Italy was a rising european colonial power, but like Germany, it was strong and immediately expanded its colonies around the world.
In the last years of the Qing Dynasty, Italy, as a member of the Eight-Power Alliance, seized rich "stolen money" and interests in China, and divided up leased land in Tianjin, Shanghai, Wuhan and other places, and won the right to garrison.
After Mussolini came to power, he began to expand the garrison in China, composed of more than 300 people in a battalion of the elite "San Marco" regiment, forming the "Italian Expeditionary Force", which crossed the ocean and came to Tianjin to build a Venetian style "Italian Barracks".
From the 1920s to the early 1930s, Italian fascism was very popular in the world, and the people of the world at that time could not see the tyrannical face after fascism, but its strong organizational ability and ruling ability made many countries caught up in civil war and chaos see the object of emulation.
Chiang Kai-shek was very envious of mussolini's power and the courage of the leader supported by all, and actively looked at Mussolini, China and Italy had a "honeymoon period" in the early 1930s, and Mussolini also gave Chiang Kai-shek a very fashionable "bulletproof cloak".
However, with the establishment of the German-Italian-Japanese "Axis" alliance and the instigation of Japan, Italy gradually alienated relations with China.
However, after the outbreak of the Sino-Japanese War, Italy further increased its garrison in China, with a total of 1200 people.
On June 10, 1940, Italy officially entered World War II. In 1941, three warships of the Italian Navy, which had lost the Battle of North Africa, fled from North Africa to China and docked in Tianjin. Although Japan was allied with Italy at the time, Japan was unhappy that there was a foreign garrison in its occupied territories, which was very unpleasant to see.
The incompetence of the Italian army in World War II was well known, and by July 1943 Mussolini had been deposed and arrested, followed by a new government announcing its withdrawal from the Axis Powers.
When the news reached the Far East, the Italian warship "Eritrea" stationed in Tianjin was replenishing the Italian submarine "Capillani" in Singapore, and when they heard the news, they immediately decided to take a position and went to the British colony of Sri Lanka to surrender.
However, the captain of the Submarine "Kabiliani", Orkney, was a die-hard fascist who firmly opposed surrender, insisted on entering the Japanese-occupied port of Singapore, and said that he would fight with the Japanese.
However, the Japanese had long been dissatisfied with the Italian garrison in China, and when they learned that Italy had withdrawn from the Axis powers, they immediately launched an attack on the Italian army and navy in China. The Italian barracks in Tianjin were also besieged by 6,000 Japanese troops, who dispatched aircraft and armored vehicles to bomb the Italian concession for more than ten hours and block the Italians' water retreat on the Hai River with gunboats.
Soon, the Italian Expeditionary Force announced its surrender, an event known to the Japanese as the "September Italian Surrender".
The Japanese forced the captured 1,100 Italian troops to say whether to obey the newly formed fascist government or enter the prisoner-of-war camp, and as a result, only 170 chose to continue to work for the fascists, and most were imprisoned in prisoner-of-war camps until the end of World War II.
However, it is worth mentioning that the hardcore fascists who chose to continue fighting with the Japanese army, indeed, unlike other Italian troops, showed enough courage, even if Mussolini had been shot and Nazi Germany had surrendered, these Italian fascists still insisted on fighting and refused to surrender.
Even on August 30, 1945, even Japan had surrendered for half a month, and the Italian submarine "Toreni", which followed the Japanese army, even shot down an American B25 bomber with a machine gun.
No one could have imagined that this record, which is usually counted as Japan's last "victory," would have been achieved by the most disrespected "noodle army." In other words, the army that fought to the end of World War II turned out to be the most incompetent Italian army in World War II!
History Inn Author: Lancers