Operation Baytown

Operation Baytown was an Allied amphibious landing on the mainland of Italy that took place on 3 September 1943, part of the Allied invasion of Italy, itself part of the Italian Campaign, during the Second World War.

The attack was made by Lieutenant-General Miles C. Dempsey's British XIII Corps, which had under command the 1st Canadian Infantry Division (Major-General Guy Simonds) and the British 5th Infantry Division (Major-General Gerard C. Bucknall). XIII Corps was part of the British Eighth Army, commanded by General Sir Bernard Montgomery. XIII Corps crossed the Straits of Messina from Sicily to Reggio di Calabria, covered by a heavy artillery barrage from Sicily. The intent was to tie down German forces in the area and gain an Allied foothold at the 'toe' of Italy. Montgomery had objected to Baytown as ineffective, but carried it out anyway.

The German commander, Generalfeldmarschall Albert Kesselring, and his staff did not believe the Calabria landing was the main Allied attack, which they expected at Salerno, or possibly north of Naples, or even near Rome. He therefore ordered General der Panzertruppe Traugott Herr's LXXVI Panzer Corps, part of the German 10th Army under Generaloberst Heinrich von Vietinghoff to pull back from engagement with the Eighth Army and delay them by demolition of bridges and other infrastructure. A single German regiment was left to defend 17 miles of coast.

Montgomery's objections were proved correct: German troops refused battle and the Eighth Army tied down none of them, and the main obstacle to Allied advance was the terrain and German demolitions.

Opposition to the landings was very light, because the few German troops in the area rapidly withdrew northward. Italian troops were poorly equipped, and demoralized by the political situation and the massive Allied bombardment; they offered no resistance.

Operation Baytown was followed by Operation Slapstick, by the British 1st Airborne Division (Major-General George Hopkinson), and Operation Avalanche, the main landings at Salerno by elements of Lieutenant General Mark Clark' s U.S. Fifth Army. Both operations took place on 9 September, following the Italian surrender the day before. The surrender had been agreed on 3 September, but was not announced until 8 September, and had no direct effect on Baytown.

See also

• Allied invasion of Italy
• Allied invasion of Italy order of battle
• Italian Campaign (World War II)

External links

• Royal Engineers Museum Royal Engineers and Second World War (Italian Campaign)