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Operation Baytown on 3 September 1943 was 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 Sir Miles C. Dempsey's British XIII Corps, which had under command the 1st Canadian Infantry Division and the British 5th Infantry Division. XIII Corps was part of the British Eighth Army, commanded by General Bernard L. 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. General Montgomery had objected to ''Baytown'' as ineffective, but carried it out anyway. The German commander, Field Marshal 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 Traugott Herr's LXXVI Panzer Corps 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 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, and Operation ''Avalanche'', the main landings at Salerno by the U.S. Fifth Army. Both took place on 9 September, following the Italian surrender on 8 September. The surrender had been agreed on 3 September, but was not announced until 8 September, and had no direct effect on ''Baytown''. ==See also== * Italian Campaign (World War II) 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Operation Baytown」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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