A Prelude to Full Occupation

Abstract

This chapter focuses on the city of Menton, a small area occupied by the Italian Army from 1940 to 1942. Menton became the primary locus of the Italianization campaign, which mirrored the Germanization efforts carried out in Alsace-Lorraine. The forced Italianization encompassed education and religion, but also touched other aspects of daily life in Menton. The chapter shows how Italy’s unofficial annexation of the area became controversial as Italian military authorities clashed with the country’s civil servants who endeavored to make Menton a city model of the new Fascist region. It also considers the entente between Italian soldiers and the French populace and the Italian authorities’ implementation of a more nuanced approach to the local population of Menton. It suggests that the failure of the Italianization campaign in Menton probably shaped the Italian military occupation policy of November 1942.