The bloody battle for Italy (Full WW2 Documentary)
In 1943, the Allies began one of the most controversial epsiodes of the Second World War - The Italian Campaign. While the British claimed that Italy was the 'soft underbelly' of Europe, it turned out to be a 'tough old gut'. From the sunny shores of Sicily to the barren peaks of the Gustav Line, Allied soldiers faced dogged German and Italian resistance as they edged their way up the Italian Peninsula.
In this video, we'll be taking an in-depth look at the Italian campaign. We'll explore the key moments and decisions that shaped the fighting and try to understand was it really worth it?
This video is a supercut of a three part series previously posted to this channel.
Explore and licence the film clips used in this video from IWM Film: film.iwmcollections.org.uk/my... and film.iwmcollections.org.uk/my...
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Base map by freevectormaps.co
Archive photos Wikimedia commons courtesy of:
Bundesarchiv, Bild 101I-316-1195-07 / Demmer / CC-BY-SA 3.0
Bundesarchiv, Bild 101I-579-1965-04A / Appe [Arppe] / CC-BY-SA 3.0
Bundesarchiv, Bild 183-J15752 / Biedermann / CC-BY-SA 3.0
Bundesarchiv, Bild 101I-579-1957-19 / Girik / CC-BY-SA 3.0
Bundesarchiv, Bild 101I-567-1503B-09 / Toni Schneiders / CC-BY-SA 3.0
Bundesarchiv, Bild 101I-578-1931-03A / Haas / CC-BY-SA 3.0
Exceptionally interesting documentary - thanks for making this available for free to the world.
Agreed
Excellent documentary on the Italian campaign. This needs to be shared far and wide. Poor chap at 34:48 20:10 The Commandos doing all the hard work as always, this time Salerno.
My Dad was a D-Day Dodger - He was a Trooper with the Calgary Tanks (1st Canadian Armoured Brigade), and landed in Operation Husky, and survived to Ortona, Crossing the Rapido River, Monte Cassino, Rome, and eventually Northern Europe, where he ended the War. It seems the Canadians are ALWAYS forgotten and almost never mentioned.... although I did see the Units on the maps.
Another great presentation.. Well researched.. Well presented.. Thank you IWM... Roger..... Pembrokeshire...
I appreciate the great work you do. Cheers from Australia 👍
Great job from Adrian! Presenting is always difficult, and I think he's really improved over the videos in which he's appeared
ALL military operations are dangerous, even fatal, that includes training and logistics. However training is paramount at achieving goals. The tougher and more realistic the training, the better for the service member , the unit and the mission. There is no good outcome for easy training. The psychological strength gained in enduring extreme training is invaluable for those lost from their units or captured by the enemy. To all those who have served THANK YOU.
"Years ago, I was at Monte Cassino, south of Rome, with my family. We weren't there to see the rebuilt founding abbey of the Benedictine order, but to visit the German military cemetery, where around 20,000 fallen soldiers are buried. This cemetery is one of the most beautiful and dignified I know. In 1944, the Germans defended the so-called Gustav Line for four months against the multi-ethnic army that was attacking from southern Italy under US leadership: New Zealanders, English, Indians, Poles in exile, even Brazilians. The Battle of Monte Cassino is regarded as one of the longest and most costly battles of World War II for both sides. Military historians divide it into four sections. What interests me today is that the Germans, on the orders of Field Marshal Albert Kesselring, did not turn the monastery on Monte Cassino into a fortress: This cultural asset was too valuable. After the war, the abbot of the monastery confirmed that the German positions were 300 metres away from the monastery as ordered - and that no German soldier had disobeyed this order. Kesselring had brought this measure to the attention of the Allies, and the enemy found no evidence in the course of the first battle for the Gustav Line that the Germans had merely used a stratagem. The second battle involved an Allied attack on the Cassino positions of the German paratroopers. It began on 15 February 1944, 80 years ago, with considerable losses for the attackers. New Zealand General Freyberg then requested air support and the bombing of the entire mountain. 225 bombers dropped around 500 tonnes of explosive and incendiary bombs on the monastery. It was completely destroyed, around 400 monks and civilians were killed, but not a single German soldier. It was only after the destruction that the Germans settled into the ruins and turned them into a practically impregnable fortress. Art treasures, the incomprehensibly valuable library and the bones of the order's founder, Benedict of Nursia, had previously been moved to Castel Sant'Angelo in Rome with the help of troops from Hermann Göring's Parachute Armoured Division. As our family has a special relationship with the Benedictine order, 15 February is a black day, and not just because of the last wave of attacks on Dresden." - Dairy 15th Feb 2024, Sezession, translated via deepL
War is hell
Very interesting presentation. Thank you for putting it together.
I'm busy reading James Holland's The Savage Storm, the Battle for Italy 1943, which is highly recommended.
Thank you for an excellent and sobering account. It's the fog and mayhem of most wars that can confound logic and planning. It clearly was hellish for all the soldiers and the Italian people.
An old neighbour of mine grew up in Campobasso during the war and was there when the Canadians came through. I could never imagine what it was like to grow up in the midst of such a colossal and bloody conflict.
Thank you.
Ducumentario Excellente, parabens.
This was well done 👏
The Italian campaign was a strategic success for the Allies. 1. It took the Italians out of the war. 2. It tied up German divisions that would otherwise be in France or Russia. 3. It gave the Allies valuable experience in amphibious landings. BTW, if Kesselring hadn’t been charged with war crimes and been as old and ill, he would have been an excellent choice to be in charge of NATO’s defense of Western Europe.
Documentary straight to the point... congratulations... A cobra fumou !
My Grandfather landed on The Anzio Beachhead as a member of The U.S./Canada First Special Service Force ( The Black Devil's/Devil's Brigade). His commanding officer was Robert T. Frederick & he was attached to Mark Clarke's 5th American Army. His Unit participated in The Anzio landings & The Breakout, The Mussolini Canal, The Battle for Monte La Difensa,The Gustav Line,The Advance to The Tyber & The Liberation of Rome.
whereas German rearmament was their main economic stimulant during the Depression, Italy had endured a famine brought on by botched land reform and forced collectivization ~ public works over military expenditures meant the population had simply lost patience with Mussolini's economic mismanagement
My friends, good video. Gela is pronounced with hard 'G'.
I have two friends whose fathers were with Polish forces at Cassino. One was a Polish-Jewish doctor, the other was an artilleryman wounded there. He returned to the war as part of Maczek’s headquarters staff with 1PAD. Neither of my friends knew about the other’s dad till I told them. Even though they know each other.
🎖️💪🤗🏆🙏 Thank you for sharing this
My grandpa went straight to his grandparents house in Parlemo Sicily. They we're all happy about the landing. I still have his journal🙏🇮🇹
01:55 the clip with FDR, Giraud and de Gaulle is rather amusing. de Gaulle’s famous contempt for both (anyone, really) and chagrin at being ignored by FDR are on full display.
THE WORST FRIENDLY FIRE WAS THE SINKING OF THE SIDNEY BY FRIENDLY PLANES.
One thing is certain. Like Arctic convoys. It gave our Russian allies heart. They had suffered millions of casualties not just soldiers. But wholesale massacre of civilians. And thousands less axis soldiers fighting Russians and annihilation of civilians.
Nice introduction...
A good summary and, unusual for the internet these days, the imagery matches the script. But after much study over the years it's still hard to see the controversy. You have to view the developing strategy through the eyes of those making the decisions. Italy had to be taken at some point, and to start by securing the Med was axiomatic. Some decisions within the campaign were wrong in hindsight, but in war you don't have that hindsight. It's also a bit disingenuous to describe the Sicily landings as the biggest of WWII. You have to really play with statistics to avoid the conclusion that around 4 times the number troops came ashore across the Normandy beaches, using and supported by more than twice as many ships. Indeed, that very fact and the close-run thing faced by the Allies on D-Day might inform an argument that the 'Soft Underbelly' and 'Tough Old Gut' was definitely the better option in mid-1943.
I wonder if Eisenhower's early announcement made it possible to disarm the Italians more easily. What would have happened if he had waited until the Italians were ready 1-2 days later? And that guy, Adrian Kerrison (@ 29:05) looks a lot like Harvey Keitel.
Canadians did alot of the heavy fighting in southern italy also
7:18 Those eyes!
Anzio was one of the bloodiest of the campaign
Italy is the forgotten campaign of WW2, the courage and brutality was truly Horrific.
Great doc , thank you . IMO , I've always felt the Italian campaign suffered way too many casualties and really the allies should have held teh German forces down without trying to make ground.
PIAT = Point It At Tanks.
The campaign was worthwhile but whether advances beyond the Gustav line were justified, so late in the war is another thing. As always hind sight from people who weren't there is a marvellous contradiction.
Instead of moving from Anzio, the American general twiddled his thumbs and waited to be attacked instead of linking with forces that were already there
Controversial? ANY Allied campaign in which the Americans were not given absolute primacy of command and logistics and 100% of the credit for any success (with the Empire & Commonwealth taking all of the blame for any setbacks) was 'controversial'. No? Try Burma where Stilwell commanded no troops at all except the minimalist 'Merrill's Marauders' and yet made such a fuss about everything with his raging hatred of the Brits and the Chinese - that Mountbatten and Chiang had to quietly arrange to be shipped Stateside in a strait-jacket. That was 'controversial', too.
If it was up to montgomery, they’d still be fighting in Sicily.
My Grandad Horace landed at Salerno,he shat himself
Dang
Probably the most common reaction.
as would many here
Honest man your granddad
It wasn't a waste. it took Italy out of the war. Germany and the rump Italian fascists surrendered at the end. And it pushed the Axis forces back, and provided respite to ease the USSR. So it was a success on all fronts. It's possible, though unlikely, that Stalin might have signed a peace with Hitler had the UK/USA not agreed to a new front. And following the victory in North Afica and subduring somewhat Germany in the Atlanic battle, it was opportune to continue the progress and push the Axis back further.
The Germans were defeated by the American light cruisers with devastating fire.
Really..awesome..clever them cruisers were ..even did house to house fighting too did they ..how they get up them mountains...oh lord another great yank victory
🇨🇦🇨🇦🇨🇦🇨🇦🇨🇦🇨🇦🇨🇦🇨🇦🇨🇦
When myself and my mates were told we were going up the boot, we mostly were excited. But excitement turned into a bloody nightmare, fast. The Italians were inferior in every aspects. The Germans , best trained in the World. We were outclassed in every way. The Americans were mostly cocky, arrogant and Gung ho....until an 88 showed them what they will be facing. There was a reason Italy was never taken . The Germans could not be beat. The Mountians ...they held em, they held the line.
We still make tje same mistakes today, look at Afghanistan and Iraq. Why is it the people who start the war and "control" it are so incompetent?
At 34:51 seconds into the vidoe you see an American solider get killed 😯
The allies had France. The Axis had Italy.
France was defeated in less than six weeks with very few casualties of German army while Italy took more than 20 months after hundreds of thousands of allied casualties ...
Polish forces of gen. Anders finally liberate the Monte Cassino monastery, so weak troops from CCCP gulags did it, this footage doesn't say a word about it...😟
Because that is false. It mentions them @ 43:01. The Polish Corps was made up of exiles from all over and included other nationalities like the Moroccans. They were trained and equipped by the British and hardly weak. By the time of their attack, the German's were exhausted and low on ammo.
The German paratroopers (nicknamed Green Devils) had to retreat from Montecassino without further fight because the frontline collapsed elsewhere and they were at risk of being encircled. They could have held the strong point once again. The allied forces could then reach the top of the hill without resistance, and only found a few wounded German soldiers that could not be evacuated. The bulk of the paratroopers were retired to fight another day. And they fought till the end of the war. The German army in Italy only surrendered in the same days of the fall of Berlin (end of April 1945).
The Vast Majority of the New Zealand force were Pakeha who fought alongside their New Zealand Māori friends and comrades from the Pacific and many of its Island!
My Great Grandfather personally wiped out over ten Luftwaffe Aircraft, He always was a 💩 mechanic.
80 years later with all the info available, we can sit in our armchairs can critique their decisions.
Idiotly defeated itself lol
Pattin lol Blood N Guts His own armys blood an his fat gut lol they said
Canada is all but ours(USAs)…….and Australia is in our playground (Pacific)
This is a hilariously pathetic Russian bot.
Ok Russian bot
98, 99, change hand bot, 1, 2, 3...
yada yada brainwash.
Having watched several different sources on the European campaign's.. i have concluded this .. every single British planned operations ( Italian, north Africa, market garden and deiappe raid ) all were epic failures, the only reason the outcome was different was because of AMERICA industrial might supported by CANADA'S willingness to help out. Ww2 became a massive shift in world powers , Britain was losing its grip while America was up and comming .
Yes. Britain after Dunkerque could stay afloat only thanks to American help, which also helped the Soviet Union. We can say that Germany was defeated by the American industrial power and the Russian meat waves (willingness to throw in the conflict millions of soldiers in almost suicide attacks, with total disrespect of human life).
When are y’all dumping the monarchy and courting us to become the 51st state…….uks day is over…….montgomery sucked
Monty was told not to take casualties like the first world war - BY Winston.
Why?
That is one of the most ignorant and disrespectful comments I have seen. Shame on you.
@@roygardiner2229 Welcome to KZhead's troll land. It's probably some 12 year old thinking they're funny. Cheers from Tennessee
No, he did not, Patton was a raving loony
Czerwone maki pod Monte Cassino... I wonder how many Poles had died in this final attack. It was horribly bloody fight. Thousands.
26:11 sounds just like RuZZia nowadays
Thank you.