Chapter Four
Having secured Sicily, the Allies invaded mainland Italy. The main assault, under the codename Operation Avalanche, took place on the western coast at Salerno, with two subsidiary operations taking place in Calabria and Taranto. The Salerno invasion force consisted of 100,000 British troops and 69,000 Americans, with some 20,000 vehicles borne by an armada of 450 vessels. The key armoured unit was the British 7th Armoured Division, while supporting forces also included the Royal Scots Greys and the 40th Royal Tank Regiment. The US 5th Army’s reserves included the US 1st Armored Division. Under Operation Baytown the Canadian 1st Armoured Division came ashore at Reggio di Calabria, supporting the British 8th Corps.
Following the Axis surrender in Tunisia, the British 7th Armoured Division was withdrawn to Tripolitania to refit. It did not participate in Operation Husky, and instead trained for a role in the amphibious assault on mainland Italy. The battle-hardened veterans of 22 Armoured Brigade were brought back up to strength and issued with new vehicles and equipment.They cast off most of their British tanks and were equipped almost exclusively with the M4 Sherman. Their divisional armoured car regiment had Daimler and Dingo armoured cars supplemented with White scout cars.
To beef up the division’s anti-tank capabilities, the Jeep troop was replaced by a self-propelled gun troop equipped with two 75mm guns mounted in White half-tracks to give immediate fire support. At the same time the 5th Royal Horse Artillery was issued with the Priest 105mm self-propelled gun to work in conjunction with the armoured brigade’s tanks. In light of the terrain in Italy, the engineers were trained to deploy new Bailey bridges and tank-mounted scissor bridges in order to keep the division moving.
Field Marshal Rommel had taken charge of Army Group B in mid-August with responsibility for all German forces in Italy as far as Pisa. Field Marshal Kesselring and Army Command South remained in charge in southern Italy. The newly formed German 10th Army under General Heinrich von Vietinghoff was activated on 22 August with the task of fending off an Allied invasion.This army controlled the 14th Panzer Corps (Hermann Göring Panzer, 15th Panzergrenadier and 16th Panzer Divisions) and the 76th Panzer Corps (26th Panzer and 29th Panzergrenadier Divisions). Most notably, the 16th Panzer Division was deployed above the Salerno plain.
Following Operation Baytown on 3 September 1943, Kesselring rightly deduced that the Calabria landings were not the main Allied effort and concluded that Salerno or Rome would be their main point of attack. He withdrew General Traugott Herr’s 76th Panzer Corps, leaving just a regiment of panzergrenadiers to hold the toe of Italy in the face of the British 8th Army.
On 9 September Operation Slapstick seized Taranto unopposed, followed by Bari and Brindisi. The assault at Salerno also commenced that day, although the Allies soon found elements of the 16th Panzer, Hermann Göring Panzer and 15th and 29th Panzergrenadier Divisions bearing down on them. Private J.C. Jones from the US 36th Infantry Division remembered,
Beyond the beaches in front of the 141st [Regiment], the relatively flat terrain was now invaded by five Mark IV (medium) tanks. The German armour rolled over the American troops who had taken cover in the irrigation ditches, firing continual machine-gun bursts into the prone men as they rumbled by. A platoon of B Company, led by Staff Sgt James A. Whitaker of Brownwood,Texas, was caught by these tanks.
By 13 September all German reinforcements were in position, including units from the 3rd Panzergrenadier Division, which had been north of Rome. That day they launched a counteroffensive, which was halted by naval gunfire and artillery. Two days later the 16th Panzer and 29th Panzergrenadier Divisions went over to the defensive, while the Hermann Göring Division achieved some success east of Salerno. On 15 September, carrying infantry on their backs, the Shermans of the 40th Royal Tank Regiment departed Salerno en route for Naples.
When the 7th Armoured Division arrived in Italy on 15 September in support of the US 5th Army, its units were soon confronted with poor roads, mountains and impassable rivers. They acted as the follow-up division supporting the British 46th and 56th Infantry Divisions at Salerno. By 16 September the British and American bridgeheads had linked up, with the US 5th Army pushing up the west coast and the British 8th Army advancing along the east coast. The 7th Armoured Division’s first real success was the taking of Scafati on the Sarno river. Having secured the town’s road bridge intact, divisional engineers then erected a Bailey bridge next to it. Forward elements of the 7th Armoured Division entered Naples on 1 October.
Once beyond Naples, the armour was able to fan out. By 5 October the 7th Armoured’s tanks had reached the Volturno river near Capua. The Germans, however, had blown all the bridges and were firmly dug in on the far bank. On 12 October the 7th Armoured Division, acting in support of an infantry assault, launched a diversionary crossing to keep the Germans preoccupied. The tanks managed to ford the river and help turn the enemy’s defences. The Germans, though, simply withdrew to their next defence line along the Garigliano river.
In light of the Allies’ superior firepower, both the 76th and 14th Panzer Corps had little option but to break off the battle. Nonetheless, the armoured formations of the 10th Army had come very close to overcoming the Salerno bridgehead. The initial conduct of the 16th Panzer Division and the Germans’ ability to redeploy their forces more quickly than the Allies could reinforce almost tipped the battle in their favour.
The whole of southern Italy was in Allied hands by early October, and they now faced a whole series of German defensive lines.These would buy the Germans time while they constructed the ‘Winter Line’ south of Rome. In November the 7th Armoured Division was pulled back behind Monte Massico as it had been earmarked to take part in the coming Allied invasion of Normandy. The men handed over all their Sherman tanks and equipment to the Canadian 5th Armoured Division and made their way to Naples ready to be shipped back to England.There they reequipped with British-built Cromwell tanks – with dire consequences (see Images of War: Armoured Warfare in the Battle for Normandy).
By early November Hitler had dispatched Rommel to oversee the defence of northern France and Kesselring was left in charge in Italy with instructions to deny Rome to the Allies for as long as possible. It took the Allies until mid-January 1944 to force their way through the Volturno, Barbara and Bernhardt Lines to reach the Gustav Line – the centrepiece of the Winter Line.
The Allies launched their offensive in the south on 12 January 1944, with General Juin’s French Expeditionary Corps assaulting Cassino and the British 10th Corps attempting to exploit previous gains on the Garigliano river. Both assaults failed to break through the German Gustav Line, although limited progress was made.
A week later the US 2nd Corps attacked from the centre of General Mark Clark’s US 5th Army, attempting to cross the Rapido river, but after just two days the Americans were forced to call a halt.The breakthrough of the Gustav Line – the lynch-pin of the Allied plan, of which Operation Shingle (the Anzio landing) was a part – had bogged down. This lack of success at Cassino indicated there would be no progress towards Rome during March.
Operation Shingle, launched on 22 January 1944, was an amphibious attack in the area of Anzio and Nettuno, designed to turn the German flank and compromise their defences. Some 36,000 troops and 3,200 vehicles poured ashore. British forces hitting ‘Peter Beach’ were backed by the 46th Royal Tank Regiment, while the American troops coming ashore on ‘X-Ray Beach’ had armoured support from the 751st Tank Battalion and 601st Tank Destroyer Battalion. Six days earlier the US 5th Army had struck the Gustav Line at Monte Cassino; although it failed to achieve a breakthrough, it drew German reinforcements in the form of the 29th and 90th Panzergrenadier Divisions away from Rome.
At Anzio the Allies soon found their way blocked by the Hermann Göring Panzer Division and a battle group from the 4th Parachute Division, which were holding the roads from Anzio to the Alban Hills via Campoleone and Cisterna. Just two days after the landings the Germans had over 40,000 troops in the area, with the 4th Parachute Division to the west, the 3rd Panzergrenadiers in front of the Alban Hills and the Hermann Göring Division to the east.The invasion forces were hemmed in by elements of the 26th Panzer and Hermann Göring Divisions, as well as the 3rd and 16th SS Panzergrenadier Divisions with about 220 panzers. In two weeks of fighting the Anglo-American forces suffered almost 7,000 casualties.
By early February some 76,000 troops were facing 100,000 Germans under the control of the 14th Army and the 76th Panzer Corps and 1st Parachute Corps.The Germans launched a counterattack on 3 February and again on 16 February, with both sides fighting each other to a standstill. All the time the Allied forces at Anzio remained bottled up, they were tying up the valuable shipping that was keeping them resupplied. Due to the lack of progress, Lieutenant General Lucian Truscott replaced General Lucas as the commander at Anzio. Once again the panzers had triumphed.
Lieutenant General Mark W. Clark, commander of the US 5th Army, onboard the USS Ancon for the Salerno landings on 12 September 1943. This heralded the Allies’ attack on mainland Italy following their success in Sicily.
British motor transport and anti-aircraft guns coming ashore from LST 383 during the Salerno landings. Operation Avalanche involved almost 170,000 Allied troops and some 20,000 vehicles; initially they met minimal enemy resistance.
A column of British Carriers off-loaded from LST 314; note the array of anti-aircraft guns on the prow of the vessel. The British 7th Armoured Division came ashore on 15 September 1943, six days after the landings commenced.
American artillery and trucks being landed at Salerno.The military policeman on the right is ducking away from the blast of an incoming German 88mm round.
Forward elements of the British 7th Armoured Division liberated Naples on 1 October 1943. This shot shows British 17-pounder anti-tank guns making their way through the narrow streets of Scafati. The whole of southern Italy was in Allied hands by early October.
Once beyond Naples, the Allied armour began to fan out. By 5 October 1943 the 7th Armoured Division had reached the Volturno river near Capua. This river was one of the major barriers to the advance on Rome.This photograph shows British infantry supported by M4 Sherman tanks moving up towards the Volturno, where they launched a diversionary crossing on the 12th.
British infantry clearing the village of Sparanise, northwest of Capua, on 23 October 1943, after several days of fighting.
American engineers from the US 5th Army overseeing a pontoon bridge across the Volturno. On 13 October 1943, under the cover of darkness, lightly equipped infantry made a night crossing in assault boats. Sherman tanks were also landed from LSTs on the northern mouth of the river. Ammunition for the anti-tank guns and the tanks was then ferried over by amphibious craft manned by American crews.
British infantry crossing a pontoon bridge over the Volturno. It is not clear if this is the same bridge as in the previous image. A well concealed anti-aircraft gun mounted on a pontoon is just visible to the right by the far bank.
British infantry serving with the US 5th Army trudging through the mud in the Volturno bridgehead. In the meantime the Germans withdrew to their next defensive line along the Garigliano river.
British and American vehicles serving with 5th Army on the streets of Majori in October 1943. They include the six guns of a British Bofors anti-aircraft battery passing up the road. Visible in the foreground are General Motors Corporation 6x6 lorries, and in the background Chevrolet 4x4 lorries.
Allied bombers striking German positions at Lanciano in support of the British 8th Army’s bridgeheads north of the Sangro river. Note that the roads are clear of vehicles.
Another shot of the attacks on Lanciano. The inky clouds above the bombers are bursts of flak.
The following month bombers of the South African Air Force successfully destroyed the vital German ammunition dump at Alfadena. In the face of Allied air superiority, the Germans struggled to keep their units in Italy resupplied.
In an effort to break the deadlock in Italy and turn the German defences, it was decided to make an amphibious left hook at Anzio in January 1944 with Operation Shingle. These men are from the US 3rd Ranger Battalion; nearly all of them would be killed or captured at Cisterna.
The Anzio landing was virtually unopposed, as this Sherman advancing on X-Ray Beach on 22 January clearly shows. However, it was not long before the Allies were hemmed in by battle-hardened panzer and panzergrenadier divisions.
This GI is taking a closer look at the remains of a German Marder III self-propelled gun. Panzerjäger detachments of both the panzer and infantry divisions were issued with these guns from May 1943.
Another German self-propelled gun mounted on the same chassis. Known as the Grille, it was armed with a 150mm howitzer and served with the heavy infantry assault companies of the panzergrenadier regiments in Italy.This one was photographed firing from a position between the ruins of Carroceto near Aprilia on 26 February 1944. Behind it is a knocked-out Sherman and an Sd Kfz 251 half-track.
German paratroops of the Fallschirm Hermann Göring Panzer Division passing an immobilised Elefant during a counterattack on the Anzio bridgehead on 17 February 1944. These tank destroyers were issued to Heavy Panzerjäger Battalion 653, and elements of this unit were shipped to Italy. The Elefants saw action at Nettuno, Anzio and Cisterna, but in April 1944 part of the battalion was sent back to the Eastern Front.
An abandoned Elefant captured by the Allies. In September 1943, after a poor showing on the Eastern Front, the Germans withdrew the Ferdinand for modifications, which included the installation of a much-needed ball-mounted machine gun in the front of the hull, a modified StuG III commander’s cupola to help with visibility and a coat of Zimmerit antimagnetic paste.These modest improvements pushed its weight up from 65 to 70 tons.The modernised version of the Ferdinand was dubbed the Elefant, and this new name became official by order of Hitler himself on 1 May 1944. Their sheer weight meant that they were too heavy for most Italian roads and bridges, and soon became stranded.
An American bazooka team engaging German targets. This was the US Army’s standard infantry anti-tank weapon in Italy.
A bogged-down StuG III assault gun, photographed in early January 1944. Note the piles of spare road wheels stacked on the back. The Sturmgeschütz detachments of the Hermann Göring Panzer Division were issued with the Ausf F, though the Ausf G seen here was much more common.
(Opposite, top):This abandoned Panzer Mk IV Ausf H was found hiding in a haystack near Szee. Between April 1943 and July 1944 the Germans produced 3,774 examples of the Ausf H, making it the most numerous Panzer IV model.
When the Panzer Mk V Ausf A Panther was first introduced, it saw service in Italy but it did not arrive there until the late spring of 1944.
LST 77 off-loading M4A2 Sherman tanks at Anzio, Italy, May 1944. Note the small capsized barge in the background.