Operation Avalanche

South of Salerno, Italy

Winston Churchill wanted to invade Europe starting in Italy but George Marshall, Chief of Staff of the U.S. Army, wanted no part in it. But time played it's part and it became apparent to both that the Normandy invasion wouldn't take place until 1944. So the U.S. agreed to give the Europe invasion a trial one in Italy, hoping it would tie down the German forces and keep them away from the beaches of Normandy. There was no U.S. commitment for further engagement or follow up operations.

Operation Avalanche began on 9 September 1943 as part of an Allied invasion of Italy. Besides the 5th Army, which contained my grandfather, there were also soldiers from the British X Corps, the U.S. 82nd Airborne Division and a few other specialized battalions. The army was spread across 35 miles of beachfront and with a major river between the British and U.S. forces. 

There was much debate on where to wade ashore in order to surprise the Germans and in the end it was all for naught.  Even with a decoy group landing in Sicily, the German's expected a further north landing and so the Allied forces landed right in the middle of eight divisions of German forces near the town of Salerno. Perhaps there was surprise on the German's part that the Allied forces hadn't bombed the area ahead of time. None the less, the troops waded ashore and secured the beach under fire. According to my research, my grandfather's group, the 5th Army Antiaircraft Artillery group were in the initial wave.  By the end of the day, the Allies occupied the 35 miles of coast line inwards for 6 or 7 miles.

Antiaircraft artillery gun in action

In the week that followed, the Germans counterattacked and came close to overwhelming the Allies, nearly pushing them back into the sea. Fortunately Hitler deemed defending Italy south of Rome to not be a strategic priority and so no reinforcements were sent. In the end, the Allies succeeded though paid a steep price. There were 2349 killed, 7366 wounded and 4100 missing compared to the German losses of 840 killed, 2002 wounded and 603 missing.

The 5th Army advanced and captured Naples on the 1st of October but soon ran into what is called the Volturno Line or a series of fortifications the Germans built from coast to coast, the first such line of several. There they fought for every inch all winter long before they were able to break through the last one in May of 1944, one month before the D-Day invasion. On June 4, they entered the outskirts of Rome.

In one of the books I ordered, much is talked about in the role the antiaircraft artillery group played. At one point, the Germans over ran Allied positions causing the antiaircraft artillery group to provide it's own defense as it retreated.  The Germans had air superiority nearly the entire campaign and so my grandfather's group played a large part in shooting planes down in order to protect the front line troops. The 5th Army Antiaircraft Artillery group officially shot down 463 German planes with 303 others estimated to have been destroyed but their wreckages never found. The 5th Army saw an estimated 635 attacks and 4670 air sorties during that same period of time.

Troops in Rome

Although not part of Operation Avalanche, I didn't have enough information about my grandfather's time in the 5th army to warrant another post so I'll spell out what I know here. The 5th Army continued fighting it's way north through Italy until it linked up with the 7th Army on the Austrian-Italian border on 5 May 1945. Three days later the war was over. The 5th Army set a modern military unit record of fighting in sustained combat for 602 days. On 14 September 1945, my grandfather left Italy for home and was discharged shortly after arriving in Massachusetts. Like many World War II vets, he soon married, bought some land to farm and made good use of the rest of his life.