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Italy Impaired Greatly
France's Position in the War

     By her attitude as an Axis partner, fascist Italy has tremendous responsibilities in the defeat by Germany of the French armies.

• By her hostile non-belligerence, Italy immobilized on her border more than 100,000 French soldiers and a very important force of heavy artillery. The greatest part of the French fleet had to be kept in the Mediterranean to face any aggression from the Italian fleet.
     In Africa, France had to guard the long border between hers and Italy's territories. It should be remembered that France had to marshal in the Oriental Mediterranean theatre, a force of 250,000 men under General Weygand.

• In June 1940 the situation of the French and English armies in France having become desperate, "the hand which held the dagger stabbed its neighbor in the back" as President Roosevelt put in a dramatic speech. Thus, the last reserves of the hard pressed French army could not be used against the Germans.
     Those who, by treason or weakness, pleaded that it was impossible to carry on the struggle in Africa, found a powerful and welcome argument in the fact that Italy's being at war made it impossible to send forces and material across the Mediterranean and that the remnants of the French army would find in Africa itself the intact armed forces of an Axis power.

• The armistice agreed upon between Pétain and the Germans was to be in effect only after a similar agreement had been achieved with Italy. By purposely postponing his signature Mussolini allowed the Germans to capture almost a million more French soldiers who, having heard the Marshal proclaim the armistice, did not defend themselves.

• Italy occupied several departments in the southeastern part of France which were handed over to its armies by the Germans. Italian armistice commission were actively instrumental in demolishing French fortifications, military bases, and in looting French material and foodstuffs.

• France has many of her soldiers prisoners of war in Italy, specially those taken at Bir Hacheim.

France Played an Important Part
in the Final Defeat of Italy

• Before the armistice of June 1940 the French Alpine troops in spite of numerical inferiority (in some places as great as one to a hundred) completely stalled the Italian advance. (At the battles of Menton and Modane important Italian forces were encircled by a few French troops and annihilated). As a matter of fact the toll taken by the French of the Italians was so great that the fascist armies advanced inside France only after the conclusion of the armistice.

• After the armistice the resistance of the guerillas in the Alps never ceased. Since the complete occupation of France, it has taken the form of an organized battle where the French are commanded by army officers led by General Cartier. Everywhere on the coast sporadic outbursts of rebellion obliged the Italians to divert considerable forces to occupy these territories.