User:EnigmaMcmxc/sandbox2
Prelude[edit]
Anglo-French[edit]
The Armée de l'Air (French Air Force) was relocating to French North Africa by the time of the Italian declaration of war and the subsequent offensive.[citation needed]
August 1938 plan to invade Italy? Preparation for an offensive continued until September 1939? additional info required before anything added.
Italians[edit]
Italian air force? Equipment issue: not prepared for alpine combat? Plan of attack: PR12? Operations M and R? Areite division, equipped with seventy M11/39 and roughlty 140 light tanks, held in reserve plan to exploit success and advance into France (Sweets, p. 154)
Initial fighting[edit]
The Marine Nationale (French Navy) was the only service in a position to act against the Italians. At dawn on 14 June, the French 3rd Squadron based in Toulon carried out an operation in Italian waters. Four heavy cruisers and 11 destroyers opened fire on the oil storage tanks and military installations on the Ligurian coast and in the port of Genoa. No Italian aircraft appeared and the coastal artillery scored only one hit. The French destroyer Albatros received a 155 mm (6.1 in) round on her boiler room, which killed 12 seamen.[1]
On 16 June, the French sloop La Curieuse forced the Italian submarine Provana to surface off Oran and then sank it by ramming. La Curieuse also sustained heavy damage. This was the first Italian submarine to be sunk by the French Navy.[2] During the night of 16 June and into the morning of 17 June, Marshal Philippe Pétain proposed an armistice with the German government. On 20 June, the French government asked the Italian government for an armistice.[3]
Italians Offensive[edit]
On 20 June, the Italian campaign began[4] and, by the 21 June, troops of the Italian Royal Army had crossed the French border. One force attempted to advance through the Alps and another force attempted to advance along the Mediterranean coast towards Nice. Initially, the Italian offensive enjoyed some level of success. The French defensive lines on the Italian border were weakened due to French High Command shuffling forces to fight the Germans. However, the Italian offensive soon stalled at the fortified Alpine Line in the Alps and along the Mediterranean coast. The attack through the Little Saint Bernard Pass in the Alps had to stop due to a massive snow storm. The Italian forces attacking through the French Riviera advanced only about 5 mi (8.0 km) and were stopped in the vicinity of the town of Menton, On the same day, the French battleship Lorraine opened fire on the port of Bardia in Italian Libya. French naval aircraft also attacked Livorno in mainland Italy during some of the last actions of the French against the Italians.[3]
Notes[edit]
- Footnotes
- Citations
- ^ Piekałkiewicz 1987, p. 82.
- ^ Piekalkiewicz 1987, p. 82.
- ^ a b Piekalkiewicz 1987, p. 83.
- ^ Jowett, 2000 & 5.