Discovery Channel - Battlefield Series 2 (1994) Part 4 The Battle for Italy

A comprehensive documentary series about the key battles of World War Two. This sweeping series offers detailed accounts of the key battles, combining extensive use of archival footage with full color 3D animation and a compelling and vivid narrative, complete with main weapon systems used and portraits of the principal leaders and commanders. Strategy and tactics are described in detail with excellent graphics, providing a fascinating analysis of the forces in conflict. A review of the political and military situation prior to battle and an examination of the weaponry and combat-readiness of the men are followed by original archive footage of important phases of the battle, supplemented by Situation Reports and finished off with a summary. Dramatic use of 3-D computer graphics and actual battle footage transport the viewer directly in the thick of the fight. Battlefield is a series that chronicles the decisive events and critical battles that shaped history. Archival footage from several sources includes film from the Moscow central military archives. Watch rare archival footage from vaults around the world!

Part 4 The Battle for Italy

PRELUDE TO BATTLE Even as Italian dictator Benito Mussolini struggled in vain to extract his country from World War II, Adolf Hitler prepared to send the German Army to fully occupy Italy. He had little confidence in his Italian ally. Winston Churchill hoped to knock Italy out of the war in order to keep the Russians from gaining the upper hand while carving up the post-war pie. Franklin Roosevelt, bent on ending the war quickly, believed the only solution was an incursion into occupied France. Invading Italy seemed wasteful and pointless. And Stalin's priorities lay far to the East. Hitler eyed these rifts widening between his enemies and waited for his chance to exploit them. On the ravaged shores of newly won northern Africa, the Allies prepared to launch a devastating attack across the sea. The first objective would be the rugged island of Sicily, from whose shores they could dominate the entire Mediterranean. The crowning glory would be Italy itself. The aim was to conquer Rome and thus end Italy's participation in the war. Then advance further towards Austria in order to be able to exert pressure on the Reich from the south. But Hitler's ruthless armies, abetted by the breathtakingly savage Italian landscape, refused to give up their glittering prize without a bitter, bloody struggle. THE BATTLE The campaign began in July 1943 with the landings in Sicily. The Italian resistance collapsed quickly, but the German units stationed on the island fought brilliantly from the second line and were able to escape to safety by escaping across the Strait of Messina. When the Allies invaded the Italian mainland near Salerno, the German troops stationed in Italy anticipated Italy's surrender. They seized power and German reinforcement troops were sent to Salerno. And they had no intention of giving up Italy. The Allies would pay dearly in blood for every inch of Italy. The road to Rome would prove horrifyingly brutal for both sides, and increasingly difficult for the Allies. The geographical conditions made it possible to build new defensive positions in short time. On their march north, the Allies were continually held up by German positions. The best known was the so-called Gustav Line, which ran on the slopes of the fortress elevations of the Monte Cassino monastery and on the heights around the city of Anzio. Although the fighting in Italy lasted almost to the end of the war, the overcoming of the Gustav Line and the liberation of Rome are now considered the real end of the campaign.

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