Salerno landing

Salerno landing (1943). On 9 September 1943, after the invasion of Sicily, the downfall of Mussolini on 24 July, and the subsequent Armistice with Italy, the Allies launched a two-pronged invasion of southern Italy at Taranto and Salerno. AVALANCHE involved landing one US and two British divisions of Clark's US Fifth Army along a 26 mile (42 km) stretch of coast in the Gulf of Salerno, 40 miles (64 km) south-east of Naples. The aim was threefold: to cut off German forces in the south, capture the port of Naples, and reach the Volturno river.

Kesselring, the German commander in Italy, had disarmed Italian troops in the area and manned coastal defences just prior to the invasion and counter-attacked with elements of six divisions, supported by artillery in the surrounding hills. Naval gunfire and reinforcements from the sea alone could not stem the German attack, which was halted with the deployment of US paratroopers and massive air support. By 16 September the British and US forces had linked up and the crisis had passed, with Naples falling on 2 October. On 20 September, 300 British troops had refused orders to move inland. The Salerno mutiny, Britain's only troop rebellion during 1939-45, was defused, but had been caused by the inept management of convalescing soldiers who should have been sent home, but were diverted to strange units at Salerno instead.

— Peter Caddick-Adams

A major World War II Allied landing of troops and materiel at the Italian port of Salerno in 1943, supported mainly by U.S. and British warships. It was the last major effort in the attempt to attack Europe from the “soft underbelly, ” rather than from across the Channel.

See the Introduction, Abbreviations and Pronunciation for further details.