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| We
Remember: The Liberation of Italy |
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On
Display: September 26 2003 - February
2004.
Location: Louisiana Memorial Pavilion |
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WE
REMEMBER: The Liberation of Italy
On September
9, 1943, British troops crossed the
Straits of Messina, landing at the toe
of Italy. Six days later, the American
5th Army under General Mark Clark landed
400 miles north on the beach at Salerno.
The 22-month campaign to liberate Italy
had begun.
On September 28, the Allies captured
the airfields near Foggia, which gave
them new bases for bombing targets in
Germany, Austria, southern France and
the Balkans—targets that were once up
to 1,000 miles away were now half that
distance. Advancing north, Allied ground
forces continued to seize Italian airfields
and increase bombing and supply missions.
American liberty ships unloaded massive
amounts of men and supplies after the
capture of the port of Naples on October
8.
Rocky mountains and muddy valleys were
hallmarks of the Italian campaign. The
Allies also faced the north-west running
Appennine Mountains as they tried to
out flank the series of east-west running
German defensive lines.
Rome was the objective in early 1944.
In an attempt to break through the Gustav
Line, the German defense line south
of Rome, the Allies landed at Anzio
in January. Stiff German opposition
stopped Allied forces at the Anzio beachhead.
It was four months before the Allies
succeeded in breaking out at Anzio and
smashing the Gustav line. On June 4,
1944, Rome was liberated.
The Allied advance continued northward
past Rome during the summer and winter
of 1944-1945 through the Arno River
Valley and the Po River Valley. By spring
1945, German forces had retreated to
the northern border of Italy. German
commanders in Italy surrendered on May
2, 1945. |
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