Not all of the Italian soldiers surrendered , a minority of them joined the Repubblica Sociale Italiana RSI Italian Social Republic and fought under the banner of the Esercito Nazionale Repubblicano ENR National Republican Army , but that ' s besides the point . The Germans began defending Italy on behalf of the Italians , it wasn ' t until two months after the Italian campaign began that Italy surrendered and the Germans annexed what they could of the country and installed Mussolini as the dictator of the RSI puppet state . Regardless , I didn ' t say that the Germans were defending Italy on behalf of the Italians in my original comment . I said that the Germans did more to defend Italy than the Italians did , which is entirely true .