The war in Italy 1943-45

The German-Italian army in North Africa was forced to surrender in Tunisia in May 1943. This meant that an invasion of Italy itself could now take place. In July 1943, British and American forces landed in Sicily. By the middle of August they had captured the island from the Italian and German troops defending it. Mussolini was overthrown by the Italians themselves and secret negotiations began to take Italy out of the war.

On 8 September the new government of Italy announced its surrender to the Allies. The Germans reacted angrily to this act of 'betrayal' by its former Axis partner and fighting broke out between units of the Italian and German armies in Italy, Greece and Yugoslavia. The day after the surrender of Italy, US troops landed at Salerno. The US forces advanced along Italy's west coast and the British up the east coast, but progress was slow. Italy's mountains provided the German defenders with an ideal position to hold up the Allied advance.

Neil Demarco: The era of the Second World War; Oxford University Press, 1993/2000, page 42