"island, U.S. 7th Army lost 8,781 men (2,237 killed or missing, 5,946 wounded, and 598 captured). Following the Allied victory in Sicily, Italian public sentiment swung against the war and Italian dictator Benito Mussolini. He was deposed in a coup, and the Allies struck quickly, hoping resistance would be slight. The first Allied troops landed on the Italian peninsula on 3 September 1943 and Italy surrendered on 8 September, however the Italian Social Republic was established soon afterwards. The first American troops landed at Salerno on 9 September 1943, by U.S. 5th Army, however German troops in Italy were prepared"
"when the British Eighth Army landed in the toe of Italy on 3 September 1943, in Operation Baytown. The Italian government signed the surrender the same day, believing they would be given time to make preparations against the anticipated German intervention. The Allies announced the Armistice of Cassibile on 8 September and German forces implemented plans to occupy the Italian peninsula. On 9 September, American and British forces of the US Fifth Army landed at Salerno in Operation Avalanche and more British airborne troops landed at Taranto in Operation Slapstick. German forces which had escaped from Sicily were concentrated against"
"of historian Carlo D'Este, Clark ""mistakenly believed he had saved the Allied invasion by his leadership, when in fact it was precisely his inexperience that precipitated most of the problems the invasion force faced."" Allied invasion of Italy The Allied invasion of Italy was the Allied amphibious landing on mainland Italy that took place on 3 September 1943 during the early stages of the Italian Campaign of World War II. The operation was undertaken by General Sir Harold Alexander's 15th Army Group (comprising General Mark W. Clark's Fifth Army and General Bernard Montgomery's British Eighth Army) and followed the successful"
"Two months later, the Allied powers of Great Britain and the United States successfully launched their invasion of Sicily, codenamed Operation Husky. The island being completely occupied by the end of August, the Allies next turned their attention to the invasion of Italy. On 3 September 1943, the British Eighth Army, under the command of General Bernard Montgomery, crossed the Straits of Messina from Sicily and landed in Calabria during Operation Baytown to seize the ports of Reggio and San Giovanni. The main invasion was planned for 9 September, with the U.S. Fifth Army, commanded by Lieutenant General Mark Clark,"
"1943, exactly four years since Britain had declared war on Germany, the Eighth Army landed in Italy at Reggio Calabria, with the US Fifth Army under Lieutenant General Mark W. Clark landing at Salerno six days later. The 1st Airborne Division under Major General George Hopkinson landed at Taranto on the same day, encountering little in the way of serious resistance, although just a few days later the division's GOC was killed in action (and replaced by Major General Ernest Down). On 23 September Allfrey's V Corps HQ landed, taking the 1st Airborne Division, Major General Dudley Russell's 8th Indian"
"invasion of Italy when it landed at Salerno on 9 September 1943, along with the British X Corps, under the command of the U.S. Fifth Army as part of Operation Avalanche. The stiffness of the German defences sorely tested the VI Corps and it suffered heavy casualties before German attempts to throw the Americans back into the sea were thwarted by the artillery of the 45th ""Thunderbird"" and 36th"" Arrowhead"" Infantry Divisions, strongly supported by naval gunfire, bombing and the approach of British Eighth Army from the south. Major General Dawley was replaced after the battle, as he was judged"
"fighting in Italy continued even after the fall of Berlin. In addition, the invasion left the Allies in a position of supplying food and supplies to conquered territory, a burden which would otherwise have fallen on Germany. As well, Italy occupied by a hostile German army would have created additional problems for the German Commander-in-Chief Albrecht von Kesselring. The main landings were scheduled one week later, 9 September 1943. The main force would land around Salerno on the western coast in ""Operation Avalanche"". It would consist of the US Fifth Army under General Mark W. Clark, comprising the U.S. VI"
"Mark Clark's U.S. Fifth Army. Both operations took place on 9 September, following the Italian surrender the day before. The surrender had been agreed on 3 September, but was not publicly announced until 8 September, and had no direct effect on ""Baytown"". Operation Baytown Operation Baytown was an Allied amphibious landing on the mainland of Italy that took place on 3 September 1943, part of the Allied invasion of Italy, itself part of the Italian Campaign, during the Second World War. The attack was made by Lieutenant-General Miles C. Dempsey's British XIII Corps, which had under command the 1st Canadian"
"The Allied landings in Italy in September 1943 by two Allied armies, following shortly after the Allied landings in Sicily in July, commanded by General Sir Harold Alexander, the Commander-in-Chief (C-in-C) of the 15th Army Group (later retitled the Allied Armies in Italy), were followed by an advance northward on two fronts, one on each side of the central mountain range forming the ""spine"" of Italy. On the western front, the American Fifth Army, commanded by Lieutenant General Mark W. Clark, which had suffered very heavy casualties during the main landing at Salerno (codenamed Operation Avalanche) in September, moved from"
"mainland of Italy itself, beginning with Operation Baytown. In conjunction with the Anglo-American landings at Salerno (near Naples) by Lieutenant General Mark Clark's US Fifth Army and seaborne landings by British paratroops in the heel of Italy (including the key port of Taranto, where they disembarked without resistance directly into the port), Montgomery led the Eighth Army up the toe of Italy. Montgomery abhorred the lack of coordination, the dispersion of effort, the strategic muddle and lack of opportunism he saw in the Allied effort in Italy and was glad to leave the ""dog's breakfast"" on 23 December 1943. Montgomery"
"Operation Baytown Operation Baytown was an Allied amphibious landing on the mainland of Italy that took place on 3 September 1943, part of the Allied invasion of Italy, itself part of the Italian Campaign, during the Second World War. The attack was made by Lieutenant-General Miles C. Dempsey's British XIII Corps, which had under command the 1st Canadian Infantry Division (Major-General Guy Simonds) and the British 5th Infantry Division (Major-General Gerard C. Bucknall). XIII Corps was part of the British Eighth Army, commanded by General Sir Bernard Montgomery. XIII Corps crossed the Straits of Messina from Sicily to Reggio di"
"Operation Avalanche Operation Avalanche was the codename for the Allied landings near the port of Salerno, executed on 9 September 1943, part of the Allied invasion of Italy. The Italians withdrew from the war the day before the invasion, but the Allies landed in an area defended by German troops. Planned under the name ""Top Hat"", it was supported by the deception plan Operation Boardman. The landings were carried out by the US Fifth Army, under American General Mark W. Clark. It comprised the U.S. VI Corps, the British X Corps and the US 82nd Airborne Division, a total of"
"of Etna towards Messina, supported by a series of amphibious landings on the northern coast that propelled Patton's troops into Messina shortly before the first units of the Eighth Army. The defending German and Italian forces were unable to prevent the Allied capture of the island, but they succeeded in evacuating most of their troops to the mainland, with the last leaving on 17 August 1943. The Allied forces gained experience in opposed amphibious operations, coalition warfare, and large airborne drops. Forces of the British Eighth Army, still under Montgomery, landed in the 'toe' of Italy on 3 September 1943"
"1943 the Allied Armies in Italy (AAI), consisting of the American Fifth and British Eighth Armies, commanded by General Alexander, were bogged down in front of the Winter Line defences, 80 miles south of Rome. Operation Shingle, General Alexander envisioned, would land Lucas's Anglo-American VI Corps in an amphibious operation at the port town of Anzio, behind the German line, which ran from Monte Cassino to the mouth of the River Garigliano, and draw off German defenders from the Winter Line to face the new threat at Anzio, enabling elements of Clark's Fifth Army to break through at Cassino, drive"
"mainland until the surrender of German forces in Italy in May 1945. On 10 July 1943, Sicily was invaded. The operation, named Operation Husky, was directed from Malta. British forces attacked on the eastern flank of the landing, with the British Eighth Army's XXX Corps coming ashore at Cape Passero and XIII Corps at Syracuse. The Eighth Army's job was to advance up the east coast of Sicily. Originally British forces were to have the main role in the attack on the island but, when their advance slowed, the American Seventh Army on the west side of the island swept"
"Eighth Army but soon became part of the U.S. Fifth Army, under Lieutenant General Mark W. Clark. Operation Shingle was an Allied amphibious landing against Axis forces in the area of Anzio and Nettuno, Italy. The operation was intended to outflank German forces at the Winter Line and enable an attack on the Italian capital of Rome. The resulting combat is commonly called the Battle of Anzio. The division came under the command of the U.S. VI Corps, under Major General John P. Lucas. The landings began on 22 January 1944. Although resistance had been expected, as seen at the"
"Group. The Eighth Army outflanked the Mareth defences in March 1943 and after further fighting alongside the British First Army, the other 18th Army Group component which had been campaigning in Tunisia since November 1942, the Axis forces in North Africa surrendered in May 1943. The Eighth Army then participated in the Italian Campaign which began with the Allied invasion of the island of Sicily, code-named Operation ""Husky"". When the Allies subsequently invaded mainland Italy, elements of the Eighth Army landed in the 'toe' of Italy in Operation ""Baytown"" and at Taranto in Operation ""Slapstick"". After linking its left flank"
"Over the next five weeks, 500,000 Allied soldiers, sailors, and airmen fought German and Italian forces for control of the island. Although the Allied powers were victorious, the Axis managed to evacuate over 100,000 men and 10,000 vehicles from Sicily across the Straits of Messina during the first seventeen days in August. The Allies then invaded the Italian mainland in early September 1943 at Salerno (""Operation Avalanche""), in Calabria (""Operation Baytown"") and Taranto (""Operation Slapstick""). On 8 September, before the main invasion at Salerno by Lieutenant General Mark W. Clark's U.S. Fifth Army (which contained significant British units), the surrender"
"to England. Following three unsuccessful attempts in early 1944 by the U.S. Fifth Army to break through the German defensive positions known to the Allies as the Winter Line, the Eighth Army was covertly switched from the Adriatic coast in April 1944 to concentrate all forces, except the V Corps, on the western side of the Apennine Mountains alongside the U.S. Fifth Army in order to mount a major offensive with them. This fourth Battle of Monte Cassino was successful with the Eighth Army breaking into central Italy and the Fifth Army entering Rome in early June. After the Allied"
"U.S. Fifth Army, under Lieutenant General Mark W. Clark, in preparation for the invasion of mainland Italy. On 3 September 1943, Italy surrendered to the Allied powers. Hoping to occupy as much of the country as possible before the German Army could react, the U.S. Fifth Army prepared to attack Salerno. On 10 September, elements of the division conducted its second landing at Agropoli and Paestum with the 36th Infantry Division, on the southernmost beaches of the attack. Opposing them were elements of the German 29th Panzergrenadier Division and XVI Panzer Corps. Against stiff resistance, the 45th pushed to the"
"Axis casualties. The Gustav Line stretched across the Italian peninsula and barred the way to Rome for the two Allied armies in Italy: the U.S. 5th Army in the west and the British 8th Army in the east. The Allies' grand strategy in the autumn of 1943 was for the 8th Army to advance through the Sangro River defences, then hook south at Arezzano and enter Rome from the rear while the 5th Army approached from the south. The center of the Gustav line crossed the main route north to Rome at strategically crucial Highway 6. It followed the Liri"
"The Eighth Army was to make a subsidiary thrust along the coast to pin down Axis forces. The final offensive began at the end of March 1943, and by May, Axis forces had surrendered. 250,000 men were taken prisoner, a number comparable to the battle of Stalingrad. The Italian Campaign was the name of Allied operations in and around Italy, from 1943 to the end of the war. Joint Allied Forces Headquarters AFHQ was operationally responsible for all Allied land forces in the Mediterranean theatre, and it planned and commanded the invasion of Sicily and the campaign on the Italian"
"mule companies of the Indian Army Service Corps joined the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) in France. They were evacuated from Dunkirk with the rest of the BEF in May 1940, and were still stationed in England in July 1942. The Allies landed in Italy on 9 September 1943. The 4th, 8th and 10th Indian Divisions and the 43rd Independent Gurkha Infantry Brigade were all involved during the campaign In October 1943, the 8th Indian Division fighting on the Adriatic front reached the Barbara Line which was breached in early November. The 8th Division led the assault on the German defensive"
"and in July 1943 landed at Catania during the Allied invasion of Sicily. No. 2 Commando had a quiet time in the Sicily campaign and their only noteworthy action was landing in advance of the British Eighth Army at Scaletta about south of Messina on 15 August. Here they engaged the German rearguard and then on 16 August were involved in house to house fighting in Scaletta itself. After Sicily was secured, the Allied invasion of Italy followed, beginning 3 September 1943. No. 2 Commando landed at Vietri sul Mare at 03:30 hours, their initial target was a German gun"
"leaving 230,000 prisoners behind. The Italian Campaign followed the Axis surrender in North Africa, first the Allied invasion of Sicily in July, followed by the Allied invasion of Italy in September. The Eighth Army, along with the American Seventh Army, under Lieutenant General George S. Patton, landed in Sicily in what was the largest amphibious landings of the war, with 150,000 troops landed on the first day, and 500,000 by the end of the campaign. The Eighth Army landed almost unopposed on the South Eastern coast of Sicily, but became bogged down after a few days. The original plan had"
"British Eighth Army under the then General Bernard Montgomery, in Operation Baytown. Further landings on 9 September 1943 saw the main attack force landing, despite the Italian surrender to the Allied forces on the previous day. After securing the beachheads, the U.S. Fifth Army began its advance northwards. By the winter of 1944-5 the Allied armies had penetrated the main defences of the Gothic Line but had failed to break out into the Po river valley. A new major offensive was planned for the spring of 1945, when improving weather would allow the Allies to take advantage of their superior"
"British Eighth Army, operating from desert airfields in Egypt and Libya. Reassigned in May 1943 to Twelfth Air Force in Algeria, supporting Fifth Army forces in the Tunisian Campaign. Began training for the invasion of Sicily; dropped paratroops over the assault area on the night of 9 July 1943. Carried reinforcements to Sicily on 11 July and received a Distinguished Unit Citation for carrying out that mission although severely attacked by ground and naval forces; dropped paratroops over the beachhead south of the Sele River on the night of 14 September 1943. Remained in the Mediterranean Theater of Operations until"
"called for the Eighth Army to advance on Messina, but because they could not make any headway being stuck on the slopes of Mount Etna, the U.S. Seventh Army were released. They advanced West then along the North coast to reach Messina first. One consequence of the British failure to break out was the escape of most of the Axis forces and their equipment to mainland Italy. On 3 September Montgomery's Eighth Army landed on the toe of Italy directly opposite Messina, and Italy surrendered on 8 September. The main landing of Lieutenant General Mark W. Clark's U.S. Fifth Army,"
"mainland Italy . These invasions were the first major amphibious operations of the war. (A datestamp taken by a Postal unit from the Syracuse Post Office dated 10 July 1943, the day of the invasion is an exhibited in the RE Museum). FPOs were established on the beachheads during the landings at Salerno and Anzio. On two occasions mails leaving the Anizo beaches onboard LST were lost to enemy action. Once the VIII Army was secured on mainland Italy Base APOs were established, to handle their mails, at Bari on the heel of Italy then at Naples, which became the"
"he claimed, """"Terrain, weather, carefully prepared defensive positions in the mountains, determined and well-trained enemy troops, grossly inadequate means at our disposal while on the offensive, with approximately equal forces to the defender."""" The Fifth Army first saw action during the Salerno landings (Operation Avalanche), the assault landings at Salerno, part of the Allied invasion of Italy, in September 1943. Due to the comparatively low numbers of American troops available in the Mediterranean Theater it was made up of one American and one British corps. They were the U.S. VI Corps, under Major General Ernest J. Dawley and the British"
"to join Eighth Army for the Allied invasion of Sicily (Operation Husky). The assault went in early on 10 July 1943 against light opposition, and all Eighth Army's landings were successful. The town of Pachino was quickly secured, and 75th LAA's Bofors guns landed shortly afterwards to contribute to the AA defence of its airfield. Work started at once to repair this for use by the RAF, though this was interrupted by frequent day and night air raids. Even after the airfield was in operation, raids against it continued until the Luftwaffe withdrew to mainland Italy in mid-August. At this"
"The German and Italian forces in Tunisia surrendered between 9 and 13 May 1943. The division was reorganized in French Morocco, and began arriving in Naples, Italy on 28 October 1943. After the Allied invasion of Sicily, the unit, part of the American Fifth Army, invaded mainland Italy. It took part in the attack on the Winter Line in November 1943. It then flanked the Axis armies in the landings at Anzio, and then passed through the city of Rome and pursued the retreating enemy northward until mid-July 1944. At that point, Major General Harmon was replaced by Major General"
"the Eighth Army, which re-took the bridge at dawn on 16 July. The Allied commanders were forced to reassess the use of airborne forces after the many misdrops and the deadly friendly fire incident. Italy agreed to an armistice with the Allies on September 3, 1943, with the stipulation that the Allies would provide military support to Italy in defending Rome from German occupation. Operation Giant II was a planned drop of one regiment of the U.S. 82nd Airborne Division northwest of Rome, to assist four Italian divisions in seizing the Italian capital. An airborne assault plan to seize crossings"