Invasion of Italy

The Allies' Invasion of Italy marked the offensive against Benito Mussolini's fascist dictatorship in Italy during World War II. Beginning in 1943 as a follow-up to the campaign in North Africa, (PROSE: Deadly Reunion) fighting continued until the end of the war. (PROSE: Just War, The Turing Test, AUDIO: Just War)

The rise of Mussolini
In the years following World War I, in which his country was involved, (AUDIO: Fiesta of the Damned) Benito Mussolini rose to prominence in Italy, utilising his powerful charisma, (PROSE: Warchild) although some of his international detractors considered him a "fatso". (PROSE: Players) Looking back to the proud imperial history of ancient Rome, Mussolini resolved to create a new empire for Italy, (PROSE: Warlords of Utopia) and established a fascist dictatorship as a means of realising his dreams. (AUDIO: The Rapture)

Mussolini's rise and ambitions paralleled those of Adolf Hitler and the Nazis in Germany. (PROSE: Warchild) Mussolini opted to ally himself with Hitler. Edward Greyhaven opined that Mussolini was a "fool" to ally himself with a "monster" such as Hitler. (PROSE: The Dying Days)

The British government was too slow to react to the rise of expansionist dictatorships in the post-Versailles Europe and adopted the policy of appeasement to stave off another war. This played right into the hands of Germany and Italy, who used Britain's acquiescence to rearm without the fear of international intervention. Winston Churchill was one of the first people to recognise the danger posed by both Hitler and Mussolini but he fell out of favour with the rest of the Conservative Party and his warnings largely went unheeded beyond his quiet allies in the British Security Services. (PROSE: Players)

In 1939, Italy invaded and conquered Albania with what was mockingly viewed by the Albanians as an "army of toy soldiers." Their defeat at Italy's hand shamed them greatly. (PROSE: Deadly Reunion)

North Africa Campaign
When Britain and France declared war on Germany, France was swiftly knocked out and Britain chased from the continent. At some point, Italy declared war on Britain. During the Germans' attempt to subdue Britain with the Hartung Project, Joachim Wolff threatened that Southampton and many other cities would be destroyed by Munin unless the terms of his ultimatum were met, among them the conclusion of armistice terms with Italy. However, the plan was thwarted when the bomber was stolen and destroyed, leading the war to continue. (PROSE: Just War)

The Italian ambition to gain control over North Africa (PROSE: Warlords of Utopia) extended the war into that theatre. The Italians, committed to the African venture, (PROSE: The Dying Days) were aided by the German Afrika Korps under Field Marshall Erwin Rommel and Albert Kesselring as well as their allies of the Tuareg tribe. They faced the British, the Australians (COMIC: The Instruments of War) and the French forces led by Charles de Gaulle (PROSE: The Dying Days) in the Sahara Desert, Libya. (COMIC: The Instruments of War)

The British-led forces eventually defeated Rommel (PROSE: Deadly Reunion) and were joined in North Africa by the United States, (PROSE: Autumn Mist) who began to wrest control of African territories from the German puppet government of Vichy France. Once Africa was secure in 1943, (PROSE: The Turing Test) the Allies turned their eyes towards Italy and prepared to make the jump over to Sicily. (PROSE: Autumn Mist)

Allied landings
The landings in Sicily by the British (PROSE: Deadly Reunion) and the Americans (PROSE: Autumn Mist) acted as a prelude to the main invasion of Italy itself. The Allies launched numerous flotillas, including one against Anzio. To deceive the Axis defenders, a landing craft fitted with a powerful amplifier and huge loudspeakers played recordings of gun-battles several miles away from the actual site of the Allied landings, luring the enemy to the wrong location. (PROSE: Deadly Reunion)

Italy divided
Mussolini's dreams were shattered and own people rose up against him. (PROSE: The Dying Days) Germany occupied the previously Italian-controlled Albania (PROSE: Deadly Reunion) and stepped up to lead the defence of Italy in the place of their crumbling ally. The Allies had conquered much of southern Italy but the Germans remained in control of the north and soon came into confrontation with their former allies. (COMIC: Treasure Trail) As far as the Allies were concerned, the Italians were no longer the enemy. Many Italian prisoners of war ended up in captivity in Germany, alongside Poles and Russians. (PROSE: The Turing Test) However, Italian soldiers still continued to fight against the Allied advance. (PROSE: Letters from the Front)

In 1944, the belligerents clashed at Monte Cassino. The monastery was reduced to ruins, much to the sadness of the local population.

Around one month after the battle at Monte Cassino ended, the contempt with which the Germans held the Italians had been laid bare. Villages in northern Italy were plundered by the German Special Service Division, working under the instructions of Hermann Goering. Thousands of priceless Italian paintings and treasures were stolen and transported them back to Germany "for real appreciation." Goering began building up a private collection, much of which was never found after the war.

Italian partisans operating against the German occupation were fearful of retaliation. The Time Lords send the Fourth Doctor and Sarah Jane Smith to Borosini during the period to rescue treasures held by Father Antonio, in particular a priceless Raphael. The Doctor put into effect Operation Stop Thief. Giovanni's partisans ambushed and derailed a German convoy transporting plunder to Berlin and returned the paintings to Borosini. The Doctor and Sarah Jane departed with the treasures in the TARDIS ahead of the arrival of Lieutenant Schuler's armoured column. Upon arrival, the Germans could not find the treasures. (COMIC: Treasure Trail)

In a letter dated 1 July 1944, Prem Barsar wrote to Umbreen, informing her that he had been transfered from the campaign against Japan in the Far East to the war in Italy. As part of a mixed unit offensive in the Upper Tiber Valley to the north of Rome, Prem came under Italian machine gun fire and was saved from various shrapnel wounds by his helmet. Other Italians became encroaching on the rear of the unit, threatening the Allies with encirclement. The situation was saved by Prakash Ahluwalia, who threw himself at the machine gun position despite receiving several bullets to the shoulder. With the position in Allied hands, the unit was able to fend off the Italians to the rear. Prem estimated that Prakash saved more than a hundred lives. As Prakash was taken away on a stretcher, there was talk of him being awarded the Victoria Cross for his actions. (PROSE: Letters from the Front)

Exhaustion
As early as June 1944, the Allies had been in the process of bombing Italian cities. Captain Joseph Heller, a bomber pilot in the US Air Force, grew very uncomfortable with the initiative. He was all-too aware the bombing was causing the deaths of many innocent Italian civilians, only made worse by the fact that the Italians were no longer the Allies' enemies. Wanting to escape the war, Heller pretended to be insane and was sent to a hospital ward in Malta. There, he was approached by the Eighth Doctor who asked if Heller would fly him to Dresden. Heller refused. Four days later, the hospital determined nothing was wrong with Heller and he was discharged and made to resume the bombing missions. He flew a further fifteen missions over the next five-month period. (PROSE: The Turing Test)

In November, an Italian soldier named Bruno Trattorio wrote a short letter to his wife Gigi, expressing his hope that the war would not keep them separated for much longer. (PROSE: The Novel of the Film)

Around the same time, Joseph Heller had conducted a total of sixty bombing missions since the aerial campaign began. This took a toll on his physical and mental health. At the end of one mission, he landed his aircraft badly, causing thousands of dollars worth of damage and breaking the leg of the rear gunner, Heedle. Heller claimed he was going insane, but because of the earlier incident in June, his superiors believed his claim to be another deception. He was imprisoned and subjected to a court martial where he was almost shot. However, the Eighth Doctor secured his release on the condition that Heller agree to assist him when called upon. Such a request was finally sent on 31 January 1945. Heller was sent from Italy to France on an unofficial mission. (PROSE: The Turing Test)

On 28 April, Mussolini was executed (PROSE: Just War, AUDIO: Just War) and strung to a lamp post by his own people. (PROSE: The Dying Days) At the same time, Hitler's Reich was falling apart and he killed himself on 30 April. The war in Europe officially ended on 9 May 1945. (PROSE: Just War, AUDIO: Just War)

Aftermath
After the fall of Italy and Germany, Albania experienced a Stalinist revolution during the wave of post-war communism that swept much of the previously occupied nations. General Tito led the establishment of a new, more confident and aggressive identity for the nation to wash away the shame of the Italian and German occupations. It was at the centre of a volatile confrontation with Britain during the early Cold War which threatened to ignite World War III before tensions were defused. (PROSE: Deadly Reunion)

After departing from Operation Stop Thief in 1944, the Doctor and Sarah Jane were diverted by the Time Lords to Borosini in peacetime, April 1948, where they returned the secured paintings and treasures to Father Antonio and Giovanni. The recovery of the artefacts made the news but Antonio and Giovanni were sworn to keep the role of the time travellers a secret. (COMIC: Treasure Trail)

The monastery at Monte Cassino was fully rebuilt by 1976. (COMIC: Treasure Trail)

Alternate realities
Marcus Americanius Scriptor explored many of the Known Worlds where the Nazis won World War II, and collectively named these worlds Germania.

On Germania V, where the Germans defeated the British in 1940 and the United States remained neutral, the Italians took Africa. Similar developments took place on several other worlds.

On Germania I, the Terra Optimus, the Mediterranean islands coveted by Italy were among the territories incorporated into the Nazi Empire.

Scriptor wrote of Mussolini as a man "who puffed himself up and had declared himself one of the Caesars. Some took him seriously, most thought him a rather comical figure sitting among ancient ruins, dreaming grandiose dreams." Scriptor came from Roma I, the Terra Optimus of the worlds of Roma, on which the Roman Empire never fell. From this view, he saw the Italys of Germania as "just another nation among many, run by a pale shadow of Hitler." The concept of fascism was appalling to the people of Roma.

When the Roma worlds united to form the Empire of Empires and engaged in a multiversal conflict against the worlds of Germania unified into the Greater German Reich, Scriptor noted the general place of Mussolini in the conflict:"[...] the Council of Hitlers had kept all knowledge of the Roman worlds beyond the Divide from his Italian ally (on most of the other Earths), [...] Mussolini. A limited man, Mussolini dreamt of restoring the glory that was Rome. In practice, this merely meant plans for large statues of himself, draining a marsh or two and scoring straight roads across the face of Rome to link one landmark to another. Mussolini was ever in thrall to the Nazis, any attempt to think for himself was almost cruelly mocked and thwarted by the Germans. His loyalty to Hitler remained intact, but Hitler was wise enough to realise that the Roman worlds beyond the Divide were Mussolini's dreams given form, and so were to be denied to him."

- Marcus Americanius Scriptor During the war, after the Empire of Empires captured Germania V, Scriptor instigated the first diplomatic meeting with an ambassador in fascist Italy. At the war's end, any gains made by Mussolini during the conflicts of the Known Worlds were ultimately undone after defeat of the Greater German Reich. (PROSE: Warlords of Utopia)