Advertisement

On This Day: Italy sides with the Allies and declares war on Germany

The decision to fight the Nazis came a month after the country signed an armistice following fascist dictator Benito Mussolini’s forced exit

On This Day: Italy sides with the Allies and declares war on Germany

OCTOBER 13, 1943: Italy declared war on its former Axis partner Germany and joined the Allies on this day after being invaded by British and American forces.

The decision to fight the Nazis came a month after the country signed an armistice following fascist dictator Benito Mussolini’s forced exit.

General Pietro Badoglio, Mussolini’s former chief of staff, pledged full co-operation with the Allies, who had already moved northwards from Sicily to Naples by then.

However, this action provided U.S. and UK forces with little help since German soldiers had already disarmed Italian troops following the armistice.

Furthermore, they had fortified their positions and subsequent Allied advances would prove to be painfully slow and bloody.

Yet the news of Italy’s capitulation was still welcomed in Britain – and seen as a sign that Germany was finally losing the war following four long years.

A British Pathé newsreel films pub-goers raising their glasses and cheering after hearing U.S. General Dwight Eisenhower announce the surrender on the radio.

While, Italian armed forces weren’t much help, the same was not true of its civilians who openly welcomed the Allies and harassed the hated German soldiers.

They had largely become fed up with Mussolini, whose 21-year fascist regime had inspired Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler, although there remained pockets of support.

British Prime Minister Winston Churchill had pushed for the Italian campaign after referring to the southern nation as “the soft underbelly of Europe”.

But, in words of American General Mark Clark, Italy could be better described as “one tough gut” and the race to Rome turned into more of a trudge.


[On This Day: WW2 Blitz begins over London]


The country’s mountainous terrain coupled with robust defence by the Germans made Allied advances very difficult.

U.S. troops eventually occupied Italy’s capital Rome on June 4, 1944 – two days before the D-Day Normandy landings.

The advance continued, but slowed considerably after seven divisions of American and Free-French forces were pulled out to help with the invasion of France.

It was not until April 29, 1945 – nine days before World War II ended in Europe – that the whole of Italy was completely liberated from Germany’s grip.


[On This Day: Chamberlain declares ‘peace for our time’]


The campaign, which cost the lives of 60,000 Allies and 50,000 Germans, came to be seen as a failure, but it helped the British and Americans learn vital lessons.

In particular, the use of amphibious landing crafts in three major assaults within Italy helped the Allies perfect techniques during the Normandy landings.