Bazooka Benito

Updated Sunday 15 May, 2011 12:18 PM

Bazooka Benito

Christopher G. Nuttall

I was wondering what it might take to keep Italy in the war longer when I gave up and started playing Sudden Strike – and saw an attack force get stopped in its tracks by Bazooka forces. This started my mind off on a new tangent. The title is a play on ‘bazooka Joe’, which I remember from my youth.

In 1939, Mussolini wanted to have Italy involved in the war, but any rational mind could see that it would be disastrous. While sections of the Italian Army and Navy was very good, most notably the artillery and the alpine divisions, most of the rest of the army was underfed, under-equipped and had low morale.

However, World war two showed that Italians could fight well when they had good leadership and technical superiority. In the beginnings of the African campaign, Italian weapons just bounced off the British Matilda tanks, which was rather distressing for Italian morale. However, lets say that an Italian engineer makes a few experiments and produces the first operational bazooka for Italy.

These are not the super-sophisticated models we have today. They are very basic rocket launchers that carry a small warhead to a target at great speed. However, for World War Two standards, it is more than enough to cripple or destroy most tanks in a single shot – and stop an offensive right in its tracks. When war breaks out in September 939, the Italian forces in Libya are well equipped with the new Bazookas.

This has a side effect on the Battle of France. With most of the effective forces in Africa, Mussolini contents himself with a showy, but unsuccessful push against France, much like the OTL one, but with little support. Even hard pressed as they are, the French toss the Italian force out on its ears. Hitler is even more unimpressed than he was in OTL and refuses to allow the Italians any part of France. This puts a slight dampener on Mussolini’s enthusiasm.

The Italians opened battlefronts in Africa at about the time of the Battle of Britain. Mussolini expected easy victories over the small British forces in North Africa. In August 1940, the Italians pushed eastward from Ethiopia and overran the forces in British Somaliland. The following month, Italian forces that were stationed in Libya invaded Egypt.

Against the British Western Desert Force, Graziani, the Italian commander who was widely described as ‘hopeless’, outnumbered the British on the Libyan-Egyptian border. His army of 250,000 faced a British force of barely 30,000. Italy fielded 400 guns to the British 150, and 190 fighters to the British 48. 300 Italian tanks faced only 150 British. On paper, Britain had no chance.

But behind the numbers and glittering Fascist regalia lurked serious weaknesses. The Italian 10th and 5th Armies in Libya marched on foot, while the British rode in trucks. Two of his six divisions were Blackshirt militia outfits (Sort of like an Italian version of the SS), clad in fancy black uniforms but poor soldiers. His army as a whole was badly trained. Officers strutted about like gigolos, neglecting their men. Italian troops had done badly in Spain against Republicans and badly in Ethiopia against tribesmen. If you want to read amusing stories about Italian commanders, look up Barrie Pitt’s Crucible of War, Volume One.

Perhaps worse, Italian forces had poor equipment. Armoured cars dated back to 1909. The L3 tank only mounted two machine guns. The underpowered and thinly armoured M11 was little better -- its 37mm gun could not traverse. The heavyweight M13 packed a 47mm gun, but crawled along at nine miles per hour. None could match the British Matilda with its 50mm armour and 40mm gun. However, in this timeline, Italy also has an a-grade division with Bazooka’s, placed in jeeps, they planned to attack the British tanks as they advanced.

As the Italian forces advanced slowly into Egypt, Mussolini ordered the invasion of Greece to be postponed until after the reports of the new weapon were received. Nothing loathe, the British commander, Lt. Gen. Sir Richard O'Connor decided to launch Operation Compass anyway, which involved a fast war of manoeuvre to catch and destroy the spread-out Italian forces. In OTL, this was a great success, and Hitler had to send Rommel over to save the Italian’s from their defeat, in this timeline, the British run into the Bazookas.

(Authors Note: There are some other possibilities of AHs here; for example, if Britain did not send forces to Greece, would they have managed to mop up the Italians in Africa before Rommel became involved?)

In OTL, Italian morale was destroyed when the British tanks proved unstoppable, in this timeline; a few Matilda’s get stopped in their tracks. While the British are stunned by the disaster, with the loss of 94 tanks out of 154 at the battle of Sidi Barrani, a small ‘town’ in Egypt, the Egyptian army revolts. While the British are distracted, Mussolini pushes Graziani to advance to Cairo. With a newly enthusiastic army behind him, Graziani encounters little opposition, even when he takes Cairo, until his forces reach the Suez. There, British and Indian forces, along with Egyptian loyalists, have dug themselves in and all Graziani’s attempts cannot get Italian forces across the canal. They do manage to block the canal though. This threatens to trap the British fleet in the Mediterranean.

In the naval war, Admiral Cunningham faced a more determined Italian fleet in he Mediterranean. All other things being equal, the war should result in an inconclusive stalemate like in OTL; Bazooka’s cannot be used so effectively here. However, Cunningham faces the need to hold a blockade over the North African coast to prevent Italian supplies getting though to Graziani. They are forced to fight on terms of Italian choosing; if the Italians had been up to the same standards, the British would have been forced out of the Mediterranean. As it happens, the British managed, barely, to hold the line and keep Italian supplies to a trickle.

I had a silly picture in my mind of Italian servicemen standing on an Italian ship blasting a British one with bazookas. However, it is unlikely that they could penetrate the amour of a British battleship with them and, without heat seeking technology; they will not be any use against aircraft.

Enter Adolf Hitler, fresh from his victories in France, and looking for someway to salvage something from the disaster of a failure to launch Operation Sealion. He offers Mussolini the use of German aircraft, the same forces that went to Italy in OTL and German ground forces in exchange for the technology behind Bazookas. His generals practically wet themselves when they heard the results from Sidi Barrani; these weapons could bring the whole German concept of Blitzkrieg to a halt – literarily. Flushed with his success, Mussolini drives a hard bargain: he wants aircraft, German tanks and the French territories in Africa in exchange for the technology. Hitler agrees at once.

Meanwhile, in Britain, Churchill is in serious trouble. He promised a victory over Italy – following the standard British practice of always picking on the weaker ally of a hostile coalition – and instead there has been another disaster. Worse, the brilliant early success of the liberation of Ethiopia and the capture of Italian territory in Africa is in serious jeopardy. German aircraft, operating from Egypt and – later – the Sudan are forcing British forces out of those territories and have succeeded in restoring Italian rule. Worse, after the destruction of a moderate percentage of their forces, the South African government, having sought and received certain guarantees from the Italian government, announced its withdrawal from the war. German military missions soon appear in Pretoria, trading information and building relations between the two nations.

The German aircraft in the Mediterranean are very effective. They cripple an aircraft carrier and sink a number of smaller ships. Operating from both sides of the ocean, they force the British navy out of the Med and allow the occupation of Malta by General Kurt Student’s airborne division. Some of the forces go to India and Singapore; Japanese forces are getting too aggressive for British tastes. The Germans realize that they need a proper long-range bomber and begin design work.

There are a number of interesting possibilities from the increased Italian confidence. One, which has never been explored in AH to the best of my knowledge, is the little matter of the Italian codes. In OTL, Germany forced Italy to switch to the German system, unaware that the allies could read the messages though ULTRA. This may have accounted for many of the Italian victories that never were, in short: defeats. In this Timeline, they may not switch, therefore blinding the British to their intentions until it is too late. (Or maybe the British will manage to crack the codes anyway.)

Stalin is more worried by the Italian success than by German ones, even though he realizes that Germany is the larger threat. The problem is both the possibility of butting heads with Italy in the Balkans, and the entire soviet defence doctrine being rendered useless. The Soviet plans, such as they were, involved absorbing an early attack and then counterattacking with waves of tanks, such as the T-34. However, the bazooka’s changed all that: Anyone who rushes tanks forward across a plain towards a Bazooka held position is asking for trouble. Worse, the USSR does not have any samples of the bazooka technology, although it’s quite simple to duplicate. Stalin is scared. This may mean that he will give up when (if) the Germans attack.

In both Britain and Germany, technical advances happen. Both sides soon master the Bazooka technology and improve upon it. One advancement is the fitting of a device that discharges a blast of superheated gas forward when the missile hits the target, melting a path though the armour of a tank. This could really ruin someone’s day. The Germans also push Panzer designs like they did after Stalingrad. By 1942, they could have more powerful tanks than anyone else, even the Soviets.

In this timeline, the strategic situation facing Hitler and his generals, while promising, offers hidden dangers and traps. There are a number of possible courses that they can take, each offers advantages, but the possibility of catastrophic disaster cannot be discounted. The axis as a whole has vastly increased prestige, but that cannot be risked in any crazy operation. The options are as follows:

1) Reinforce the Italian forces in Egypt and attack into Iran/Iraq. This offers a chance to seize the oil that the army needs and deliver a stunning blow at what remains of the British Empire. Seeing that Hitler classifies the Iranians as ‘fellow Aryans’, ‘liberating’ them offers him the possibility of more propaganda and willing allies. However, Mussolini is still clinging to his doctrine of ‘a separate war’ and may prove difficult to persuade, while any attack across the Suez would prove difficult in the face of British bazookas and the tough British infantry.

2) Possibly in conjunction with option #1, persuade, bully or invade Turkey into granting transit rights though her territory to outflank the British forces in the Sinai. This offers the same advantages as #1, but has the disadvantages of A) worrying Stalin, B) showing that Germany has no respect for neutral rights, therefore worrying the USA and C) the possibility of becoming bogged down at Istanbul. This would allow the Italians the glory, and the punishment, of the push across the Suez, while allowing the deployment of German tanks in territory ideally suited for them, while minimising the bazooka impact.

3) Proceed with the original plan of invading the Soviet Union in late 1941. With the forces that were Afrika Korps in OTL, Bazooka technology and more substantial Italian help, the possibility of a successful campaign are much higher than in OTL. However, this would be a long, hard-fought campaign with the possibility of is disintegrating into a replay of the First World War – a war Germany cannot win. (But does Hitler realise that?)

4) Make peace with Britain on the basis of the Status Quo Ante. This would allow the British Empire to survive longer, while clearing the decks before any further campaigns. As an added bonus, the German territories in Africa, lost after the First World War, could be returned to German in the peace treaty. This offers an additional source of slave labour for the German factories.

5) Working with South Africa, Spain, and Italy, develop the resources of the African continent and abandon further conquest for now. However, this does not solve Germany’s oil problem, although most of the vital materials that Germany needs can be found in Africa.

So, what do you think should happen? Will Greece still be attacked by Italy? Will Germany attack the Soviet Union? What would happen then, if the Germans have a weapon to counter the T-34, the finest tank in the world at the time? Would Moscow still avoid capture? And what about Japan? Would the additional British forces be able to stave off the fall of Singapore? What role would nationalism, Iraqi, Iranian and Indian, play in the developing world? Should I continue this?

Question: Why Bazookas? I was looking for something that was not too ASBish and it is possible that they would have been invented earlier. I did consider making France the Bazooka country, but Italy seemed to have more potential.

Question: Would South Africa really have left the war? Throughout WW2, South Africa was not very enthusiastic about the war, and many of them symparsised with the Nazi attitudes towards race. If Britain had looked like falling, they might have switched sides or declared neutrality.

Question: If bazookas are so simple, why is Stalin scared? Basically, he does not know that bazookas are simple to make and he now thinks that the Italians are better then they looked before 1939.

Question: Can the British really stop them at the Suez? Sure, the Israelis did that to the Egyptians for precisely the same reason, their bazooka advantage was minimised here. It is only fair to note that Emperor Blair disagreed with me on this point.