The arrival of the British battleships HMS Warspite and Valiant, with 38 cm (15 in) guns, off the beaches provided the Allied troops with a morale boost, although Valiant was not required to shoot and Warspite's 29 rounds were awe-inspiring but a minor contribution to the 2,592 naval rounds fired that day. Following the defeat of the Axis Powers in North Africa in May 1943, there was disagreement between the Allies as to what the next step should be. Joint Allied Forces Headquarters (AFHQ) were operationally responsible for all Allied land forces in the Mediterranean theatre, and it was they who planned and commanded the invasion of Sicily and the Italian mainland. Good history written in a time before "political correctness." As well, Italy occupied by a hostile German army would have created additional problems for the German Commander-in-Chief (C-in-C), Generalfeldmarschall Albert Kesselring.[7]. Stones were sent from all the major conflict sites: Berlin, London, Dresden, Warsaw, Montecassino, El Alamein, Hiroshima, and Nagasaki. German losses, particularly in tanks, were severe. Panzergrenadier-Division, Eberhard Rodt) and 16th Panzer Division (16. The main landings (Operation Avalanche) were scheduled to take place on 9 September, during which the main force would land around Salerno on the western coast. On 5 September the allies flew above Soveria Mannelli (central Calabria) and bombed all along the downstream area of the town, where Nazis bases and warehouses stood. Operation Sealion envisioned shifting British X Corps to Paestum with VI Corps, while the alternative Operation Seatrain envisioned shifting VI Corps to the X Corps sector. [25] In Calabria, Herr's LXXVI Panzer Corps had two divisions concentrated in the Castrovillari area. The British 7th Armoured Division, passing through the 46th Division, was assigned the task of taking Naples, while the newly landed U.S. 3rd Infantry Division took Acerno on 22 September and Avellino on 28 September. … Montgomery was strongly opposed to Operation Baytown. He predicted it would be a waste of effort since it assumed the Germans would give battle in Calabria; if they failed to do so, the diversion would not work, and the only effect of the operation would be to place the Eighth Army 480 km (300 miles) south of the main landing at Salerno. [12], In the original planning, the great attraction of capturing the important port of Taranto in the "heel" of Italy had been evident and an assault had been considered but rejected because of the very strong defenses there. Fallschirmjäger-Division), was deployed toward Taranto. In mid-August, the Germans had activated Army Group B (Heeresgruppe B) under Erwin Rommel with responsibility for German troops in Italy as far south as Pisa. [26] Meanwhile, Balck's XIV Panzer Corps was positioned to face possible landings from the sea with 16th Panzer Division in the Gulf of Salerno, the Hermann Göring Division near Naples and the 15th Panzergrenadier Division to the north in the Gulf of Gaeta.[27]. [56] The 325th Glider Infantry Regiment, reinforced by the 3rd Battalion, 504th PIR, landed by sea on 15 September. By 3 September, most of this unit was in prepared positions at Bagnara, some 40 km (25 mi) from the landings which it had orders to hold until 6 September. 41 (Royal Marine) Commando) was tasked with holding the mountain passes leading to Naples, but no plan existed for linking the Ranger force up with X Corps' follow-up units. Salerno story In September 1943, 191 soldiers of Montgomery's 8th Army downed guns and refused to take part in the battle for Salerno in southern Italy. Three NCOs who led the mutiny were sentenced to death but the sentence was not carried out and they were eventually allowed to rejoin units. [15] The Fifth Army would be landing on a very broad 56 km (35 mi) front, using only three assault divisions (one American, the 36th, under Major General Fred L. Walker, in VI Corps, and two British, the 46th, under Major-General John Hawkesworth, and 56th, under Major-General Douglas Graham, in X Corps),[16] and the two corps were widely separated, both in distance (19 km (12 mi)) and by the Sele River. On 9 September, he decided to halt his formations in order to reorganise before pushing on but General Alexander replied on 10 September that "It is of the utmost importance that you maintain pressure upon the Germans so that they cannot remove forces from your front and concentrate them against Avalanche". Over 1,000 tons of bombs were dropped during the daylight hours. Get answers to your questions about Salerno, Hotels near Stazione Marittima di Salerno, Hotels near Museo Diocesano San Matteo di Salerno, Hotels near Museo Archeologico Provinciale di Salerno. This had left its right wing too thinly manned to defend X Corps' right flank and left a particular weakness at the corps boundary. The main invasion force landed around Salerno on 9 September on the western coast in Operation Avalanche, while two supporting operations took place in Calabria (Operation Baytown) and Taranto (Operation Slapstick). Under Hermann Balck's XIV Panzer Corps (XIV Panzerkorps) was the Hermann Göring Panzer Division (Fallschirm-Panzer Division 1 Hermann Göring, under Wilhelm Schmalz), 15th Panzergrenadier Division (15.