Benito Mussolini Speaks with Wilhelm Keitel at Feltre Airfield

Image size: 1028 x 1600 pixel. 409 KB
Date: Monday, 19 July 1943
Place: Feltre, Belluno, Veneto, Italy
Photographer: Walter Frentz

Il Duce Benito Mussolini speaking with Generalfeldmarschall Wilhelm Keitel (Chef des Oberkommando der Wehrmacht) at Feltre airfield (Northern Italy) before Keitel leaves for Berlin. The picture was made by Walter Frentz in the evening of 19 July 1943. Only a couple of days later (24 July 1943), the Italian dictator would be defeated in the vote at the Grand Council of Fascism, and the King Victor Emmanuel had him arrested the following day. On 12 September 1943, Mussolini was rescued from prison in the Gran Sasso raid by German special forces led by the daring Otto Skorzeny. In late April 1945, with total defeat looming, Mussolini attempted to escape north, only to be quickly captured and summarily executed near Lake Como by Italian partisans. His body was then taken to Milan where it was hung upside down at a service station for public viewing and to provide confirmation of his demise. In this picture Keitel holding his Interimstab (baton), while in his uniform we can see his Italian Grand Cross of the Military Order of Savoy, awarded to him by King Victor Emmanuel on 24 April 1942, along with Großadmiral Erich Raeder


Source:
https://www.ullsteinbild.de/ullstein-webshop/workbench.html?queryWord=walter+frentz&newTitle=ullstein+bild+|+Search%3A+walter+frentz&qwAction=searchQueryWord&viewMode=tile

Italian Troops March Past Mussolini Poster in Ethiopia

Image size: 1600 x 931 pixel. 317 KB
Date: Wednesday, 1 January 1936
Place: Ethiopia
Photographer: Unknown

Italian troops march past billboard of Fascist Dictator Benito Mussolini during 1936 invasion. Humiliated by a defeat at Adwa by Ethiopian troops in 1896, Ethiopian Emperor Haile Selassie was one of the few African leaders who ruled without European colonial interference. Yet, Ethiopia was heavily influenced by Italy. Fueled by the need for revenge and expansion by colonization, Mussolini sent his newly mechanized legions under the command of Comando Supremo (Itallian Army) Field Marshal Rodolfo Graziani across the Abyssinian border from Italian Somaliland and Eritrea on October 3, 1935. In 3 days Adwa was engulfed. By November Italians were 80 miles into Abyssinia. Resistance was heavy throughout the country. Graziani destroyed the Intelligentsia, and killed many Coptics in reprisal for partisan attacks. Field Marshal Pietro Badoglio (1871-1956) took command later in 1935 and immediately ordered gas attacks to quell the unrest. On May 5, 1936, the Italian army marched into the capital of Addis Ababa and Ethiopia surrendered. On June 30, 1936, Selassie, who escaped the invading Italians, spoke before the League of Nations in Geneva, Switzerland, in protest of the attack, despite Italian attempts to interrupt his speech. "It is us today. It will be you tomorrow." he warned. The League of Nations condemned Italy's aggression and imposed minor economic sanctions in November 1935. Under the Neutrality Act, the United States stopped arms trade with both sides on October 5 and tried to limit exports of oil and other materials to normal peacetime levels on February 29, 1936. On October 9, 1935, the United States, not part of the League, refused to cooperate with any League action. The League sanctions were lifted on July 4, 1936 when Italian East Africa, Africa Orientale Italiana (AOI), was formed by Italy. in 1940, AOI was virtually isolated from Italy: the maritime transports were totally cut off, and supplies could arrive only from air, although always in dismal quantities. On March 27, 1941 the stronghold of Cheren was captured by the British troops after a strenuous defence from general Orlando Lorenzini. Eritrea was lost when the town of Massaua surrendered on April 8. The war was effectively lost on May 1941, when the Fascists at Amba Alagi under viceroy Amedeo di Savoia surrendered in face of overwhelming Allied troops. The last Italian force under General Guglielmo Nasi at Gondar surrendered on November 28, 1941.

Source:

http://www.worldwar2database.com/gallery3/index.php/wwii107

Benito Mussolini and Adolf Hitler in Münich, June 1940

Image size: 1600 x 1199 pixel. 332 KB
Date: Tuesday, 18 June 1940
Place: Münich, Bavaria,Germany
Photographer: Unknown

On this day in 1940, Italian leader Benito Mussolini arrives in Münich with his foreign minister, Count Ciano, to discuss immediate plans with the Führer, and doesn’t like what he hears. Embarrassed over the late entry of Italy in the war against the Allies, and its rather tepid performance since, Mussolini met with Hitler determined to convince his Axis partner to exploit the advantage he had in France by demanding total surrender and occupying the southern portion still free. The Italian dictator clearly wanted “in” on the spoils, and this was a way of reaping rewards with a minimum of risk. But Hitler, too, was in no mood to risk, and was determined to put forward rather mild terms for peace with France. He needed to ensure that the French fleet remained neutral and that a government-in-exile was not formed in North Africa or London determined to further prosecute the war. He also denied Mussolini’s request that Italian troops occupy the Rhone Valley, and that Corsica, Tunisia, and Djibouti (adjacent to Italian-occupied Ethiopia) be disarmed. Ciano recorded in his diary that Mussolini left the meeting frustrated and “very much embarrassed,” feeling “that his role is secondary.” Ciano also records a newfound respect for Hitler: “Today he speaks with a reserve and perspicacity which, after such a victory, are really astonishing.”

Source:

http://www.researchhistory.org/tag/benito-mussolini/