Comments by "David Himmelsbach" (@davidhimmelsbach557) on "Why did Mussolini Invade Egypt in 1940?" video.

  1. Hitler was furious that el Duce attacked France. That ended Italy's ability to import American crude -- and Venezuela was American crude. ( All of those assets were owned by Esso ( Standard Oil of New Jersey ) and so forth. This another slice of Germany's fuel nightmare, in short order el Duce is begging for crude oil from Hitler. El Duce blew up the Nazi oil budget. The German plan was to use Italy as a quasi-neutral power to import every barrel that the Americans would permit. Italy's fuel starvation was even worse than Germany! This also explains what is going on within this campaign. Lastly, the open desert sucks down fuel and parts at 3 to 7 times normal tempo. (!)
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  2. The Italian infantry was more of an 'instant draft army' than a militia. A militia is supposed to be composed of citizen soldiers that have at least some training. El Duce simply drafted untrained, under-employed, southern farm boys and PROMPTLY committed them to battle. (!) That's why their performance resembled the early war 'instant divisions' that the Soviets used in the Autumn of '41. (Northern Italians were vital to the economy. They had to stay at their jobs.) Yeah, they scarcely had basic training, OJT would have to do. (Bullets and training bases are expensive.) This was an army bereft of (real) sergeants. El Duce thought that the campaign would be a walk-over. He also figured that southern Italians were pre-adapted to the climate, a perfect fit, then.
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  3. The Italian navy acquitted itself quite well. Their commandos really hurt the British in Alexandria. It was a RN fiasco. Big ships were crippled for months. It was a world-class military operation. It stunned navies everywhere.
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