The flag of the kingdom
Fascist Kingdom of Italy under King Vittorio Emmanuele III is theoretically the most valuable ally of Nazi Germany, but hadn't even joined the world war yet in May 1940 - Dictator Benito Mussolini called it "non-belligerent", since he doesn't like the term "neutral". This although he has territorial claims to France (and Greece - which has Guarantees from France and Great Britain though - and Yugoslavia, and the kingdom of Egypt...). On paper, their army is one of the strongest in the world; in practice, only about 200,000 men were ready to deployed in fights when the war started. Officially, the Regia Aeronautica had more than 8,500 Machines when the world war started, but it's really more like 840, not all of them ready. Only 70 tanks are real ones, the majority are Tankettes. This despite that almost 40% of the 1939 budget had been allocated for military spending. Furthermore, the troops only have experiences from the colonial war against Abyssinia, the occupation of Albania, and the Spanish Civil War. The "Führer" isn't very happy about it.
Of the about 44 Million Italians, four Millions are Members of the Fasci, eight Millions in the Gioventù Italiana del Littorio, the fascist Youth organisation, and several Millions in other fascist Organisations.
In the War[]
On the 8th of June in 1940 (three days later than promised), the "Duce" finally declared war against Britain and France, encouraged by the Wehrmacht's successes. The fights against France stayed at skirmish levels, though.
Also, they're now making air attacks and invasions of British colonies from their African colonies - into Sudan, Kenya, onto Malta, and Attacks against Somaliland and esp. Egypt are planned as well.
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Nazi Germany |
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Japanese Empire | 
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Kingdom of Italy |
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