The Year of Upheaval
Part 7: The Wider War I, March 1 – May 16, 1942
January and February were undoubtedly the two months of most intensive operations Italy had experienced since the difficult invasion of Dacia two years previously. After the failed gamble in Dacia and the holistic Italian withdrawal into northern Illyria, however, the pace of operations slackened considerably. As noted previously, by the end of February the Italian armies had broken operational contact with the Soviet forces. The Soviets would not restore contact until long after the Italians had settled into their new defensive line. This allowed Mussolini to take his eyes off the east to some extent and examine the situation elsewhere.
By the 10th of March, the Italians had consolidated their new positions in northern Illyria, between the Adriatic Sea and the Hungarian border. Mussolini was quite thankful for Hungarian neutrality, as it gave his armies’ landward flank an anchor which was inviolable, at least inasmuch as the Soviets would have to be at war with Hungary to flank. On this day, however, the Soviets were still far from Illyria. Anatolia had yet to be completely conquered, and Thrace had barely been invaded, much less Illyria. The sheer scale of the Soviet effort, on the other hand, was rather intimidating. Between Dacia and Anatolia, the Soviets seemed to be employing at least fifty divisions in occupying what was essentially empty space. Despite this great commitment, nothing was happening on the German-Soviet front.
The Soviets encroaching upon the eastern half of the Italian Empire.
By late March, Italy’s three division Marine Corps was finally completed, and this third division was also sent southward into Africa. Here, the three marine divisions and three infantry divisions had begun waging a very, very big small war in the deserts of East Africa against a like number of British and other allied formations. The British managed some victories, such as the sinking of a number of Italian transports returning to Italy from Muqdishu and the defense of the island of Socotra, but otherwise during this period had little success. In particular, the marines finally occupied the last major British port north of South Africa, Dar es Salaam. This led to the destruction of an enormous amount of British transport and destroyer squadrons by Da Zara’s fleet, as well as even a small handful of light cruisers. It was hardly a major victory, but it was gratifying nonetheless for a Mussolini who was suddenly success-started.
The marine landing and victory against no opposition at Dar es Salaam.
In Europe, meanwhile, Finland joined the Allies. This had two major strategic implications. It provided a buffer between Scandinavia and any possible Soviet encroachment into the region, thus influencing any potential post-war settlement. Secondly, it suddenly opened up another front for Germany to consider. In fact, the Finns themselves launched an invasion of Scandinavia from the north! If not checked, and by mid-May the Germans had barely moved a muscle in response to this move against them, the Finns could potentially threaten northern Germany from Denmark. In other news, Campioni’s fleet wrecked the remnants of the Nationalist Spanish fleet, which was based at Ceuta, and the Italian forces besieging Tel Aviv assaulted the garrison and coerced it into surrendering without, however, occupying the city. The British fleet would remain bottled up, but this could free Vercellino’s forced for other potential operations in the more distant future.
The Finns on the attack in Scandinavia.
To return to the Soviet threat, it was only in mid-May that they finally butted up against the new Italian defensive line. Even then, however, they had not yet conquered the entirety of Italy’s eastern empire: the Peloponnese apparently held some danger to the Soviets as they massed half a dozen divisions, including at least one armor formation, on the isthmus but refrained from advancing further. Perhaps they were too wary of the Italians and their propensity for maritime-based outflanking maneuvers and did not appreciate just how small the Italian armed forces, in fact, were. Indeed, of Italy’s six armies, four were in Illyria. Bastico’s army by this point had absolutely grown to become the single largest Italian army in existence at the time: it fielded two corps of six to eight brigades each, in three to four divisions, as well as one corps of up to twelve brigades in four divisions. It comprised some ninety thousand men. The other three armies on the line each comprised fifty to seventy thousand men. Italy had put a considerable proportion of the flower of her youth into holding the line in the east.
The defensive line in Illyria.
Thus, as an be seen, on the whole the war settled down during the remainder of the first half of the year. After the comparatively large blood-letting of January and February, there was relatively little fighting during the following two and a half months. The question for Mussolini was, however, what to do next. Given the recent events, he was slightly shell-shocked from the Soviet successes and was not likely to consider any offensive measures in the east for a long time. Thus, he was primarily to be left with action in what were obviously subsidiary theaters in an attempt to marginally bolster his position.