Back الحملة الإيطالية (الحرب العالمية الثانية) Arabic İtaliya kampaniyası (1943–1945) Azerbaijani ایتالیا کمپینی AZB Італьянская кампанія (1943—1945) Byelorussian Италианска кампания (Втора световна война) Bulgarian Campanya d'Itàlia (Segona Guerra Mundial) Catalan Italské tažení Czech Felttoget i Italien Danish Italienfeldzug (Zweiter Weltkrieg) German Kampanjo de Italio Esperanto

Italian campaign (World War II)

Italian campaign
Part of the Mediterranean and Middle East theatre of World War II and European theatre of World War II
Clockwise from top left:
Date9 July 1943 – 2 May 1945
(1 year, 9 months, 3 weeks and 2 days)
Location
Italy, San Marino, Vatican City
Result

Allied victory

Territorial
changes
  • Division of the Kingdom of Italy (1943)
  • Collapse of the Italian Social Republic (1945)
    • Belligerents

    Allies:

     •  India
     •  Newfoundland[1]
     •  Mandatory Palestine

    Co-belligerents:

    Supported by:

     Australia[a]

    Axis:

     Germany

     •  Italian Social Republic (from 23 Sep. 1943)
     •  Bohemia & Moravia[b]
     Italy (until 8 Sep. 1943)

    Commanders and leaders
    Strength
    May 1944:
    619,947 men
    (ration strength)[10]
    April 1945:
    616,642 men
    (ration strength)[11]
    1,333,856 men
    (overall strength)[12]
    Aircraft:
    3,127 aircraft
    (September 1943)
    4,000 aircraft
    (March 1945)[13]    		 May 1944:
    Nazi Germany 365,616 men
    (ration strength)[10]
    April 1945:
    Nazi Germany 332,524 men
    (ration strength)[11]
    Nazi Germany 439,224 men
    (overall strength)[11]
    Italian Social Republic 160,180 men
    (military only)[11]
    Aircraft:
    Nazi Germany 722 aircraft
    (September 1943)[14]
    Nazi Germany 79 aircraft
    (April 1945)[13]
    Casualties and losses

    Sicily:
    24,900 casualties[15][16][17]
    Italian mainland:[c][d][e]
    United States: 119,200
    United Kingdom: 89,440
    : 35,000
    Free France: 30,000
    Canada: 25,890
    British Raj: 20,000
    Poland: 11,000
    Dominion of New Zealand: 8,668
    Kingdom of Italy: 5,927
    Union of South Africa: 3,860
    Vargas Era: 2,300
    Kingdom of Greece: 452
    Total:
    358,295–376,637 casualties

    Vehicles:
    8,011 aircraft destroyed
    United States: 3,377 armoured vehicles destroyed[22]

    Sicily:
    Fascist Italy: 150,000[23]
    Nazi Germany: 27,940[24][16][25]
    Italian mainland:[f][g][h]
    Nazi Germany: 336,650–580,630
    Italian Social Republic: 35,000 (dead only)
    Surrender of Caserta:
    1,000,000 captured[i][11]
    Total:
    1,549,590–1,793,570 casualties

    Aircraft:
    Nazi Germany: ~4,500 aircraft lost[31]
    152,940 civilians killed

    The Italian campaign of World War II, also called the Liberation of Italy following the German occupation in September 1943, consisted of Allied and Axis operations in and around Italy, from 1943 to 1945. The joint Allied Forces Headquarters (AFHQ) was operationally responsible for all Allied land forces in the Mediterranean theatre and it planned and led the invasion of Sicily in July 1943, followed in September by the invasion of the Italian mainland and the campaign in Italy until the surrender of the German Armed Forces in Italy in May 1945.

    It is estimated that between September 1943 and April 1945, 60,000–70,000 Allied and 38,805–50,660 German soldiers died in Italy.[32][j] The number of Allied casualties was about 330,000 and the German figure (excluding those involved in the final surrender) was over 330,000.[32][k] Fascist Italy, prior to its collapse, suffered about 200,000 casualties, mostly prisoners-of-war taken in the invasion of Sicily, including more than 40,000 killed or missing.[34] Over 150,000 Italian civilians died, as did 35,828 anti-fascist partisans and some 35,000 troops of the Italian Social Republic.[35][36][l] On the Western Front of World War II, Italy was the most costly campaign in terms of casualties suffered by infantry forces of both sides, during bitter small-scale fighting around strongpoints at the Winter Line, the Anzio beachhead and the Gothic Line.[37] Casualties among infantry in Italy were proportionally higher than they were on the Western Front of WWI.[38]

    The invasion of Sicily in July 1943 led to the collapse of the Fascist Italian regime and the fall of Mussolini, who was deposed and arrested by order of King Victor Emmanuel III on 25 July. The new government signed an armistice with the Allies on 8 September 1943. However, German forces soon took control of Northern and Central Italy; Mussolini, who was rescued by German paratroopers, established a collaborationist puppet state, the Italian Social Republic (RSI), to administer the German-occupied territory. The Germans, sometimes with Italian fascists, also committed several atrocities against civilians and non-fascist troops. The Italian Co-Belligerent Army was created to fight against the RSI and its German allies, alongside the large Italian resistance movement, while other Italian troops continued to fight alongside the Germans in the National Republican Army; this period is known as the Italian Civil War. In April 1945, Mussolini was captured by the Italian resistance and summarily executed by firing squad. The campaign ended when Army Group C surrendered unconditionally to the Allies on May 2, 1945, one week before the formal German Instrument of Surrender. Both sides committed war crimes during the conflict, and the independent states of San Marino and the Vatican surrounded by Italian territory also suffered damage.

    1. ^ "Royal Artillery". www.heritage.nf.ca.
    2. ^ Gaujac, p. 68
    3. ^ "Canada and the Italian Campaign". www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca.
    4. ^ Canada, Veterans Affairs (June 23, 2021). "Canada - Italy 1943-1945 - The Second World War - History - Remembrance - Veterans Affairs Canada". www.veterans.gc.ca.
    5. ^ RAN, n.d., Sicily 1943 and Australian War Memorial, n.d., Sicily 1943 Archived 2018-09-23 at the Wayback Machine (23 September 2018)
    6. ^ "History". hrad.army.cz. Army of the Czech Republic. Archived from the original on October 27, 2017. Retrieved October 27, 2017.
    7. ^ Thomas, Nigel (2012). The German Army 1939–45 (5): Western Front 1943–45. New York: Bloomsbury. p. 11. ISBN 978-1782002437.
    8. ^ Littlejohn, David (1985). Foreign Legions Of The Third Reich. San Jose: Bender Publishing. p. 22. ISBN 9780912138220.
    9. ^ "A Look Back … Barbara Lauwers: Deceiving the Enemy". cia.gov. Central Intelligence Agency. Archived from the original on September 2, 2009. Retrieved October 25, 2017.
    10. ^ a b Frieser 2007, p. 1151.
    11. ^ a b c d e Frieser 2007, p. 1158.
    12. ^ Jackson, p. 230
    13. ^ a b Frieser 2007, p. 1156.
    14. ^ Frieser 2007, p. 1129.
    15. ^ Mitcham, Samual W.; Von Stauffenberg, Stephen (2007). The Battle of Sicily: How the Allies Lost Their Chance for Total Victory. Stackpole Books. ISBN 9780811734035.
    16. ^ a b Mitcham & Von Stauffenberg, 2007 p. 305
    17. ^ Liddel Hart, Basil H. (1970). A History of the Second World War. London: Weidenfeld Nicolson. p. 627.
    18. ^ a b Ellis, p. 255
    19. ^ "The Italian Campaign". Archived from the original on October 24, 2009. Retrieved 2011-07-28.
    20. ^ a b Blaxland 1979, p. 11.
    21. ^ Jackson, p. 335
    22. ^ Zaloga 2006, p. 44.
    23. ^ Ufficio storico dello Stato Maggiore dell'Esercito (USSME) (1993). Le operazioni in Sicilia e in Calabria. Rome. pp. 400–401.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
    24. ^ Le Operazioni in Sicilia e in Calabria (Luglio-Settembre 1943), Alberto Santoni, p. 401, Stato maggiore dell'Esercito, Ufficio storico, 1989
    25. ^ Messerschmidt, et al, 2007, p. 1,114
    26. ^ Jackson, p. 400
    27. ^ Rüdiger Overmans, Deutsche militärische Verluste im Zweiten Weltkrieg. Oldenbourg 2000. ISBN 3-486-56531-1, P. 336 and P.174.
    28. ^ George C Marshall, Biennial reports of the Chief of Staff of the United States Army to the Secretary of War : 1 July 1939-30 June 1945. Washington, DC : Center of Military History, 1996. Page 202.
    29. ^ Frieser 2007, p. 1162.
    30. ^ Atkinson 2014, p. 616.
    31. ^ Don Caldwell. "Luftwaffe Aircraft Losses By Theater, September 1943-October 1944". The Air Force Historical Foundation. Retrieved March 1, 2016. 4,468 operational losses are given from the brief period of September 1943 to October 1944 alone, but including the Balkans.
    32. ^ a b Frieser 2007, p. 1,162.
    33. ^ Blaxland 1979, p. 284.
    34. ^ Le Operazioni in Sicilia e in Calabria (Luglio-Settembre 1943), Alberto Santoni, p.401, Stato maggiore dell'Esercito, Ufficio storico, 1989
    35. ^ "Updated studies (2010) by the Ufficio dell'Albo d'Oro of the Italian Ministry of Defence, p. 4" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2020-08-02. Retrieved 2016-01-29.
    36. ^ Giuseppe Fioravanzo, La Marina dall'8 settembre 1943 alla fine del conflitto, p. 433. In 2010, the Ufficio dell'Albo d'Oro of the Italian Ministry of Defence recorded 15,197 Italian partisans killed; however, the Ufficio dell'Albo d'Oro only considered as partisans the members of the Italian Resistance who were civilians before joining the partisans, whereas partisans who were formerly members of the Italian armed forces (more than half those killed) were considered as members of their armed force of origin
    37. ^ Keegan, John "The Second World War" Penguin Books 2005 ISBN 0143035738 p.368
    38. ^ Holland, James (2023). "RAINCOAT". The Savage Storm: The Battle for Italy 1943. Atlantic Monthly Press. p. 393. ISBN 978-0-8021-6160-4.


    Cite error: There are <ref group=lower-alpha> tags or {{efn}} templates on this page, but the references will not show without a {{reflist|group=lower-alpha}} template or {{notelist}} template (see the help page).

    Rich TVX News Network Site

    Rich TVX News Network Info

    © MMXXIII Rich X Search. We shall prevail. All rights reserved. Rich X Search