I consider this one of the most overlooked “What if?” scenarios of World War II....how does the war unfold if Italy follows the lead of Spain and remains neutral?
the trains continue to run on time in Italy to this day...
.....Berettas are not the US Army handgun of choice, the Walther is....
Joe McCarthy elected president in ‘52.....Goldwater becomes president in 60...Senator John Kennedy marries Marilyn Monroe in 63...is murdered by Joe DiMaggio in November of the same year....under the leadership of Werner VonBraun the first man lands on the Moon in 1969 under the flag of Germany's 3rd Reich....Schwarznegger becomes US president in 2000...
And what if Italy didn't get bogged down in the Balkans where the Germans had to bail them out, and lost precious months in launching Operation Barbarossa.
It is an interesting question. Suffice it to say it would have likely taken North Africa out of the question altogether. Perhaps even to the extent that operation TORCH against the Vichy would not have materialized. The attack on Russia would have probably come in early May instead of late June and with the extra month and a half of good weather the Soviets may have fallen. There are a hundred different ways it could have played out but one thing is for certain. Italy was one of the best helps to the Allies in the war. They were a drain on the Nazi war machine and were unable to make any significant gains of their own. The first example of this we will see in British Somaliland.
Makes life a lot easier for the Germans. No diversion of Flierkorps X and other assets to the Med. No need to send the DAK to Africa and try to keep the supply line open them at great cost. The Germans may not have had to invade Yuogslavia, and most likely wouldn’t have had to invade Greece or Crete. Might have gotten Barbarossa on the way a LITTLE sooner, but the troops and equipment would have been fresh.
Italy had as much business in WW II as I would trying to date Catherine Deneuve.