About the Allied campaigns in the Mediterranean. The Day of Battle, Liberation Trilogy Series, Rick Atkinson, Book - Barnes & Noble
And I am coming to the conclusion that Eisenhower has been hugely underrated. The campaigns in the Med were a success in that they knocked Italy out of the war, diverted NAZI troops away from France, and created an insurgency in Axis occuppied Italy. Events in France overshadowed the bogged down Italian campaign, but the fact remains that the strategic goals had been achieved. Could have Overlord have succeeded without the war in the South? It was a pretty close call as it was.
JeffinMNUSA

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I agree with Jeff. The campaigns in the Mediterranean also kept much needed oil from falling into German hands. Ike knew that if he could both divert resources and stop the flow of oil, he had a double edged sword with which to hack at the Third Reich.

I thought it was the US side that wanted to land in France/Normandy(?) first and not in the southern Italy. Not sure what Ike´s thoughts on this were in the first place but wasn´t it mr Churchill´s demands that lead to starting the liberation of Europe in the Mediterranean area? I might be wrong but this is what I recall....

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Kai;
The Med campaign was Winston Churchill's idea and was seen by some as a sidehow. Events proved Churchill was correct in that the Italian people turned on Mussolini. THe Italian Army of WWII seems to have been less than enthusiastic players on the Axis team and tended to readily surrender to Allied forces(this is no stain on their honor-Fascism just did not TAKE in Italy like it did in Germany for a variety of reasons). Knocking Belle Italia out of the war deprived the Third Riech of badly needed manpower as well as oil and was probably a very good idea.http://www.amazon.co.uk/Italian-Army.../dp/1855328666 The Italian Army of WWII had leadership, doctrinal and armament problems but-as with the Soviet military-they were learning. Winston did well to knock them out of the war and to create yet another Partisan War in the NAZI rear. https://www.cia.gov/library/center-f...ing98/OSS.html The phrase"Succeeded beyond all expectation" could be applied.
http://books.google.com/books?id=J3l...sult#PPA157,M1
http://members.aol.com/ItalyWW2/History.htm
JeffinMNUSA
PS. The "Bella Ciao" song of the Italian partisans.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4UE40dUZL2Q
PS. The Italian Partisan movement; https://www.cia.gov/library/center-f.../v41i5a06p.htm
PSS> And moving song of the French Resistance; http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sUZWl...eature=related

Hi;
Just a note; I finished on Atkinson 2 and have started on Atkinson's first book "An Army at Dawn" about the North African campaign.
Anyhow, a thing that I still keep thinking about from Atkinson 2 was the account of the two Italian girls freed by the American troops from the jail during the Anzio landings. It seems that they had been sentenced to DEATH for taking a train to Rome to buy food. "WHA...." Those NAZIs were certainly some harsh occupiers-even with their former allies! No wonder they provoked brush fire wars every where they went! And the Eastern European occupations were much, much worse!
JeffinMNUSA
PS. A few chapters into Atkinson 1 and a shocking statistic the author reveals is that 40% of the US males summoned were rejected as 4-F's-a number he puts to the ravages of the Great Depression (how is it that the oldsters of that time always spoke of WWII as a great party in comparisson with the Depression?).
PS. A few more chapters into "An Army at Dawn" and here are some observations; The Luftwaffe held air superiority during the earlier phases of the North African campaign. Then the Allies had huge logistical problems and had much to learn about amphibious operations. The Allies also had much to learn about combined arms operations and their attacks tended to be amateurish operations. The Wehrmacht had no such problems and in "tank on tank" actions the kill rate seems to be even more dismal (for the allies) than in France two years later.

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