Transcript The Italian Campaign

The Italian Campaign
1943-1944
• After Dieppe, Canadians waited in GB for their
next chance to go into battle
• The “tide” of the war was turning in favour of
the Allies:
– The Battle of El Alamein (Oct-Nov. 1942) meant
the end of German advances in North Africa
– The Battle of Stalingrad (winter 1943) ended the
German advance into the Soviet Union
• In July 1943, two Canadian divisions joined the
assault on Italy by invading the island of Sicily
• British PM Winston Churchill
called Italy “the soft
underbelly of Europe”
• Italian soldiers were surrendering in large
numbers
• The government of Benito Mussolini was
overthrown and he was executed
• The new Italian PM signed an armistice with
the Allies
• German troops flooded into northern Italy so
the Allies decided to invade the mainland
• Canadian, British and American troops began
a slow advance up the Italian peninsula
– Cdns took the town of Ortona – streets too
narrow to use tanks
– Would take almost two years to take all of Italy
– Took Rome on June 4, 1944 but fighting in Italy
would last into 1945