THE ITALIAN CAMPAIGN
In the final push to defeat the Axis powers of Italy and Germany during World War II , the Allied powers, planned to invade Italy. Beyond their goal of crushing Italian Axis forces, the Allies wanted to draw German troops away from the main Allied advance through Nazi-occupied northern Europe to Berlin, Germany. The Italian Campaign, from July 10, 1943, to May 2, 1945, was a series of Allied beach landings and land battles from Sicily and southern Italy up the Italian mainland.
The objectives were to remove Italy from World War II, secure the Mediterranean Sea and force Germany to divert some divisions from the Russian front and other German divisions from northern France, where the Allies were planning their cross-Channel landing at Normandy, France.
Some of the main events that occurred during this campaign were;
- Operation Husky (July 10, 1943) or the invasion of Sicily, began with airborne and amphibious landings on the island’s southern shores. Jarred by the Allied invasion, the Italian fascist regime fell rapidly into disrepute, as the Allies had hoped. On July 24, 1943, Prime Minister Benito Mussolini was deposed and arrested.Meanwhile, the German command deployed 16 new divisions on the Italian mainland. German leader Adolf Hitler did not want to let the Allies establish air bases in Italy that could threaten Germany’s southern cities as well as its primary oil supplies in Romania.
- The Gustav line was one of the several defensive lines across the narrow Italian peninsula set up by Germany. Despite Allied air superiority across Italy, it took Allied soldiers four grueling battles over several months to break through heavily fortified Monte Cassino and the Gustav Line. The Allied breakout in May 1944 exposed Kesselring’s main forces to a potential trap by advancing Allied armies from Anzio and Cassino.
- The Canadians were extremely involved in this campaign fighting both in sicily and in the battle of Ortona, which is considered one of the worst battles of WWII as it was fought house by house, street by street. (a video down below)
The Italian Campaign ended only when the war in Europe ended.
Sources:
http://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/italian-campaign
3rdcdnbrig_snipers_campochi.jpg
battlefield-two-italy.jpg
Italy-1943-03.jpgm-70-years-of-jeep-300711.jpg
Counterpoints: Exploring Canadian Issues Textbook
http://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/italian-campaign
3rdcdnbrig_snipers_campochi.jpg
battlefield-two-italy.jpg
Italy-1943-03.jpgm-70-years-of-jeep-300711.jpg
Counterpoints: Exploring Canadian Issues Textbook