Full Narration - The Situation in Italy in World War II and Kesselring's Plan (VI)

On September 3, 1943, Montgomery's Eighth Army, supported by 600 Army cannons and 120 naval guns, crossed the Strait of Messina and landed on a nearly empty beach, firing the first shots of the Allied liberation of the European continent. Fearing Allied gunfire, the few Germans were not fortified on the beach, so the landing went exceptionally smoothly, after which the Commonwealth troops began to advance along two coastal roads. The style of combat was clearly Montgomery,rather than a few black shots fired in front of them, or if the terrain ahead was conducive to ambush, the British had to deploy heavy artillery and tanks before moving forward. If the logistical supply was insufficient, then Montgomery would also order the advance to stop, and if the Air Force did not provide air cover, then Montgomery would also stop. Coupled with the congestion of the roads, the constant blowing up of bridges and laying mines in the roads, so the British Eighth Army is like a snail slowly climbing up from the toes of Italy, and if the Italian territory is compared to the legs of a beautiful woman stretching out to the sea and wearing fashionable high heels, then this picture must be beautiful - popular history books are accustomed to describing Montgomery as a serious Irish landowner, but I think he must be a poet, with a sullen temperament.

Since Montgomery's Eighth Army was "fiercely resisted" by the Germans on the toes, for Eisenhower and Alexander it seemed more optimistic that everything went according to their own vision. At 18:30 on 9 September, according to Eisenhower's plan, The Anglo-American radio broadcast at the same time the treaty of Italy's unconditional surrender and war against Germany, and the officers and men of the Allied landing fleet abroad in the Gulf of Salerno rejoiced, believing that the landing in the Italian resort would be one of the best memories of their lives, including the sun, the beach, and the Italian beauties who greeted them. According to the conventional practice of landing, the Allies should use their own powerful naval gun fire to bombard the coast, but there is a problem, if the coast is defended by italian friends who meet them, then it is not equivalent to shelling their own good friends. Some Allied commanders suggested that for the sake of safety, regardless of three or seven twenty-one, bombard it first. However, The Supreme Commander, General Clarke, rejected this unsmiling proposal and ordered the Allied forces to land directly. However, the British did not respect the orders of the supreme commander from the United States, and the British Navy prepared for their fire at the landing field of the British army, covering the landing field with a large amount of naval gun fire. From this point of view, the British are really not very good, pretending to be a gentleman on the surface, and their hearts are full of male thieves and female prostitutes. However, the final result is that the British male thieves and prostitutes are more in line with the pace of the times, because the Italian army in this area has recently been "persuaded" by the Germans to hand over the positions to the German army to defend, and the Americans refuse to shell the coast, but the German artillerymen who are guarding here have beaten the Americans who landed with their heads covered.

According to the Allied plan, at the same time as the landing on salerno Bay, the US 82nd Parachute Division would be parachuted into Rome to cooperate with the local Italian army to attack the German headquarters, and even thought that this operation might directly capture the German supreme commander, Marshal Kesselring. However, from the landing to the airborne raid, the plan relied on the cooperation of the Italian army, but in order to prevent the Italians from leaking secrets, the specific content and time of the operation were not known to the Italians until near. According to Eisenhower's understanding, the Italians in a state of meritorious service should have made all the preparations long ago and gone all out to cooperate with the Allies. But at the last minute, he found that for the past week or so, the Italians had done nothing, and the only plan the Italians had had been to wait for the Allies to drive the Germans out of their country, as if a princess were waiting for a brave knight to free her from the dragon—the only thing she wanted to risk her life for the knight was to give her body and mind to the Allies through "unconditional surrender". Looking at the various requirements for cooperation in the battle plan handed to them by the Allies, the Italians innocently opened their eyes, "The slave family is not ready" and "the concubines really can't do it"——

Faced with the Italians who had a seizure of the princess's illness, Eisenhower had to urgently call off the airborne plan for Rome. But the landing plan for salerno Bay could not be canceled, and the huge landing fleet was already on the coast, waiting for them not flowers, wine, and snow, but German machine guns, artillery and tanks. Since the Anglo-American radio had already announced the treaty signed by Italy, there was no moral scruple in German action, and although the Italian government tried to convince the Germans that this was just a beautiful misunderstanding, an Anglo-American counter-plan, germany would not believe it, Kesselring immediately issued a combat order code-named "Axis", and Student commanded the Second Paratrooper Division of the Air Force and an Army Division to occupy the city of Rome.

But the attack on Rome did not go well, as italy's most famous army, the 132nd Aries Division (this means Aries), was also in the city, one of the earliest armored and motorized units in Italy, and the Afrika Korps in Rommel were regarded as the fourth main force after the three German divisions, which suffered a devastating blow on the North African battlefield, but still withdrew many experienced veterans, and the division was supplemented by the best Italian soldiers. Fierce fighting broke out between Ariet's division and the German army attempting to occupy Rome, and for a time the attack was blocked. However, the heroic fighting of Ariet's division did not inspire defeatism in the Upper Echelons of Italy, and the King, Prime Minister, and Cabinet Ministers soon fled, and the remaining divisions did not take military action. The commander and mayor of rome decided to negotiate with the Germans, expressing their willingness to cooperate with the Germans to provide resources and facilities for german military operations, in exchange for the fact that germany did not station large troops in rome and ensured that there would be no street battles in rome in the future. This condition was exactly in Kesselring's heart, because the overstretched German army did not have much strength to maintain the occupation of the city, and if the local government of Italy was willing to cooperate, the burden of German occupation was greatly reduced, and the agreement with the city of Rome and the settlement of the occupation of the Italian capital also set a template for the occupation policy of other Italian areas. In this way, the city of Rome surrendered, and the Germans sent two companies of troops into the city, whose main job was to protect the communication system. The rest of the Italian cities followed the experience of the capital and rushed to negotiate favorable terms with the Germans.

Kesselring ordered the German army to disarm all Italian troops nearby while they were mobilizing in combat, and if they could use intimidation, persuasion, and negotiation, then the use of force should be avoided as much as possible. According to Hitler's orders, all Italian prisoners of war captured in the Italian war should be sent to Germany for work to supplement Germany's labor shortage. But the Supreme Commander Kesselring judged the situation and considered it a dangerous order, and he ordered that as long as the Italian soldiers laid down their weapons and promised not to oppose Germany, then Germany was willing to help them return to their homeland. This order was probably the wisest of all Italian administrative policy, for the Italians did not know of a state, but they did not necessarily love their freedom, and the sense of the countryside was so strong that if italian soldiers were forced to do hard labor in Germany, it would inevitably make a huge Italian army resist. Lay down your arms and go home to live a small life, a prospect that hit the heart of the Italian army at once, and in an instant nearly a million Italian troops on the Apennines disappeared.