Italy liberated!

While the Russians fell back in the east, the western allies came under significant pressure to do something to distract Hitler. The overall allied commanders already had plans to invade northern Europe at some point in 1944, but they knew the recent German offensive in Russia meant a more dramatic effort would be needed sooner.

With this in mind the British and Americans planned a ambitious operation to encircle Kesselring’s army in Italy, simultaneously taking Rome and cutting the German army off by landing near Livorno and Genoa, crossing the mountains and taking the Po valley before the Germans realised what was going on.

Surprise and speed would crucial. If the Germans found out what was happening and deployed on the mountains which overlooked the landing sites, there would be carnage on the beaches. The invasion would be an utter failure. To counter this the Americans would drop behind the landing zones, in the Po valley, during the night. At the same time the allies released “secret” plans for an invasion of Denmark.

The ruse was spectacularly successful, as the Germans immediately went into planning the defence of Denmark. When the landings in Italy took place, they were taken completely off guard.

In the South

The southern advance by the allies was still meeting stiff resistance. On the 7th April the British army fought a furious battle on the road to Rome, which drew in more and more of Kesselring’s reserves. The British advanced quickly, hoping to push back the Panzers' infantry support and secure their objectives whilst their artillery and air support occupied the tanks. However, the Panzer firepower began to tell and both the British Recon detachments and their support Churchills were soon ablaze, what's more their air superiority and bombardments were failing to impact on the German lines.

With the British advance stalled and the Germans unwilling to advance out of the cover of the city into such aerial strength, the forces settled down into a protracted and ultimately inconclusisive firefight.

By the 16th, the allies estimated nearly half of the German army, including all its panthers, were now engaged. The time for the landing had come.

The American para-drop

On the night of the 20th the Americans dropped their airborne units over the mountains between Piacenza and Verona, meeting little in the way of resistance initially. As the Americans secured their landing site and gathered supplies, the Germans reacted, sending in at least on unit of shwere abteilung, with King Tigers. In the hours before dawn a furious battle ended with the Americans holding the initiative and much of the German heavy equipment destroyed.

The beach landings

On the Italian coast the critical beach landings took place as the 21st dawned. Near Genoa, the British landed some 40,000 troops, with hardly a shot fired. They then moved inland, infantry supported by heavy artillery and Churchill tanks. Landed at night, the British swiftly cleared the German forward observers and MG positions, but German reserves were positioned close at hand and arrived almost as soon as the advance inland began. Initially driven off, the Germans returned and stalled the crucial British advance for some time.

With major British attack developing on one flank, the German reserves were forced to counter it, leaving the other flank open to the the British infantry with a little help from Churchill Crocodiles.

Further south the Americans were less fortunate. Near Livorno the Germans had created and manned a set of beach defences, ever since the fall of Corsica, and the Germans ran straight into them.

Unaware at this time of the British landing further north, Kesselring surmised that the Americans near Livorno were the main assault, along with the paratroops in the Po valley. Immediately Kesselring committed his strategic reserves and two days later the Americans were still bogged down on the beaches and taking horrendous casualties. Once this beachhead was destroyed Kesselring would turn north and concentrate on the now isolated airborne units.

On the 25th the German commander was informed that a large British army had taken Piacenza and linked up with the American airhead after a furious battle for the town which had lasted two days. At one point the British commander considered calling off the entire operation, condemning the Americans to certain destruction, but the British kept on going. By the 28th the German resistance in northern Italy had fallen apart. Kesselring made one last desperate gamble.

Knowing he needed to break the allied northern bridgehead, the German high commander in Italy, against Hitler’s express orders, abandoned the defence of Rome and moved his forces northward. Rome fell on the 30th April. However as April came to an end the allied air force smashed 40% of Kesselring’s tanks and heavy equipment as they moved, and by the 1st May it was obvious to Kesselring that he did not have sufficient force to throw the allies into the sea, nor could he expect rescue from the German armies further north.

Without asking Hitler, which would have been pointless, Kesselring surrendered his forces in Italy on the 2nd May. Italy had been taken, thanks to an audacious amphibious landing which for several days looked in doubt. The battle for Italy had been won, but only just. “A close run thing”, was how Field Marshall Alexander put it.

Germany had paid the price for keeping so much of its army in Russia, but now the allies faced a dilemma. Italy had fallen, but what now? The alps were easily defended, and there was no easy route into Germany from here. Moreover, the strategic locations of the Ruhr, the Balkans and the low countries were nowhere near the massive allied army which now sat, perhaps ineffectively, bottled up in the Italian peninsula.