Operation Avalanche
Above: Allied soldiers at Paestum, heading toward Salerno at the beginning of the attack.
Operation Avalanche, an Allied attack on Salerno, Italy, was the final of the three originally planned attacks on the Italian mainland. It was also the least successful, as far as the Allies were concerned. Even though the Italian military had recently surrendered to the Allied Powers, the Germans were still fighting back relentlessly, nearly pushing us back to the Tyrrhenian Sea.
The Allied forces in the first wave included the British 46th and 56th and the American 36th Corps, who were opposed by the German 16th, led by Rudolph Sieckenius. He placed four units across the coast, and had heavy artillery ready from above. We experienced huge losses on approach for these reasons.
This attack was beginning to become a losing battle for both sides: The Allies, because they were simply slowly fighting their way up the Italian peninsula, and Germany, because they were largely outnumbered and were basically fighting a war of attrition. The Allies, under German guard, even got stuck on Anzio Beach for several months. Once they escaped, both sides were in attrition until the German forces in Italy surrendered.
Click here to learn more about this attack.
Operation Avalanche, an Allied attack on Salerno, Italy, was the final of the three originally planned attacks on the Italian mainland. It was also the least successful, as far as the Allies were concerned. Even though the Italian military had recently surrendered to the Allied Powers, the Germans were still fighting back relentlessly, nearly pushing us back to the Tyrrhenian Sea.
The Allied forces in the first wave included the British 46th and 56th and the American 36th Corps, who were opposed by the German 16th, led by Rudolph Sieckenius. He placed four units across the coast, and had heavy artillery ready from above. We experienced huge losses on approach for these reasons.
This attack was beginning to become a losing battle for both sides: The Allies, because they were simply slowly fighting their way up the Italian peninsula, and Germany, because they were largely outnumbered and were basically fighting a war of attrition. The Allies, under German guard, even got stuck on Anzio Beach for several months. Once they escaped, both sides were in attrition until the German forces in Italy surrendered.
Click here to learn more about this attack.