![]() While en route to Salerno, the convoys expected harassment from the Luftwaffe, but German air attacks proved much lighter than expected. 9 Admiral Hewitt’s command also included British fleet carrier Unicorn (I-72) and four escort carriers under Rear Admiral Philip Vian, RN, which played a critical role defending ships from aerial attacks after D-Day. It consisted of nine assault transports (APA), four assault cargo ships (AKA), three British LSTs, three British infantry landing ships (LSI), and an escort of three light cruisers, eleven destroyers, eight minesweepers (AM), and one British fighter director ship. 8 The 36th Division convoy (NSF-1) under Admiral Hall and part of TF-81 formed the main American invasion force. The force was divided into 16 different convoys, all of which sailed toward the Gulf of Salerno. ![]() 7 The attack forces corresponded to the British northern sector, just south of Salerno and north of the Sele River, and the American southern sector, south of the Sele River near Paestum.įrom 5–6 September, nearly 600 units allocated to Hewitt’s Western Naval Task Force departed from Oran, Algiers, Bizerta, Palermo, Termini, and Tripoli. Oliver RN, and the mostly American Southern Attack Force (TF-81), commanded by Rear Admiral John L. 6 The Western Naval Task Force was further divided into the mostly British Northern Attack Force (TF-85), commanded by Commodore G. 5 As stipulated by prior negotiations, Admiral Hewitt commanded the overall operation until General Clark had successfully established land-based headquarters on 12 September. Fifth Army commanded by Lieutenant General Mark Clark. The Allied forces that would be employed at Salerno included the Western Naval Task Force (TF-80) under Vice Admiral H. 3 After months of clandestine negotiations and a tense standoff just before the declaration of surrender, General Dwight Eisenhower announced the Italian capitulation on the evening of 8 September, only hours before the invasion. 2Critical to the success of the effort was a peace settlement with the new Italian leader, Marshal Pietro Badoglio. ![]() Salerno was chosen for the main assault due to its excellent sea approaches, lack of shoals, adequate underwater gradients, and relatively soft defenses. Invading the Italian mainland would maintain a second front against the Axis and continue to degrade the German military machine ahead of the Normandy attack. Allied military planners decided to invade Italy at Salerno (Operation Avalanche) in addition to two supporting operations at Calabria (Operation Baytown) and Taranto (Operation Slapstick). Following the success of that attack in July 1943, known as Operation Husky, and the sudden deposition of Mussolini that same month, a separate peace with Italy became possible. Roosevelt and Prime Minister Winston Churchill decided that an invasion of Sicily would be conducted to take pressure off the Eastern Front. ![]() At the May 1943 Trident Conference in Washington, President Franklin D. Normandy was the first choice, but British insistence that a cross-channel attack would not be successful until 1944 left the Western Allied leadership looking for alternatives. After victories in North Africa in May 1943, the Allied high command looked to open a second front against the Axis on the European continent.
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