Italo Balbo

Italo Balbo was an interesting character from the war.  Marshal of the Italian Air Force and Mussolini's heir apparent, he was against Italy's alliance with Nazi Germany.

In 1939, after the German invasion of Poland, Balbo visited Rome to express his displeasure with Mussolini's support for German dictator Adolf Hitler. Balbo was the only Fascist of rank to publicly criticize this aspect of Mussolini's foreign policy. He argued that Italy should side with Britain. But Balbo attracted little following to his argument. When informed of Italy's formal alliance with Nazi Germany, Balbo exclaimed:  "You will all wind up shining the shoes of the Germans!".

There is something that I read somewhere, although, I can no longer find it, which told of the British 'war magician' Jasper Maskelyne, an expert in camouflage, who had made the harbour of Alexandria appear to enemy bombers to be several miles away.  This was discovered by Balbo, who instructed that dummy bombs be dropped on the dummy harbour.

On the 28th of June 1940, Balbo's aircraft was shot down by 'friendly fire'.  During his funeral in Tobruk, the RAF sent a single plane which dropped flowers.

Does anyone have any further information both on the dummy bombs being dropped and the RAF dropping flowers at his funeral?

On this day in WW2

27th September
1939
Poland surrenders after 26 days of fighting the German invasion from the west initially and then the Soviet invasion from the east.
1940
The Tripartite Pact was signed between Nazi Germany, Fascist Italy and Imperial Japan.
1941
The first of the Liberty ships, built by the US under the lend-lease scheme for the UK, is launched.  Another 2,700 followed.
1942
The only US surface ship to sink a German surface warship, the SS Stephen Hopkins sinks the surface raider Stier before sinking below the waves herself.
1943
Mussolini holds his first cabinet meeting in northern Italy, while Italian resistance forces start attacking German troops in Naples.
1944
In Estonia, Soviet forces have eliminated most German resistance.

Brazil at war

Initially, Brazil maintained a position of neutrality, trading with both the Allies and the Axis Powers, while government policies indicated a leaning toward the Axis. However, as the war progressed, trade with the Axis countries became almost impossible and the United States initiated forceful diplomatic and economic efforts to bring Brazil onto the Allied side.

At the beginning of 1942, Brazil permitted the United States to set up air bases on its territory, and on 28 January the country severed diplomatic relations with Germany, Japan, and Italy. After that, 36 Brazilian merchant ships were sunk by the German and Italian navies, which led the Brazilian government to declare war against Germany and Italy on 22 August 1942.

Brazil then sent a 25,700 strong Expeditionary Force to Europe that fought mainly in Italy, from September 1944 to May 1945. Brazil was the only South American country to send troops to fight in Europe during the Second World War.

Today in WW2

26th September
1939
Soviet bombers seen over Estonian capital, Tallinn.
1940
Japan attacks French Indochina.
1941
34,000 Jews are murdered by German forces in Kiev.
1942
The August Frank memorandum is issued with plans for carrying out the Holocaust.
1943
Beginning of the Battle of Leros in Greece, where British, Greek and Italian forces were attacked by German bombers before the landing of troops on the island.  Until two months ago, Italy had been an ally of Germany and an occupation force on the island.
1944
Brazilian troops control the Serchio valley region after ten days of fighting.

At war with the French

British warships were also in battle with Vichy French forces of the coast of Africa on this day in 1940.  The French submarine Beveziers torpedoed British battleship HMS Resolution.  Interestingly, as pro-Axis Vichy France fights on behalf of its former foe Germany against its former ally Britain, Axis partner Japan threatens French Indochina, with Japanese forces soon in action against Vichy French troops.

Today in WW2

25th September
1939
Final German assault on Warsaw
Soviet troops along the Estonian border include 600 tanks and 600 aircraft and 160 000 men.
1940
Vichy French aircraft return to Gibraltar for a second day of bombings.
1941
German and Romanian troops seize the Perekop Isthmus, linking the Crimean peninsula to the Ukrainian mainland.
1942
Swiss Police Instruction denied entry into Switzerland to Jewish refugees.
1943
The German Armed Forces command issued a public decree for the removal from service of anyone classified as a 'Mischling of the First Degree', a person who had two Jewish, or otherwise non-Aryan, grandparents.
1944
British troops pull out of Arnhem with failure of Operation Market Garden. Over 6,000 paratroopers are captured.