parallel wars and ww2

when did italy join ww2?

june 1940

what happened in egypt?

• balbo killed under friendly fire by italian troops

• september- italian army advanced 60 miles in 4 days in egypt (not very far)

• december- britain launched a counter attack at battle of sidi birrani
  → 38,000 men taken prisoner and lost lots of equipment

• february- britain pushed them back into libya and reached el algelia (over half the country)
  → took another 130,000 prisoners

• 1941- lost libya

how many men taken prisoner at sidi birrani? how many when in libya?

sidi birrani- 38,000

libya- 130,000

when was egypt?

1940-1941

what happened in greece?

• m ordered surprise attack on greece against hitler’s wishes (october)

• had superior strength but by jan, greeks had pushed back into albania

• january-april: stalemate despite reinforcements

• germany intervened and did it in a month

when did germany intervene in greece?

april

what did failure at greece show?

• italy’s miltiary was very weak and relied on hitler

• italy causes frustration and burden to hitler

• still losing despite superior strength and weapons

what happened at taranto?

• december 1940- british attack italy at taranto (port in apulia)

• 20 british planes destroyed the navy

  • 3 battleships disabled

  • 600 casualties

  • 2 destroyers damaged

  • had to move navy to naples

when was taranto?

december 1940

what was lost at taranto?

• 3 battleships disabled

• 600 casualties

• 2 destoryers damaged

• had to move to naples

how many british planes at taranto?

20

what did taranto failure show?

both germany and italy were weak

embarassment to mare nostrum and navy

name 4 factors for the failure of parallel wars

1. preparation/resources

2. leadership

3. poor military tactics

4. british strength

name 3 preparation reasons that the parallel wars failed (egypt)

1. defeat in greece made italians cut back on reinforcements
   garaziani couldn’t troops, tanks or fuel he desperately needed
   

2. when british launched attack at sidi barrani, italians were suprised and under-prepared
   lacked anti-tank weapons and their tanks were feeble and weak compared t british matilda tank
   their best tanks, m11 tanks were easily destroyed by any british tanks
   

3. attack in egypt was done in difficult terrain and high temperatures (which slowed them down)
   grazini had to ask m to delay the invasion, which m was reluctant to do and so they had to go in september
   italians attacked in snow storms and 50 degree heat
   

name 1 preparation reasons that the parallel wars failed (greece)

attack in greece was during icy-cold rain and mountainous terrain which slowed advancement down