Mussolini's War: Fascist Italy?s Military Struggles from Africa and Western Europe to the Mediterranean and Soviet Union 1935-45

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Foreword by Forrest P. Patton, Lieutenant Colonel, United States MarineCorps Reserve (Ret.); Introduction: The First Casualty of War; 1: Crossing a 20th Century Rubicon; 2: Flying Rats; 3: A Modern Gallic War; 4: King Of Beasts By The Tail; 5: Snatching Defeat from the Jaws of Victory; 6: Desert Fox In A Henhouse; 7: Mare Nostro; 8: The Duce's Dolphins; 9: Hercules Spurned; 10: Unacknowledged Victory; 11: Sunshine from Italy; 12: Middle Age Crisis; 13: North African Finale; 14: Mussolini Island; 15: The Ordeal of Blood; 16: Day of the Lion; 17: An Unlikely Pen-Pal; 18: The Italian Atomic Bomb.;Among the great misconceptions of modern times is the assumption that Benito Mussolini was Hitler's junior partner, who made no significant contributions to the Second World War. That conclusion originated with Allied propagandists determined to boost Anglo-American morale, while undermining Axis cooperation. The Duce's failings, real or imagined, were inflated and ridiculed; his successes, pointedly demeaned or ignored. Italy's bungling navy, ineffectual army - as cowardly as it was ill-equipped - and air force of antiquated biplanes were handily dealt with by the Western Allies. So effective. Foreword by Forrest P. Patton, Lieutenant Colonel, United States MarineCorps Reserve (Ret.) Introduction: The First Casualty of War 1: Crossing a 20th Century Rubicon 2: Flying Rats 3: A Modern Gallic War 4: King Of Beasts By The Tail 5: Snatching Defeat from the Jaws of Victory 6: Desert Fox In A Henhouse 7: Mare Nostro 8: The Duce's Dolphins 9: Hercules Spurned 10: Unacknowledged Victory 11: Sunshine from Italy 12: Middle Age Crisis 13: North African Finale 14: Mussolini Island 15: The Ordeal of Blood 16: Day of the Lion 17: An Unlikely Pen-Pal 18: The Italian Atomic Bomb. 19: Could Mussolini Have Won His War?Notes Selected Bibliography.