Prior to Operation Husky, the invasion of Sicily, Allied plans envisioned crossing the Strait of Messina, a limited invasion in the Taranto area, and advancing up the toe of Italy, anticipating a defence by both German and Italian forces.
The overthrow of Italian dictator Benito Mussolini by the Fascist Grand Council made a more ambitious plan feasible, and the Allies decided to supplement the crossing of the Eighth Army with a seizure of the port of Naples.
On September 3, the British launched Operation Baytown, and the British 13th Corps, part of the British Eighth Army of General Bernard Law Montgomery, crossed the Strait of Messina from Sicily to Reggio Calabria, covered by a heavy artillery barrage from Sicily.
The intention was to tie down German forces in the area and gain an Allied foothold in the toe of Italy.
The opposition against the Allied landing was very light, because the few German troops in the area rapidly withdrew northward. Italian troops were poorly equipped and demoralised by the political situation and the massive Allied bombardment; they offered no resistance.
Meanwhile, in the spring of 1943, preoccupied by the disastrous situation of the Italian military in the war, Mussolini removed several figures from the government whom he considered to be more loyal to King Victor Emmanuel than to the Fascist regime. Following the Council meeting held on July 23, 1943, Mussolini was summoned to meet the King and dismissed as Prime Minister.
Upon leaving the meeting, Mussolini was arrested by the Carabinieri and spirited off to the island of Ponza. Later, he was taken to a hotel on the top of Campo Imperatore at Gran Sasso, until he was freed by a Nazi commando operation during Operation Eiche, led by Otto Skorzeny. The Carabinieri guarding Mussolini were ordered to not put up any resistance.
Pietro Badoglio took the position of Prime Minister. Although the nomination of Badoglio apparently did not change the position of Italy as Germany’s ally in the war, many ways were being probed to seek a treaty with the Allies.
The truce called for Italian warships at Taranto, in the heel of Italy, to sail for Malta
Finally, an agreement was reached between the Allies and the Kingdom of Italy. The signing ceremony began on September 3 at 2pm at an Allied military camp at Cassibile in Sicily, which had been conquered by the Allies.
The armistice presented a total capitulation of Italy and was approved by both King Victor Emanuel III and Prime Minister Badoglio. The latter’s reassurances were doubted by the Germans, and they started to devise a plan – Operation Achse – to effectively take control of Italy as soon as the Italian government had switched allegiance to the Allies.
During secret surrender negotiations with the Allies in early September, the Italian government offered to open the ports of Taranto and Brindisi on the eastern coast.
German forces in that area were very weak and would be expected to withdraw rather than fight if the Allies landed there. General Eisenhower, the Supreme Allied Commander, quickly planned a third landing, codenamed Operation Slapstick, to take advantage of the offer.
Operation Slapstick started on September 9. The first echelon of 1st Airborne arrived on four British cruisers, a US cruiser, and the British fast minelayer HMS Abdiel.
The Americans launched Operation Avalanche on September 9, 1943, which was the main landing at Salerno. The invasion force consisted of the US Fifth Army under Lieutenant General Mark Clark, comprising the US Sixth Corps under Major General Ernest Dawley, the British 10th Corps under Lieutenant General Richard McCreery, with 82nd Airborne in reserve, a total of eight divisions and two brigade-sized units.
Its primary objectives were to seize the port of Naples. The Fifth Army decided to assault without preliminary naval or aerial bombardment. By the end of the first day, the Fifth Army, although it had not achieved all its objectives, had made a promising start. For the next three days, the Allies fought to expand their beachhead, while the Germans defended stubbornly to mask the build-up of their reinforcements for a counter-offensive, which they launched on September 13.
When the armistice was announced by Allied radio on the afternoon of September 8, the majority of the Italian army had not been informed about it and no orders had been issued about the line of conduct to be taken in the face of the German armed forces. Some of the Italian divisions that should have defended Rome were still in transit from the south of France.
The King, along with the royal family and Badoglio, fled from the capital city in the early morning of September 9, taking shelter in the town of Brindisi, in the south of the country. While Italy’s army and air force virtually disintegrated when the armistice was announced, the Allies coveted the Italian navy, which contained 206 ships in total, including such formidable battleships as the Roma, Vittorio Veneto and the recently renamed Italia (formerly Littorio).
There was a danger that some of the Italian navy might fight on, be scuttled or, more worrying for the Allies, end up in German hands. As such, the truce called for Italian warships on Italy’s west coast, mostly located at La Spezia and Genoa, to sail for North Africa (passing Corsica and Sardinia), and for those at Taranto, in the heel of Italy, to sail for Malta.
Meanwhile in Malta, the statue of Our Lady, known as Il-Bambina, was taken back to Senglea from Birkirkara, where it had been kept for safe-keeping immediately after the Illustrious blitz of January, 1941. Many people of Senglea, including those who had sought refuge outside the city, welcomed the statue back and congregated in fulfilment of vows for their deliverance from the onslaught that had threatened their life for three years.
As the procession reached the devastated wharf, shortly after leaving St Philip’s church, destroyers in Dockyard Creek coned their searchlights onto the statue of Il-Bambina, while a loudspeaker from one of the naval ships blared the joyous news of Italy’s surrender. It became an occasion of double rejoicing, as evident from the tears of joy on the face of all present to see the statue that had been returned to the city it belonged to.
In the meantime, on September 9, 1943, the naval units based at La Spezia left the port. The fleet included the battleships Roma, Vittorio Veneto and Italia, the cruisers Eugenio di Savoia, Duca d’Aosta, Duca degli Abruzzi, Garibaldi, Montecuccoli and Regolo, and eight destroyers.
The Luftwaffe sent six Dornier Do-217K-2s from III Gruppe of KG100 armed with Fritz X radio-guided bombs from airfields in southern France to attack the ships, but they failed.
The Germans started to devise a plan to effectively take control of Italy as soon as the Italian government had switched allegiance to the Allies
However, during the second attempt, they caused much damage to the battleships Italia and Roma. Sinking by the bow and leaning to starboard, Roma capsized and broke in two, carrying 1,253, including Admiral Carlo Bergamini and the ship’s captain Adone Del Cima, down with it.
On the next day the Italian naval formation met the Royal Navy one, which escorted them to Malta.
In the meantime, the battleships based at Taranto, Doria and Duilio, and cruisers Cadorna, Pompeo and Scipione and a destroyer, also went to Malta.
The first three Italian warships arrived on September 10, to be followed on the morrow by another 12, which dropped anchor at St Paul’s Bay, Marsaxlokk Bay and outside Grand Harbour.
On their arrival on September 11, 1943, Admiral Sir Andrew Cunningham sent this signal to the Admiralty: “Be pleased to inform their Lordships that the Italian battle fleet now lies at anchor under the guns of the fortress of Malta.”
Meanwhile, some Italian troops based outside Italy, in the occupied Balkans and Greek islands, were able to remain there for some weeks after the armistice, but without any determined support by Allied forces, they were all overwhelmed by the Germans by the end of September 1943.
Following the surrender of Italy on September 8, 1943, the British envisaged Operation Accolade to capture the Italian-held Dodecanese islands in the Aegean Sea. In anticipation of the Italian surrender, German forces had been rushed to many of the islands to gain control, capturing Rhodes in the process.
Despite this setback, however, the British High Command pressed ahead with the occupation of Kos, Samos and Leros. From September 10 to 17, the British 234th Infantry Brigade, under Major General F. G. R. Brittorous, which had re-formed on April 1, 1943 from the Fourth (Malta) Infantry Brigade when it was stationed in Malta, and other units, secured the islands of Kos, Kalymnos, Samos, Leros, Symi, and Astypalaia. The Germans quickly mobilised in response.
The British forces on Kos numbered about 1,500 men, 680 of whom were soldiers who also were previously part of the Malta garrison – the First Battalion, Durham Light Infantry. The Germans succeeded in occupying the island on October 4, capturing 1,388 British and 3,145 Italian prisoners.
The Allied garrison of Leros was garrisoned by the 234th Infantry Brigade, consisting of 3,000 men of the Second Battalion, the Royal Irish Fusiliers, the Fourth Batallion, the Buffs (the Royal East Kent Regiment), the First Batallion, the King’s Own Royal Regiment (Lancaster), and the second company of the Second Batallion, Queen’s Own Royal West Kent Regiment, and some regular Italian soldiers.
Leros was occupied on November 16, capturing 3,200 British (some of them also Malta veterans) and 5,350 Italian soldiers. After the fall of Leros, Samos and the other smaller islands were evacuated by the British to avoid further losses.
Relevant artefacts and information can be seen in the National War Museum in Valletta.
Charles Debono is curator, National War Museum.