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February 1941 A.D. Hitler to Mussolini: Fight Harder!
Editors. “Hitler to Mussolini: Fight
harder!” History.com. N.d. http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/hitler-to-mussolini-fight-harder.
Accessed 4 Feb 2015.
Hitler to Mussolini: Fight harder!
On this day in 1941, Adolf Hitler scolds his Axis partner, Benito Mussolini, for his troops' retreat in the face of
British advances in Libya, demanding that the Duce command his forces to
resist.
Since 1912, Italy had
occupied Libya because of purely economic "expansion" motives. In
1935, Mussolini began sending tens of thousands of Italians to Libya, mostly
farmers and other rural workers, in part to relieve overpopulation concerns in
Italy. So by the time of the outbreak of the Second World War, Italy had
enjoyed a long-term presence in North Africa, and Mussolini began dreaming of
expanding that presence--always with an eye toward the same territories that
the old "Roman Empire" had counted among its conquests.
Also sitting in North Africa
were British troops, which, under a 1936 treaty, were garrisoned in Egypt to
protect the Suez Canal and Royal Navy bases at Alexandria and Port Said. Hitler
had offered to aid Mussolini early on in his North African expansion, to send
German troops to help fend off a British counterattack. But Mussolini had been
rebuffed when he had offered Italian assistance during the Battle of Britain. He now insisted that as a matter of national
pride, Italy would have to create a Mediterranean sphere of influence on its
own--or risk becoming a "junior" partner of Germany's.
But despite expansion into
parts of East Africa and Egypt, Mussolini's forces proved no match for the
Brits in the long run. British troops pushed the Italians westward, inflicting
extraordinary losses on the Axis forces in an attack at Beda Fomm. As Britain
threatened to push the Italians out of Libya altogether and break through to
Tunisia, Mussolini swallowed his pride and asked Hitler for assistance. Hitler
reluctantly agreed (it would mean the first direct German-British encounter in
the Mediterranean)--but only if Mussolini stopped the Italians' retreat and
kept the British out of Tripoli, the Libyan capital. But the Italians continued
to be overwhelmed; in three months, 20,000 men were wounded or killed and
130,000 were taken prisoner. Only with the arrival of German Gen. Erwin Rommel
would the Italian resistance be strengthened against further British advances.
Even with Germany's help, Italy was able to defend its North African territory
only until early 1943.
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