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Text originally published in 1944 under the same title.
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Although in most cases we have retained the Authors original spelling and grammar to authentically reproduce the work of the Author and the original intent of such material, some additional notes and clarifications have been added for the modern readers benefit.
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American Forces in Action Series
SALERNO American Operations from the Beaches to the Volturno 9 September - 6 October 1943
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Contents
TABLE OF CONTENTS
ILLUSTRATIONS
Lt. Gen. Mark W. Clark
Mount Soprano
Panorama of the Salerno Battleground
The Beaches of Paestum
The Tower of Paestum
Dukws Come Ashore on D Day
Bulldozers Construct Roads
Highway 18
A German 88-mm Dual-purpose Gun
The Wall of Paestum
LST's Bring in Trucks and Tanks
Ponte Sele
View of Altavilla
View of Altavilla
The Grataglia
The Tobacco Factory
Mount San Chirico
Combat Engineers of the 142d Infantry
Blown Bridges
The Church at Acerno
A Bridge Southwest of Acerno
Infantry of the 3d Division
The Volturno River Valley
Insignia
Maps
1The Invasion of Italy
2The Salerno Plain, D Day Plans
3The Paestum Beaches, 9 September 1943
4D Day Progress, VI Corps
5The 36th Division Advances, 10 September 1943
6The Left Flank, 11 September 1943
7Fifth Army Beachhead, 2400, 11 September 1943
8The Left Flank, 12 September 1943
9Action at Altavilla, 13 September 1943
1045th Division, 1200, 13 September 1943
11Action on the Left Flank, 13 September 1943
12German Counterattacks, 13 September 1943
1345th Division, 14 September 1943
1436th Division, 14 September 1943
15Advance to the Volturno, 16 September-6 October 1943
16Advance to the Volturno, 16 September-6 October 1943
17The 30th Infantry at Acerno, 20-22 September 1943
18Advance in the Central Mediterranean, 11 November 1942-6 October 1943
Foreword
In the thick of battle, the soldier is busy doing his job. He has the knowledge and confidence that his job is part of a unified plan to defeat the enemy, but he does not have time to survey a campaign from a fox hole. If he should be wounded and removed behind the lines, he may have even less opportunity to learn what place he and his unit had in the larger fight.
AMERICAN FORCES IN ACTION is a series prepared by the War Department especially for the information of wounded men. It will show these soldiers, who have served their country so well, the part they and their comrades played in achievements which do honor to the record of the United States Army.
s/G. C. Marshall
G. C. MARSHALL,
Chief of Staff.
WAR DEPARTMENT
Military Intelligence Division
Washington 25, D. C.
26 August 1944
Under the command of Lt. Gen. Mark W. Clark, the Fifth Army, a great Allied force composed of the British 10 Corps and the United States VI Corps, carried out the first large scale invasion of the European mainland and secured a firm base for future operations in Italy. Salerno: The American Operations from the Beaches to the Volturno is an account of the American forces who landed on the beaches in the Gulf of Salerno. The actions of our British allies have been duly recorded by their command.
This study is the third of a series called AMERICAN FORCES IN ACTION, designed exclusively for military personnel and primarily for wounded soldiers in hospitals to tell them the military story of the campaigns and battles in which they served. No part of this narrative may be republished without the consent of the A. C. of S., G-2, War Department, Washington 25, D. C.
Salerno is based on the best military records available. The manuscript, paintings, and sketches were prepared in the field by the Fifth Army Historical Section. The panoramic sketch of the Salerno battleground is by Col. W. P. Burn, C.W.S. Photographs are by the U. S. Army Signal Corps. Readers are urged to send directly to the Historical Branch, G-2, War Department, Washington 25, D. C., comments, criticism, and additional information which may be of value in the preparation of a complete and definitive history of the action at Salerno.
CHAPTER I Preparations for Invasion
From Africa to Italy
EARLY IN SEPTEMBER 1943, British and American armies invaded southern Italy, striking at the heart of a major Axis nation and breaching Hitler's "Fortress Europe." Behind the invasion lay long months of hard-won Allied victories. The Axis was cleared out of Africa in May, when British and American armies annihilated the German and Italian forces cornered in Tunisia. Sicily, the stepping stone from Africa to Europe, was next conquered in a 38-day battle, and on 17 August the last of its German garrison fled across the Strait of Messina to the Italian mainland. On 3 September the British Eighth Army crossed the Strait in pursuit and drove up the Calabrian Peninsula. Coordinated with the Eighth Army's attack, Allied landings at Salerno by the United States Fifth Army and at Taranto by the British 1 Airborne Division were made on 9 September. In the Salerno landings, strong American forces were fighting on the continent of Europe for the first time since 1918.
Even before the beginnings of the Sicilian operations, the staffs of Allied land, naval, and air forces had been planning an invasion of Italy. Once established on the Italian mainland, we might hope to secure complete naval and aerial domination of the Mediterranean and to obtain strategic ports and airfields for future operations against continental Europe. If we could knock Italy out of the war, we would force the Germans to retreat north of the Alps or to use in Italy armies which might be fighting on the Russian front.
Plans for the Invasion of Italy
The extent and timing of the invasion depended on factors which could not be estimated accurately. In the early summer the Allied Chiefs of Staff did not know how strong Italian and German resistance in Sicily would be, or what direction political developments in Italy would take. First plans had called for an assault across the toe with a coordinated amphibious attack on the instep of Italy. In July and August, however, indications of changing temper of the Italian people dictated the bolder strategy of assaults farther up the west coast. After the fall of Mussolini from power on 25 July, the Fascist Party lost control in Italy, and the new government showed more and more clearly its desire to withdraw from the war. As our campaign in Sicily moved successfully ahead, the Italians, soldiers and civilians alike, gave further signs that they had grown war weary. Italy was ripe for attack.
