<P> An April 1938 report by German Naval High Command (OKM) warned that Italy as a combatant ally would be a serious "burden" to Germany if a war between Germany and Britain occurred, and recommended that it would be preferable for Germany to seek for Italy to be a "benevolent neutral" during the war . On 18 March 1940, Hitler told Mussolini in person that the war would be over by the summer and that Italy's military involvement was not required . </P> <P> Mussolini on 29 May 1940 discussed the situation of the Italian Army in which he acknowledged that it was not ideal but believed that it was satisfactory, and discussed the timeline for a declaration of war on Britain and France . He said: "a delay of two weeks or a month would not be an improvement, and Germany could think we entered the war when the risk was very small...And this could be a burden on us when peace comes ." </P> <P> After entering the war in 1940, Italy had been slated to be granted a series of territorial concessions from France that Hitler had agreed to with Italian foreign minister Ciano, that included Italian annexation of claimed territories in southeastern France, a military occupation of southeastern France up to the river Rhone, and receiving the French colonies of Tunisia and Djibouti . However, on 22 June 1940, Mussolini suddenly informed Hitler that Italy was abandoning its claims "in the Rhone, Corsica, Tunisia, and Djibouti", instead requesting a demilitarized zone along the French border, and on 24 June Italy agreed to an armistice with the Vichy regime to that effect . Later on 7 July 1940, the Italian government changed its decision, and Ciano attempted to make an agreement with Hitler to have Nice, Corsica, Tunisia, and Djibouti be transferred to Italy; Hitler adamantly rejected any new settlement or separate French - Italian peace agreement for the time being prior to the defeat of Britain in the war . However Italy continued to press Germany for the incorporation of Nice, Corsica, and Tunisia into Italy, with Mussolini sending a letter to Hitler in October 1940, informing him that as the 850,000 Italians living under France's current borders formed the largest minority community, that ceding these territories to Italy would be beneficial to both Germany and Italy as it would reduce France's population from 35 million to 34 and forestall any possibility of resumed French ambitions for expansion or hegemony in Europe . Germany had considered the possibility of invading and occupying the non-occupied territories of Vichy France including occupying Corsica; Germany capturing the Vichy French fleet for use by Germany, in December 1940 with the proposed Operation Attila . An invasion of Vichy France by Germany and Italy took place with Case Anton in November 1942 . </P> <P> In mid-1940, in response to an agreement by Romanian Conducător Ion Antonescu to accept German "training troops" to be sent to Romania, both Mussolini and Stalin in the Soviet Union were angered by Germany's expanding sphere of influence into Romania, and especially because neither was informed in advance of the action in spite of German agreements with Italy and the Soviet Union at that time . Mussolini in a conversation with Ciano responded to Hitler's deployment of troops into Romania, saying: "Hitler always faces me with accomplished facts . Now I'll pay him back by his same currency . He'll learn from the papers that I have occupied Greece . So the balance will be re-established .". However Mussolini later decided to inform Hitler in advance of Italy's designs on Greece . Upon hearing of Italy's intervention against Greece, Hitler was deeply concerned as he said that the Greeks were not bad soldiers that Italy might not win in its war with Greece, as he did not want Germany to become embroiled in a Balkan conflict . </P>

First axis country to be defeated in ww2