CHAPTER 12

The Second Front

AN AMERICAN SOLDIER TAKES DIRECTIONS FROM AN ITALIAN

CIVILIAN, ITALY 1943–4. THE MOUNTAINOUS TERRAIN OF

NORTHERN ITALY WOULD TAKE AN ENORMOUS TOLL ON BOTH

SIDES AS THE WAR ON THE SECOND FRONT RAGED INTO

THE BITTER WINTER OF 1944.

In April 1943, the Royal Navy submarine Seraph dropped a dead body in Spanish waters carrying fake papers referring to an imminent Allied invasion of Greece. The body floated ashore on the Spanish coast on 30 April. ‘Major Martin’, later known as the ‘Man Who Never Was’, was an invention of British Naval Intelligence. He had been given an entirely bogus identity, including a bank manager, a tailor and a fiancée called Pam. The ruse was good enough to convince the German High Command, which soon received news of the find from their old allies, the government of General Franco. As a result, they were busy preparing for an Allied assault from the Aegean Sea while across the Mediterranean the British 8th and US 7th Armies began landing troops on the south coast of Sicily on 10 July 1943.

BRITISH SERVICEMEN DRY THEIR CLOTHES AFTER LANDING ON SICILY. HARDENED BY THEIR EXPERIENCES IN THE AFRICAN DESERT, THEY WERE NOW READY TO STRIKE AT GERMAN DEFENCES IN MAINLAND EUROPE.

US ORDNANCE AND EQUIPMENT ROLLS ASHORE ON SICILY. THE ISSUE OF WHETHER OR NOT TO BUILD ON THE VICTORY IN NORTH AFRICA BY INVADING ITALY HAD BEEN HOTLY CONTESTED AMONG THE ALLIED HIGH COMMAND.

The Allied forces in Italy contained the most diverse collection of soldiers ever formed into a field force. As well as US, British and French troops, the fighting forces co-ordinated by General Alexander included men from India, New Zealand, South Africa and Canada. They were joined by Poles, French Moroccans, a Jewish unit from Palestine and a Brazilian Expeditionary Force. Although Italy itself declared war on Germany on 13 October 1943, Italians were never granted the status of ‘allies’. Instead, Italian soldiers were invited to fight alongside Allied troops as ‘co-combatants’. In the event, their limited actions against German troops were totally overshadowed by the activities of the 100,000 Italian civilians who became partisan guerrillas.

A joint British and US invasion of Sicily had always been the long-term aim of the Allied campaign in North Africa, despite arguments between them over whether or not an assault on the Italian mainland should ensue. The Soviet Union was urgently requesting that a ‘second front’ be opened against German forces in Europe to relieve the pressure on the beleaguered Russian troops, and Churchill favoured a strike against what he called Europe’s ‘soft underbelly’. The USA preferred the idea of a single, massive assault on northern France across the English Channel, and felt that an Italian campaign would be a waste of men and resources. Although an early Italian surrender was likely, the Allies still expected stiff opposition from the strong, disciplined and well-led German forces already stationed in Italy. For the next two years, that is exactly what they got.

Defended by 10 Italian and two German divisions, the mountainous island of Sicily was not easy territory to conquer. It took General Montgomery and General Patton, who led the joint Allied forces, 38 days to achieve victory. In that time, the German Field Marshal Alfred Kesselring, Commander-in-Chief of the German forces in Italy, managed to evacuate over 100,000 German and Italian soldiers to the mainland.

The question for the Allies now was what to do next. Two weeks after the landings, Benito Mussolini had been called before the Italian Fascist Grand Council and removed from power by King Victor Emanuel III. The stunned dictator was then bundled into an ambulance and taken to a disused mountain hotel, where, it was intended, he would be imprisoned for the rest of the war. He was replaced as head of the Italian Government by Field Marshal Pietro Badoglio, the former commander-in-chief of the Italian armed forces, who had himself been sacked by Mussolini during Italy’s ill-fated invasion of Greece in 1940. The Italians, however, had never been wholehearted about the war. Now, three years later, with an Allied invasion looming, the Italian Government seemed only too glad of a chance to surrender and get out. But the Allies were not to come by this ‘whitewash’ all that easily.

The Italians, however, had never been wholehearted about the war. Now, three years later, with an Allied invasion looming, the Italian Government seemed only too glad of a chance to surrender and get out. But the Allies were not to come by this ‘whitewash’ all that easily

Negotiations between the new government and the Allied High Command began almost immediately after the end of the Sicilian campaign on 19 August, but for 45 days the Italian leadership stalled over announcing a cease-fire. Not only was Badoglio hoping for better terms than the unconditional surrender demanded by the Allies, but he was also aware that the German Army was preparing to occupy and defend Italy.

US FORCES LANDING AT SALERNO IN MAINLAND ITALY FACED STIFF RESISTANCE FROM THE HEAVILY DEFENDED GERMAN POSITIONS. SOON, EVERY MAN WHO COULD CARRY A RIFLE WOULD BE PUSHED INTO THE FRONT LINE, AS GENERAL MARK CLARK’S RESERVES WERE RAPIDLY EXHAUSTED.

FOLLOWING THE ITALIAN SURRENDER, GERMAN TROOPS QUICKLY OCCUPIED TOWNS AND VILLAGES ACROSS THE COUNTRY. THESE PARATROOPERS ATTEMPT TO HOLD MONTE CASSINO AGAINST THE ALLIED ADVANCE.

Throughout July and August 1943, Allied planes mounted almost continuous bombing of the Italian mainland in an effort to persuade the government to make up its mind. During the same period, a wave of strikes protesting at Italy’s continued involvement in the war threatened to cripple the industrial north of the country. In the end, the Allies decided to force the Italians’ hand by invading the mainland on 3 September 1943. After covering the short distance across the Straits of Messina, which was between two and eight miles wide, the British 8th Army carried out a series of landings near the town of Reggio di Calabria. They encountered little resistance and, by the end of the day, the Allied presence in Italy was established. The Italian surrender was made official five days later, the day before US troops began landing at Salerno, 30 miles from Naples, in south-western Italy. The American GIs ran into considerably more difficulty than the British. Within hours of the cease-fire, German troops had occupied Rome and other major towns and cities across Italy. At Salerno, they had already established well-defended artillery positions in the hills surrounding the town, and the US 5th Army met fierce resistance. It took General Mark Clark’s troops five days to fight their way inland. Despite this setback, by 1 October the Allies had succeeded in their initial military objectives: the capture of the port of Naples and the airfields at Foggia. From there, they could then land a complete invasion force supported by air cover.

ABOVE DON LUIGI PIAZZA, AN ITALIAN PRIEST AND LEADER OF A PARTISAN BAND, SHARES A JOKE WITH A FELLOW PATRIOT. EQUIPPED WITH SUPPLIES DROPPED BY ALLIED PLANES, THESE MEMBERS OF ‘THE ARMY OF NATIONAL LIBERATION’ ORGANISED IN SECRET HIDEOUTS IN THE ITALIAN MOUNTAINS.

ABOVE LEFT: THE ITALIAN PEOPLE FINALLY TOOK UP ARMS AGAINST THE GERMANS. THIS SCHOOL TEACHER FOUGHT IN A PARTISAN UNIT IN NORTHERN ITALY, COMMITTED, LIKE THOUSANDS OF OTHERS, TO FREEING HER COUNTRY FROM THE NAZI YOKE.

As he had already done in Sicily, Field Marshal Kesselring once again made a series of tactical retreats, pulling the German troops back towards the Apennine mountains, the central ‘spine’ of Italy, which ran 800 miles from the north down to the Straits of Messina. Kesselring knew he would have the rugged mountain terrain on his side and planned to exploit it to the full in order to prevent the Allied troops reaching their next target: Rome.

Kesselring’s ‘Gustav Line’ was dominated by Monte Cassino, a 1703-ft-high peak capped by a beautiful 1300-year-old Benedictine monastery that stood at the entrance to the Liri valley, blocking the only road north to the Italian capital 75 miles to the northeast. To clear the path, the Allies would have to flush the Germans out of the mountains. What followed were six months of some of the most bitter fighting of the war as US, British and New Zealand troops made repeated attempts to capture the heavily defended German positions. The conditions were atrocious. Not only did fighting along exposed mountain roads leave troops almost permanently open to attack from above, they were also vulnerable to the elements. The freezing mountain cold took a heavy toll of Allied troops who had spent the last year in the simmering deserts of North Africa. One GI later remembered: ‘For years afterwards, my toes were numb from frostbite.’ Losses on both sides were severe. Over 80,000 Allied troops lost their lives in the campaign, as did 50,000 German soldiers. Gurkhas from Nepal, who had fought for the British ever since the early days of the Raj in India, were particularly hard hit as their phenomenal valour and experience of mountain warfare made them natural front-line troops.

MONTE CASSINO

TOP: AMERICAN B17 BOMBERS WERE USED IN THE ATTACK ON THE HEAVILY ENTRENCHED GERMAN POSITIONS AT MONTE CASSINO, BUT THEIR BOMBARDMENT ONLY SERVED TO GIVE THE ENEMY BETTER COVER.

BOTTOM: THE HISTORIC MONASTERY AT MONTE CASSINO EXPLODES UNDER THE WEIGHT OF THE ALLIED BOMBING. AS THE FIGHT FOR THE PEAK DRAGGED ON, CONDITIONS FOR THE MEN ON BOTH SIDES OF THE CONFLICT SOON BECAME INTOLERABLE.

The conditions were atrocious…The freezing mountain cold took a heavy toll of Allied troops who had spent the last year in the simmering deserts of North Africa. One GI later remembered: ‘For years afterwards, my toes were numb from frostbite.’ Losses on both sides were severe

AN ALLIED SOLDIER SURVEYS THE UTTER DEVASTATION WREAKED ON THE AREA AROUND MONTE CASSINO. THE BATTLE FOR THE MOUNTAIN WOULD EVENTUALLY COST THE LIVES OF OVER 100,000 MEN.

The landings behind German lines at Anzio, 30 miles south of Rome, on 22 January 1944 were carried out to try to relieve pressure on Allied troops fighting in the Apennine mountains. However, after coming ashore and spending a week digging into defensive positions, the 50,000 men of the US 6th Army were pinned down by a German counter-attack, and for the next four months suffered almost constant bombardment from inland. During the fighting, the town of Carrocetto changed hands no less than eight times as the Allied troops repeatedly tried, but failed, to break out of their beachhead. Churchill referred to the operation as ‘a stranded whale’ and US General John Lucas was roundly criticised for not having advanced when he had the opportunity. After suffering considerable losses, the Allied forces eventually broke through the German defences on 23 May 1944.

The key to Monte Cassino was the ancient monastery on top of the mountain, which overlooked the entire area. Determined that it should not fall into German hands, the British General Bernard Freyberg requested, with reluctance, that it be destroyed by Allied bombers, despite the fact that it was still inhabited by the Benedictines. On 15 February 1944, having gained permission from Pope Pius XII, Allied aircraft dropped some 600 tons of bombs on the historic monastery, levelling it to a mass of smashed stone and smoking ruin. The destruction of this historic building was for nothing, however. Its ruins presented even better defensive opportunities and German troops soon dug themselves into the rubble. When the German positions were finally taken three months later, it was due to the combined efforts of Polish and French Moroccan troops. The Moroccans, known as ‘Goums’, dressed in traditional native costume and, armed with long knives, broke through the German lines by climbing the ‘impassable’ Petrella Peak and attacking from the rear. Their spectacular advance was so successful that it soon gave rise among Allied troops to the phrase ‘Goumed right off the map’. On 18 May, the Polish troops, who had suffered appalling casualties, finally entered the ruins, by which time Kesselring had already begun another long retreat.

A FRENCH MOROCCAN GOUM OF THE FRENCH EXPIDITIONARY FORCE IN ITALY TAKES ADVANTAGE OF A PAUSE IN THE FIGHTING TO SHARPEN HIS KNIFE. RENOWNED FOR THEIR BRAVERY AND SAVAGERY, THE GOUM TROOPS WHO ATTACKED MONTE CASSINO GAVE THE GERMAN ENEMY NO QUARTER.

TANKS OF THE ALLIED 5TH ARMY ROLL PAST THE ANCIENT COLISEUM AFTER THE LIBERATION OF ROME IN JUNE 1944. THE FIRST AXIS CAPITAL HAD FALLEN.

ITALIAN PARTISANS FILL A COMMANDEERED BUS. ALTHOUGH FEW ITALIAN SOLDIERS OFFICIALLY FOUGHT ALONGSIDE THE ALLIES, THE ITALIAN PEOPLE THEMSELVES PLAYED A MAJOR PART IN ALLIED VICTORIES ACROSS ITALY.

ITALIAN REFUGEES ON THE MOVE WITH THE FEW POSSESSIONS THAT THEY MANAGED TO CLING ON TO.

Birthplace of the 15th-century Italian Renaissance and home of countless art treasures, the city of Florence was occupied by German troops as part of the defensive Gothic Line until August 1944, when it was liberated by the combined efforts of Italian partisans and Allied troops. Although many of the city’s magnificent statues had been covered or removed to prevent damage from Allied bombs, the retreating Germans attempted to buy themselves time as Allied forces entered the city by blowing up the series of historic bridges that crossed the River Arno. Only the famous, and historic, Ponte Vecchio was saved, after locals pleaded with the German forces to spare it.

Meanwhile, in an attempt to relieve the pressure on Monte Cassino, US troops had landed at Anzio, 20 miles south of Rome, on 22 January 1944, but were pinned down on a critically exposed beachhead for the next four months. The breakout did not come until 23 May. The link-up with forces moving up from the south took place on 25 May, and 10 days later, amid scenes of joy, tears and cheers, US troops entered Rome on 4 June. Emotional scenes like this were soon to take place elsewhere in Europe as the Allied saviours liberated towns and cities from their Nazi bondage, but, for the moment, it was enough that President Roosevelt could proudly announce: ‘The first Axis capital is in our hands. One up and two to go!’

In his eagerness to reach the Italian capital before the British, General Mark Clark had failed to encircle Rome and, as a result, most of the German 10th Army, of almost 30,000 men, escaped. German headquarters presented the retreat rather differently, issuing a report explaining that ‘as there was a danger that Rome, one of the oldest cultural centres in the world, would be directly involved in the present fighting, Hitler has ordered the withdrawal of German troops in order to prevent its destruction.’ This, though, did little to disguise the fact that an eventual Allied victory in Italy was starting to look more and more likely, despite Kesselring’s considerable defensive skills.

In the meantime, though, the Allies had found themselves with other pressing problems. As the Allied forces liberated more and more territory, they faced great difficulty in providing for the Italian population. Millions had been rendered homeless and hungry by the war, which had also destroyed most of the country’s infrastructure. An Allied Military Government of Occupation (AMGOT) was set up to feed the starving Italians, keep the streets clean, issue money and carry out the other essential duties of government. However, as Roosevelt warned, its work would be ‘gradual’ at best. The port of Naples, occupied by the Allies between October 1943 and December 1944, illustrated the problems they faced. A city of over one million inhabitants, most of them living in dire poverty, Naples had first been occupied by German troops who attempted to impose forced labour on the population. The Neapolitans would have none of it. There was a widespread public uprising and four days of open warfare in the city streets. By the time the Allies took control, starvation and disease were rife, largely as a result of the massive Allied bombing campaign that led to the city’s liberation on 1 October 1943. US soldiers reported that hundreds of thousands of children who had been orphaned by the war were turning to crime and prostitution to survive. There was little that could be done. Attempts to remedy the situation were already hampered by arguments between the British and US governments over how much Italy should be punished for its role in the war. The British favoured a much tougher line than the USA.

A PUBLIC HANGING OF A SUSPECTED ITALIAN PARTISAN MEMBER IS CARRIED OUT BY GERMAN TROOPS AS A WARNING TO OTHERS. GERMAN RETRIBUTION FOR PARTISAN ACTIVITIES WAS CHARACTERISTICALLY BRUTAL.

The British were now also becoming increasingly concerned about growing support among the poor and dispossessed for the numerous Italian communist organisations that had sprung up since the surrender. They feared an eventual communist takeover. This, though, was an over-anxious attitude. The communists were only a few among many groups of Italians intent on resisting the German forces. For instance, following the cease-fire declaration, 10,000 Italian soldiers on the Greek island of Cephalonia had been executed for refusing to surrender to their former German comrades. The German occupation of Rome on 11 September 1943 had been met by fierce local resistance, and 600 Romans had been killed. Later, as the retreating German Army established new defensive positions at the Gothic Line along the River Arno, Italian partisan organisations took up the fight. As in the rest of occupied Europe, an underground resistance movement had quickly sprung up in Italy and, by 1944, there were almost 100,000 partisans operating in the north alone. In many places, they set up their own local governments, as well as engaging in savage fighting with German and fascist soldiers. Made up largely of local peasants, who lived off the land and operated from hide-aways in the hills, partisan units sabotaged German supply lines and communications and ambushed their troops, as well as preventing the seizure of grain for transportation back to Germany. Partisan organisations even took control of the northern half of Florence after assisting in the liberation of the historic city on 5 August 1944.

GRAN SASSO

After being removed from power in July 1943, the former fascist dictator of Italy, ‘Il Duce’ Benito Mussolini, was imprisoned by what was left of his own government. Three months later, at Hitler’s personal request, a daring mission was mounted to rescue him by Colonel Otto Skorzeny, a dashing 6ft 6ins tall German commando with a scar across his cheek. Skorzeny, once known as ‘the most dangerous man in Europe’, together with a team of crack parachute troops landed at the mountain resort where Mussolini was held, subdued the guards and quickly removed Hitler’s old ally. Later, Mussolini was installed as head of the Republic of Salo, with a ‘capital’ at Gargagnano on Lake Garda. From there, Il Duce was supposed to lead fascist operations, but his most noteworthy action was the trial and execution of five politicians who had voted for his removal when the Allies invaded. One of them was Mussolini’s own son-in-law, Count Galeazzo Ciano, who was shot on 11 January 1944.

US TROOPS ON PATROL IN NORTHERN ITALY DURING THE HARSH WINTER OF 1944, WHICH STALLED THE ALLIED OFFENSIVE UNTIL THE FOLLOWING SPRING.

German reprisals against partisan activities were extremely retributive. As in occupied Russia, SS units were unleashed on the Italian countryside to use brutality and terror in an effort to subdue the civilian population. In September 1943, the town of Boves in Piedmont had been burned to the ground in response to partisan activities in the area. During August 1944, one SS battalion, commanded by Major Walter Reder, embarked on a ‘march of death’ across Tuscany, executing every man, woman and child in each of the villages they entered. The situation grew even worse during the harsh winter of 1944 as Kesselring’s troops launched their own campaign to destroy the Italian resistance once and for all. Trapped in the hills and poorly equipped, many partisans were hunted to their deaths. At the Marzabotto commune in Emilia, almost 2000 of them were killed by German soldiers.

Meanwhile, the Allied advance had stalled and General Alexander announced that there would be no fresh Allied offensive until the following spring. He suggested that partisan groups in northern Italy cease activity and ‘go to ground’ for their own safety. This was taken as an insult by many partisans. It also encouraged Mussolini’s remaining fascists to begin their own campaign against peasant villages ‘suspected’ of harbouring the resistance fighters.

During August 1944, one SS battalion, commanded by Major Walter Reder, embarked on a ‘march of death’ across Tuscany, executing every man, woman and child in each of the villages they entered. The situation grew even worse during the harsh winter of 1944

The effects of the winter were also felt in the industrial cities of northern Italy, the more affluent part of the country. There, people were living without food or fuel in homes shattered by Allied bombs. In cities like Turin, sabotage and lack of raw materials for factories administered by the occupying Germans had led to mass unemployment. The SS had begun rounding up workers for transportation back to Germany to aid the ailing Nazi war effort. Resistance took the form of a series of widespread strikes organised by communist groups and trade unions throughout the winter and into the spring of 1945, accompanied by equally widespread industrial sabotage and the occupation of factories by their workers. As in the countryside, the urban resistance paid a high price for these activities. In Milan, 15 ‘political prisoners’ were shot in public for the destruction of one German lorry. Nevertheless, in the last week of April 1945, as Allied troops once again began to advance northwards, a combined force of workers and partisans finally rose up en masse against the German occupation. This ‘National Insurrection’ spread through the cities of northern Italy within hours. In Genoa, the resistance cut off supplies and communications to the local German barracks and seized the city after two days of fighting. In Turin, armed factory workers battled German soldiers until partisans arrived to relieve them. In Milan, where fighting centred around the Pirelli tyre plant, the German forces surrendered on 26 April as Allied soldiers approached.

By then, the struggle for Italy and, in fact, the war in Europe itself were almost at an end. At midday on 2 May 1945, Kesselring, who had already been negotiating with the Allies for some days, announced the total surrender of the German forces. On hearing the news, Mussolini immediately attempted to escape to Switzerland with his mistress, Claretta Petacci, and a large amount of gold bullion. Mussolini and Claretta were captured by partisans outside the village of Dongo near Lake Como. They were executed on the spot. Afterwards, their bodies were hung upside down from a girder in a filling station at Milan’s Piazza Loreto. There, a large crowd massed to abuse, spit upon, curse and otherwise excoriate them. The scene was so brutal that even the Allies protested.

The Italian campaign had cost the Allies over 300,000 casualties and the Germans over 500,000. In addition, 30,000 resistance fighters had lost their lives struggling to free their country. Later, there was considerable debate over whether the campaign in Italy should have taken place at all. However, the fact remained that by allowing Italy to surrender and then tying down considerable German resources, those who fought and died on the ‘second front’ made a major contribution to the eventual defeat of Nazi Germany.

Mussolini and Claretta were…executed on the spot. Afterwards, their bodies were hung upside down from a girder in a filling station at Milan’s Piazza Loreto. There, a large crowd massed to abuse, spit upon, curse and otherwise excoriate them. The scene was so brutal that even the Allies protested

MUSSOLINI AND HIS MISTRESS, CLARETTA PETTACI, LIE DEAD IN A MILANESE SQUARE, THE ITALIAN PUBLIC HAVING ENACTED A GRUESOME REVENGE ON THEIR CORPSES. ONE OF THE ITALIAN DICTATOR’S FAVOURITE SAYINGS HAD BEEN: ‘EVERYONE GETS THE DEATH HE DESERVES.’