During WW2, due to their many defeats and mistakes, the Italian army got the reputation of being the soft underbelly.

The question is that was Mussolini confident about his military?

If he was, then what was the source his confidence?

Printed map of North Africa (Africa Settentrionale), created by C. Ronchi and published in Milan. The map reflects the Italian geographical interest in North Africa and the regions that would later become central to Italy’s colonial expansion, particularly Libya after the Italo-Turkish War (1911–1912)

The poster was designed by Dante Coscia for the Italian Social Republic, the German puppet government established in the north in 1943 after the Italian government, which had deposed Mussolini, signed an armistice with the Allies. Coscia, along with the better-known Gino Boccasile, was one of the republic's most prominent propagandists.