Axis forces, including the Kingdom of Italy, invaded and defeated the Kingdom of Yugoslavia in April 1941. Following its defeat, various Yugoslav territories were occupied and annexed by the Axis powers; Mussolini's Italy gained most of Slovenia, Kosovo, coastal and inland areas of the Croatian Littoral and large chunks of the coastal Dalmatia region (along with nearly all of the Adriatic islands and the Bay of Kotor). It also gained control over the Italian governorate of Montenegro, and was granted the kingship in the Independent State of Croatia, though wielding little real power within it; although it did (alongside Germany) maintain a "de facto" zone of influence within the borders of the NDH.