The Allied Invasion of Italy

By Mike Kikta

After the Allied invasion of North Africa, the plan to invade Italy was thought up at the Casablanca Conference. At the Casablanca Conference, Roosevelt and Churchill decided that they would accept nothing but unconditional surrender from the axis powers. The Allies plan was to take Sicily, which was currently being held by the Italians, and then to move on to Italy. This plan worked. Once the Allied forces took Sicily, Italy surrendered and was no longer in the war.

On September 9^th, 1943, the American 5^th Army, lead by General Mark Clark, landed at Salerno on the eastern coast of Italy. While Clark was landing, parts of the British 8^th Army, lead by Sir Oliver Lesse, were landing at Taranto on the eastern coast of Italy. The landing did not go as well as it was expected to. Clark’s Army met heavy resistance at the shore and they were almost pushed into the sea.

Soon the Germans would abandon southern Italy, and the Allies made it steadily up the coast, until they came to the monastery at Monte Cassino. The monastery at Monte Cassino was an old Benedictine monastery that was situated on top of a very high hill. It was one of the strongest natural defense positions in the world. The Allies were tied down at the bottom of the hill for over four months. During this time, the Allies sought to go around Monte Cassino by way of an amphibious landing. On January 22^nd, 1944, General John P. Lucas’s VI Corp. landed at Anzio. This plan turned out to be a flop. The Americans were tied down by artillery fire as soon as they were on the beach. But eventually both the Gustav line and the defenses at Anzio were defeated.

From that point on, the Allied Armies moved steadily upward, and flooded in to the rest of Europe.

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