's early surrender. However, it posed unique challenges, not least of which was Italy's natural defences of distance and the Alps. The bombing campaign against Italy can be divided into a number of phases, with each one having its own specific goals such as affecting Italian war production or hindering the Italian Navy's war in the Mediterranean. However, each also furthered the ultimate aim of forcing Italy's final capitulation, demonstrating that the tactic of area-bombing was not just about the destruction of an enemy's cities, as it could also fulfil wider strategic and political objectives. Indeed, the intensity and frequency of attack was greatly controlled, and the heavy bombing of Italy was only ever sanctioned by Britain's civilian war leaders to achieve both military and political goals. The issue of target-selection was also subject to a similar political restriction; cities and ports like Milan, Turin, Genoa and La Spezia were sanctioned under an official Directive, but other places, such as Verona, Venice, Florence and, above all, Rome, remained off-limits. This fascinating title from British strategic and military history expert Dr Richard Worrall explores the political, motivational and strategic challenges of the campaign in full. His thorough analysis and meticulous research is supported by specially commissioned artwork, maps, and contemporary photographs.
Download or read book The Battle for the Maginot Line 1940 written by Clayton Donnell and published by Pen & Sword Military. This book was released on 2017 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "What was it like as a French soldier to defend the Maginot Line when the Germans invaded in 1940, and was the line really a strategic and tactical disaster a massive waste of resources? Clayton Donnell's expert, finely detailed and graphic account of the role of the Maginot Line in the defence of France gives the reader an inside view of life in the bunkers, casemates and forts the sights, the sounds and the terror of the German attacks. And it questions common assumptions about the effectiveness of the resistance offered by the defenders and the impact the line had on the German assault. The layout of the line from Dunkirk to Switzerland, along the Alpine passes to the Riviera, and on the island of Corsica is described in expert detail, as is its history, construction and development. But the narrative concentrates on its performance in combat and the experience of the soldiers who manned it as the German offensive broke over them."--Publisher description.
Download or read book German Northern Theater of Operations 1940 1945 Illustrated Edition written by Earl Ziemke and published by Pickle Partners Publishing. This book was released on 2015-11-06 with total page 469 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: [Includes 23 maps and 31 illustrations] This volume describes two campaigns that the Germans conducted in their Northern Theater of Operations. The first they launched, on 9 April 1940, against Denmark and Norway. The second they conducted out of Finland in partnership with the Finns against the Soviet Union. The latter campaign began on 22 June 1941 and ended in the winter of 1944-45 after the Finnish Government had sued for peace. The scene of these campaigns by the end of 1941 stretched from the North Sea to the Arctic Ocean and from Bergen on the west coast of Norway, to Petrozavodsk, the former capital of the Karelo-Finnish Soviet Socialist Republic. It faced east into the Soviet Union on a 700-mile-long front, and west on a 1,300-mile sea frontier. Hitler regarded this theater as the keystone of his empire, and, after 1941, maintained in it two armies totaling over a half million men. In spite of its vast area and the effort and worry which Hitler lavished on it, the Northern Theater throughout most of the war constituted something of a military backwater. The major operations which took place in the theater were overshadowed by events on other fronts, and public attention focused on the theaters in which the strategically decisive operations were expected to take place. Remoteness, German security measures, and the Russians’ well-known penchant for secrecy combined to keep information concerning the Northern Theater down to a mere trickle, much of that inaccurate. Since the war, through official and private publications, a great deal more has become known. The present volume is based in the main on the greatest remaining source of unexploited information, the captured German military and naval records. In addition a number of the participants on the German side have very generously contributed from their personal knowledge and experience.
Download or read book The Battle for the Maginot Line 1940 written by Clayton Donnell and published by Pen and Sword. This book was released on 2017-10-30 with total page 268 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This vividly detailed WWII history offers an in-depth look at the French military fortifications designed to deter German invasion. Before the outbreak of the Second World War, the French military constructed an extensive network of bunkers, forts, and weapons installations along the country’s eastern border. In this detailed and graphic historical account, Clayton Donnell examines what it was like for French soldiers to defend the Maginot Line when the Germans invaded in 1940. He also interrogates the popular opinion that it was a strategic and tactical disaster. Donnell gives readers an inside view of life in the bunkers, capturing the camaraderie of soldiers and the terror of the German attacks. He examines the construction and development of the Maginot Line, describing its layout from Dunkirk to Switzerland, and across the island of Corsica, in expert detail. But the narrative concentrates on its performance in combat and the experience of the soldiers who manned it as the German offensive broke over them.
Download or read book Sacrifice on the Steppe written by Hope Hamilton and published by Casemate. This book was released on 2011-06-08 with total page 400 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: When GermanyÕs Sixth Army advanced to Stalingrad in 1942, its long-extended flanks were mainly held by its allied armiesÑthe Romanians, Hungarians, and Italians. But as history tells us, these flanks quickly caved in before the massive Soviet counter-offensive which commenced that November, dooming the Germans to their first catastrophe of the war. However, the historical record also makes clear that one allied unit held out to the very end, fighting to stem the tideÑthe Italian Alpine Corps. As a result of MussoliniÕs disastrous alliance with Nazi Germany, by the fall of 1942, 227,000 soldiers of the Italian Eighth Army were deployed on a 270km front along the Don River to protect the left flank of German troops intent on capturing Stalingrad. Sixty thousand of these were alpini, elite Italian mountain troops. When the Don front collapsed under Soviet hammerblows, it was the Alpine Corps that continued to hold out until it was completely isolated, and which then tried to fight its way out through both Russian encirclement and ÒGeneral Winter,Ó to rejoin the rest of the Axis front. Only one of the three alpine divisions was able to emerge from the Russian encirclement with survivors. In the all-sides battle across the snowy steppe, thousands were killed and wounded, and even more were captured. By the summer of 1946, 10,000 survivors returned to Italy from Russian POW camps. This tragic story is complex and unsettling, but most of all it is a human story. Mussolini sent thousands of poorly equipped soldiers to a country far from their homeland, on a mission to wage war with an unclear mandate against a people who were not their enemies. Raw courage and endurance blend with human suffering, desperation and altruism in the epic saga of this withdrawal from the Don lines, including the demise of thousands and survival of the few. Hope Hamilton, fluent in Italian and having spent many years in Italy, has drawn on many interviews with survivors, as well as massive research, in order to provide this first full English-language account of one of World War IIÕs legendary stands against great odds.
Download or read book Target Switzerland written by Stephen P. Halbrook and published by Da Capo Press. This book was released on 2009-08-05 with total page 366 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Countless books have been written on the military history of World War II, however astonishingly little information has appeared about the one country that stared the Nazis down and refused to become an accomplice to the horrors of the Third Reich. This book provides an objective, year-by-year account of Switzerland's military role in World War II, including her defensive strategies, details of Nazi invasion plans, and Switzerland's moral, material and humanitarian links to the Allies. Swiss neutrality in World War II has been criticized in recent years, but the country was entirely surrounded by Axis powers and managed, as revealed here, to render considerable assistance to the Allies.
Download or read book Integration of the Armed Forces 1940 1965 written by Morris J. MacGregor and published by Government Printing Office. This book was released on 1981 with total page 672 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: CMH Pub 50-1-1. Defense Studies Series. Discusses the evolution of the services' racial policies and practices between World War II and 1965 during the period when black servicemen and women were integrated into the Nation's military units.
Download or read book Das Afrika Korps written by Franz Kurowski and published by Stackpole Books. This book was released on 2010-03-23 with total page 257 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Action-packed history of the Germans in Africa in World War II. One of the most famous military units of all time under one of the best commanders. The early campaigns in the Western Desert, Tobruk, El Alamein, and more.
Download or read book Salerno to Cassino written by Martin Blumenson and published by . This book was released on 1969 with total page 516 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book To Lose a Battle written by Alistair Horne and published by Penguin UK. This book was released on 2007-06-28 with total page 1243 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In 1940, the German army fought and won an extraordinary battle with France in six weeks of lightning warfare. With the subtlety and compulsion of a novel, Horne’s narrative shifts from minor battlefield incidents to high military and political decisions, stepping far beyond the confines of military history to form a major contribution to our understanding of the crises of the Franco-German rivalry. To Lose a Battle is the third part of the trilogy beginning with The Fall of Paris and continuing with The Price of Glory (already available in Penguin).
Download or read book Mussolini s War written by John Gooch and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2020-12-01 with total page 304 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A remarkable new history evoking the centrality of Italy to World War II, outlining the brief rise and triumph of the Fascists, followed by the disastrous fall of the Italian military campaign. While staying closely aligned with Hitler, Mussolini remained carefully neutral until the summer of 1940. At that moment, with the wholly unexpected and sudden collapse of the French and British armies, Mussolini declared war on the Allies in the hope of making territorial gains in southern France and Africa. This decision proved a horrifying miscalculation, dooming Italy to its own prolonged and unwinnable war, immense casualties, and an Allied invasion in 1943 that ushered in a terrible new era for the country. John Gooch's new history is the definitive account of Italy's war experience. Beginning with the invasion of Abyssinia and ending with Mussolini's arrest, Gooch brilliantly portrays the nightmare of a country with too small an industrial sector, too incompetent a leadership and too many fronts on which to fight. Everywhere—whether in the USSR, the Western Desert, or the Balkans—Italian troops found themselves against either better-equipped or more motivated enemies. The result was a war entirely at odds with the dreams of pre-war Italian planners—a series of desperate improvisations against an allied force who could draw on global resources, and against whom Italy proved helpless.
