Download Italian Movie JLA Adventures: Trapped In Time
Serge Moquin
At its best, the campaign would knock Italy out of the war, persuade neutral Turkey to join the Allies, support the adjacent operations in the Balkans, and ultimately launch the Allied armies into Austria and then the heart of Germany.
At worst, it would tie down substantial enemy forces, drawing troops away from the Russian Front and answering Soviet demands for Allied action. It would also suck in enemy reserves from France, where the Allies hoped to land in 1944.
However, the Americans were not convinced. Rich in manpower and resources, they wished to put all their efforts into a direct assault across the Channel and strike at Hitler through northern France as soon as possible.
In November 1943, seven battle-hardened Allied divisions were withdrawn from Italy for service in the forthcoming Normandy landings. A further seven, including the highly effective French Expeditionary Corps, were withdrawn in the summer of 1944 for the Allied landings in southern France. Finally, in January 1945, four more divisions were transferred from Italy to North West Europe.
Yet, the achievements of the Allied forces in the Mediterranean were by no means inconsiderable. On D-Day, 6 June 1944, they were helping to hold down nearly 70 enemy divisions. There were then 33 German divisions in northern France to repel the invasion.
As well as British and American soldiers, there were Algerians, Indians, French, Moroccans, Poles, Czechs, Canadians, New Zealanders, Nepalese, South Africans, Italians, Greeks, Belgians and Brazilians.
Operation Husky, the invasion of Sicily, was the largest single assault landing carried out by the Allies during the war. Over 180,000 soldiers went ashore on 10 July 1943, compared with the 156,000 troops who landed in Normandy on 6 June 1944.
The invasion force landed along 105 miles of the coastline and on 26 different beaches. The 15th Army Group, under General Sir Harold Alexander, comprised the British Eighth Army under General Sir Bernard Montgomery, and the Seventh US Army under General George Patton.
Due to successful deception, the landings in Sicily surprised the enemy, but the Germans soon rallied. The Eighth Army found itself engaged in heavy fighting in difficult terrain near Catania. But, following a dramatic thrust from the west to Messina by the Seventh US Army, Sicily was overrun by 17 August 1943.
The Germans and Italians succeeded in evacuating over 60,000 of their troops, as well as much of their equipment, to mainland Italy. Their losses, which eventually amounted to 156,000 men, were inflicted mainly on Italian units.
Most of the Italian Army was quickly disarmed by the Germans, whose troops now manned key positions throughout Italy. Once the Allies had landed, the Germans originally planned to withdraw slowly to northern Italy.
But Hitler ordered his forces to hold a defensive position south of Rome through the winter of 1943-44. This focused on the Gustav Line, which ran from coast to coast and included the heights and monastery of Monte Cassino.
As the Allies inched towards the Gustav Line, they encountered other German defence positions, anchored on the natural strength of rivers or mountains, each of which had to be captured before the advance could continue. These included the Volturno Line and the Barbara Line, both of which were broken in October and November 1943.
The Allies first attempted to breach the Gustav Line by attacking its eastern margins. They successfully crossed the River Sangro, and the coastal town of Ortona was captured by the Canadians after bitter fighting in December 1943.
But the Eighth Army's failure to take Orsogna put an end to the drive up the eastern coast. Rain, flooded rivers, and high casualties, as well as the departure of General Montgomery (to begin planning for D-Day), halted Allied plans until early 1944.
In four great battles (January-May 1944), the Allies then attempted to punch a hole through the Gustav Line at Monte Cassino. This marked the entrance to the strategically pivotal Liri Valley, which opened the way to Rome. The area was dominated by the 500-metre high monastery, but the Germans had also constructed minefields and fortifications in the surrounding hills and valleys.
In order to minimise casualties, the Allies launched a massive bombardment of the German defences prior to their assault. This laid waste to the historic monastery and surrounding town. However, most of the German defenders survived and were able to exploit the ruins to create an even more formidable set of defences.
In an attempt to assist the offensive and cut German communications from Rome, an Allied amphibious landing was carried out on the west coast of Italy at Anzio. The landing on 22 January 1944, 25 miles south of Rome and 70 miles behind enemy lines, was carried out by the 1st British and 3rd US Divisions.
At first, the Allies met little resistance. But they were too few in number for a major drive inland, and were quickly trapped in their beach-head by German reinforcements. Bitter fighting was to continue for months before the Allies were able to break out of Anzio.
General Wladyslaw Anders' 2nd Polish Corps secured it on 18 May. Under constant artillery and mortar fire, and with little cover for protection, the Poles drove out the defenders in fierce, sometimes hand-to-hand, fighting. The battle to take Cassino was the bloodiest of the entire campaign.
On 23 May 1944, seven Allied divisions broke out from Anzio. On 4 June, the Fifth Army entered Rome. Although a welcome propaganda victory, this drive on the Italian capital meant that many of the Germans retreating from the Gustav Line avoided being completely cut off and captured.
Pushing northwards, Allied units closed with the Trasimeno Line, the first German defensive line north of Rome. They then advanced to the far more formidable Gothic Line, at the approaches to the Po Valley.
In the winter and spring of 1944-45, extensive partisan activity took place behind the German lines in northern Italy. In this region, the Germans had created a fascist puppet state, the Italian Social Republic (ISR). But many locals backed the Allies and the pro-Allied Italian government in Rome. As a result, the struggle here took on the characteristics of a civil war.
Allied special forces and commandos provided direction and arms to the partisans, sabotaging lines of supply and communication, and pinpointing targets for air strikes. But the Germans, along with Italian fascists, carried out many reprisals against civilians suspected of supporting the partisans and Allies.
The front remained largely static until 9 April 1945, when British forces attacked in the east. This was followed five days later by an American assault in the west. Cutting through enemy resistance, the attacks converged on Bologna, which fell on 21 April. Four days later, the Allies crossed the River Po, and Verona was captured on 26 April.
Mussolini, who had earlier been rescued from Italian captivity by German commandos, retreated north with the Germans and their ISR allies. But he was captured by partisans and executed on 28 April 1945. The following day, the Germans in Italy surrendered to the Allies.
The Italian campaign had come to be seen by the Allies as a massive holding attack. It would force the Germans to keep a high proportion of their strength in the Mediterranean theatre and make the task of Allied forces elsewhere easier.
Yet, for most of the last 14 months of the war, the Germans deployed more divisions in Italy than the Allies. This was despite the fact that the Allies were the attacking force. German casualties for the Italian campaign were around 336,000, while those of the Allies totalled 313,000.
In short, they both have much easier websites to use, customer service in English, and no issues with accepting non-Italian credit cards to book train tickets online. (This is a very frequent issue when booking directly with TrenItalia, in my experience.)
But buying train tickets ahead of time will save you money and time, and will help you avoid the possibility of waiting around in case tickets are sold out (which definitely happens). And having your tickets already saved on your phone just simplifies the train station experience.
(This is a major benefit to Omio versus ItaliaRail. You still get the better service, and an English language website that works without translation issues, but you can compare all Italian train options with Omio.)
Waiting will also give you less selection on popular routes. You might end up having to change trains instead of getting a direct route, take a slower train instead of the fastest Freccia Rossa ones, or have only one or two departure times to choose from instead of a dozen.
You cannot cancel Super Economy or Economy tickets, but you can change the date or time for an Economy ticket. Base price tickets can be changed (or refunded for 80% of what you paid) any time until one hour after the train leaves the station.
According to the stats printed on the back of Italian train tickets, taking the train in Italy emits about 75% less CO2 than the same trip in an airplane, and about 65% less than driving, on average.
Hi Ketti
This article about the trains were very helpful. Perhaps I can ask your opinion or suggestion.
My son and I are traveling to Italy for the first time in October.! This is a heritage trip to see where my dad grew up (Bari) and My maternal grandfather (Calabria)
One of the booking sites had a seat choice of upper or lower, we will have some luggage, would lower be easier?
The only other option from Bari is a bus, or rent a car and I drive, which family does not recommend.
I have not done the side by side comparison so I would like to get your thoughts on the benefit of buying an Eurail Italy Pass. We will be in Florence for 2 weeks and then travel to Amalfi by train. However, while in Florence would like to take a few day trips by train so it seems that a pass is good value but not sure and even if it is a good value whether it comes at the expense of losing some flexibility.
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