By 1943, the Allies were entering what Winston Churchill referred to as the “perhaps, the end of the beginning” of the Second World War. Axis forces had finally been driven out of North Africa and Allied commanders turned their attention to the wider strategy in the Mediterranean. With the Soviet Union fighting a brutal war against the Nazis on the Eastern Front, the Western Allies were expected to open a second front in Europe. The question was: where?
It was Churchill who advocated an invasion of Italy. Famously referring to the then-fascist country as the “soft underbelly of Europe”, the British prime minister believed that knocking Italy out of the war had several benefits. Neutral Turkey could potentially join the Allies and Italy would be a useful springboard for Allied invasions into Austria and Germany. At worst, an Italian campaign would divert precious Axis resources away from the Eastern Front.
Although Churchill was enthusiastic about Italy, the United States was not. The Americans wanted to pour their European war resources into an invasion of northern France, which eventually became Operation Overlord. However, they did agree to invade Italy alongside their British partners with the first target being the country’s most southerly region: Sicily.
Codenamed Operation Husky, the island invasion of Sicily was critical to a future assault on the Italian mainland. Using hundreds of thousands of troops, Husky was actually the largest Allied amphibious invasion of the war. It was also innovative, with the Allies launching large airborne operations for the first time and successfully deploying pioneering landing craft. However, despite their numerical and technological advantage, the Allies met larger than expected resistance and argued among themselves. The “soft underbelly” turned out to be not so soft after all.
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THE OTHER OPERATION OVERLORD D-DAY'S GHOST ARMY
Historian Taylor Downing discusses the cunning use of intrigue and deception during Operation Fortitude
D-DAY LANDING CRAFT
Over 4,000 Allied landing craft took part in the Normandy Landings with a huge range of designs created for specific roles and capabilities
BEHIND ENEMY LINES
Spearheading the invasion of occupied France in 1944 were a small number of Special Forces soldiers dropped deep into enemy territory. Among them was a young Londoner, fresh from training here he reveals how he survived guerrilla warfare in France and beyond as part of the fledgling Special Air Service
JIMMIE MONTEITH
In the crucible of battle at Omaha Beach on D-Day, this officer of the famed 1st Infantry Division earned his nation’s highest honour at the cost of his life
KLEINKAMPFVERBÄNDE - GERMANY'S COUNTER-ATTACKS
As Allied forces crossed the Channel and stormed into Normandy, Hitler's navy fought back using a deadly new breed of maritime weaponry
STORMING GOLD BEACH
War veteran Ron Peet helped assault Gold Beach on D-Day Here he shares his experiences
UNDERGROUND WREN
Deep in the bowels of Fort Southwick, radio operator Marie Scott was one of the first to hear reports as Operation Overlord got underway, passing critical communications between the men on the beaches and high command
MINESWEEPER OFF NORMANDY
After helping clear the path to France, Royal Navy veteran Claude Sealey and his crewmates experienced a deadly encounter with their own countrymen
THE RECCE RIDER OF RANVILLE
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SWORD BEACH
The easternmost sector of the 6 June Normandy Landings was a mostly British affair, and Saw some of the biggest territorial gains of the first day of the Allied invasion