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Sicily And Italy

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American forces first came to grips with the vaunted German "Wehrmacht" in the Mediterranean theater. There, in a series of invasions marked by a ferocity probably unsurpassed in any other area of the global war, we came to know that the armies of the so-called "master race" were indeed formidable, but not unconquerable.

It is not likely that the fierceness of the fighting around Salerno in southern Italy in the hot days of September 1943 will ever be forgotten. Neither will the amphibious landings at Anzio, the invasions in North Africa and Sicily that toppled Mussolini from his balcony, or the stubborn, wearying slugging match up the Italian mainland that enabled us to take Rome, first of the Axis capitals to fall.

For United States troops, war in the Mediterranean began on 8 November 1942 when combined American and British forces under General (then Lieutenant General Dwight D. Eisenhower) struck three portions of the northwest coast of Africa. In just three days French resistance in Morocco and Algeria had ceased, and the French took to the field with Allied forces.

Soon Allied troops under British command were pressing toward Tunisia, but in December they lost the race with the Axis to gain possession of Tunis and Bizerte. During the winter, American troops of the II Army Corps under successive commands of Generals Fredendall, Patton, and Bradley, swelled Allied strength in Tunisia. These troops had been seasoned in combat at El Guettar, Gafsa, Faid, Kasserine, Robaa, and other desert battles. Finally, in April and May, 1943, they drove eastward to take Mateur and Bizerte while British and French troops closed'in on Tunis from the west and south. The result was complete rout for the vaunted Afrika Korps, which some months before had run wild and had seemed likely to seize the Suez Canal.

The remnants of this Korps, and reinforcements Hitler had rushed in to stem the Allied advance, were absolutely overwhelmed. At conclusion of this campaign, German and Italian killed and captured totaled 350,000. Moreover, many thousands of airplanes and nearly 200,000 tons of tanks, field guns and other materiel were captured.

While this rout was in progress preparations were being made to strike across the Mediterranean at Sicily and Italy from bases in North Africa. Under General Patton the U. S. Seventh Army was organized to pair off with the British Eighth Army in capturing Sicily from its German and Italian defenders. Under my command the Fifth Army was built up first to protect the Allies from an attack through Spain and Spanish Morocco, and after that menace had subsided, to carry an attack to Italy itself.

During this period troops were streaming across the Atlantic on our ever larger bridge of ships. These quickly went into advanced training for amphibious landings and the ground combat that was to come with impending attacks. Great Ameri can bases sprang up like magic. The rail and highway systems of North Africa were improved, and the heavy traffic awed the natives. All the while, Allied air power struck telling blows which choked off reinforcement and supply to the enemy in Tunisia and weakened his power to resist our planned attacks.

The first big invasion was launched on the morning of 10 July 1943, when American troops landed along the southeastern coast of Sicily from Licata to Scoglitti, and British forces struck from Cape Passero to Syracuse. All troops pressed inland to capture airfields and ports and to cut through to the northern coast. Against weak Italian resistance, but a determined German stand, the Seventh Army occupied the western portion of the island and quickly converted Palermo into an Allied port. The British met stronger opposition, but pushed on northward toward Catania. Eventually, both armies concentrated on either side of Mt. Etna, and entered Messina at about the same time on 17 August. They had driven the enemy from Sicily and infiicted great damage. The American I s+, 3rd, 9th, and 45th Infantry Divisions, 2nd Armored Division, and 82nd Airborne Division, the Ist Engineer Special Brigade, and other units had achieved, with the British Eighth Army, the capture of Sicily in 38 days from the initial landings.

This attack led to the overthrow of Mussolini on 25 July. His successor, Marshal Badoglio, proclaimed that "the war continues." However, after much hesitation, he secretly sent an emissary who signed an armistice on 3 September. General Eisenhower announced this armistice on 8 September, on the eve of the Fifth Army's attack on the mainland at Salerno.

Italy's armies ceased resistance, her fleet surrendered, and the King and Badoglio quickly left Rome. Announcement of the armistice cleared the way for our attack by eliminating Italian resistance, and it put a great strain on Hitler who was compelled to put German divisions into the areas hitherto occupied by Italians in the Balkans and Southern France. But Marshal Badoglio's hesitations and delays had enabled the Germans to place heavy reinforcements in Italy.

In the early hours of 9 September the American Fifth Army (comprising the U. S. VI Corps and British X Corps) struck at Salerno and established a beachhead. The Germans put up savage resistance, and we came dangerously close to being pushed back into the Tyrrhenian Sea. The 16th Panzer Division, already on the scene, was promptly joined by parts of five other divisions. Only by heroic effort and sacrifice was the enemy prevented from exploiting the gap which existed for a time between the U. S. 36th and British 56th Divisions. But the ground forces were fully supported in the air, and particularly by well-directed Naval gunfire. The German counter attacks of 12-14 September were repulsed, and by 15 September the beachhead was secure.

Ships poured in reinforcements. These were regrouped, and the Fifth Army, under my command, began the advance on Naples, which was captured on 1 October. With this great port in our possession it was possible to continue the drive up the Italian peninsula.

Von Vietinghoff's 10th Army though, had had time to dig in along the Volturno River, the first of a series of prepared positions at which the Germans offered bitter resistance. Fall rains turned the roads into mud and the enemy took skillful advantage of the terrain, which favored the defensive. But between 6 October and 15 November the Fifth Army forced the Germans back to their next position, the Winter Line. Heavy fighting during the worst weather forced the enemy back until by 15 January 1944 the Fifth Army (now comprising U. S. II Corps, VI Corps, French Expeditionary Corps and British X Corps forced the enemy's strongest and best prepare position, the Gustav Line. It extended along the Garigliano and Rapido rivers, with Cassino protecting the entrance to the Liri Valley, the gateway to Rome. Repeated attempts to capture the stronghold during the winter were repulsed with heavy losses.

On 22 January we tried an end run - the amphibious attack at Anzio. A beachhead was established close to Rome, but the initial force (the VI Corps in about two-division strength) was not strong enough to capture Colli Laziali without stretching itself too thin. The Germans brought up a great number of divisions, including some from northern Italy, sealed off the beachhead, and attempted to drive the Allies back into the sea. Their most serious thrusts in mid-February were beaten back, and the beachhead was consolidated, but it had not sufficiently weakened the German forces in the Gustav Line to permit the Allies to break through there. In March the two Allied armies in Italy began preparing a new offensive.

On 11 May 1944 the Eighth Army attacked at Cassino and up the Liri Valley, while the Fifth Army thrust against the Gustav Line along a narrow front between the valley and the Tyrrhenian Sea. The French Expeditionary Corps and U. S. II Corps pushed through the mountains and unhinged the enemy line, forcing him to commit three additional divisions. At the same time the VI Corps broke out of the Anzio beachhead, captured Cisterna after a hard three-day battle, and pushed rapidly to the hills above Cori and through the Artena Gap. The VI and II Corps effected a junction in the coastal sector. Their coordinated attack on I-2 June broke through the last defenses before Rome, which was occupied by the Fifth Army on 4 June.

The two German armies which had separated during the retreat reestablished contact and for five days held up the Fifth Army along Lake Trasimene. Enemy resistance stiffened on the approach to the Arno Valley, but on 18 July the port of Leghorn was captured. Our troops re-grouped along the valley and prepared to attack the Gothic Line, a natural position which was further strengthened by engineering works. Although the key features on each side of the Giogo Pass were captured, and the line actually breached, shortage of troops, artillery and ammunition forced a halt in operations in the mountains south of Bologna. Bad weather led to postponement of any large-scale offensive until the spring of 1945, and the men of the Fifth Army had to spend another winter in the bitter cold and snow of the Apennines.

After the 92nd Division's diversionary attack along the Legurian coast, and a thrust by the British Eighth Army from the eastern zone, the Fifth Army on 14 April launched the main effort to breach the mountain wall. The 10th Mountain Division spearheaded the attack, the IV Corps broke through the positions west of the Reno River, and the II Corps drove on to capture Bologna on 20 April. The center of the German armies was smashed south of the Po, and the Fifth Army with the 8th British Army on its right, crossed the river, fanned out, and seized the passes leading to the Alps.

By now the German force was completely beaten, bewildered and disorganized. The enemy had no way to turn, and he did what we had sought to have him do for so long - he surrendered unconditionally. In just 19 days, after 20 dreary months, and after several bloody invasions, the final smashing offensive, supported magnificently by our air force, reduced the formidable armies of the "master race" into a disorganized welter of scattered fugitives - and the war in the Mediterranean had ended.

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