MUSSOLINI WENT ALL-IN

Written by Paul Smith,

When Hitler had almost defeated France, Mussolini declared war on England & France. Libya was already an Italian colony and Mussolini had 215,000 troops in the country, while United Kingdom only had 50,000 soldiers in the neighboring country Egypt.

When Mussolini had further reinforcements sailed across the Mediterranean Sea, Italy attacked a small port called Sallum in Egypt close to the Libyan border. The country was to be conquered.

After a heavy bombardment by the artillery Italy attacked in a rather remarkable formation:

In the front of the formation the motorcycles were carefully lined up from the left flank to right flank and from the front to the back. Behind them were all small tanks and many rows of military vehicles.

A dumbstruck British colonel noticed that “It looked like the formation at a birthday parade in Long Valley Aldershot”.

The British front line quickly retreated a bit after which the British canons fired with everything they had against the nicely arranged Italian army.

Mussolini did not conquer Egypt.