Re: Why did the US declare war on Germany?

in article dfkhr2$fds$1@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx, Cub Driver at
warbird@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx wrote on 9/6/05 9:58 AM:

> On Tue, 6 Sep 2005 02:54:40 +0000 (UTC), Michael Emrys
> <emrys@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>
>> "If Herr Hitler wants to declare war
>> on Japan, that's his business. But we are not allies." Cf. here the status
>> of Italy after it declared war on Germany after surrendering to the Allies.
>
> Are you saying that Roosevelt told the Italians to buzz off in 1943?
> As I recallt, Italian civilian muleskinners and Italian air force
> planes and pilots were indeed engaged in combat against German forces
> in southern Italy. And Italian losses (probably mostly partisan, I
> suppose) against the German occupation of northern Italy were very
> high, though it's true they probably weren't working in concert with
> the American or British armies.

Their status was co-belligerents, not allies. Like I said, if Hitler wanted
to declare war on Japan, he was welcome to, but that didn't make him an
ally.

Correct me if I am mistaken, but there were indeed formed units of the
post-Mussolini Italian army and air force that served under Allied command.
That still didn't qualify Italy as an ally.

Michael
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