Allied Invasion of Italy

The Allied invasion of Italy began on September 3, 1943, when the British 8th Army, under Bernard Montgomery, landed on the shores of Calabria, during WW2. This British amphibious attack was given the codename Operation Baytown. The units of the 8th Army had successfully carried out Operation Husky, which was the invasion of Sicily that had started on July 10, and now they had just crossed the Strait of Messina and landed on the beaches of the toe of the Italian boot (Calabria).

Six days later, on September 9, Operation Avalanche was set in motion. It was another amphibious invasion of Italy but at Salerno, which was about 200 km north from Calabria, and it was the furthest point north which could be protected by the Allied aircraft umbrella. Operation Avalanche was conducted by the Allied 5th Army, which was led by the American General Mark Clark. Meanwhile, a much smaller amphibious invasion, codenamed Operation Slapstick, was carried out at Brindisi and Taranto by the British 1st Airborne Division in the heel of the Italian boot.

At Salerno, the American and British troops encountered stiff German resistance. However, they clung to their beachheads with fierce determination. Here, the Allies forces received the intense fire support from the powerful battleship and cruiser naval guns, which opened gaps in the Axis defensive front lines. This enabled the Allied troops to make their way inland, despite repeated German counteroffensives intended to drive them back to the sea.

At Calabria, the British 8th Army units slowly but unrelentingly pushed northwards. Thus, the British and American advance forced the German 10th Army to fall back to their fortified positions of the Gustav Line further north. There, at this strong defensive line, the German paratroopers (Fallschirmjäger) would fight ferociously, causing thousands of Allied casualties as they fought fiercely among the rubble of Monte Casino Monastery, which had been bombed by the American aircraft. To bypass these defensive lines and ensure the success of the Italian Campaign, the Allies would need yet another landing point at Anzio in 1944.

Below, a map of Italy, showing the marked sites of landing of each military operation during the Allied invasion of mainland Italy.

Video of the Allied invasion of Italy; the US 5th Army.