About the Episode
In the summer of 1943, after a successful campaign in North Africa, the Allies are planning their next move. British Prime Minister Winston Churchill convinces US President Franklin D. Roosevelt that the best way forward is an invasion of the island of Sicily, with the potential to take out Axis power Italy altogether. Roosevelt and Soviet leader Joseph Stalin want to initiate a more direct attack on Germany by opening a true second front in France, but the Allied forces are not yet ready for such an invasion—and so, Sicily, then Italy, become the route.
But Adolf Hitler has no intention of deserting Benito Mussolini or giving up this key part of his empire without a fight. So begins a monthslong slog up the Italian Peninsula to Rome, with Allied and German forces engaging in some of the bloodiest battles of the war. What was supposed to be a quick strike into the “soft underbelly” of Hitler’s Fortress Europe becomes a quagmire, with devastating implications for the Allied forces and Churchill’s leadership.
The National WWII Museum was proud to support HISTORY's work on this series through historical research, educational outreach, and archival footage, as well as on-site interviews with WWII veterans that will be featured as part of the network’s “Save Our History” initiative.
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