Italy In World War 2 Essay

When World War II first started Italy was to attack Egypt and Britain simultaneously with Germany during Operation Sealion. Germany kept postponing the attack and once Mussolini realized that it would never be carried out he decided to send his army to attack Egypt without the help of Germany. On paper this would seem like a good idea because the Italian Army was much larger than the British army which was in Egypt at the time. But, because of the mobility of the British army the Italian army was on the verge of collapse (Italy In World War II). Italy also provided air support in the Battle of Britain. They sent two hundred bombers in total to fight. But, the Italian bombers were not as advanced as the British planes were so they could only perform night raids and random, uncommon day raids.

Italy also played a small role in the attack on the Soviet Union. The entirety of the Italian Eighth Army was stretched across the Don Front to attack the Soviet Union. Their forces were not as strong as they thought and because they were stretched so thin most of them were destroyed in only a few weeks of fighting (Italy In World War II). Italy’s biplanes were well utilized by their Air Force or Regia Aeronautica. Despite only being able to a little over 11,500 aircraft they were still able to shoot down over 2,500 aircraft and destroy nearly 400 on the ground (Italy In World War II). While Italy’s role in World War II would be considered more of a supporting role than the lead, they still provided much resistance to the Allies which would not have been felt if Italy had stayed neutral or been a member of the allies. Another country that had a very great impact on the outcome of WWII and forced America to become involved was