It would not take long for the co-belligerent forces of Italy to reorganize and contribute to the war effort against Germany. The difference in capability and boldness became apparent in 1940, during the invasion of France. The First Italian War, sometimes referred to as the Italian War of 1494 or Charles VIII's Italian War, was the opening phase of the Italian Wars.The war pitted Charles VIII of France, who had initial Milanese aid, against the Holy Roman Empire, Spain and an alliance of Italian powers led by Pope Alexander VI, known as the League of Venice. A further seven, including the highly effective French Expeditionary Corps, were withdrawn in the summer of 1944 for the Allied landings in southern France. The Invasion of Sicily . Finally, in January 1945, four more divisions were transferred from Italy to North West Europe. Many Allied units had been withdrawn to be used in Operation Dragoon (the invasion of the South of France launched in August 1944), and progress was slow. Operation Dragoon (initially Operation Anvil) was the code name for the landing operation of the Allied invasion of Provence (Southern France) on 15 August 1944. The Italian Campaign and the Road to Rome in rare color photos, 1943-1945 American jeeps traveled through a bombed-out town during the drive towards Rome, World War II. Now two opposing powers were established on the Italian mainland: France in Milan, Spain in Naples (as well as Sicily and Sardinia). Thousands of Italian prisoners of war were rounded up and shot, arguably one the biggest war crimes committed by the German Army in World War Two. On June 10, 1940, Italy declared war on France and Britain, largely because its Fascist prime minister, Benito Mussolini, had territorial and imperial ambitions of his own. ... On April 29, the two commanders signed the instrument of surrender which took effect on May 2, 1945, ending the fighting in Italy. The bombing of Italian cities began little more than 24 hours after Mussolini's declaration of war on France and Britain, while the last bombs of the war in Italy fell at the beginning of May 1945 on the route to the Brenner pass, to obstruct the return home of German troops. Italy sat back while Germany swept across northern France, driving the British into the sea and smashing the French armies. By 1515 the French had even lost Milan, having been driven once more from Italy, this time by a league formed at the initiative of Pope Julius II. On October 13, 1943, Italy declared war on its former partner. The operation was initially planned to be executed in conjunction with Operation Overlord, the Allied landing in Normandy, but the lack of available resources led to a cancellation of the second landing. The French defenders resisted fiercely, but had to surrender ultimately territory to reinforcements from the Cosseria Division and to prevent the Regia Aeronautica from … The invasion was launched early in the morning of June 6, 1944 —the famous D-Day—barely a day after U.S. troops had liberated the Italian capital of Rome. A member of the Sforza family became duke of Milan. The Italian Campaign of World War II was the name of the Allied operations in and around Italy from 1943 to the end of the war. Following Italy's declaration of war on Britain and France, Italian troops quickly seized British Somaliland in the Horn of Africa and laid siege to the island of Malta. It was not until April 1945 that the Allies launched an overwhelming offensive that broke through German positions, and forced the surrender of German Army Group C on 29 April. The Italian invasion of France in June 1940, also called the Italo-French War, was the first Italian military campaign during the Second World War.The Italian invaders attacked the French Alps and town of Menton.