Why Italy

Who do the North African and Italian campaigns of World War II get so little attention, even among history?

history buffs?

Public Comments

1. North Africa gets little attention because it's not the heart of Europe. The Brit.s were against an across channel invasion -- too many bad memories of Churchill's fiasco at Gallipoli in WW I. The U.S. was still an untested military with equipment that had not yet been battle tested. Eisenhower was all for an assault on France as was Marshall, but it was the Brit.s who said "No." The Russians were DEFINITELY unhappy that they chose North Africa before the heart of Europe. Italy gets little attention for almost the same basic reasoning. The Italians couldn't really decide for whom they owed their allegiance. They were poorly trained and poorly equipped even as late as '43 and '44. It was the Nazi presence that demanded the allied attention. The bombing of the monastery at Monte Casino -- the Nazis hid in the centuries old fortification believing that the U.S. would not touch them there. Not saying that Italy was easy, but it was the initial landing and the hedgerows of France that garnered all of the attention.
2. The North African campaign is seen as the battle that threw the axis out of the Mediteranian. Why it gets so little credit is beyond me. The Italy campaign is usually seen as a bad choice and a mistake in tatics, because it cost so many lives and did so little.
3. the real battles took place in france and germany.. the north african battles were not as brutal as the ones in europe.. the Italians were the first ones to surrender.. they were pretty easily defeated.. Once Patton got to North Africa his forces routed what was left of the german forces and they retreated.. as I said.. the real stuff took place after that.. It was brutal..
4. North Africa was seen as a testing ground for the U.S. Military, it was felt that the opposition would be light, to moderate and casualties well with an acceptable rate, especially if the Vichy French Forces allied to the Germans would come over to the Allies, which partially worked. With plans to launch an assault from North Africa to Italy via Sicily in the future it was also thought best to tie down / grind down as many Italian and German units in Africa. Contrary to comments made, the Italians forces especially the regular Army more so than the units full of conscripts, did fight and capture ground and showed considerable bravery. But they to like all the forces in the North African Campaign (Allied & Axis) were seriously dependent on over stretched supply lines, hence the back and forth capture, re-capture of ground. Once North Africa was secure the British & Allies could stock pile enough equipment to launch an attack on Germany via Italy.