Armoured Warfare in the Italian Campaign: 1943 to 1945 (Images of War)
Anthony Tucker-Jones
Language: English
Pages: 160
ISBN: 1781592470
Format: PDF / Kindle (mobi) / ePub
The Second World War campaigns in North Africa, on the Eastern Front and in northwest Europe were dominated by armored warfare, but the battles in Italy were not. The mountainous topography of the Italian peninsula ensured that it was foremost an infantry war, so it could be said that tanks played a supporting role. Yet, as Anthony Tucker-Jones demonstrates, in the battles fought from the Allied landings in Sicily in 1943 to the German surrender after the crossing of the Po in 1945, tanks, self-propelled guns and armored cars were essential elements in the operations of both sides.
His selection of rare wartime photographs shows armor in battle at Salerno, Anzio and Monte Cassino, during the struggle for the Gustav Line, the advance on Rome and the liberation of northern Italy. In addition, they reveal the full array of Axis and Allied armored vehicles that was deployed - most famous among them were the German Mk IVs, Panthers, and Tigers and Allied Stuarts, Chafees, Shermans and Churchills.
This volume in Anthony Tucker-Jones’s series of books on armored warfare in the Second World War gives readers a vivid impression of the Italian landscapes over which the campaign was fought, the wide range of military vehicles that were used, and the grueling conditions endured by the men who fought in them.
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Of fire than the British Bren gun. An armoured car and soldiers from the Brazilian 1st Infantry Division in the village of Massarosa. The 25,000-strong Brazilian Expeditionary Force arrived in Italy in August 1944; their first action saw the 6th Combat Team capture Massarosa, north of Lake Massaciuccoli. The Brazilians were the first South American soldiers ever to fight on European soil. They later took part in the US 4th Corps’ major assault in April 1945 that pierced the Germans’ remaining.
In Tunisia, was taken just two days before the Allied invasion of the Italian island of Sicily. Operation Husky saw the first use of LSTs and LCTs (Landing Craft Tank) to put tanks ashore; in Algeria and Morocco the Allies had had to capture the ports first. (Opposite): The Italians had four field divisions with about 100 French-built light tanks and five coastal divisions totalling 275,000 men to protect Sicily. The tanks consisted mainly of tankettes and old French Renaults as well as a.
Surrendered, as did those on Linosa and Lampedusa, opening the way for the invasion of Sicily. The Sicilian port of Catania being bombed in a daylight raid just before the start of Operation Husky. Following the invasion, stalwart German defences at Catania stalled the British advance on Messina. British airborne troops preparing to take off for Operation Ladbrooke. The 1st Air Landing Brigade was to capture the Grande Bridge over the River Anapo and then the western suburbs of Syracuse on 10.
Scoglitti in the east. The objective of both armies was Messina on the northeastern tip of the island; in the process it was hoped to trap the German and Italian forces before they could escape over the Messina Straits. American Gls take a closer look at a number of knocked-out Tiger tanks. Exposed roads such as this made them vulnerable to Allied fighter-bombers. The 60-ton Tiger was soon found to be ill-suited to the rugged and unforgiving Sicilian countryside, while Italian armour was too.
Northern Italy for Hitler’s war effort. Allied Shermans pushing north after the landings on mainland Italy. The country’s geography was ill-suited for offensive tank warfare and was much better suited to the needs of the defenders. Hitler’s latest Panzer, the Mk V, known as the Panther, did not arrive in Italy until the spring of 1944 in time to help counter Operation Diadem.This was the first of three different models known as the Panzerkampfwagen V Ausf D, which were initially issued to the.