Axis History Forum

Joined
Sep 12, 2016
Messages
1,740
Anyone else enjoy it? Some good stuff there, lots of historical information about battles and strategies that don't get any coverage from the mainstream media, who (along with their viewers) seem to think that the entirety of the Second World War consisted only of Da Holocaust and Da Tuskegee Airmen. I remember bringing up Italian submarines in a college history WW2 class and one of my classmates said, "Italy had submarines?!"

I also really appreciate their policy of political neutrality. It's so refreshing to be able to have a civilized, intelligent discussion about WW2. A typical Internet "debate" involves the "Churchill could do no wrong" neo-cons vs. the "Hitler could do no wrong" neo-Nazis, which always devolves into name-calling and people accusing each other of personally committing genocide.
 

Extra Point

Hall of Famer
Joined
Oct 21, 2012
Messages
6,289
Here's an interesting question. What would have happened if Italy had remained neutral in WWII?
 

white is right

Hall of Famer
Joined
Feb 16, 2006
Messages
10,053
Here's an interesting question. What would have happened if Italy had remained neutral in WWII?[/QUOTE
They couldn't remain neutral they invaded North Africa to restart the Roman Empire, once the Italians couldn't hold these territories the Germans were dragged into supporting the Italians in North Africa.

As far as I know Italian troops didn't aid German troops in Europe less in Italy, but even then Mussolini's government had fallen and he was strung up on a lamp post by partisans as he tried to flee to Germany( and his consort was strung up too for staying loyal to him)https://www.ww2online.org/image/ben...ing-after-execution-milan-italy-29-april-1945.
 
Joined
Sep 12, 2016
Messages
1,740
The Italians had been in North Africa for decades, since 1912 when they defeated the Ottomans in the Italo-Turkish War and captured what is now Libya from the Ottoman Empire. In 1940 the Italians attempted to invade British-ruled Egypt from Libya, but thanks to incompetent leadership were pushed far back into their own territory and by early 1941 almost the entire Italian Tenth Army had been captured by the British. The Germans then sent Erwin Rommel to help the Italians. Rommel was able to drive the British out of Libya and then push eastward into Egypt. Although he was helped by Churchill's foolish mistake in withdrawing many British troops for a disastrous and unwanted intervention in Greece, Rommel's brilliance far outshone that of any of his opponents, and he would have captured Egypt and been in a position to invade British-held Palestine if his tanks hadn't run out of fuel.
 

white is right

Hall of Famer
Joined
Feb 16, 2006
Messages
10,053
The Italians had been in North Africa for decades, since 1912 when they defeated the Ottomans in the Italo-Turkish War and captured what is now Libya from the Ottoman Empire. In 1940 the Italians attempted to invade British-ruled Egypt from Libya, but thanks to incompetent leadership were pushed far back into their own territory and by early 1941 almost the entire Italian Tenth Army had been captured by the British. The Germans then sent Erwin Rommel to help the Italians. Rommel was able to drive the British out of Libya and then push eastward into Egypt. Although he was helped by Churchill's foolish mistake in withdrawing many British troops for a disastrous and unwanted intervention in Greece, Rommel's brilliance far outshone that of any of his opponents, and he would have captured Egypt and been in a position to invade British-held Palestine if his tanks hadn't run out of fuel.
The Italians had been allies with the Kaiser, the Arch Duke and the Sultan of the Ottoman empire, at some point when the tide was turning they flipped and joined the allies and Italy was awarded territories at the conclusion of WWI.

I know the Sud Tyrol region was ceded to Italy and that is the area of Italy that has produced tons of winter sports athletes who have German surnames and at one time had a nationalist movement to separate from Italy and join Germany or Austria.
 

Westside

Hall of Famer
Joined
Sep 23, 2008
Messages
7,703
Location
So Cal
I love WW2 history. A great YouTube channel is Mark Felton Productions. He features unique stories about WW2, like when Germany recruited and had black Africans serve in the German Army! I could not believe it. He covers all the major battles and weapons of WW2. He just hit a million subs.
 
Joined
Sep 12, 2016
Messages
1,740
I love almost any kind of military history that's not pop-culturized/talked about to death in mainstream media. With WW2 alone, Italian submarines, the Spanish Blue Division and Franco's brilliance in maintaining neutrality, Hungary's complex relationship with Germany, the heroic but hopeless American defense of Wake Island, the coup in Yugoslavia, the power struggle in Greece, Churchill's blunders (including the disastrous intervention in Greece and the failed attack on Dakar), the Japanese pilot who crash-landed on Niihau after Pearl Harbor and was helped by a traitorous Japanese-American, the Russians who fought on the German side against the Bolsheviks, and the real complexities of Vichy France (I could literally write a whole thesis on this, but the basic truth is that Vichy was not some blindly obedient, Nazi-controlled puppet, but a French government with a surprising degree of autonomy)...those are just the tip of the iceberg of a huge pile of fascinating subjects.

Sadly, most people's so-called "knowledge" of WW2 is just fake history from the (Fake) History Channel and the fake news media in which:
1. Germany was a nation of wicked racists
2. America was a nation of heroes when fighting the Germans, but when we fought the Japanese we magically became a nation of wicked racists who oppressed the Tuskegee Airmen, who won the war all by themselves
3. Tom Hanks saved Private Ryan

The tragedy of it all is that real history is so interesting, and there's so much we can learn from it.
 

Leonardfan

Hall of Famer
Joined
Jul 30, 2006
Messages
23,263
I love WW2 history. A great YouTube channel is Mark Felton Productions. He features unique stories about WW2, like when Germany recruited and had black Africans serve in the German Army! I could not believe it. He covers all the major battles and weapons of WW2. He just hit a million subs.

I watch alot of his videos. Really interesting stories from the war that get glossed over by mainstream historians and the usual suspects.
 
Top