INTRODUCTION
After success in North Africa in 1943, the Allies were feeling optimistic. The British and the Americans decided to invade Italy’s beaches. They hoped to destroy its troops and divert Nazi forces from the primary Allied push to Berlin, which was taking place in the northern part of the continent. What followed was intense fighting on mostly mountainous land that cost a great deal of time, money, and lives.
GEOGRAPHY
Italy posed challenges to both invaders and defenders.
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Key Figures
Albert Kesselring
German field marshal Kesselring was the son of a school officer. He fought in the first World War, and in the second, he was involved in campaigns in locations as diverse as Poland, France, Britain, the Soviet Union, and North Africa. In the southern part of Italy, he led the Nazi army group. He created some of the best defense strategy of the war. After Germany's surrender, Britain ruled that his orders to shoot 335 Italian civilians constituted a war crime. Kesselring also issued orders to kill 15 POWs and lied about it, letting his subordinate take the blame and receive a death sentence. |
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