South Yorkshire Times – Saturday 11 September 1943

Then There Were Two

Three years and three months have sufficed to close Italy’s interest in the war. When she entered the arena on June 10th, 1940, the sham facade of Fascism was still in position. It seemed indeed as though bombast and show would be adequate for Italy to discharge such tasks as then appeared likely to devolve upon her. France was supine; our own plight precarious, with Dunkirk only a week behind us. Mussolini, confident that he was justified by events, committed his country even more deeply. The ill-fated campaign against Greece was launched late in the October of the same year, while in September the Italian North African Army had crossed the frontier into Egypt. Then, in December, Wavell struck and the Fascists began to learn at first hand that war is not just a matter of dapperly uniformed parades, extravagant salutes, and unopposed bombing sorties.

This lesson was soon emphasised in Greece, whose gallant soldiers earned immortal glory before Hitler stepped in to save what was left of the dignity of his Axis colleague. At sea as on land the Fascists earned nothing but scorn and ridicule. They were bearded at Taranto, chased and chastised in the Battle of Matapan, and eventually bundled neck and crop with their German accomplices out of the African Empire which they had cultivated with such conscious pride. Almost from the beginning their participation in the war was nothing but one long story of humiliation. Their Nazi allies scarcely concealed the contempt which they felt for such inept war-makers, and in the field the alliance was never anything but an uneasy one.

Time after time the Italians were callously left in the lurch while the Germans extricated themselves from increasingly untenable positions, until at last the men so scurvily served acquired the technique of mass surrender. That sounded the death knell of the alliance as a fighting combination. Mussolini’s reign survived the invasion of Sicily by but two weeks; Italy’s war effort by only two months.

It remains to exploit the advantage of Italy’s unconditional surrender. First, the news, when it reaches them, can only engender in the hearts of the German people fresh despair. The Fortress of Europe has been deprived of an important bastion. As the United Nations fully realise this new asset they will edge nearer to France, closer to Germany. The Balkan salient is outflanked. We shall soon know Germany’s reaction; the Reich cannot be complacent. In the meantime it is sufficient to know that one of the triple pillars of the Axis is down, and that its overthrow gravely prejudices the stability of the other two.