What happened in naples-foggia?

Answer 1

Naples-Foggia is a campaign that was fought in Italy in which a US soldier or unit can receive credit for the European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign Medal (or EAME medal). The objective of the Naples-Foggia campaign was to land Allied troops, both US and British, on the mainland of Italy and to capture a major port and airfields. The campaign included 3 different amphibious operations. Operation BAYTOWN -3 Sept 1943 - UK landed on southern tip of Italy. Operation SLAPSTICK - 1 Sept 1943- UK landed at Taranto. Operation AVALANCHE - 9 Sept 1943 - US and UK troops landed at Salerno, just south of Naples. The British troops advanced along the east coast of Italy and met little resistance. The US landing was on the west coast and the Germans moved units in to resist the operation. The Allies advanced north and captured Naples and began to prepare it as a re-supply base. The British troops advanced to Foggia, located just above the "heel" of Italy, where they captured existing airfelds. Within a few weeks, Allied bombers moved into the Foggia airfields and it eventually became the home of many of the bombers of the 15th Army Air Force. Foggia airfields placed these bombers within striking range of targets in Germany & Austria and the oil fields in Rumania. If you are researching a veterans service records and you have a copy of his discharge papers, it may list "NAPLES-FOGGIA" as a campaign credit on the form.