10 mars 1939 - Italy Declares War on France and UK | Battle of the Alps

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On 10 of March, with the German capture of Paris and the French Army is in shambles, the Italian Government proposed to invade France.
Many generals and politicians disagreed with the proposal because they did not wish to extend the war.
They would get beaten by the National Fascist Party, Nationalists and Italian Irredentists who wanted a "Greater Italy".
Italy started to draft up their plans for invasion, and they wanted this war to be quick; so they could get their territorial claims on France during the peace talks.

The reasons for this invasion was;

A. To restore the Italian borders since the time of the Kingdom of Savoy in 1796.

B. The annexation of the French island of Corsica.

C. Elimination of Anglo-French influence in the Mediterranean Sea.

D. Control for both Egypt, French Tunisia and Anglo-Egyptain Sudan.

With these goals in mind, the Duce delivered his declaration of war speech from the balcony of the Palazzo Venezia in Rome, further placing more pressure on the Allies in France.

On the 14th, the Italian Royal Army crossed the French Border.
One Italian army group attempted to advance through the Alps, while another army group attempted their advance along the Mediterranean coast towards the port city of Nice.
The Italians had some success during their offensive, mainly to the weakened French defensive lines on the Italian border, because the French High Command shuffled forces to fight the Germans.

The Italian offensive in the Alps soon stalled at the fortified Alpine Line defence in the Alps and along the Mediterranean coast.
The attack through the Little Saint Bernard Pass in the Alps had to stop due to a massive snowstorm.
The Italian Armies attacked through the French Riviera advanced only about 8.0 km. They stopped in the vicinity of the town of Menton.
The town became partially occupied by Italy.

During the same day of the attack, the French battleship Lorraine opened fire on the port city of Bardia in the Italian colony of Libya.
French naval aircraft also attacked Livorno in mainland Italy during some of the last actions of the French against the Italians.

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