Operation Lombard

Operation Lombard
Part of World War II
Date 6 April 1941 - 20 November 1943 (2 years, 7 months, 14 days) Location Southern Europe Result Italian victory
Belligerents
Italy Supported by: Albania Greece United Kingdom	Germany
Commanders and leaders
Victor Emmanuel III Benedetto Croce Rodolfo Graziani	Adolf Hitler Walther von Brauchitsch Albert Kesselring
Strength
350,000	230,000

Operation Lombard (Italian: Operazione Lombardo; German: Unternehmen Lombard), alternatively known as the German-Italo War, Battle of Italy, and the Alpine War, was a conflict fought between the Kingdom of Italy and Nazi Germany during the Second World War. Lasting for roughly two years long, the conflict saw German forces unsuccessfully attempt to defeat Italian forces who largely held the line and resisted their enemy's advances until the fall of Nazi Germany in November 1943 due to the assassination of dictator Adolf Hitler. Named after the Lombard League, the conflict was likened to the alliance's fight against the Holy Roman Empire and thus its modern successor Germany.

Prior to the conflict, Italy and Germany had been rather at odds with one another, particularly with Italy having suppressed an attempted fascist uprising led by the Italian far-right leader Benito Mussolini in October 1922. In January 1933, German dictator Adolf Hitler became Chancellor of Germany and, in turn, established a far-right dictatorship under the Nazi Party. Then, just three years into his tenure, Hitler launched Anschluss in which Germany annexed its southern neighbour Austria under the pretext of uniting the German race. Given the country's proximity to Italy in the north, the move sparked considerable tension between the two countries that was further exacerbated when German forces annexed Czechoslovakia and later conquered Italy's Western neighbour France in the early stages of the Second World War, thereby almost completely surrounding the Italians on the European mainland.

After the two countries initially avoided armed conflict during previous aggressions, the two ultimately went to war when following a coup in Yugoslavia that, in turn, sparked a German invasion of the country, Italy, who previously remained idle when France and the United Kingdom declared war in September 1939, declared war against Nazi Germany in support of its Yugoslav allies, a decision that was, among others, motivated by fears of complete German encirclement to the north along with a prevailing sense of inevitability of armed conflict between the two countries. Nonetheless, while Yugoslavia fell rather swiftly in just a week, Italian forces, which held mostly defensive positions and utilised the country's mountainous northern border, fought on and proved largely successful in stifling any attempted German incursions, owing to their natural familiarity with the terrain, the expertise of the elite Alpini mountain infantries, and the German inability to properly utilise their powerful mechanised units which proved ineffective in the face of Italy's rugged and hilly terrain. In the midst of this, the two forces also clashed in Albania and Greece, two nearby countries that Italy pledged military support for in response to Hitler's decision to invade them as well. The United Kingdom, through the use of its forces stationed in Egypt and Cyprus, also provided considerable aid to its allies over the Mediterranean Sea, thereby effectively stalling German advances to the south.

After months of consistent stalemate, with neither German nor Italian forces making any significant advances beyond the frontlines, the conflict ultimately came to an end in November 1943 when German dictator Adolf Hitler was assassinated and his successor Louis Ferdinand, the future King of Germany, declared a general ceasefire, thereby ending most hostilities between the two countries. In the aftermath of the conflict, given the popular notion of Italy having successfully resisted the seemingly superior Nazi forces all by itself while also supporting its neighbours Albania and Greece in the process, the conflict notably led to an unprecedented surge in popularity for the country's Alpini soldiers who were largely hailed for their expertise in mountain warfare and crucial role in safeguarding the nation's sovereignty during times of war. Moreover, on the international stage, the prestige of having successfully resisted the Germans by themselves saw Italy become one of the six permanent members of the United Nations Security Council alongside fellow Allied nations, namely the United States, United Kingdom, France, China, and the Soviet Union. In this, historians have since compared it to the equally famous Battle of Britain in which the United Kingdom successfully resisted German forces by themselves despite months of intense aerial bombing. Among some local historians, the conflict is sometimes referred to as the "Fifth Italian War of Independence", with Italy's participation in the previous First World War conflict also being dubbed the "Fourth Italian War of Independence".