 Because of what Weinberg called the "extraordinary incompetence" of Badoglio who like Victor Emmanuel had not anticipated Operation Achse until it was far too late, thousands of Italian soldiers with no leadership were taken prisoner by the Germans without resisting in the Balkans, France and Italy itself, to be taken off to work as slave labor in factories in Germany, an experience that many did not survive.The way in which Victor Emmanuel mishandled the armistice was to become as almost controversial in Italy as his support for Fascism.Under the terms of the armistice, the ACC had the ultimate power with the Italian government in the south being in many an analogous position to the Italian Social Republic under the Germans, but as the British historian James Holland noted the crucial difference was that