Talk:Mediterranean and Middle East theatre of World War II

message: I suggest revising the following sentence from the article:
"A massive 50-day-long aerial campaign was launched against the island of Leros defended by Italian troops commanded by Admiral Mascherpa, who resisted the German air offensive before the landing of British support troops, which was invaded by the Germans who landed by sea and air on 12 November and surrendered four days later."
It isnt' clear if British support troops arrived before the German attack and it isn't clear who surrendered - presumably it was not the Germans, but was it the British and the Italians or was it only the Italians?
Tashiro~enwiki (talk) 17:06, 31 May 2024 (UTC)
thread_title: Sentence revision suggestion 

message: Wouldn't Iran be considered part of this theatre as it was invaded by both the Soviet Union and Britain? 
Takinginterest01 (talk) 22:38, 12 February 2018 (UTC)
thread_title:  Iran 

message: Please explain
You've reverted me twice and twice labelled me a vandal for this article Mediterranean and Middle East theatre of World War II for a perfectly proper and one would think innocuous use of the 'redirect' template . Could you please give an actual explanation? Doprendek (talk) 15:26, 6 March 2018 (UTC)
replies: text: I reverted you once and the nature of the redirect is explanation enough; it's irrelevant to the article and those redirected to. Regards Keith-264 (talk) 15:38, 6 March 2018 (UTC)
replies: text:  1) You reverted me twice. And twice called me a vandal, which you are very casual and unapologetic about. That is a serious charge based on no evidence whatsoever. 2) My addition has no relevance to the main article--well, no kidding. That is because it is for people who are searching for the article "African Theatre" and come to Mediterranean and Middle East theatre of World War II by mistake. That is the whole point of the 'redirect' template. If you've got a problem with something, then it should be with the redirect to this article from "African Theater", almost an exact spelling. To reiterate: My use was exactly to the point of the 'redirect' template. Doprendek (talk) 17:30, 6 March 2018 (UTC)

text: No, someone else reverted you the first time. I suggest that you take this to the talk page.Keith-264 (talk) 17:34, 6 March 2018 (UTC)
thread_title:  Copied from ed talk page Comment 

message: Hi,
I altered the wording to "Italy launched various attacks around the Mediterranean, which by and large, were successful rather than "largely unsuccessful" for the following reasons:
a) Italy early on had set-backs and limited successes (France, Greece, Yugoslavia, Malta, Taranto), but overall, the Italian thrusts into the Mediterranean were neither outright failures nor astounding successes. They were, atleast it seems to me and other historians, qualified successes. And as the war progressed, the Italian military competence increased rather than decreased. 
It's always been difficult to place Italy in either the failure or success categories before 1943. It did in the end, occupy a chunk of French territory, two-thirds of Greece, a big chunk of the former Yugoslavia, and sink a respectable amount of British warships and merchant vessels. The frogmen attack in Suez could be classed as a success. Not all of its operations in North Africa after Operation Compass can be described as failures, albeit with German assistance. Its bombing campaign of Malta did have an appreciable effect of neutralizing the island's usefulness. Its army in Russia did have its victories and was most welcomed by the hard-pressed Germans who needed every assistance they could get there.
To me, as well as recent research, suggests that the Italian thrusts into the Mediterranean, not to mention East Africa, were by no means largely unsuccessful.
188.215.109.113 (talk) 17:06, 22 March 2018 (UTC)
replies: text: Perhaps you can cite some scholars who support this view??? Better read 1) Hitler's Italian Allies: Royal Armed Forces, Fascist Regime by MacGregor Knox - 2000 who states "This book tries to understand why the Italian armed forces and Fascist regime were so remarkably ineffective at an activity - war - central to their existence."  2) Norman Polmar, ‎Thomas B. Allen - 2012 state ‎"when war came the Regia Arronautira failed to perform effectively in modern conflict. Although the Italian Air Force had been in action in the conquest of Ethiopia and the SPANISH CIVIL WAR, it was totally unprepared for combat when BENITO MUSSOLINI declared war on England and France in June 1940. At the time Italy had about 2,500 military aircraft in service. Only 11,000 more were produced during the next three years, far fewer than any of the other major belligerents."  3) Zabecki 2015: "In the spring of 1941, Germany temporarily salvaged the Italian disaster in the Balkans with a rapid campaign, which left Italy in control of Montenegro and parts of Slovenia and Dalmatia....the British overran Italian East Africa...the Italian defeat in North Africa" 4) Donald S. Detwiler, ‎et al 1979: "Italy's entrance into the war showed very early that her military strength was only a hollow shell. Italy's military failures against France, Greece, Yugoslavia and in the African Theatres of war shook Italy's new prestige mightily."  Rjensen (talk) 02:25, 23 March 2018 (UTC)

text: A string of strategic disasters in Africa, the Balkans and Russia, culminating in the surrender of September 1943, interspersed with a few operational successes doesn't seem all that much like a victory. Keith-264 (talk) 14:32, 23 March 2018 (UTC)

text: I think that you are our resident impostor wasting everyone's time.Keith-264 (talk) 18:28, 23 March 2018 (UTC)

text: I could point out that in North Africa the Italians had lost (an army) until Rommel bailed them out.Slatersteven (talk) 18:50, 23 March 2018 (UTC)

text: Oh and yes ultimately the Germans did fail.Slatersteven (talk) 18:53, 23 March 2018 (UTC)
thread_title:  by and large, Italy was more successful than less successful 

message: German losses (including those captured upon final surrender) being over two million. really? Keith-264 (talk) 06:35, 22 April 2019 (UTC)
thread_title:  Lead