Above: Several American military leaders working on the Allied attack plan, 1943
Since the Allies had recently removed German forces from northern Africa, bases were created there for the Allies. British leaders were quite interested in the idea of launching an attack on Sicily and the Italian mainland, which could possibly remove Italy from the war. American leaders, however, were initially skeptical about involvement in a campaign in the Mediterranean Sea. The U.S. eventually agreed, and cooperated fully. Planning for the invasion began in January, 1943.
This invasion would be the first U.S. attempt in the war to make a direct assault on a member nation of the Axis Powers. One prominent reason for placing an attack on Italy was to create a bridge so that the Allies could get to Germany, the heart of the Axis Powers. From there, they could potentially retake France. That would make them heroes in the eyes of the French. English forces for this invasion were the British 8th Army, led by General Sir Harold Alexander. Working with them was the U.S. Army: The American 7th Army, led by Lieutenant General Mark Clark.
I enlisted in the U.S. army on February 7, as soon as I saw the recruitment poster shown below. I happened to be in Charlotte, North Carolina when I signed up for military service. Once I underwent basic training, this made me one of the over 189,000 total Allied soldiers that were to be involved in the invasion. Soldiers arrived to help from many countries, including Algeria, India, New Zealand, France, Morocco, and even American minorities such as African Americans and Japanese Americans.
Since the Allies had recently removed German forces from northern Africa, bases were created there for the Allies. British leaders were quite interested in the idea of launching an attack on Sicily and the Italian mainland, which could possibly remove Italy from the war. American leaders, however, were initially skeptical about involvement in a campaign in the Mediterranean Sea. The U.S. eventually agreed, and cooperated fully. Planning for the invasion began in January, 1943.
This invasion would be the first U.S. attempt in the war to make a direct assault on a member nation of the Axis Powers. One prominent reason for placing an attack on Italy was to create a bridge so that the Allies could get to Germany, the heart of the Axis Powers. From there, they could potentially retake France. That would make them heroes in the eyes of the French. English forces for this invasion were the British 8th Army, led by General Sir Harold Alexander. Working with them was the U.S. Army: The American 7th Army, led by Lieutenant General Mark Clark.
I enlisted in the U.S. army on February 7, as soon as I saw the recruitment poster shown below. I happened to be in Charlotte, North Carolina when I signed up for military service. Once I underwent basic training, this made me one of the over 189,000 total Allied soldiers that were to be involved in the invasion. Soldiers arrived to help from many countries, including Algeria, India, New Zealand, France, Morocco, and even American minorities such as African Americans and Japanese Americans.
Since the U.S. had recently successfully ended Germany`s occupation of North Africa and created military forts there, the Allies chose them as bases for their attack on the Italian island of Sicily, codenamed "Operation Husky", with the President`s permission. American General George S. Patton would end up helping. They then proposed the first three military assaults on the Italian mainland that would follow that attack.
The first of which, codenamed "Operation Baytown", was planned as an attack on Italy`s Calabria area. Following that they would commence "Operation Slapstick", an attack that was planned in order to capture Taranto, a major Italian navy base. Later, the Allies would launch their final planned attack, entitled "Operation Avalanche", which would be an invasion of Salerno, Italy. These attacks combined could potentially remove the Italian threat in the war.
This would be only the beginning of the Allied recapture of Europe. Little did they know how much resistance from the Axis powers, particularly Germany, that there would truly be.
This is a 1943 highly influential American Press the button below to read a timeline of the early major events of the Italian campaign.
army recruitment poster. It was meant to
represent how strong the U.S. had always
been.
The first of which, codenamed "Operation Baytown", was planned as an attack on Italy`s Calabria area. Following that they would commence "Operation Slapstick", an attack that was planned in order to capture Taranto, a major Italian navy base. Later, the Allies would launch their final planned attack, entitled "Operation Avalanche", which would be an invasion of Salerno, Italy. These attacks combined could potentially remove the Italian threat in the war.
This would be only the beginning of the Allied recapture of Europe. Little did they know how much resistance from the Axis powers, particularly Germany, that there would truly be.
This is a 1943 highly influential American Press the button below to read a timeline of the early major events of the Italian campaign.
army recruitment poster. It was meant to
represent how strong the U.S. had always
been.