Mediterranean and Middle East theatres of World War II

The Mediterranean and Middle East Theatres of World War II, were major theatres of operations during the Second World War.

Mediterranean and Middle East theatre
Part of The Second World War
Mediterranean in 1941
Date 10 June 1940 - 25 May 1945['nb' 1] Location Mediterranean and Middle East Result Allied victory
Belligerents
Allies  United Kingdom  United States (from 1941)  Free France (1940-1944)  PGFR (1944-1945)  Soviet Union (from 1941)[nb 1] Yugoslavia (April. 1941)  Yugoslavia (from July 1941)[nb 2]  Greece Albania  Ethiopia (from 1941)  Italy (from 1943) (and others)	Axis  Italy (until 1943)  Italian Social Republic (from 1943)  Germany  Hungary[nb 3]  Romania (until 1944)[nb 4]  Bulgaria (1941-1944) (and others)  Vichy France (until 1942)['nb' 2]  Iraq (1941)  Iran (1941)
Commanders and leaders
Winston Churchill Franklin D. Roosevelt # Harry S. Truman Charles de Gaulle Peter II Josip Broz Tito George II	Benito Mussolini   Adolf Hitler  † Miklós Horthy['nb' 3] Boris III # Philippe Pétain['nb' 4]

History

1940 - 1941

On the 10th of June 1940, Benito Mussolini (the dictator of italy), declared war on France who at that time was at war with Germany, but France would surrender to the axis powers and a German puppet known as Vichy France was established.

In exile, Charles de Gaulle (a french general) proclaimed Free France, an allied government-in-exile part of the allied powers against Germany with de Gaulle as chairman of national committee.

Italy then invaded British Somaliland, and succeeded. then italy invaded Egypt (starting the North African Campaign), and it did not succeed. After this, Italy attempted to invade Greece, but it failed. When 1941 began, British and commonwealth forces invaded Italian East Africa, and that would succeed (the Italian invasion of British Somaliland and the allied invasion of Italian East Africa are both part of the East African campaign).

Meanwhile Hungary, Romania, and Bulgaria joined the axis, Yugoslavia joined to, but a coup had overthrown the government, so Germany, Italy, and Hungary invaded Yugoslavia, and in 10-20 days, Yugoslavia and Greece surrendered. There would be resistance all over Yugoslavia and Greece in the next 4 years, the British had sent more troops from Egypt and Greece, so axis forces moved deeper into Egyptian territory, but an Australian force at Tobruk, prevented supplies from reaching the axis army’s.

Iraq set up an axis government, so British and commonwealth forces invaded Iraq. (they also invaded Vichy french-controlled Syria and Lebanon)

On the 22nd of June 1941, Germany invaded the USSR. The British made a supply line to the eastern front, but Iran (a country in the supply line) supported the axis, so Anglo-Soviet forces invaded Iran.

On the 7th of December 1941, Japan bombed pearl harbour, which would bring the United States in to the war.

1942 - 1943

In Egypt, the axis forces were pushed back, then the allied forces were pushed back, then after a battle at El Alamein, allied forces and new American forces landing in Algeria pushed the axis forces out of africa, and Vichy France was invaded by the axis powers.

On the 9th of July 1943, allied forces invaded sicily, they would reach the main land in September, meanwhile, Mussolini was ousted from power and Italy surrendered on the 8th of September, and German forces in Italy occupied Italy and established the German puppet state the Italian Social Republic, and the italian civil war began. (Germany also invaded every Italian held area in axis-occupied Europe, including Albania, Montenegro, and the Italian occupied areas of greece and Croatia)

1944 - 1945

On the 17th of January 1944, the battle of Monte Cassino began, and it would last for 4 months with Rome liberated in June, the allies would march up the Italian mainland, in august, allied forces landed in southern france and marched up southern France leaving the Mediterranean theatre to link up with the other allied forces on the Western Front in the European theatre of World War II, meanwhile, Romania changed sides on the 24 of August as well as Bulgaria on the 9th of September.

on the 30th soviet soldiers would cross into Yugoslavia, helping the partisans liberating yugoslavia, in October, the British landed in southern Greece to liberate the country from occupation. meanwhile, Albanian partisans liberated Albania in November and formed a provisional government. In December, Greek partisans started revolts in Athens. But the partisans would loose the British and anti-communist Greeks.

in March 1945, the Yugoslavs formed the Provisional Government of the Democratic Federal Yugoslavia and the Yugoslav People's Army. In April, the Yugoslavs started the last offensive against the axis. they liberated Sarajevo on the sixth and reached the outskirts of Zagreb. in the same month, Allied forces advanced into Italian territory, Mussolini tried to escape to Switzerland, but he was caught by Italian partisans and was executed on the 28th, two days later, Hitler committed suicide to prevent being caught by the soviet army surrounding berlin, on the 1st, the Yugoslavs liberated Trieste and linked up with the Western Allies at Monfalcone. that same day, the national republican army (the army of the RSI) surrendered, the next day on the 2nd, the other axis forces in Italy surrendered, and on the 8th, Germany would surrender, ending World War II in the Mediterranean and Middle East^[1].

References

1. Germany unconditionally surrendered on 8 May 1945 but Croatia still fought until the end of the Battle of Odžak on 25 May.
2. During operation torch, (the allied invasion of french North Africa) the axis invaded Vichy France. But Pétain stayed in power until 1944 when France was liberated by the allies.
3. until 1944 when a pro-axis coup (Operation Panzerfaust) removed Horthy from power.
4. untill 1944 when France was liberated.

1. the Soviets invaded Iran in 1941 to secure the supply line and the Soviets were involved in the Liberation of Yugoslavia in 1944 during the Belgrade offensive.
2. the DF Yugoslavia started as the Yugoslav Partisans in July 1941. they became the DF Yugoslavia in November 1943. And then in March 1945, the partisans were formed in to the Yugoslav People's Army and also formed a coalition government with the Yugoslav government-in-exile called the Provisional Government of the Democratic Federal Yugoslavia.
3. hungary was involved in the 1941 axis invasion of Yugoslavia.
4. romania was involved in operation Achse, an operation to disarm Italian soldiers after Italy surrendered to the allies.

1. Germany unconditionally surrendered on 8 May 1945 but Croatia still fought until the end of the Battle of Odžak on 25 May.