Italian Campaign

(noun)

A World War II campaign that consisted of the Allied operations in and around Italy, from 1943 to the end of the war in Europe in May 1945. 

Related Terms

Examples of Italian Campaign in the following topics:

  • Sicily and Italy

    • The Italian Campaign of World War II was the name of Allied operations in and around Italy, from 1943 to the end of the war in Europe.
    • Joint Allied Forces Headquarters (AFHQ) was operationally responsible for all Allied land forces in the Mediterranean theater, and it planned and commanded the invasion of Sicily in July 1943, followed shortly thereafter in September by the invasion of the Italian mainland and the campaign on Italian soil until the surrender of the German Armed Forces in Italy in May 1945.
    • The Allied invasion of Sicily, codenamed Operation Husky, was a major campaign, in which the Allies took Sicily from the Axis.
    • It was a large scale amphibious and airborne operation, followed by six weeks of land combat that launched the Italian Campaign.
    • Besides them, over 150,000 Italian civilians died, as did 15,197 anti-Fascist partisans and 13,021 troops of the Italian Social Republic.

  • American Arrival in Europe

    • On August 11, seeing that the battle was lost, the German and Italian commanders began evacuating their forces from Sicily to Italy.
    • The first Allied troops landed on the Italian peninsula on 3 September 1943 and Italy surrendered on September 8 (although Mussolini's Italian Social Republic was established soon afterwards).
    • The Italian Campaign ended on May 2, 1945 and US forces in mainland Italy suffered between 114,000 and over 119,000 casualties.

  • The North Africa Campaign

    • The North African Campaign of World War II (June 10th, 1940 - May 13th, 1943) resulted in the huge loss of Axis troops, which greatly reduced the military capacity of the Axis powers and led to all Italian colonies in Africa being captured.
    • It included campaigns fought in the Libyan and Egyptian deserts (Western Desert Campaign or Desert War), in Morocco and Algeria (Operation Torch), and Tunisia (Tunisia Campaign).
    • The Western Desert Campaign, also known as the Desert War, was the initial stage of the North African Campaign.
    • After the British defeats in the Balkan Campaign, the Western Desert Campaign had become more important to British strategy.
    • Identify the effectiveness of the Western Desert Campaign, Operation Torch, and the Tunisia Campaign.

  • Slowing Momentum

    • The Battle of Stalingrad and setbacks in the North Africa Campaign represented a major defeat for the Axis forces.
    • The Battle of Stalingrad and setbacks in the North Africa Campaign represented a major defeat for the Axis forces.
    • In Libya,the Afrika Korps (the German expeditionary force in Libya and Tunisia during the North African Campaign) failed to break through the line at First Battle of El Alamein (July 1-27 1942), having suffered repercussions from the Battle of Stalingrad .
    • In November 1942, the Wehrmacht and the Italian Army retreated to Tunisia, where they fought the Americans and the British in the Tunisia Campaign (November 17, 1942–May 13, 1943).
    • The Allies invaded Sicily and Italy next, but met fierce resistance, particularly at Anzio (January 22,1944–June 5,1944) and Cassino (January 17, 1944–May 18,1944), and the campaign continued from mid-1943 to nearly the end of the war.

  • The Expanding Axis

    • On June 10, Italy also invaded France, declaring war on both France and the United Kingdom; 12 days later, France surrendered and was soon divided into German and Italian occupation zones, and an unoccupied rump state under the Vichy Regime.
    • With France neutralized, Germany began an air campaign (the Battle of Britain) to prepare to invade Britain.
    • The campaign failed, and the invasion plans were canceled by September.
    • In December 1940, British forces began counter-offensives against Italian forces in Egypt and Italian East Africa.

  • The Collapse of Nazi Germany

    • The failed Ardennes Offensive (December 16, 1944 – January 25, 1945) was the last major German campaign of the war.
    • On September 3, 1943, the Western Allies invaded the Italian mainland, following Italy's armistice with the Allies.
    • Germany responded by disarming Italian forces, seizing military control of Italian areas, and creating a series of defensive lines.
    • German special forces then rescued Mussolini, who then soon established a new client state in German occupied Italy named the Italian Social Republic, causing an Italian civil war.
    • In 1943, Mussolini established a new client state in German occupied Italy named the Italian Social Republic, causing an Italian civil war.

  • Converging Military Fronts

    • In early September, the Allies invaded the Italian mainland.
    • Germany responded by disarming Italian forces, seizing military control of Italian areas, and creating a series of defensive lines.
    • German special forces rescued Mussolini, who then soon established a new client state in German occupied Italy named the Italian Social Republic.
    • By May 1943, as Allied counter-measures became increasingly effective in the Atlantic, the sizable German submarine losses forced a temporary halt of the German Atlantic naval campaign.

  • The European Theater

    • In October 1940, Mussolini started the Greco-Italian War driven by his jealousy of Hitler's success but within days was repulsed and pushed back into Albania (Italian protectorate since 1939).  
    • The primary targets of this surprise offensive were the Baltic region, Moscow and Ukraine, with the ultimate goal of ending the 1941 campaign near the Arkhangelsk-Astrakhan line, from the Caspian to the White Seas.
    • On September 3, 1943, the Western Allies invaded the Italian mainland, following Italy's armistice with the Allies.
    • Germany responded by disarming Italian forces, seizing military control of Italian areas, and creating a series of defensive lines.
    • German special forces then rescued Mussolini, who then soon established a new client state in German occupied Italy named the Italian Social Republic, causing an Italian civil war.

  • Italy and Germany

    • It was originally dominated by patriotic socialist and syndicalist veterans who opposed the pacifist policies of the Italian Socialist Party.
    • Although the Italian Army was far better armed than the Fascist paramilitaries, the Italian government under King Victor Emmanuel III faced a political crisis.
    • The King was forced to choose which of the two rival movements in Italy would form the government: Mussolini's Fascists, or the anti-monarchist Italian Socialist Party.
    • Mussolini at 39 was young compared to other Italian and European leaders.
    • The Winter Relief campaigns annual drives to help finance charitable work) acted as a ritual to generate public feeling.

  • The Battle of the Atlantic

    • The Battle of the Atlantic was the longest military campaign of World War II, pitting the German Navy and Airforce against the Royal Canadian Navy, Royal Navy, the United States Navy, and Allied merchant shipping.
    • The Battle of the Atlantic was the longest, continuous military campaign in World War II, running from 1939 to the defeat of Germany in 1945.
    • The Germans were joined by submarines of the Italian Royal Navy (Regia Marina) after their Axis ally Italy entered the war on June 10, 1940.
    • The campaign began immediately after the European war began and lasted six years.