Amedeo Nomis di Pollone ( Campiglione-Fenile , 30 June 1893 – Rome , 12 December 1984) was an Italian admiral in the Regia Marina during World War II .
147-561: Invasion of Italy Winter Line Gothic Line 1945 Spring Offensive The invasion of Elba , codenamed Operation Brassard , was part of the Italian campaign during the Second World War . The invasion was carried out from 17 to 19 June 1944 by Free French Forces supported by British and American ships and aircraft. According to the testimony of captured Germans, Allied activity had been observed on Corsica , thus
294-580: A War Cross for Military Valor . In September 1917 he was promoted to Lieutenant and assigned on the battleship Regina Elena and later on the scout cruiser Marsala , taking part in the occupation of towns and islands in Istria and Dalmatia after the Italian victory in November 1918. From August 1921 to March 1924 he served as aide-de-camp to Ferdinando of Savoy, Prince of Udine , after which he
441-483: A 102 mm gun and four 90 m anti-aircraft guns covering the Golfo di Campo at the middle of the south coast. The Italian Batteria Penisola and Batteria Le Grotte on the north coast, were not taken over, the first because it had been severely damaged in the bombing of 16 September. An improvised artillery unit, Abteilung z.b.V. ( zur besonderen Verwendung [special duties], Oberleutnant Sterz) with 110 men,
588-605: A garrison of 8,300 men comprising 6,300 army and 2,000 navy personnel with about fifty Germans, mostly radar operators. After the Allied invasions of Sicily, and the mainland, the Germans decided to evacuate the 90th Panzergrenadier Division from Sardinia and the Sturmbrigade Reichsführer-SS from Corsica, along with four fortress battalions and naval and air units on the islands, lest they be trapped by
735-424: A letter ordering Gilardi to surrender, which he rejected. The Germans tried to land on the islet of Palmaiola , at the north-eastern extremity of Elba but were forced back by the coastal artillery at Cannelle on Giglio Island . On 16 September, ten Luftwaffe bombers attacked Portoferraio, causing about 100 military and civilian deaths, with 150 injuries, far beyond the medical facilities on the island to cope. There
882-500: A linkup with the Americans to the south. At Paestum , the two lead battalions of the 36th (Texas) Division (from the 141st and 142nd Infantry Regiments ) received stiff resistance from two companies of the von Doering group. German observers on Monte Soprano directed fire onto the landing craft. LST 336 took 18 hits, and some LCTs and DUKWs sheered away to avoid German shellfire. The division had not been in combat before and as
1029-541: A more general advance, and by 16 September the British 5th Infantry Division had reached Sapri, 40 km (25 mi) beyond Belvedere, where forward patrols made contact with patrols from VI Corps' 36th Division. On 16 September, the overall commander of forces in the Salerno area, General von Vietinghoff, reported to Field Marshal Kesselring that the Allied air and naval superiority were decisive and that he didn't have
1176-509: A rapid response to any Allied landing. In Calabria, Herr's LXXVI Panzer Corps had two divisions concentrated in the Castrovillari area. Its third division, 1st Parachute Division ( 1. Fallschirmjäger-Division ), was deployed toward Taranto. The rearguard in the toe was BattleGroup von Usedom, comprising a single battalion (1/67th Panzergrenadier Regiment) with detachments of artillery and engineers. Meanwhile, Balck's XIV Panzer Corps
1323-400: A result of the Italian surrender, there was a general belief amongst the soldiers that the landings would be routine. The 141st Infantry lost cohesion and failed to gain any depth during the day which made the landing of supporting arms and stores impossible, leaving them without artillery and anti-tank guns. However, the 142nd Infantry fared better and with the support of the 143rd Infantry ,
1470-456: A signal flare was fired and the Germans opened fire on the landing craft. The Royal Navy Commandos of Able 1 and Oboe 3 Commando with Able 2 in reserve landed at 3:50 a.m.. They approached the beach toward their objective, the German flak ship Köln , which was berthed at Marina di Campo and had a commanding view of both beaches. The capture or destruction of the ship was vital to
1617-418: A smokescreen. At 3:15 a.m., three other boats started laying smoke north of Portoferraio. With the German gun batteries engaging a retreating PT boat, four others made toward Portoferraio to simulate landing craft approaching, firing salvos of rockets and dropping dummies overboard to give the impression of troops wading ashore. In the south, the main invasion force was approaching the island when, at 3:38 a.m.,
SECTION 10
#17327653636451764-743: A time when the disposal of Allied shipping capacity was in crisis and permit an increase of British and American supplies to the Soviet Union . In addition, it would tie down German forces in Italy. Joseph Stalin , the Soviet leader , had been strongly pressuring Churchill and Roosevelt to open a "second front" in Europe, which would lessen the German Army 's focus on the Eastern Front , where
1911-440: A two-battalion drop at Capua to block the highway there. The Italian surrender on 3 September led to the cancellation of Operation Giant I and its replacement by Operation Giant II, a drop of the 504th Parachute Infantry Regiment on Stazione di Furbara and Cerveteri airfields, 40 kilometres (25 mi) northwest of Rome. This was intended to aid Italian forces in saving Rome, one of the most culturally significant cities in
2058-566: A very broad 56 km (35 mi) front, using only three assault divisions (one American, the 36th , under Major General Fred L. Walker , in VI Corps, and two British: the 46th , under Major-General John Hawkesworth , and 56th (London) , under Major-General Douglas Graham , in X Corps), and the two corps were widely separated, both in distance (19 km (12 mi)) and by the Sele River . Clark initially provided no troops to cover
2205-470: A vital bridge over the Sarno River at Scafati . They surrounded Mount Vesuvius and prepared to advance on Naples. The Fascist troops occupying the city provoked a rebellion by the population which started on 27 September. With the swift advance by British X Corps and Naples in rebellion, the Germans were forced to evacuate. On 1 October, "A" Squadron of the 1st King's Dragoon Guards entered Naples,
2352-463: A weak spot in the lines. German losses, particularly in tanks, were severe. On 14 September and the following night, Tedder ordered every available aircraft to support the Fifth Army, including the strategic bomber force. Over 1,000 tons of bombs were dropped during the daylight hours. On 15 September both the 16th Panzer and 29th Panzergrenadier Divisions went on the defensive, marking the end to
2499-474: Is 19 mi (30 km) long and varies from 11 mi (18 km) wide at the east and west ends to 2.5 mi (4 km) in the middle, The island is dry and mountainous, Monte Capanne, at 3,343 ft (1,019 m) is in the west and the highest point and the coast has steep cliffs with deep semicircular bays. The population, about 30,000 in 1939, consisted of 12,000 people living in Portoferraio ,
2646-636: The Kriegsmarine , was transferred from the Straits of Messina to operate six of the Italian coastal batteries. The detachment had 350 naval gunners and joined 200 Italian coastal gunners. Schreiber was also the naval commander on Elba with his HQ in Portoferraio. Three of the coastal batteries defended the north shore in the Portoferraio sector, 1. Batterie, Marine-Artillerie-Abteilung 616 took over Batteria Enfola with four 152 mm howitzers;
2793-501: The 9. Batterie took over Batteria Bianco with four 76 mm and two 75 mm anti-aircraft guns and the 7. Batterie took Batteria Fortino with three 102 mm anti-aircraft/coastal guns. Two batteries defended the east shore near Porto Longone, the 8. Batterie manned Batteria Cannelle with four 102 mm guns and the 4. Batterie was at Batteria Ripalti with four 152 mm howitzers and two 76 mm anti-aircraft guns. The 6. Batterie took over Batteria Poro with
2940-548: The Bataillon de Choc (Colonel Fernand Gambiez) and the Commandos d’Afrique (Lieutenant-Colonel Georges-Régis Bouvet) were to silence the shore batteries. The commandos would land during the night, three hours before H-Hour. With an engineer beach group equipped for clearing mines and other obstacles, five batteries of 105 mm and one of 155 mm guns from the divisional artillery, anti-aircraft batteries and ten light tanks from
3087-664: The Oberkommando der Wehrmacht that the Allied air and naval superiority had forced LXXVI Panzer Corps onto the defensive, and that a decisive success would depend on the attack by XIV Panzer Corps. If this failed, the 10th Army must break off the battle to avoid being 'mangled'. On 16 September, the Schmalz group renewed its efforts on the X Corps front but with no more success, although No. 2 Commando suffered casualties, including 31-year-old Captain Henry Wellesley ,
SECTION 20
#17327653636453234-455: The 16th Panzer Division had organised his forces into four mixed arms battle groups which he had placed roughly 10 km (6 mi) apart and between 5 and 10 km (3 and 6 mi) back from the beaches. The Dőrnemann group was just east of Salerno (and therefore were opposite Major General John Hawkesworth 's British 46th Infantry Division when it landed), the Stempel battle group
3381-471: The 1st Canadian and British 5th Infantry Divisions , launched Operation Baytown under General Bernard Montgomery 's direction. Opposition to the landings was light and the Italian coastal units surrendered almost immediately. Except to the Italian paratroopers of the 185th Infantry Regiment "Nembo" which was attached to the 211th Coastal Division had provided stiff resistance in the Aspromonte, but
3528-588: The Chief of the Imperial General Staff (CIGS), in London: "I am not satisfied with the situation at Avalanche. The build-up is slow and they are pinned down to a bridgehead that has not enough depth. Everything is being done to push follow-up units and material to them. I expect heavy German counter-attack to be imminent." By 12 September, X Corps had taken a defensive posture because every battalion
3675-782: The German High Command formed a new army headquarters to be Army Command South's main field formation. The new German 10th Army headquarters, commanded by Heinrich von Vietinghoff , was activated on 22 August. The German 10th Army had two subordinate corps with a total of six divisions which were positioned to cover possible landing sites. Under Hermann Balck 's XIV Panzer Corps was the Hermann Göring Airborne Panzer Division (under Wilhelm Schmalz ), 15th Panzergrenadier Division ( Eberhard Rodt ) and 16th Panzer Division ( Rudolf Sieckenius ); and under Traugott Herr 's LXXVI Panzer Corps
3822-480: The Golfo di Procchio [ it ] for Germans ships and opened fire on them. The ships withdrew and made for Piombino in bad weather. At noon, ships were seen approaching Portoferraio from the north-east. The corvettes Folaga , Ape and Cormorano sailed and engaged five German armed lighters, forcing them to turn back. In the afternoon reports were received from Piombino that many German ships had assembled in
3969-668: The Joint Chiefs of Staff instructed General Dwight D. Eisenhower , the Supreme Allied Commander in the Mediterranean theater, to go ahead. Despite the overwhelming success of the Sicilian campaign, a significant number of Axis forces managed to avoid capture and escape to the mainland. Contemporary Axis propaganda portrayed this as a success. In late July, the fascist government fell and Mussolini
4116-705: The LXXV Corps ( LXXV. Armeekorps . By May 1944, Gall had Festungs-Bataillon 902 (FB 902, Fortress Battalion 902, Hauptmann Willi Kroeber), Festungs-Bataillon 908 (FB 908) and the VI Battaglione Difesa Costiera ( Capitano Bugarelli, 6th CDB, Küsten-Festungs-Bataillon 6 /6th Coast Defence Battalion). FB 902 and FB 908 had been formed from comb-outs in mid-1943, many of the men being frostbite casualties from Eastern Front. The battalions had about 520 men each in four companies, most armed with Italian weapons; about 10 per cent of
4263-534: The U.S. VI Corps under Major General Ernest J. Dawley , the British X Corps under Lieutenant-General Richard McCreery , with the 82nd Airborne Division in reserve, a total of eight divisions and two brigade -sized units. Its primary objectives were to seize the port of Naples to ensure resupply, and to cut across to the east coast, trapping Axis troops further south. The naval task force of warships, merchant ships and landing craft totaling 627 vessels came under
4410-539: The fall of Berlin in April 1945. In addition, the invasion left the Allies in a position of supplying food and supplies to conquered territory, a burden that would otherwise have fallen on Germany. As well, Italy occupied by a hostile German army would have created additional problems for the German commander-in-chief (C-in-C), Generalfeldmarschall Albert Kesselring . The Allies had originally planned to cross from
4557-601: The 'toe' of Italy. By 3 September, most of this unit was in prepared positions at Bagnara Calabra , 40 km (25 mi) from the landings which it had orders to hold until 6 September. After this they were to withdraw to join the rest of the 29th Panzergrenadier Division which was concentrating at Castrovillari, 130 km (80 mi) to the rear. The Krüger Battle Group (two battalions of 71st Panzergrenadier Regiment, 129th Reconnaissance Battalion and detachments of artillery and engineers) under 26th Panzer Division , would then stand at Nicotera, roughly 24 km (15 mi) up
Invasion of Elba - Misplaced Pages Continue
4704-425: The 'toe' of Italy. The build-up across the Straits of Messina had proved slow; he was therefore short of transport and decided to halt his formations to reorganize before pushing on. However, General Alexander issued orders on 10 September that "It is of the utmost importance that you maintain pressure upon the Germans so that they cannot remove forces from your front and concentrate them against Avalanche". This message
4851-483: The 16th Panzer Reconnaissance Battalion. The British Commandos captured the town of Salerno after some serious fighting that cost 40 (Royal Marine) Commando and 41 Commando nine killed and thirty-seven wounded. The two British infantry divisions, however, met determined resistance and had to fight their way ashore with the help of naval bombardments. The depth and intensity of German resistance forced British commanders to concentrate their forces, rather than driving for
4998-622: The 9ème divisional reconnaissance regiment, the invasion force numbered 11,667 troops, with 86 guns, 250 mules and 481 vehicles, with Magnan in command. The follow-up force comprised 4,092 men, 37 guns and 444 vehicles. The operation commander was Général Jean de Lattre de Tassigny. The naval operation by Force N to land Force 255 was commanded by Rear-Admiral Thomas Troubridge . The Royal Navy and US Navy provided four Landing Ship, Tank , 41 Landing craft tank (LCT), 42 Landing Craft Infantry Large [LCI(L)], 36 Landing Craft Assault (LCA) and 20 Landing Craft Vehicle Personnel (LCVP) to transport
5145-522: The Albanella to Rutino sector was 6 km (4 mi) south-east of Ogliastro, somewhat south of the U.S. 36th Division's beaches. The British X Corps, composed of the British 46th and 56th Infantry Divisions and a light infantry force of U.S. Army Rangers and British Commandos of Brigadier Robert "Lucky" Laycock's 2nd Special Service Brigade , experienced mixed reactions to its landings. The U.S. Rangers met no opposition and with support from
5292-448: The Allied build-up was constrained by the limited transport available for the operation and the pre-determined schedule of the build-up based on how, during the planning phase, it had been anticipated the battle would develop. By 12 September, it had become clear that the Fifth Army had an acute shortage of infantry on the ground. That day, General Sir Harold Alexander , the 15th Army Group commander, reported to General Sir Alan Brooke ,
5439-513: The Allies' speed of advance was entirely dependent on the rate at which their engineers could clear obstructions. Thus, Montgomery's objections to the operation were proved correct: the Eighth Army could not tie down German units that refused battle and the main obstacle to their advance was the terrain and German demolitions of roads and bridges. By 8 September, Kesselring had concentrated Heinrich von Vietinghoff 's 10th Army , ready to make
5586-543: The Allies. Some Italian military units defected to the Allies and others, like a battalion of the 184th Infantry Division "Nembo" stayed loyal to the Axis; control of Elba was necessary for the evacuations. On 9 September, Gilardi was ordered "to act with force against acts of force committed by the Germans". The Italian Navy directed all ships in Tyrrhenian ports to sail to prevent them from falling into German hands, many of
5733-729: The Biferno river. Amedeo Nomis di Pollone Born in Campiglione in 1893, he entered the Naval Academy of Livorno in 1912, graduating in 1914 with the rank of ensign after having participated in the Italo-Turkish war as a cadet officer on the protected cruiser Etna . During the First World War he initially served on the battleship Napoli and then on the destroyer Ippolito Nievo , earning
5880-526: The British 1st Airborne Division, was killed in one of these actions. By 11 September the ports of Bari and Brindisi, still under Italian control, were occupied. Operation Avalanche–the main invasion at Salerno by the American Fifth Army under Lieutenant General Mark Clark –began on 9 September 1943, and in order to secure surprise, it was decided to assault without preliminary naval or aerial bombardment. However, as Admiral Henry Hewitt ,
6027-439: The British 46th Infantry Division attacked. The British 7th Armoured Division, passing through the 46th Division, was assigned the task of taking Naples, while the newly landed U.S. 3rd Infantry Division took Acerno on 22 September and Avellino on 28 September. The Eighth Army made good progress from the "toe" in spite of German demolitions and linked with the British 1st Airborne Division at Taranto. Its left linked up with
Invasion of Elba - Misplaced Pages Continue
6174-472: The Eighth Army 480 km (300 mi) south of the main landing at Salerno . He was proved correct; after Operation Baytown, the British Eighth Army moved 480 km north to the Salerno area against no opposition other than engineering obstacles. Plans for the use of Allied airborne forces took several forms, all of which were cancelled. The initial plan to land glider-borne troops in
6321-535: The Fifth Army's right on 16 September. The Eighth Army now concentrated its forces east of the Apennine Mountains and pushed north along the Adriatic coast through Bari . On 27 September, the Eighth Army captured the large airfield complex near Foggia , a major Allied objective. At the same time British X Corps made good progress; they pushed through the mountain passes of Monti Lattari and captured
6468-510: The French assault forces. The British provided the gunboats HMS Aphis , Scarab and Cockchafer , five Landing Craft Tank (Rocket) [LCT(R)], five Landing craft Gun (LCG), five LCF anti-aircraft landing craft, five LCS(M) machine-gun and mortar-armed support craft and four LCA(HR) spigot mortar-armed assault craft. Twelve motor torpedo boats and 39 PT boats would conduct diversions and close support. Colonel Thomas C. Darcy (USAAF),
6615-580: The French commander in Corsica, General Joseph Magnan [ fr ] , was made commander of the operation with the US Air Force colonel T. C. Darcy being appointed the commander of the Allied air effort. The Allied invasion was scheduled for 25 May, at the same time as Operation Diadem . The landings had then been postponed because of the shortage of support aircraft and to allow the inexperienced French troops more time for training. Supplies to
6762-553: The German commander asked for permission to evacuate what was left of his forces. By the evening on 20 June, they had evacuated 400 men to the mainland. The invasion of Elba was of dubious necessity. The advance of the U.S. 5th Army past Grosseto had made the occupation of the island by the Germans untenable. The Germans defended Elba with two infantry battalions, fortified coastal areas and several coastal artillery batteries totalling some 60 guns of medium and heavy calibre. In 1952, Jean de Lattre de Tassigny wrote that
6909-603: The German forces in Italy were moved by road and rail along the Tuscan coast, with ferries moving more via the Piombino channel, a practical reason for the Allies to occupy the island. Allied Forces Headquarters (AFHQ) in Algiers made plans from April 1944 for Operation Brassard. Adolf Hitler "attached great importance to holding Elba as long as possible". On 12 June, the German commander in Italy, Field Marshal Albert Kesselring ,
7056-610: The Germans soon captured the garrison and took over the artillery batteries and barracks. Behr demanded the surrender of arms, artillery and vehicles along with the coastal guns (some of which were spiked by their crews). The paratroopers quickly departed the island, the infantry remaining while reinforcements arrived. The Germans pressured the Italian prisoners to sign a declaration agreeing to remain in military service, volunteer for labour service or be deported to internment camps in Germany. Gilardi prevaricated until 3 October then returned
7203-585: The Italian partisan movement, proved far superior to the German support, and were able to aid the Allied advance to a substantial degree. The Salerno battle was also the site of the Salerno Mutiny instigated by about 500 men of the British X Corps, which had by this time suffered over 6,000 casualties, who, on 16 September, refused assignment to new units as battle casualty replacements. They had previously understood that they would be returning to their original units, from which they had been separated during
7350-538: The Italians did in Corsica". The population took to the hills until order was restored, when the troops of the 9ème Division d’Infanterie Coloniale and the Groupement de Tabors were replaced by a battalion of the 29ème Régiment de Tirailleurs Algériens . Allied invasion of Italy Invasion of Italy Winter Line Gothic Line 1945 Spring Offensive The Allied invasion of Italy
7497-522: The Ju52s flew about 600 paratroopers from III. Bataillon Fallschirmjäger Regiment 7 (3rd Battalion, Parachute Regiment 7, Major Friedrich Hübner) and at 8:30 a.m., the paratroopers dropped in the open, across the bay from Portoferraio. I. Bataillon, Panzergrenadier-Regiment 200 (3rd Battalion, Mechanised Infantry Regiment 200, Oberstleutnant Heinrich von Behr) arrived from Livorno in ferries and landed at Portoferraio. The Italians did not resist and
SECTION 50
#17327653636457644-570: The Krüger Battle Group which was withdrawing from the Nicotera position. After an initial attack that made no headway, the Krüger Battle Group veered away but the northern attack continued throughout the day before the whole German force withdrew at dusk. Progress was slow as demolished bridges, roadblocks and mines delayed the Eighth Army. The nature of the countryside in the toe of Italy made it impossible to by-pass obstacles and so
7791-734: The Navy sailed to Allied ports to surrender. The German forces in Italy were prepared for this and implemented Operation Achse to disarm Italian units and occupy important defensive positions. Operation Slapstick commenced on 9 September. The first echelon of the British 1st Airborne Division arrived on four British cruisers, a U.S. cruiser, and the British fast minelayer HMS Abdiel . The Italian battleships Andrea Doria and Duilio with two cruisers passed by, en route to surrender in Malta. There were no Germans in Taranto and so disembarkation
7938-537: The RCTs were from the 9ème Division d’Infanterie Coloniale (Général Joseph Magnan), the first RCT had three battalions from the 13ème Régiment de Tirailleurs Sénégalais (West African troops in French service) commanded by Colonel Jean Chrétien, the second RCT had two battalions from the 4ème Régiment de Tirailleurs Sénégalais (Colonel Lucien Cariou). The third RCT comprised the 2ème Groupement de Tabors Marocains (Colonel Pierre Boyer de Latour). Two Commandos,
8085-562: The Salerno beachhead was secured. By the end of the first day the Fifth Army, although it had not gained all its objectives, had made a promising start: the British X Corps' two assault divisions had pushed between 8 and 11 km (5 and 7 mi) inland and the special forces had advanced north across the Sorrento Peninsula and were looking down on the Plain of Naples. To the south, the U.S. 36th Division had established itself in
8232-418: The U.S. VI Corps commander, was relieved of his command by Clark and replaced by Major General John P. Lucas . The U.S. 82nd Airborne Division, after suffering serious casualties near Altavilla , was merged with British X Corps, joining the U.S. Army Rangers and the British 23rd Armoured Brigade on the Sorrento Peninsula to flank the German defenses at Nocera Inferiore , Sant'Antonio Abate , and Angri , which
8379-620: The afternoon, two German battlegroups, the Kleine Limburg and the Krüger, had attacked Persano and overrun the 1st Battalion, 157th Infantry before crossing the Sele to engage the 2nd Battalion of the 143rd Infantry and virtually wipe it out. The battle groups continued their strike south and south-west until reaching the confluence of the Sele and its large tributary the Calore, where it
8526-433: The alternative Operation Seatrain envisioned shifting VI Corps to the X Corps sector. The navy protested that reversing the landing process would be impossible since loading beached landing craft would make them heavier and unable to withdraw from the beach. Advice from superiors and subordinates convinced Clark to continue fighting, and he later denied seriously considering evacuation. The U.S. VI Corps had by this time lost
8673-518: The amphibious force commander, had predicted, tactical surprise was not achieved. As the first wave of Major General Fred L. Walker 's U.S. 36th Infantry Division approached the Paestum shore at 03:30 a loudspeaker from the landing area proclaimed in English: "Come on in and give up. We have you covered." The Allied troops attacked nonetheless. Major General Rudolf Sieckenius , commander of
8820-552: The axis" (American General Mark W. Clark would later call it "one tough gut"). Churchill noted that Italian popular support for the war was declining and an invasion would remove Italy from the Axis, thus weakening Axis influence in the Mediterranean Sea and opening it to Allied traffic. This would allow the reduction of shipping capacity needed to supply Allied forces in the Middle East and Far East theaters at
8967-404: The battlefield. Units, short of transport and subjected to other delays, arrived piecemeal and were formed into ad hoc battle groups for immediate action. By 13 September, all the immediately available reinforcements had arrived including additional elements from the 3rd Panzergrenadier Division which had been released by Generalfeldmarschall Kesselring from further north near Rome. By contrast,
SECTION 60
#17327653636459114-488: The bay to the south-east of Portoferraio, to fire Maria a planned artillery barrage to cover the mouth of the bay. München covered the bay near Porto Longone ready to fire barrage Hedwig . Berlin, Köhl and Ulm covered the Golfo Stella, Hamburg the Golfo della Lacona rady to fire barrage barrage Toni , Danzig covered the Golfo di Campo ready to fire barrage Almut . Local fishermen told the Allies that minefields closed
9261-667: The best part of three battalions, and so the forward units of both its divisions were withdrawn to reduce the length of the defensive line. The 45th Division consolidated at the Sele - Calore position while the 36th Division was on the high ground on the seaward side of the La Caso stream (which flowed into the Calore). The new perimeter was held with the assistance of Major General Matthew Ridgway 's 82nd Airborne Division . Two battalions (roughly 1,300 paratroopers ) of Colonel Reuben Tucker 's 504th Parachute Infantry Regiment (PIR), after
9408-739: The bulk of its forces were fighting in the largest armed conflict in history against the Soviet Red Army . However, U.S. Army Chief of Staff General George C. Marshall and much of the American staff wanted to avoid operations that might delay the main invasion of Europe, which had been planned as early as 1942, and which finally materialized as Operation Overlord in 1944. When it became clear that no cross-channel invasion of occupied France could be undertaken in 1943, both parties agreed to an invasion of Sicily , codenamed Operation Husky , with no commitment made to follow-up operations. After
9555-422: The cancellation of Giant II, had been assigned to execute the final version of Operation Giant I at Capua on the evening of 13 September. Instead, they jumped inside the beachhead, guided by Rebecca/Eureka beacons and moved immediately into the line on the right of VI Corps. The next night, with the crisis past, 2,100 paratroops of Colonel James Gavin 's 505th PIR also parachuted into the beachhead and reinforced
9702-402: The capture of 48 guns and howitzers and 100 machine-guns. Troops of the 9ème Division d’Infanterie Coloniale and the Groupement de Tabors Marocains inflicted outrages on civilians, raping, robbing, burgling houses, looting cattle and wine and killing those who tried to stop them. Their officers did nothing, saying "this is war" when complained to or that it was "nothing compared to what
9849-492: The coast from Cecina and Orbetello and the Tuscan Archipelago. The 108th Reggimento Costiero ( Colonnello Nicola De Stefanis) garrisoned the island with four fusilier battalions and two machine-gun battalions. There were four groups of artillery and one anti-aircraft battery on the island and nine navy coastal batteries. The military commander of the island, Generale di Brigata Achilles Gilardi , had
9996-438: The coast from Bagnara. On 4 September, the British 5th Infantry Division reached Bagnara Calabra , linked up with 1st Special Reconnaissance Squadron (which arrived by sea) and drove the 3rd Battalion, 15th Panzergrenadier Regiment from its position. On 5 September the allies flew above Soveria Mannelli (central Calabria ) and bombed all along the downstream area of the town, where Nazi bases and warehouses stood. Fortunately,
10143-556: The command of Nomis di Pollone. On 11 September 1943 the flotilla, which consisted of ten torpedo boats, five corvettes , five submarines , one motor torpedo boat and a dozen submarine chasers , left Portoferraio for Palermo , where they arrived on the following day, and from where on 20 September they were transferred to Malta . From August 1944 to December 1945 he was naval commander of Sardinia , with headquarters in La Maddalena , and from January to September 1946 he held
10290-462: The command of Vice Admiral Henry K. Hewitt . Following the disappointing air cover from land-based aircraft shown during the battle of Gela in the Sicily landings, Force V of HMS Unicorn and four escort carriers augmented the cruisers USS Philadelphia , Savannah , Boise , and fourteen destroyers of Hewitt's command. Cover for the task force was provided by Force H under
10437-500: The command of Vice Admiral Algernon Willis, a group of four British battleships and two fleet carriers with destroyers, which was directly subordinate to the C–in–C Mediterranean Admiral Sir Andrew Cunningham . In the original planning, the great attraction of capturing the important port of Taranto in the "heel" of Italy had been evident and an assault had been considered but rejected because of
10584-552: The commander of the 87th Fighter Wing of the Twelfth Air Force was placed in command of the air support for the invasion. Air support was to be provided by the 87th Fighter Wing and the 57th Bombardment Group , Mediterranean Allied Tactical Air Force and the 63rd Fighter Wing Mediterranean Allied Coastal Air Force . It was hoped that Darcy could land an advanced command post on Elba on D+1. Force N comprised three groups: In his briefing, Troubridge said he expected
10731-413: The declarations, in which only two of his officers agreed to remain in the army. The Germans began making arrests and on 7 October accused Gilardi of sabotage, arresting him and 250 army and 50 naval officers. From Piombino, they were deported to prison camps in occupied Poland. On 5 December, Generalmajor Franz Gall was made commander of Verteidigungs-Abschnitt Elba (Elba Defence Sector) under
10878-547: The defenders were aware of the impending invasion 24 hours in advance. They resisted for two days before being given permission to withdraw to the mainland. The Island of Elba is 6.2 mi (10 km) from the Italian mainland, opposite the coastal town of Piombino in Tuscany . The island is the third largest Italian island after Sicily and Sardinia and the largest of the Tuscan Archipelago . The island
11025-416: The defenders, from Traugott Herr 's LXXVI Panzer Corps , were too scattered for it to be effective.) The element of surprise was further limited by belated discovery of naval minefields off Salerno requiring landing craft to spend two hours traveling 19 km (12 mi) from the transports to the landing beaches. On the German side, Kesselring lacked the strength to push the Salerno landing back, and
11172-463: The entrance to Portoferraio, the Golfo di Procchio, Golfo della Lacona and Golfo Stella. Civilians retained freedom of movement but fishing boats had to be moored in certain harbours and fishing was only allowed during the day, no more than 1.9 mi (3 km) offshore. By June 1944 the defence force on Elba comprised 2,600 men, 800 of whom were Italian. The units were improvised and the Italian contingent had been distributed among German units, most of
11319-635: The fighting for the island, the Germans lost 500 dead, with another 1,995 becoming prisoners of war. French losses were 252 killed or missing, and 635 men wounded, while the British lost 38 killed and nine wounded. In 2016, Jean Paul Pallud wrote that the French suffered casualties of 201 men killed, 51 missing and 635 wounded. The British suffered 38 men killed and nine wounded with Royal Navy casualties of 65 men killed and 100 wounded. The Axis defenders suffered 672 dead and missing (507 German and 165 Italian), with 1,383 German and 612 Italian troops taken prisoner. of war. A French report listed
11466-583: The fighting in the North African campaign . Eventually, the corps commander, Lieutenant-General Richard McCreery , persuaded about half of the men to follow their orders. The remainder were court-martialled . Three NCOs who led the mutiny were sentenced to death but the sentence was not carried out and they were eventually allowed to rejoin units. With the Salerno beachhead secure, the Fifth Army began its attack northwest towards Naples on 19 September. On 20 September, Major General Ernest J. Dawley ,
11613-625: The first Allied unit to do so. The entire Fifth Army, now consisting of five American and three British divisions, reached the line of the Volturno River on 6 October. This provided a natural defensive barrier, securing Naples, along with the Campanian plain and the vital airfields on it, from a German counterattack. Meanwhile, on the Adriatic Coast , the Eighth Army advanced to a line from Campobasso to Larino and Termoli on
11760-409: The flak ship before also being hit by gunfire. The men of A commando quickly captured Köln while O Commando secured the jetty. Both commandos now waited for the French to secure the village. The LCVPs carrying the French division beached on time to be met by massed machine gun and 88 mm (3.46 in) fire. By 7:00 a.m., the German defences in the hills above Kodak Amber beach had forced
11907-409: The ground, when Allied bombers attacked the airfields at Pisa and Pontedera. Eighty ships of various types were lost, many to the bombing of ports in the Tuscan Archipelago and the mainland. The Allied 15th Army Group (General Sir Harold Alexander ), captured Rome on 4 June 1944 and forced Army Group C , the German 14th Army and 10th Army , to withdraw towards northern Italy. The Allied success
12054-473: The guns of HMS Ledbury seized their mountain pass objectives while the Commandos, from No. 2 (Army) Commando and No. 41 (Royal Marine) Commando , were also unopposed and secured the high ground on each side of the road through Molina Pass on the main route from Salerno to Naples. At first light units of No. 2 Commando moved towards Salerno and pushed back a small force of tanks and armoured cars from
12201-444: The harbour, including two torpedo boats, a minesweeper and twelve lighters and that the Germans were landing troops to cut the roads near the port. In the evening, the Italian authorities at Piombino requested help from the ships in Portoferraio but Ammiraglio Amedeo Nomis di Pollone , reported that nothing could be done until dawn. On 11 September, Gilardi was ordered to negotiate with German commanders but refused, claiming that
12348-536: The high ground inland left the airfield within easy range of German artillery and therefore unusable by Allied aircraft. On 10 September, German bombers began targeting Admiral Hewitt's flagship USS Ancon while the ship was serving as General Clark's headquarters. The flagship called thirty "red alerts" over a period of 36 hours in response to 450 Luftwaffe flying sorties. Admiral Hewitt reported: "Air situation here critical." The Allied aircraft carriers had intended to withdraw on 10 September, but remained with
12495-683: The highly successful outcome of the Sicilian campaign had become clear, both Churchill and Franklin D. Roosevelt , the U.S. President , accepted the necessity of continuing to engage the Axis before the start of the campaign in northwest Europe . Discussions had been ongoing since the Trident Conference held in Washington, D.C., in May, but it was not until late July, with the fall of Italian Fascist Prime Minister Benito Mussolini , that
12642-416: The incoming landing craft to lay smoke and withdraw. The defensive fire forced the follow-up waves of landing craft to divert to Kodak Green beach, which caused some congestion on the beachhead. Delays and German gunfire kept some landing craft off shore until 2:00 p.m.. The Commandos, unaware of the diversion to the other beach, had to wait some hours before the French cleared the village and reached them. It
12789-461: The invasion so that their Supermarine Seafires could provide the air cover which invasion planners had expected to operate from Montecorvino. Eighty-five Allied vessels were hit by German bombs off Salerno. Fritz X glide bombs dropped by Dornier Do 217s disabled USS Savannah and narrowly missed USS Philadelphia on the morning of 11 September. The following morning, Clark moved his headquarters ashore, and Hewitt transferred with his staff to
12936-537: The island of Sicily into the "arch" area ( Taranto ) of the Italian mainland, envisioning a limited invasion of the Italian "boot", whence they would advance up the western coast, anticipating a strong defense by both German and Italian forces. The overthrow of Mussolini made a more ambitious plan feasible, and the Allies decided to make their invasion two-pronged by combining the crossing of the British Eighth Army under General Sir Bernard Montgomery into
13083-495: The landings, French commandos had reached the crest of the 1,300 ft (400 m) Monte Tambone Ridge overlooking the landing areas. Portoferraio was taken by the 9th Division on 18 June and the island was largely secured by the following day. Fighting in the hills between the Germans and the Senegalese colonial infantry was vicious, with the Senegalese employing flamethrowers to clear entrenched German troops. On 19 June,
13230-474: The landings. The A1 Commando were assigned the task of capturing the ship, while O3 Commando would defend the jetty from any attack by German reinforcements. The two landing craft of the Royal Navy Commandos entered the bay of Marina di Campo and made for the flak ship. They came under massed fire before one landing craft was hit and ran aground; the landing craft managed to get alongside
13377-528: The lines in the vicinity of Avellino was widely dispersed and failed, incurring significant casualties. In the X Corps sector the lead elements of Major General George Erskine 's British 7th Armoured Division began to land, along with the 23rd Armoured Brigade . With strong naval gunfire support from the Royal Navy and well-served by Fifth Army's artillery, the reinforced and reorganized infantry units defeated all German attempts on 14 September to find
13524-423: The main attack was on the boundary between the two Allied Corps which ran roughly from Battipaglia to the Tyrrhenian sea, with the greatest weight due to fall on the VI Corps side On the morning of 13 September, elements of Major General Walker's 36th Division attacked and captured Altavilla from the high ground 14 km (9 mi) behind Paestum, but a counterattack forced them to withdraw as darkness fell. During
13671-583: The main harbour a population of 3,000 at Marciana , both on the north shore, the rest living in the sparsely populated interior. When the armistice was announced on 8 September, the defence of the Tuscan coast near Elba was the responsibility of the II Corpo d'Amata (II Corps, Lieutenant-General Vittorio Sogno to 4 September 1943 then Lieutenant-General Gervasio Bitossi to 9 September) with its headquarters at Florence . The 215ª Divisione Costiera , had been formed on 1 August, with three regiments to defend
13818-645: The mainland and Corsica 31 mi (50 km) to the west, obstructing access to the Tyrrhenian Sea , Elba was of considerable strategic importance. While the front line was south of Rome, Elba had been a useful Axis outpost which protected ships taking supplies to nearby ports on the mainland. The unexpected length of the Battle of Anzio (22 January – 5 June 1944) delayed planning for an invasion of Elba but work began on 7 April. French ground and air forces had fought well in Italy, had recently been re-equipped and
13965-498: The mainland with the simultaneous seizure of the port of Naples further north. Although the Americans were mindful of Napoleon 's maxim that Italy, like a boot, should be entered from the top, the range limits of Allied fighter aircraft based in Sicily reduced their choices to two landing areas: one at the Volturno River basin to the north of Naples and the other south of Naples at Salerno (though separated from Naples by
14112-618: The men were Volksdeutsche (ethnic Germans mainly from Poland and Czechoslovakia). The battalions had been rushed to Sardinia in September 1943, thence to Corsica and the Italian mainland. When FB 902 was moved by the Luftwaffe to Italy on 23 September 23, two aircraft had been shot down, one of the dead being Kroeber. In May 1944, his replacement, Major Dietze, wrote that most of his men were experienced but some were unable to march for long due to their frostbite injuries and that training
14259-476: The mountain passes of the Sorrento Peninsula above Salerno was abandoned on 12 August. Six days later it was replaced by Operation Giant, in which two regiments of the U.S. 82nd Airborne Division (Major General Matthew Ridgway ) would seize and hold crossings over the Volturno River. This was at first expanded to include the entire division, including an amphibious landing by the 325th Glider Infantry Regiment , then deemed logistically unsupportable and reduced to
14406-594: The mountainous Sorrento peninsula). They chose Salerno because it was closer to their air bases. Operation Baytown was the preliminary step in the plan in which the British Eighth Army would depart from the port of Messina , Sicily, across the narrow Straits and land near the tip of Calabria (the "toe" of Italy), on 3 September 1943. The short distance meant landing craft could launch from there directly, rather than be carried by ship. The British 5th Infantry Division (Major-general Gerard Bucknall ) of XIII Corps , under Lieutenant-General Miles Dempsey , would land on
14553-451: The night, the German occupied Piombino on the mainland; on the night of 12/13 September, the coastal guns on Elba batteries fired on small boats approaching south of Porto Longone (now Porto Azzurro ) on the east coast, that turned back. More approaches were attempted on the nights of 13/14, 14/15 September. Early on 15 September, a staff officer from II Corpo di Armata , with two German officers landed at Scoglietto, near Portoferraio, with
14700-473: The north side of the "toe" while its 1st Canadian Infantry Division (Major-General Guy Simonds ) would land at Cape Spartivento on the south side. Montgomery was strongly opposed to Operation Baytown. He predicted it would be a waste of effort since it assumed the Germans would give battle in Calabria; if they failed to do so, the diversion would not work, and the only effect of the operation would be to place
14847-550: The order was contrary to the proclamation by the King. German aircraft flew over the island dropping leaflets which denounced the Badoglio government and gave an ultimatum Gilardi to surrender before 4:00 p. m. or the garrison would be annihilated by bombing; troops that fought on would be treated as terrorists and shot. The navy had ordered all its ships to sail for Palermo in Sicily and those seaworthy in Portoferraio complied. During
14994-447: The passengers. With Elba secure, the evacuation of Axis troops from Sardinia and Corsica had been made easier and in two weeks 6,294 soldiers, 3,026 vehicles, 361 guns, 105 tanks and 5,414 long tons (5,501 t) of equipment had been withdrawn to the mainland by sea. The Luftwaffe evacuated 23,192 German soldiers and 2,100 Italian troops with 619 long tons (629 t) of equipment. The air evacuation cost 25 Ju 52s, many being destroyed on
15141-589: The plain to the right of the Sele river and the higher ground to a depth of 8 km (5 mi), although the 141st Infantry was still stuck near the beach. However, the XIV Panzer Corps commander, Hermann Balck, had seen the 16th Panzer Division's battle groups perform as intended and he had ordered both the Hermann Göring Division south to the battle and later in the day had been able to order 15th Panzergrenadier likewise. Meanwhile, to
15288-467: The power to neutralize it. The 10th Army had succeeded in preventing troops from being cut off, and continuing the battle would invite heavy losses. The approach of the Eighth Army was also posing a threat. He recommended breaking off the battle, pivoting on Salerno to form a defensive line, preparatory to a withdrawal on 18/19 September. Kesselring's agreement reached von Vietinghoff early on 17 September. General Hermann Balck, commanding XIV Panzer Corps -
15435-432: The previous day, as did the naval bombardment. The arrival of the British battleships HMS Warspite and Valiant , with 381 mm (15 in) guns, off the beaches provided the Allied troops with a morale boost, although Valiant was not required to shoot and Warspite ' s 29 rounds were awe-inspiring but a minor contribution to the 2,592 naval rounds fired that day. On 15 September, Kesselring reported to
15582-468: The principal armoured formation near Salerno - wrote that his tanks ‘suffered heavily under Allied naval gunfire, with which [they] had nothing to counter'. This triggered an Axis forces retreat from areas which were covered by Allied naval gunfire. General von Vietinghoff then reported to his superior that his attacks ‘were unable to reach their objective owing to the fire from naval guns and low-flying aircraft'. Allied air and naval support lines, aided by
15729-465: The reserve formation which had landed by 08:00, were able to push forward. Minesweepers cleared an inshore channel shortly after 09:00; so by late morning destroyers could steam within 90 m (100 yd) of the shoreline to shell German positions on Monte Soprano. USS Philadelphia and Savannah focused their 15 cm (6 in) guns on concentrations of German tanks, beginning a barrage of naval shells which would total eleven-thousand tons before
15876-603: The river, offering the Germans an easy route to attack, and only belatedly landed two battalions to protect it. Furthermore, the terrain was highly favorable to the defender. Planning for the Salerno phase was accomplished in only forty-five days, rather than the months that might be expected. A U.S. Army Ranger force, under the command of Lieutenant Colonel William O. Darby , consisting of three U.S. Ranger battalions (the 1st , 3rd and 4th ), and two British Commando units, under Brigadier Robert Laycock (consisting of No. 2 (Army) Commando and No. 41 (Royal Marine) Commando ),
16023-464: The ships heading for Portoferraio, including seven corvettes, 11 torpedo boats, four submarines and many smaller ships. Late on 9 September, Germans began to commandeer ships in Piombino, disarming the crews and Italian soldiers nearby; an Italian coastal battery opened fire, forcing the Germans to release the men and return the ships. On the morning of 10 September, amidst the confusion, Italian army gunners mistook four Italian submarine chasers entering
16170-436: The shore batteries to have been destroyed by aerial bombardment and the commandos. He also said the garrison only consisted of about 800 men, mostly non-German, who were unlikely to put up much resistance. On 16 June, the day before the invasion, German reconnaissance aircraft spotted two flotillas of invasion ships but thought they were just the normal naval convoys between Naples and Bastia . To preserve surprise, there
16317-481: The small amphibious force flagship USS Biscayne so the large Ancon could retire to North Africa. The Allies fought to expand their beachhead for three days while the Germans defended stubbornly to mask the build-up of their reinforcements for a counter-offensive. On 10 September, Clark visited the battlefield and judged that it was unlikely that X Corps would be able to push quickly east past Battipaglia to link with VI Corps. Since X Corps' main line of thrust
16464-486: The south, the 29th Panzergrenadier Division from LXXVI Panzer Corps had also been directed to Salerno. Neither side had gained the initiative. Luftwaffe planes began strafing and bombing the invasion beaches shortly after 04:00 on the morning of 9 September before X Corps seized the Montecorvino airfield 5 km (3 mi) inland later that day, destroying three dozen German planes. However, failure to capture
16611-400: The then-Duke of Wellington, who was killed. The Allied air forces and navies continued to batter enemy targets, although during an air attack by Dornier Do 217 K-2 bombers armed with Fritz X radio-controlled glide bombs, Warspite was hit and disabled, which required her to be towed to Malta for repair. On 9 September, Montgomery's formations had been strung out along the coastal roads in
16758-646: The thrust towards Paestum. Further north the Schmalz group of the Hermann Göering Division achieved surprise, attacking the 128th (Hampshire) Brigade (comprising three battalions, the 2nd, 1/4th and 5th, of the Hampshire Regiment ), of the British 46th Division, on the high ground east of Salerno. The armoured column following up was intercepted and driven back, leaving the German infantry exposed. The Allied bomber effort continued on 15 September, although slightly less intensively than
16905-470: The two battalions of the 504th. A clear sign of the crisis passing was when, on the afternoon of 14 September, the final unit of 45th Division, the 180th Infantry Regiment , landed, Clark was able to place it in reserve rather than in the line. The 325th Glider Infantry Regiment , reinforced by the 3rd Battalion, 504th PIR, landed by sea on 15 September. A night drop of 600 paratroops of the 509th Parachute Infantry Battalion to disrupt German movements behind
17052-399: The urban area was barely damaged. On 7 September, contact was made with the Krüger Battle Group. On 8 September, the 231st Independent Brigade Group , under Brigadier Robert "Roy" Urquhart , was landed by sea at Pizzo Calabro , 24 km (15 mi) behind the Nicotera defenses. They found themselves attacked from the north by a mobile force from 26th Panzer Division and from the south by
17199-546: The very strong defenses there. However, with the signing of the armistice with the Italians on 3 September, the picture changed. It was decided to carry the British 1st Airborne Division (Major-General George Hopkinson ) to Taranto using British warships, seize the port and several nearby airfields and follow up by shipping in Lieutenant-General Charles Allfrey 's British V Corps and a number of fighter squadrons. The airborne division, which
17346-421: The weapons were Italian. Many of the German officers ageing were reservists, including Gall. On 22 September 22, the Italian steamship Andrea Sgarallino , carrying civilian traffic from Piombino to Portoferraio, was torpedoed and sunk by the British submarine HMS Uproar , killing 200 civilians and leaving few survivors. The crew was Italian and the only Germans on board were checking the identity papers of
17493-688: The west coast of Italy at Salerno on 9 September as part of Operation Avalanche , while two supporting operations took place in Calabria ( Operation Baytown ) and Taranto ( Operation Slapstick ). Following the defeat of the Axis powers in North Africa in May 1943, there was disagreement between the Allies about the next step. British Prime Minister Winston Churchill wanted to invade Italy, which in November 1942 he had called "the soft underbelly of
17640-425: The western world, from German razing, a condition of the Italian armistice. Because the distance from the Allied beachheads precluded any substantial Allied support of the airborne troops, Brigadier General Maxwell D. Taylor , the acting assistant division commander (ADC) of the 82nd Airborne Division, was spirited into Rome to assess the willingness of Italian troops to cooperate with the Americans. Taylor's judgment
17787-400: Was 26th Panzer Division ( Heinrich Freiherr von Luttwitz ), 29th Panzergrenadier Division ( Walter Fries ) and 1st Parachute Division ( Fritz-Hubert Graser ). Von Vietinghoff specifically positioned the 16th Panzer Division in the hills above the Salerno plain. On 3 September 1943, the British Eighth Army 's XIII Corps , commanded by Lieutenant-General Miles Dempsey and composed of
17934-434: Was able to overcome their resistance. Albert Kesselring and his staff did not believe the Calabria landings would be the main Allied point of attack, the Salerno region or possibly even north of Rome being more logical. He had already therefore ordered General Traugott Herr 's LXXVI Panzer Corps to pull back from engagement with the Eighth Army, leaving only 29th Panzergrenadier Division 's 15th Panzergrenadier Regiment in
18081-564: Was appointed chief of staff of the Naval Department of Naples , and was later transferred to Supermarina , being promoted to Rear Admiral in November 1940. In 1941 he was given command of the Fleet Destroyer Group, participating as escort leader in a number of escort missions to supply convoys sailing between Italy and North Africa , usually with a Navigatori-class destroyer as flagship . For these activities he
18228-577: Was awarded the Silver Medal of Military Valor by Italy and the Iron Cross second class by Germany. From May 1942 to June 1943 he served as aide-de-camp to Admiral Aimone of Savoy , being promoted to Vice Admiral in September 1942, and on 26 June 1943 he was appointed commander-in-chief of destroyers and torpedo boats. At the proclamation of the Armistice of Cassibile , Nomis di Pollone
18375-455: Was between Pontecagnano and Battipaglia (and so faced Major General Douglas Graham 's British 56th Infantry Division ), the Holtey battle group was in a reserve role at Persano on the Sele river which formed the corps boundary between Lieutenant General Richard McCreery 's British X Corps and Major General Ernest Dawley 's U.S. VI Corps , while the von Doering battle group responsible for
18522-470: Was committed and there were no reserves available to form an attack. In the south, the 36th Division made some progress but towards midday a counterattack by elements of the 29th Panzergrenadier Division overran the 1st Battalion, 142nd Infantry Regiment. On 13 September, the Germans launched their counteroffensive. While the Hermann Göring battle groups attacked the northern flank of the beachhead,
18669-450: Was during this time that the Commandos suffered their greatest losses. The commandos were under continuous artillery and small arms fire, which is believed to have set off two demolition charges on the jetty, blowing a 30 ft (9.1 m) hole in the concrete structure. The force of the explosions killed almost all the commandos and their prisoners. It also set fire to Köln and exploded the ammunition stowed on board. Within two hours of
18816-471: Was followed by orders for the invasion of southern France, Operation Dragoon , the majority of the troops for the landings being found by the 15th Army Group. The diversion of troops from Italy reduced the U.S. 5th Army to five divisions. The 15th Army Group was reduced to 18 divisions, the reduction in strength ending any possibility of Alexander reaching the Gothic Line by August 1944. Lying between
18963-404: Was further reinforced on 12 September by a personal visit from Alexander's Chief of Staff , Brigadier A. A. Richardson. Montgomery had no choice- while reorganizing the main body of his troops, he sent light forces up the coast which reached Castrovillari and Belvedere on 12 September, still some 130 km (80 mi) from the Salerno battlefield. On 14 September, he was in a position to start
19110-467: Was in La Spezia , where he had just arrived from Rome, with the order of taking command of the torpedo boats stationed in the ports of the northern Tyrrhenian Sea . After receiving the order to reach an Allied -controlled port, he and Prince Aimone boarded the torpedo boat Indomito and sailed to Portoferraio , Elba Island , where all the smaller warships of the northern Tyrrhenian were gathered under
19257-662: Was in command of a torpedo boat and later of a gunboat . After promotion to lieutenant commander , in 1928-1929 he commanded the destroyer Cesare Battisti ; from 1929 to 1932 he served as aide to Prince Eugenio, Duke of Ancona , being promoted to commander in 1930. In 1935 he was promoted to captain , after which he commanded the heavy cruiser Pola from 1936 to 1938 and the light cruiser Emanuele Filiberto Duca d'Aosta from 1938 to February 1939. He then became naval attaché in Paris from September 1939 to June 1940. After Italy's entry into World War II , Nomis di Pollone
19404-427: Was informed that "Elba must be defended to the last man and the last cartridge". On 14 June, German reinforcements started to arrive on Elba from Pianosa . The decision to reinforce Elba was not known to the Allies who believed the naval activity between the island and the mainland was an evacuation. The force for the capture of Elba was code-named Force 255, comprising three French Regimental Combat Teams (RCT). Two of
19551-469: Was moved to Elba in September. The Abteiling z.b.V comprised three batteries with eleven Italian 149 mm howitzers and five Italian 75 mm guns. Sterz reported that the unit was operational only because Italians from the 4th Battery of V Gruppo Artigliera Costiera , which had remained loyal to the Germans side knew how to operate the Italian equipment. 2. Batterie and 4. Batterie of Flak-Abteilung 192 ( Oberleutnant Mahl), with 120 men,
19698-414: Was much damage and the anti-aircraft battery at Le Grotte, across the bay from Portoferraio, was damaged. Gilardi tried to open negotiations but a German invasion force was on the way from Livorno . Luftwaffe Junkers Ju 52 (Ju 52) aircraft of II. Gruppe/Transportgeschwader 1 were ready for Unternehmeen Golfasan (Operation Golden Pheasant) at Ciampino airfield near Rome. Early on 17 September,
19845-632: Was necessary on the Italian equipment. The 6th CDB with about 650 men in four companies, had been formed in November 1943 at Modena sector from 18- to 21-year olds. Bugarelli, his officers and NCOs had volunteered to continue to fight alongside Germany but many of the recruits had been intimidated into "volunteering" by threats that their parents would be gaoled if they refused. The battalion was moved to Elba in February 1944 and its four companies were split between German infantry units. Marine-Artillerie-Abteilung 616 ( Korvettenkapitän Max Schreiber) of
19992-478: Was no pre-invasion bombing until the night of 16/17 June, when 26 Vickers Wellingtons bombed Portoferraio and Porto Longone . The 270 ships of the invasion fleet arrived off Elba just after midnight on 17 June, when ships from Group 1 disembarked 87 men from the Bataillon de Choc Commando in rubber dinghies .5 mi (0.80 km) offshore of Cape Enfola. The naval group then started laying
20139-648: Was positioned to face possible landings from the sea with 16th Panzer Division in the Gulf of Salerno, the Hermann Göring Division near Naples and the 15th Panzergrenadier Division to the north in the Gulf of Gaeta. On 8 September (before the main invasion), the armistice of Italy to the Allies was announced, first by General Eisenhower , then in the Badoglio Proclamation by the Italian government. Italian units ceased combat and
20286-594: Was refused two panzer divisions from northern Italy to assist him. Operation Avalanche was planned under the name Top Hat and supported by a deception plan, Operation Boardman, a false threat of an Allied invasion of the Balkans . In mid-August, the Germans had activated Army Group B under Erwin Rommel with responsibility for German troops in Italy as far south as Pisa . Army Command South under Albert Kesselring continued to be responsible for southern Italy and
20433-401: Was removed as head of the Italian government, envoys of which soon began approaching the Allies to make peace. It was believed a quick invasion of Italy might hasten Italian surrender and produce quick military victories over the German troops trapped fighting in a hostile country. However, Italian (and more so German) resistance proved relatively strong, and fighting in Italy continued even after
20580-507: Was stopped by artillery firing over open sights, naval gunfire and a makeshift infantry position manned by artillerymen, drivers, cooks and clerks and anyone else that Major General Walker could scrape together. Clark's staff formulated various evacuation plans: Operation Brass Rail envisioned Clark and his 5th Army headquarters staff leaving the beachhead to establish headquarters afloat aboard HMS Hilary . Operation Sealion envisioned shifting British X Corps to Paestum with VI Corps, while
20727-555: Was tasked with holding the mountain passes leading to Naples, but no plan existed for linking the Ranger force up with X Corps' follow-up units. Finally, although tactical surprise was unlikely, Clark ordered no naval preparatory bombardment or naval gunfire support take place, despite experience in the Pacific Theater demonstrating it was necessary. (Major General Walker, commanding the U.S. 36th "Arrowhead" Division, believed
20874-458: Was that the operation would be a trap and he advised cancellation, which occurred late on the afternoon of 8 September after pathfinders had already taken off aboard their troop carrier aircraft. The main landings ( Operation Avalanche ) were scheduled to take place on 9 September, during which the main force would land around Salerno on the western coast. It would consist of the U.S. Fifth Army , under Lieutenant General Mark W. Clark, comprising
21021-493: Was the Allied amphibious landing on mainland Italy that took place from 3 September 1943, during the Italian campaign of World War II . The operation was undertaken by General Sir Harold Alexander 's 15th Army Group (comprising General Mark W. Clark 's American Fifth Army and General Bernard Montgomery 's British Eighth Army ) and followed the successful Allied invasion of Sicily . The main invasion force landed on
21168-462: Was to be north towards Naples, he decided to move the VI Corps left hand boundary north of the Sele river and move the bulk of Major General Troy Middleton 's U.S. 45th Division into the gap. In view of the enemy reinforcements approaching from the north he also ordered a battalion-sized mixed arms group to reinforce the Rangers the next day. Over the same period, German reinforcements filtered into
21315-454: Was transferred to Elba in November 1943, each with four German 88 mm guns and three 20 mm guns and was the only unit in the garrison armed with modern weapons. The batteries were emplaced across the bay from Portoferraio, several hundred yards apart, on the hills at Acquabona.The defence was organised into 13 coastal sectors, Stralsund and Athen covered the Golfo di Procchio west of Portoferraio. Pisa, Venedig, Palermo, Florenz and Neapel were along
21462-429: Was undergoing training exercises in two locations 640 kilometres (400 mi) apart, was ordered on 4 September to embark on 8 September. With such short notice to create plans, Operation Slapstick was soon nicknamed Operation Bedlam. The Avalanche plan (using less than half the troops landed during Operation Husky) was daring, considering possible resistance by six German divisions. The Fifth Army would be landing on
21609-524: Was unopposed. The only casualties occurred when Abdiel , at anchor, struck a mine and sank in minutes, with 168 killed and 126 injured. On 11 September, as patrols were sent further afield, there were some sharp encounters with elements of the German 1st Parachute Division. But 1st Parachute could do little but skirmish and fall back because most of its strength was attached to the 26th Panzer and Hermann Göring Divisions at Salerno. Major-General George Frederick Hopkinson , General Officer Commanding (GOC) of
#644355