Invasion of Italy | |||||||
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Part of the Italian campaign of World War II | |||||||
![]() Troops and vehicles being landed under shell fire during the invasion of mainland Italy at Salerno, September 1943. | |||||||
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Belligerents | |||||||
Commanders and leaders | |||||||
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Strength | |||||||
189,000 (by 16 September) | 100,000 | ||||||
Casualties and losses | |||||||
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3,500 casualties[1] (incl. 630 killed)[1] |
The Allied invasion of Italy was the Allied amphibious landing on mainland Italy that took place from 3 September 1943, during the Italian campaign of World War II. The operation was undertaken by General Sir Harold Alexander's 15th Army Group (comprising General Mark W. Clark's American Fifth Army and General Bernard Montgomery's British Eighth Army) and followed the successful Allied invasion of Sicily. The main invasion force landed on the west coast of Italy at Salerno on 9 September as part of Operation Avalanche, while two supporting operations took place in Calabria (Operation Baytown) and Taranto (Operation Slapstick).