Italy

Summary

World War II with Tom Hanks

Episode 11: Italy

Original Release Date: June 30, 2026
Produced by: The HISTORY Channel | Back Pocket Studios | Audacy

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Overview: The Harsh Reality of the “Soft Underbelly”

This episode, guided by Tom Hanks, explores the pivotal and grueling Italian campaign of World War II. The Allies’ controversial “soft underbelly” strategy—championed by Winston Churchill—led to the invasion of Sicily and mainland Italy. Despite initial hopes for a swift, low-cost campaign that might topple Mussolini and open a new front against Hitler, the reality was a costly, drawn-out slog through punishing terrain, fierce German resistance, and complicated Allied politics. The episode traces the arc from Operation Husky’s landings in Sicily to the fall of Rome, examining how strategic disagreements, shifting alliances, and the brutal cost of battle defined this theater.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Allied Strategy: Debating Italy as the Next Step

• Post-North Africa Choices:
  After victory in North Africa, U.S. generals argue for a direct cross-Channel invasion (toward Berlin). Churchill insists Italy—a supposed “soft underbelly”—is more achievable and politically expedient (01:05–02:49).

  “Churchill still feels he's the senior partner. He can get what he wants out of Roosevelt.” —Historian/Expert (02:06)

• Motivations and Suspicions:
  Americans suspect Churchill's motives are rooted in preserving British interests in the Mediterranean (Suez Canal, access to India and oil in the Persian Gulf) (02:49–03:10).
  FDR is ultimately persuaded to support the Sicilian invasion for strategic reasons, including relieving pressure on the Soviet Union (03:10–03:40).

2. Operation Husky: Invasion of Sicily

• Massive Undertaking:
  The largest amphibious operation to that point, with 160,000 Allied troops landing under British (Montgomery) and American (Patton) leadership (04:40–05:14).
• Command Tensions:
  British commanders see Americans as inexperienced, while Patton is determined to prove himself. Operational friction is evident (06:01–06:34).

  “Montgomery...thinks the Americans are green...we've been at this since 1940. Patton, on the other hand, thinks Montgomery has no kind of understanding of what American servicemen can actually achieve.” —Historian/Expert (06:12)

• Brutal Conditions:
  Mounting heat, disease, and tough terrain make for severe hardship (06:34–06:59).
• Patton’s Bold Move:
  Patton’s swift capture of Palermo is a point of pride for the U.S. Army, and the local Sicilians greet Americans as liberators (07:21–07:42).

3. Mussolini’s Downfall and Political Upheaval

• Fascism’s Inventor Toppled:
  As Sicily falls, Mussolini’s regime rapidly unravels. Hitler berates Mussolini for his failures—Mussolini, broken, is removed by order of King Victor Emmanuel III and arrested (08:24–11:23).

  “Mussolini is the inventor of fascism...Hitler himself looks up at Mussolini and aspires to do what Mussolini has been able to achieve in Italy.” —Historian/Expert (08:24)

• Confusion and Duplicity:
  Marshal Pietro Badoglio replaces Mussolini, publicly vowing to fight on but secretly negotiating with Allies for an armistice (12:05–12:31).

4. German Response: Occupation and Retaliation

• Hitler Acts Fast:
  Anticipating Italian capitulation, Hitler implements Operation Axis—disarming Italian forces and occupying the nation (16:35–17:01, 18:50–19:16).
• Brutal Crackdown:
  German reprisals are severe: executions, village massacres, and escalation of local resistance (19:16–19:35).

  “The Italians were being executed by the Germans after they switched sides. There were a lot of terrible things going on, villages wiped out.” —Historian/Expert (19:24)

5. Allied Landings on the Italian Mainland

• Salerno and Calabrian Landings:
  The hope for an easy entry is smashed as Germans fiercely contest the Salerno landings, inflicting a “grim experience” on Allied troops (19:59–20:25).
• Mussolini Rescued:
  Hitler orchestrates a dramatic commando raid to free Mussolini, installing him as puppet leader in the north—now “Hitler’s lapdog” (21:03–21:29).

6. A Grueling Campaign Up the Peninsula

• Unforgiving Terrain:
  The advance north is stymied by mountains, rivers, rain, and German fortifications—far from the “soft underbelly” Churchill imagined (22:03–24:33).

  “General Mark Clark relabeled Churchill's description of Italy as the soft underbelly, as the tough old gut.” —Historian/Expert (22:21)

• Monte Cassino: The Gustav Line’s Anchor:
  The ancient abbey at the summit becomes the focal point of resistance. Allies debate but eventually bomb it, incorrectly believing Germans occupy the abbey—destroying a cultural relic and strengthening German defenses (25:52–33:50).

  “Allied bombers flatten this shrine of Christianity. The bombing actually resulted in the killing of hundreds of civilians.” —Historian/Expert (33:14)

7. Stalemate and Staggering Losses

• Anzio: Churchill’s Gambit:
  The Anzio landing, meant to break the stalemate, leads to a deadly siege. Hesitation allows Germans to pen in the Allies with heavy artillery, including the notorious “Anzio Annie” (28:29–31:09).

  “I thought we landed a wildcat on the shore. What we got was a beached whale.” —Winston Churchill (as quoted, 31:15)

• Diverse Allied Effort:
  The fight at Monte Cassino involves British, Americans, New Zealanders, Canadians, Indians, French-Moroccans, Japanese Americans, and Poles. The Polish units finally capture the ruins, raising their flag with the bugle call “Heini Mariacki” as a symbol of resilience (34:48–36:05).

  “The Polish flag is unveiled on the top of the monastery...It's a symbol of resilience...of the fight for Poland for every single Polish person.” —Historian/Expert (36:05)

8. The Road to Rome and Its Cost

• Symbolic Victory, Strategic Loss:
  General Mark Clark diverts from orders to encircle Germans, racing to capture Rome—a glory overshadowed by D-Day the next day, and enabling German escape. The campaign would drag on for another year (36:39–38:23).

  “The first of the Axis capitals is now in our hands. One up and two to go.” —FDR (37:39)

• Lasting Impact:
  The Italian campaign is seen as Churchill’s overreach. Dissension over its value grew as the costs mounted and the Americans' role increased, marking a shift in global leadership toward the U.S. (38:50–39:16).

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Allied Frictions:

  “Why are we dancing around the edges here with this Mediterranean nonsense?” —Narrator/Host, (02:32)

• On the Reality of Invasion:

  “Sicily in the summertime is incredibly hot. It is disease ridden. Fighting there is brutal for everyone.” —Historian/Expert (06:47)

• On the Bombing of Monte Cassino:

  “The Germans who weren’t occupying the abbey have now decided to occupy the rubble, which is incredibly effective for defensive purposes. So the Allies got the exact opposite of what they hope to achieve.” —Historian/Expert (33:35)

• On Advancing Through Italy:

  “It was arguably the most horrendous fighting that the Western Allies had to experience in the whole of the European theater.” —Historian/Expert (25:02)

• On Churchill’s Regrets:

  “I think Churchill went to his grave thinking there was an opportunity there that was missed.” —Historian/Expert (38:36)

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Important Timestamps

| Timestamp | Segment/Event | |-----------|-----------------------------------------| | 01:05–03:40 | Allied rationale & strategy debate | | 04:40–07:42 | Operation Husky: Sicily landings | | 08:24–11:23 | Mussolini’s decline, arrest, and context | | 12:05–13:22 | Badoglio’s secret negotiations for peace | | 16:35–17:01 | Operation Axis: German occupation begins | | 19:59–20:25 | Salerno landings, meeting tough resistance | | 21:03–21:29 | Mussolini’s dramatic rescue by Germans | | 22:03–24:33 | The grueling slog up Italy | | 25:52–33:50 | Monte Cassino: Strategy, destruction, loss | | 28:29–31:09 | Anzio beachhead: Churchill’s wildcat | | 34:48–36:05 | Fall of Monte Cassino: Polish triumph | | 36:39–38:23 | Capture of Rome, campaign aftermath | | 38:36–39:16 | Churchill’s legacy and the campaign’s cost |

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Tone & Language

The episode maintains a vivid, narrative-driven tone blending historical analysis, human drama, and strategic complexity—consistently honoring the courage and sacrifices of those who fought. Commentary from historians and the voices of major WWII figures are used to bring immediacy and personality to the retelling.

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Conclusion

The Italian campaign, launched with promises of quick victory and easy penetration of Europe’s “soft underbelly,” devolved into a costly attritional struggle. The episode illustrates how strategic ideals collided with geographical and military reality, leading to political recriminations, evolving Allied dynamics, and immense human hardship. For Churchill, Italy symbolized both his greatest strategic gamble and eventual marginalization, as America’s leadership in the war became assured. The episode closes by honoring the determination and camaraderie of the ordinary soldiers whose grit was tested hardest on the Italian front—setting the stage for the next act: the great air campaigns over Germany.

Transcript

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[Narrator/Host]

Original Podcast

after their victory over Germany and North Africa, American generals want to attack the Third Reich directly through Northern Europe. But Prime Minister Winston Churchill and the British believe an operation of that size and scope is premature. Failure would be catastrophic. Churchill proposes they attack Germany from the south for what he considers the soft underbelly of Europe. Italy.

[Tom Hanks]

This is World War II with Tom Hanks. Episode 11 Italy

[Narrator/Host]

In May 1943, the Prime Minister of Great Britain and the President of the United States meet in Washington, D.C. for the third time since American entry into the war. Rarely in history have political leaders forged as personal a bond as Winston Churchill and Franklin Roosevelt.

[Historian/Expert Commentator]

Churchill still feels he's the senior partner. He can get what he wants out of Roosevelt.

[Narrator/Host]

So after Tunis, after the big victory in North Africa, Churchill's argument is that there's one logical next step. And that next step is Sicily. So campaigning in the Mediterranean will not only knock over one of the three big axis powers, Mussolini's Italy, it will also open open a back door to Hitler's Germany.

And the American commanders are saying, why? Let's just go straight for Berlin. What are we doing? Why are we dancing around the edges here with this Mediterranean nonsense? And they think that Franklin Roosevelt is being persuaded by Churchill's pretty words.

[Historian/Expert Commentator]

There were charges then and since that Churchill wanted to go up through the bottom of Europe in order to preserve the British Empire.

[Advertiser/Commercial Voice]

Britain was a Mediterranean power.

[Historian/Expert Commentator]

The Americans suspected that this was all

[Advertiser/Commercial Voice]

about defending British interests in Egypt, in the Suez Canal that controlled India and

[Narrator/Host]

the Persian Gulf, where British oil was. FDR is not interested in preserving the British Empire. But he understands there are sound strategic reasons to capture Sicily.

[Historian/Expert Commentator]

One of Churchill's arguments was they had these commitments to take some pressure off the Soviet Union. Joseph Stalin has been pushing for a second front. Churchill says, you have all of these armies that are now freed up after the North African campaign is over. What are you going to do with them? They're right there.

[Narrator/Host]

The truth is that the Allies still don't have enough actual material to conduct a cross channel invasion and land in France.

Allied military leaders are already planning a cross channel invasion, Operation Overlord. But it will not be ready for months. To relieve the military pressure on the Soviets and sustain the momentum established by the victory in North Africa, FDR agrees to attack Sicily.

After Sicily, they will pull, let us say, the Allied A team out of the Mediterranean, the leadership team, most of the landing craft, most of the air power, deploy it to Great Britain to begin. Finally, preparations in earnest for an invasion in Western Europe.

[Historian/Expert Commentator]

Churchill's like, yes, of course. I'm sure things will go really fast. We'll be back in time for a nice early d Day in 1944. He goes, look, we're all dressed up. We're ready to go to the ball. Let's do Sicily.

[Narrator/Host]

The invasion of Sicily is given the code name Operation Husky.

[Historian/Expert Commentator]

At the time, Operation Husky is the biggest amphibious operation in history. The scale of shipping and manpower is unprecedented. They're going to put onshore 160,000 troops.

[Narrator/Host]

Both Italian and German troops oppose the Allied landings, But the Allies achieve surprise and quickly secure the beaches.

[Historian/Expert Commentator]

You've got two field commanders on Sicily, Montgomery for the British. Montgomery is given the key role, Patton for the Americans. Patton's job is really as a Shield.

[Narrator/Host]

The British 8th army under General Bernard Montgomery will advance north to Messina, while the American 7th army under General George Patton guards his left flank.

[Historian/Expert Commentator]

If you get to Messina, any troops that are on Sicily cannot cross back over into Italy proper. And now you've captured all the troops that are on Sicily and you own Sicily.

[Narrator/Host]

And that's especially crucial for the German divisions so that the Allies won't have to face them at some future point in some future battle.

As in North Africa, British and American forces are required to operate as one force.

[Historian/Expert Commentator]

This is a really ambitious attempt to just bring two nations with two different traditions very, very close into harmony. And as you might expect, there's teething trouble.

Montgomery and the British senior commanders all had a similar attitude to the Americans, which is they're green. There were disasters and setbacks in North Africa. They're still learning their trade. We've been at this since 1940. Patton, on the other hand, thinks Montgomery has no kind of understanding of what American servicemen can actually achieve.

[Narrator/Host]

Both armies enter horrendous conditions. The mountainous terrain, the 100 plus degree heat. Thousands are filled by malaria.

[Historian/Expert Commentator]

Sicily in the summertime is incredibly hot. It is disease ridden. Fighting there is brutal for everyone.

[Narrator/Host]

Facing stiff German resistance, Montgomery's army stalls. He is given access to the road Patton's army has already taken.

Patton goes ballistic. To his credit, Patton doesn't just sit there seething, he comes up with a plan.

[Historian/Expert Commentator]

What Patton sees is a drive north up to Palermo would put a feather in his cap.

[Narrator/Host]

The Americans overrun the western half of Sicily before the Germans and Italians know what is happening.

Patton captures the Sicilian capital of Palermo less than two weeks after the initial landings.

This is the signal moment for the U.S. army so far in World War II.

[Historian/Expert Commentator]

Patton's forces are greeted in the streets of Palermo by Sicilians who are never 100% on board with fascism anyway. And they're going to greet the arriving American army as liberators.

[Narrator/Host]

Yet again. Adolf Hitler must adjust for Italian military weakness.

His major ally on the European continent, Benito Mussolini, seems unable even to defend his own home territory.

Benito Mussolini and his Italian Fascist movement had set the stage for Adolf Hitler and the rise of the Nazi party in Germany.

[Historian/Expert Commentator]

Mussolini is the inventor of fascism. He's the embodiment of the virility of the fascist men. In the early phases of this relationship, Hitler himself looks up at Mussolini and he aspires to do what Mussolini has been able to achieve in Italy.

[Narrator/Host]

Hitler consciously copied Mussolini's grab for power. The symbolism, the political tactics, the violence. But Mussolini no longer commands an iron grip on his nation like Hitler does.

Mussolini's war has brought Italy nothing but misery. The Italian people wanted very little part of this war at the beginning. They want no part of it now. Things cannot go on like this.

[Historian/Expert Commentator]

Hitler's getting situation reports of what's going on in Sicily, basically saying the Italians aren't fighting. He makes the decision to go to Italy to put some spine into Mussolini. He is shocked by the sight of Mussolini, who's really a broken man. After the defeat, North Africa, there isn't much fight left in him and Hitler is horrified by what he's seeing.

[Narrator/Host]

Hitler harangues Mussolini for hours about his failures. His failure to instill a warlike spirit into the armed forces, his failure to make true fascists of the Italian people, his failure to prosecute the war with sufficient Vigor. And Mussolini has no choice but to sit there and take it.

As Hitler and Mussolini meet, the Allies begin a bombing campaign on Rome.

[Historian/Expert Commentator]

The news comes as a shock to Mussolini and he tries to convey to Hitler the gravity of the situation. Hitler continues as if nothing had happened.

The bombing of Rome adds fuel to this already simmering fire of questioning and doubt about Mussolini's leadership.

[Narrator/Host]

The bombing of Rome is a shock to the Italians. The battles have been fought elsewhere. But now the price of Mussolini's war hits home.

There's grumbling in the streets. Mussolini thinks he has the Fascist brand counseled in his pocket. He thinks he has the top leadership in the military in his pocket. He thinks he has the King in his pocket.

[Historian/Expert Commentator]

Victor Emmanuel III has been the King of Italy since 1900, and he's the one that handed the government over to Mussolini in 1922.

[Narrator/Host]

On July 25, the day after the Fascist Council passes a vote of no confidence for Mussolini, the King summons him

[Historian/Expert Commentator]

to his palace and he's told not to wear his uniform. This should have been an indication to him that trouble was afoot and his wife in fact advises him not to go. Mussolini tells her, no problem, I've got this.

[Narrator/Host]

But the King has Mussolini arrested. He's rushed away in the back of an ambulance to hide him from public view.

[Tom Hanks]

Attention. His Majesty the Emperor King has accepted the resignation of Prime Minister Benito Mussolini.

[Narrator/Host]

His 21 year fascist reign is over.

The fall of Mussolini leads to a very confusing situation. The new head of state is the Marshal of the Italian Army, Pietro Badoglio. He actually makes an announcement that the war goes on. We remain Germany's loyal ally.

After Mussolini is deposed, FDR addresses the nation.

[Franklin D. Roosevelt (FDR)]

My fellow Americans, our terms to Italy are still the same. Unconditional surrender.

[Historian/Expert Commentator]

Publicly, Badoglio states repeatedly that the war effort is going on alongside the Germans. Privately is actually starting to make arrangements for the Italians to get out of the war.

[Narrator/Host]

Badoglio signals that Italy might be open to an armistice. He sends one of his generals to secretly negotiate directly with the Allies.

Badoglio might wish to surrender, but he needs to have someone at his back. He knows that there will be retribution from the angriest man in Europe at the time, and that will be Adolf Hitler.

[Historian/Expert Commentator]

In Sicily, Patton's army leaves Thermo to get to Messina while the British are advancing from the south. Meanwhile, the Germans are taking advantage of the delay in getting to Messina to begin getting off the island. It's effectively the German Dunkirk, because pretty much everyone who could walk and was able bodied Got off. And not only that, they got off with all their equipment.

[Narrator/Host]

The entire purpose of the Allied operational plan was to trap the Germans on Sicily and they fail.

[Historian/Expert Commentator]

Still, things in Sicily go pretty much as Churchill would have wished. Not only do Allied troops successfully drive Axis forces out of Sicily and it also proves to be the death knell of Mussolini's Fascist regime.

[Narrator/Host]

With the potential deal for an Italian surrender in the works, FDR and Churchill meet in Quebec.

[Historian/Expert Commentator]

And it's at this point that Churchill is able to say to Roosevelt, look, the Italians are pulling out of the war. We have an opportunity to bloodlessly take the Italian peninsula. You know, what's not to like in this operation?

Churchill says the Italians are begging us to come and help liberate them and switch sides. We could be in Rome in a couple of weeks here. If we land in Italy, it'll be a cakewalk. We can't do Sicily and then go home.

[Narrator/Host]

FDR agrees, but only with assurance that Operation Overlord will remain the Allies highest priority.

[Historian/Expert Commentator]

The difficult trade off in the Italian campaign is that the key resources, the landing craft and the best troops are going to go back to the UK to prepare for D Day.

[Narrator/Host]

Supreme Allied Commander Dwight Eisenhower now picks one of America's youngest generals to lead the Italian invasion, Mark Clark, commander of the U.S. 5th Army.

[Historian/Expert Commentator]

Clark has a flair for showmanship because once you pin on a star, you're also becoming a little bit of a politician as well.

Mark Clark has an immense amount of talent, but he also has a corresponding ego. He travels with a press corps. He will only let them take pictures of his favorite side, which I think is his left side based on all the pictures we see of him.

[Narrator/Host]

The Allied strategy in Italy calls for two large forces. The first will land in and around Calabria and the second will land a few days later at Salerno. The two forces will then link and push north towards Rome. At Calabria, Montgomery's 8th army lands almost uncontested.

Bedoglio was supposed to take to the airwaves on the evening of September 8th and announce the Italian surrender. And this is crucial to the plan because it will tell the hundreds of thousands of Italian troops how are in beach defense positions not to fire at the Allies as they land.

At his headquarters, Eisenhower waits by his radio. The Salerno landings are just hours away.

6:30 comes nobody. 7:00'.

[Historian/Expert Commentator]

Clock.

[Narrator/Host]

No Bedoglio. The entire plan hinges on a well announced, orderly Italian surrender.

Eisenhower decides to force the issue by going on the radio himself.

[Franklin D. Roosevelt (FDR)]

The Italian government has surrendered its armed forces unconditionally all Italians who now act to help eject the German aggressor from Italian soil will have the assistance and the support of the United Nations.

[Narrator/Host]

Hitler anticipates the announcement of the armistice

[Historian/Expert Commentator]

from the moment Mussolini falls. Hitler's convinced that Bedoglio's government is going to withdraw from the war.

[Narrator/Host]

For weeks, Hitler has been moving German troops into Italy. He orders Operation Axis the Germans an

[Historian/Expert Commentator]

operation they've been preparing, which is that if the Italians do the dirty on us, we're going to disarm them and we're going to take over the security of all of Italy.

[Narrator/Host]

Italy will become an occupied nation.

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[Narrator/Host]

Operation Axis is the disarmament of the Italian army and the occupation of the entire Italian boot by German forces. It occurs with lightning rapidity. The Italian army is on its back foot. They aren't so sure about who they should be firing at. If anyone

local Italian resistance movements form and fight the Germans. Nazi retaliation is fierce.

[Historian/Expert Commentator]

The Italians were being executed by the Germans after they switched sides. There were a lot of terrible things going on, villages wiped out.

[Narrator/Host]

When the Allied invasion force lands at Salerno, they believe they'll be welcomed by Italian troops.

Underlying this operational plan is intelligence that the German army may evacuate Italy, that it has no desire to defend Italy if all goes well, the Allies should be up to Rome with almost no casualties at all.

[Historian/Expert Commentator]

So what they're going to do is they're going to land without any pre bombardment and they're going to hope for tactical surprise.

[Narrator/Host]

The Allies are expecting to meet happy Italian faces, perhaps handshakes, taking over Italian positions now that Italy had surrendered. And instead, what the troops at Salerno experienced was a wall of German fire.

[Historian/Expert Commentator]

The whole of the beach is being saturated with, with shellfire. It's an absolute inferno. It was a grim experience for those first few crucial days in which they're trying to defend the beach head. And it's the fighting at Salerna that really convinces Hitler to make them fight for every inch of Italy.

[Narrator/Host]

Hitler moves more forces to defend Italy. He also discovers that Mussolini is being held at a hotel in the Apennine mountains and decides to take action.

Hitler just can't quit Mussolini. Apparently he orders a commando raid onto the Gran Sasso to rescue Benito Mussolini. That force lands, overcomes Mussolini's guards.

Mussolini is flown back to Germany.

[Historian/Expert Commentator]

Hitler thinks that Mussolini would give legitimacy to the German occupation of Italy.

[Narrator/Host]

For the rest of the war, Mussolini will be ruling a kind of puppet regime in northern Italy, but he's a shadow of the figure who used to strut across the world Stage in the 1930s. The situation has changed drastically since Mussolini was the top dog and Hitler the imitator to now Mussolini as Hitler's lapdog.

After a massive air and naval assault, Clark's 5th army breaks out of Salerno and moves inland.

[Historian/Expert Commentator]

A modern mechanized army is going to experience great difficulty in driving north because the Germans recognize the terrain's going to do half the work for us.

Mountain ranges, ravines and fast flowing rivers made Italy a sort of natural fortress.

What the Germans do effectively is scorched earth policy. They rip up the railway tracks, they flood the river valleys, they make it almost impossible to move through this terrain unless you've taken the high ground. It was very clear very quickly that they were going to struggle to fight their way up the Italian peninsula. General Mark Clark relabeled Churchill's description of Italy as the soft underbelly, as the tough old gut.

[Narrator/Host]

It is said that all roads lead to Rome. But in the fall of 1943 for the Allies there was only one Highway 6.

[Historian/Expert Commentator]

As Allied forces are lured deeper and deeper by moving north up Highway 6, the German strategy very quickly becomes we're going to set up a series of defensive lines and you come to us and we will then maul you.

It looks a lot like World War I defenses. Look, there are mines and mortars and machine guns on the high ground. You have artillery observers who could have a full view of the advance of the Allies and they would call artillery to fire on the advances. The frustration rose with the costliness of this advance, the slowness of this advance up the boot.

[Narrator/Host]

There's some historical wisdom here, and it traces back to the great Napoleon who once said, Italy is a boot and like all boots, has to be entered from the top where there's a nice broad plain, plenty of room to maneuver

[Historian/Expert Commentator]

to fight up from the toe of Italy after coming from Sicily. Look at the terrain of Italy. Big mountain range all down the center spine. This is the big problem in Italy. Who would want to put an army into that area? Especially if it's raining.

[Narrator/Host]

It rains every day. General Clark once said, anyone who ever talks about sunny Italy should be here in October, which is when the Allies were there. Gains are measured not in miles, but often in yards. The Italian campaign soon turns into a

[Historian/Expert Commentator]

slog for the Allies and it's sapping their energy. They're wet, they're cold, they're tired. All of that is draining morale as well as manpower. One of the things that they resort to is using mules to carry supplies forward, because at least mules can get through that kind of terrain in those kind of conditions.

[Narrator/Host]

I think it's fair to say when the war began in the War Department in Washington, no one was thinking of mules.

[Historian/Expert Commentator]

It was arguably the most horrendous fighting that the Western Allies had to experience in the whole of the European theater. There's no question that some of the Americans who've given the go ahead for the Italian campaign are now having second thoughts.

[Narrator/Host]

Churchill and the British commanders promised the Americans that basically Italy would fall relatively quickly.

[Historian/Expert Commentator]

Churchill argues again and again that it would be folly not to continue once one has set out on the Italian campaign, arguing they must capitalize on their gains.

What do you do? Evacuate Italy? No, you fight the enemy in front of you. Before you know it, you're embroiled in a massive, costly, brutal war in Italy.

[Narrator/Host]

Highway 6 snakes into the Liri Valley on its way up the Italian peninsula. Overlooking the Valley is a 1700 foot rocky peak called Monte Cassino. Perched on Top is a 6th century Benedictine abbey. Monte Cassino is the strong point of the Germans defensive formation, the Gustav Line.

[Historian/Expert Commentator]

It must have seemed to the Allies as they gazed up there that this is a kind of perfect defensive position for the Germans to use.

From the commanding heights of this terrain, the Germans can rain down accurate and effective artillery fire at all times.

There is no way to get to Rome without in some way dealing with Monte Cassino.

[Narrator/Host]

The Allies hope to get to Rome by Christmas, but it's here, in the shadow of Monte Cassino, that the advance stalls. In November, Allied leaders gather in Tehran. FDR is meeting Stalin for the first time.

[Historian/Expert Commentator]

And the first thing that happens is Roosevelt and Stalin seem insistent on building their own relationship, sometimes freezing Churchill out. And he takes this really badly.

He has to cede center stage with Roosevelt to Stalin. And Churchill is in an interesting kind of no man's land.

[Narrator/Host]

There's this old line that Stalin didn't know much English, but he knew two second front, because he said it over and over and over again. And when Stalin says second front, he doesn't mean Sicily or even mainland Italy. He means France.

[Historian/Expert Commentator]

Churchill says, I was the little British donkey sitting between the great American eagle and the Soviet bear, and I was the only one who knew the way home.

[Narrator/Host]

Churchill is still sticking with his Mediterranean plan, but he knows that coming out of Tehran, it's really important to be able to go back and win this victory.

Winston Churchill, the master of outof the box thinking, has an idea for a left hook. An amphibious landing on the western shore of Italy behind the Gustav Line.

Troops will land at Anzio, 50 miles behind the German forces, then drive inland, drawing German defenders away from Monte Cassino.

[Historian/Expert Commentator]

Winston Churchill thinks that this could break the whole thing free. This is the wildcat we need to shatter this stalemate.

The Allies agree to do it, mainly because Churchill is convinced it can work.

[Narrator/Host]

But because so many men and landing craft have been shipped back to Britain to prepare for D day, the Anzio landing winds up being two divisions, only a drop in the bucket. The Allied force at Anzio lands on an empty beach. There are almost no Germans in front of it. Surprise has been achieved.

[Historian/Expert Commentator]

Speed is of the essence. As soon as you land, you must get off the beachhead as quickly as possible. Strike in land. One jeep patrol actually gets as far as the outskirts of Rome, so clearly there is a route of advance open.

[Narrator/Host]

The commander of the invasion is General John Lucas.

Instead of driving boldly into the interior and seizing the high ground over the Anzio beachhead, General Lucas stays put.

[Historian/Expert Commentator]

His thought is, I need to secure this port, because that is how will would be reinforced. And so he sits as he sits. The German commander, Kesselring will basically pull all the cooks, bakers and candlestick makers from around Rome and build them up to pen in the Anzio Landing.

The Germans have the high ground again and are able to control the situation by subjecting the Allied forces to constant shelling.

[Narrator/Host]

Leading the way in the German bombardments were two enormous railroad guns known colloquially to the Allies as Anzio Annie and the Anzio Express. These fire a 500 pound shell 30 miles.

[Historian/Expert Commentator]

Would have sounded like a freight train. You could hear it kind of whistling in and then boom.

[Narrator/Host]

The Allies at Anzio are sitting in a marsh. They have no cover. Around them are mountains and German artillery. And the artillery never stops firing.

[Historian/Expert Commentator]

There was nowhere on the beach head you could go to and get respite from enemy. And so what you basically got to do is burrow down into the ground and hold tight. It was just this horrendous grind of being under fire for 24 hours a day.

[Narrator/Host]

This is as miserable a position as any force in World War II found themselves.

[Historian/Expert Commentator]

Anzio is Churchill's plan. And he said famously after the event, I thought we landed a wildcat on the shore. We what we got was a beach whale.

[Narrator/Host]

The Luftwaffe strafes Allied troops on the beachhead. Included in the effort to help Lucas's forces off the beach is the 99th Fighter Squadron, part of what will become known as the Tuskegee Airmen.

[Historian/Expert Commentator]

During that era of segregation, most African Americans serve in rear echelon units. Tuskegee Airmen are frontline fighting units and they're changing everyone's minds on one of their missions. Sixteen of them fly over Anzio and what they find is the German aircraft working over the landing craft. They shoot down 10 of those German aircraft.

[Narrator/Host]

To the south, multiple attacks on the Monte Cassino Abbey fail. The Allies debate whether to bomb the mountaintop abbey from the air.

[Historian/Expert Commentator]

The Benedictine abbey that sits on Monte Cassino is a cultural relic. The law of armed conflict would say, we don't touch those.

Of course, this is one of the most important libraries of Christian thought for millennia. And many civilians had taken refuge there.

But the assumption was that the Germans were inside the abbey and using it as the perfect field artillery observers position. We cannot allow the enemy to continue to harass us with artillery fire, so the abbey's got to go. Allied forces distributed pamphlets warning that there would be a bombardment. And the residents, they thought they're not actually going to do it.

Allied bombers flatten this shrine of Christianity. The bombing actually resulted in the killing of hundreds of civilians who had taken refuge there.

[Narrator/Host]

Allied intelligence was wrong. The German observation posts had not been inside the monastery walls.

[Historian/Expert Commentator]

The Germans who weren't occupying the abbey have now decided to occupy the rubble, which is incredibly effective for defensive purposes. So the Allies got the exact opposite of what they hope to achieve.

[Narrator/Host]

Bombing the monastery gets the Allies no closer to their goal. At some point, infantry is going to have to ascend a mountain under enemy fire.

The Allies have bombed the market Cassino Abbey, but the Germans still hold the summit. When the weather improves in May, the Allies make yet another assault.

They take nearly their entire force in Italy and cram it into the narrow western half of the peninsula using overwhelming strength. Now, tanks, aircraft, ceaseless waves of artillery bombardment.

[Historian/Expert Commentator]

You've got this extraordinary United nations of troops. I mean, people from all over the world are at Cassinic.

We got the British, we got the Americans, we got. We got New Zealand Maoris, we got Canadians, we got Indians, we got French, Moroccans, Goumiers that are wonderful mountain fighters. It is one of the places where Japanese Americans fight. Who gets assigned? Monte Cassino? The poles.

[Narrator/Host]

World War II began in Europe when Germany invaded Poland. As much as anyone, the Polish people have suffered from the brutal rule of the Nazis.

[Historian/Expert Commentator]

The idea that Poles would never miss an opportunity to take it back out on the Germans for what they did to them should be lost on no.

[Podcast Host (Professor Greg Jackson)]

1.

[Historian/Expert Commentator]

At Monte Cassino, the Poles are that final wave of fighters. And they, with incredible bravery and toughness, go up this huge inclines.

As you advance up the hill, you have to show yourself. You're going to be picked off. You're a sitting duck.

We're talking almost 4,000 casualties for the Polish units attacking against Monte Cassino.

[Narrator/Host]

The Poles finally overrun the ruins of the abbey.

[Historian/Expert Commentator]

The Polish flag is unveiled on the top of the monastery. And they play this very, very famous bugle call, Heini Mariacki, which translates to St. Mary's trumpet call. It's a symbol of resilience, of national identity, of hope for the future, and of the fight for Poland for every single Polish person. And it sounds out over the monastery. Once the fighting has died down, the

[Narrator/Host]

Gustav line is broken. The Americans are finally able to break out of the Anzio beachhead.

There's a plan to encircle and destroy the Germans.

[Historian/Expert Commentator]

The plan is for Mark Clark to angle his troops to the northeast and cut off Highway 6 at Valmontone. Those were the orders he was given.

[Narrator/Host]

But Clark decides to make a swift left turn that is north towards Rome.

[Historian/Expert Commentator]

Rome is an irresistible target. Nothing screams we are making progress than to have captured Rome. And Mark Clark fundamentally thinks that the 5th army, who has slogged their way up the Italian peninsula, and him in particular, should get credit for this, the

conquest of Rome is to take out one of the great Axis capitals in the war. What you're doing is pointing out to the rest of the world, and we're on the march. It's happening. And, you know, next stop, Berlin,

[Franklin D. Roosevelt (FDR)]

the first of the Axis capitals is now in our hands. One up and two to go.

[Narrator/Host]

However, the liberation of Rome is going to be entirely, you know, overshadowed because the next day is going to be the launch of D Day, and Roosevelt can't say anything about it.

After 10 months, the allies have reached the Italian capital. But General Clerk's decision to take Rome allows the Germans to escape once again.

Ever since, he's had to answer questions about those orders. Was his ego simply too large to pass up Rome?

Ultimately, the liberation of Rome has more symbolic than strategic value. The Allies would continue to fight the Germans in Italy for almost another year.

[Historian/Expert Commentator]

I think Churchill went to his grave thinking there was an opportunity there that was missed. Churchill always believed that had been a good idea, but it had been undone by a bit of foot dragging and some bad luck.

[Narrator/Host]

The Italian campaign is the moment at which Churchill overreaches himself. He had insisted on this vast continental campaign that had led to nothing but misery.

Because of difficult terrain, military miscalculation, and determined resistance from a skillful enemy, the Allied effort in Italy gained little and cost much.

[Historian/Expert Commentator]

The Italian campaign is the last time the British will have a predominant presence in the Allied forces. America has been building airplanes and tanks and creating soldiers. As the American strength rises, Winston Churchill's influence wanes.

[Narrator/Host]

The battle for Italy, which will go on until the end of the war, was fought with determination and bravery. Ordinary soldiers fought for their nation, but also for each other. This kind of camaraderie is found in all theaters and on all battlefields. War tests the best of us, and nowhere would men be tested more than in the skies over Germany.

[Tom Hanks]

World War II with Tom Hanks is produced by A and E Factual Studios, Newtopia Ltd. Play Tone Productions, and Back Pocket Studios in association with Motion Entertainment for the History Channel. This episode was narrated by Tom Hanks and mixed by John Lloyd. Additional voicing provided by me, Jeremy Reagan from the History Channel. Our executive producers are Eli Lehrer and Liv Fiddler for Playtone. Executive producers are Tom Hanks and Gary Getzman for Back Pocket Studios. Our executive producer is Ben Dickstein.