The Italian Campaign (September 3, 1943 - May 2, 1945) placed Allied troops on the European mainland for the first time, but it was never intended as a substitute for an attack aimed at Germany by way of the more open and more remunerative route through northern France. The invasion of Italy had a number of lesser objectives: to capitalize on the collapse of Italian resistance; to make immediate use of ready Allied strength; to engage German forces which might otherwise be used in Russia and northern France; to secure airfields from which to intensify the bombing of Germany and the Balkans; and to gain complete control of the Mediterranean.

On September 3, 1943 elements of the British Eighth Army landed on the toe of the Italian boot. Six days later, on September 9, the U.S. Fifth Army, under Lt. Gen. Mark W. Clark landed on beaches along the Gulf of Salerno, and a British fleet placed a division of troops at Taranto in the arch of the boot.

Heavy fighting quickly developed at Salerno, where German armored counterattacks jeopardized the entire Allied position. It was six days before the Americans were able to surmount the crisis and secure the beachhead.

On September 16, the British Eighth and the U.S. Fifth Armies united their fronts southeast of Salerno. On October 7, the British took Naples with its fine port. Meanwhile the British had captured the airfields of Foggia near the Adriatic coast on September 27, and by mid-October had moved north to a line extending from Larino west to Campobasso, where they were abreast of the Americans on their left. The Allies were in Italy to stay.

By October 1943 the U.S. Fifth and British Eighth Armies together had only 11 divisions, but this force was able to tie down some 20-odd German divisions throughout the long campaign. The mountainous terrain and the restrictions on maneuver imposed by the narrowness of the peninsula favored the German defenders, but the Allied force continued to press northward until the end of the war.

Having paused a few days after taking Naples and Foggia, the Allied force in Italy renewed its offensive late in October 1943. This drive broke a strong German position at the Volturno River and carried the Allies as far as the so-called Winter Line (or Gustav Line), anchored on Cassino, which the Germans had been preparing about 75 miles south of Rome. Here the Allies were brought to a halt for the remainder of the winter.

Veteran Donald Miller recounts some of his first experiences in Italy:

"It rained so much in Italy, especially in the spring time. Boy all them guys sure were muddy."

Combat was an ever real danger especially for the Americans involved in the campaign:

"The first thing I saw in combat were 12 American boys laying on the concrete dead in Benevinto Italy. Boy that really tore me up seeing our boys dead when we got there."

" As soon as a German heard a BAR (Browning Automatic Rifle), there were some mortars coming in on us. The Germans were really accurate with their mortars I'll tell you. Mortars are the worst thing in my opinion, of any artillery shell, because you can't hear them coming in. Pffft, they're there. An artillery shell you can hear it go Phoom and come sailing through the air, but a mortar shell, its there and you're a dead duck."