Mussolini's War by John Gooch

Mussolini's War by John Gooch

Author:John Gooch [Gooch, John]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780241185711
Publisher: Penguin Books Ltd
Published: 2020-05-06T23:00:00+00:00


‘IF THE BALKANS ARE IN DANGER SO IS ITALY’

The defeat of the Axis forces at El Alamein in October 1942 and the Anglo-American landings in North Africa on 8 November changed Italian and German strategy in the Balkans. Italy now faced a potentially ruinous situation as new threats magnified her already fragile hold on her Mediterranean rim. For Rome, Balkan strategy now turned on two questions: what should be done to meet the threats both internal and now external, and could units be withdrawn to reinforce North Africa? The outcome, to which Mussolini gave his approval, was a proposal to withdraw a single division from 2nd Army (and another from Montenegro), to pull back yet further towards the Adriatic coasts giving up more garrison posts, and to create a mobile force to counter partisan actions in less vital areas. To defend the islands and the coasts against possible Anglo-American incursions, and protect the border with Croatia, Roatta ordered that maximum effort be put into building fortifications. There were to be no major new anti-partisan actions before the coming spring.105 The new strategy was partly a reflection too of weakness in the air. Short of aircraft and lacking fuel, the Regia Aeronautica wanted fewer small spread-out garrisons and those only where they could be reached by road in the snow.106

Although he agreed with Pavelić in mid-October not to arm any new Četnik formations and to keep them under tighter control, Roatta intended to continue using them in the fight against the partisans. With partisan activity increasing and the spectre of an Allied landing in the Balkans now starting to haunt Hitler, the Germans regarded the Četniks, whose long-term goal was to rid the Balkans of Germans and Italians alike and recreate a federal Yugoslavia, as a potential enemy in the Axis nest. They estimated that there were 70,000 Četniks and 35,000 communist partisans. If the Allies landed in the Balkans, the two forces would act as a joint ‘liberating force’. They wanted the partisans crushed during the winter to avoid the danger that the two groups would coalesce in the spring and cause the occupying forces serious embarrassment.107

The news that the Italians planned to pull back to three enclaves along the coast (Slovenia–Fiume, Spalato and Cattaro–Ragusa– Herzegovina), and hand over seven garrison posts in the second zone to the Croats and eleven to Četniks in order to create the mobile force, did not go down well with the Germans, who thought that would allow the partisans, already a major threat in the third zone, to penetrate even further into the second zone. On 12 December the Comando Supremo announced that they were indeed withdrawing into the first zone in order to concentrate their forces for an anti-partisan action. Four days later Hitler ordered General Alexander Löhr to start preparations for Operation WEISS to restabilize the region.

Mussolini was too ill to attend the meeting with Hitler on 18 December 1942, so Ciano went in his place and took Cavallero with him. Hitler spoke at length.



Download



Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.