Conquest in Southern Italy
While most of Italy was firmly in Allied hands from Rome up to the Po River, the one remaining area of stiff resistance was the units based in Taranto to the south. They had repelled Lear's four armored divisions, and then when the tanks were moved from Bari to Venice, these troops retook Bari as well. Now with the rest of the peninsula secure, the British and American forces drove south to clean up this stubborn pocket. Six divisions commanded by Bedell Smith assailed the four Italian divisions at Bari, while Field Marshal Gort led the British assault on Taranto itself, a defense of three divisions under General Verne.
In Bari, Balbo's defense for the most part crumbled immediately, except for the 72nd Division. Each night a counterattack on ground gained by the Americans earlier in the day would often offset their gains. But outnumbered six to one, with little support the outcome was inevitable, and on April 15th Bari was back in Allied hands. To the south of there, Gort's fighting men put forth yet another incredible effort in Taranto, though without proper support and highly outnumbered, after a lengthy fight the famed 15th Scottish Motorized had to withdraw. Though the defense of Taranto had proven stout over the last month, its days were clearly numbered. As Allied troops became available after clearing out other pockets across Italy, they all began to converge. The American troops which had just retaken Bari were headed down in force, though before they could get there the New Zealand 7th and 8th Infantry Divisions under Field Marshal Sinclair-Burgess, with elements of the 2nd South African, were able to clean up what Gort's 15th Scottish had started. At 3 pm on April 20, he radioed Gort's headquarters in Rome "Operation Cygnus is complete, awaiting further orders."
With the exception of a small pocket in the heights around La Spezia up north and the island of Sicily, all of the Italian peninsula south of the Po was now firmly in Allied hands. Operation Cygnus had started off with a very precarious beginning; Gort's Third Army failing in their initial attack on Rome, and being beaten into near oblivion in Napoli, were tenaciously clinging with their last breath to a very thin slice of beachhead. Despite grave losses, his forces had held off everything the Italians and Germans could throw at them, despite overwhelming odds. Once he had "bled" the enemy of the ability to wage offensive operations, it had opened the door for the vast amount of reinforcements that began to flow in mid January which ultimately steam rolled over the rest of the Peninsula. In four short months, the units under Gort's command had conquered more European soil than the Allies had previously managed in three years. One could just sense the tide shifting. Granted the bulk of the German armor lay to the north, a very daunting task, but with Italy primarily in Allied hands and their strength growing each day, there was at last room for optimism in all quarters.
One more bit of good news reached Marshall in mid April 1945: the long awaited M4 Sherman 70mm tank prototype had completed its trial run and was now ready for production. In addition the latest 80mm anti-tank guns were rolling off the assembly line and headed straight to Europe. With the growing threat of the German armor and mechanized units, and their greater percentage of the overall makeup of the German army in western Europe, Marshall could not lean hard enough on the men in charge of research and production for anything armor related. One aide quipped that Marshall spent more time at the factory yelling at the supervisors than he did in his own office.
The Rome Conference: April 21-22
With the stalemate which had for so long existed in the European theatre, limited in scope to a small portion of southern France, it was hoped that the new operations of Cygnus and Xerxes would concurrently make a breakthrough in the status of the campaign. To the north, Xerxes thus far had done what it had intended: make inroads into northern Italy, which would take pressure off Dever's Army Group to the west. Cygnus likewise was intended to try and land a permanent holding somewhere on the peninsula itself, in an effort to open up yet another front the Axis had to defend. While Xerxes had moderate success, and attained what it had been projected to do, Cygnus in the south had clearly exceeded the war planners' expectations. With control over nearly the entirety of Italy, it had been a smashing success.
While Italy had not technically surrendered yet, with the peninsula fully in Allied hands the great influx of troops which had been deployed there were now becoming available for their next assignment. On top of this, the incredible amount of manpower the British had added to the American Eleventh Army Group's region in southern France had likewise changed the overall purpose of that front. The incredible quickness with which divisions had been swapped between units and rapidly deployed to different fronts had made the order of battle considerably difficult to follow, as well as muddling the chain of command and communications. One example was the American general Lear, who's four armored divisions had started the new year deployed in New York. Having been reassigned to Eisenhower's Fourth Army in Nimes, as they passed through the straights of Gibraltar on their way to France, they were given a new assignment as part of Gort's Third Army in the defense of Napoli. Mere weeks later they where then hastily sailed across the Adriatic to become part of Ironside's army in the defense of Venice.
Thus it was deemed urgent that both the command structure and future operations be determined at once. Summarily, all the army heads throughout the European theatre convened in Rome in late April to iron out these new matters. It is of great note that the conference included representatives from Britain, France, Canada, Australia and the United States.
The first order of business was to lay out the future short term objectives of the various fronts. With the recent advances in Italy, naturally that was the first item on the table. General Decker's First Army was already drawing up plans for the dissolution of the Italian pocket in Le Spezia, so that was given the green light to proceed. On his flank, the primarily British troops from the Xerxes Operation were defending Venezia from a possible German invasion out of Austria. This force had grown considerably large with over 18 divisions which had been assembled from units throughout the European theatre. British Field Marshal Ironside, the overall commander of the Xerxes group, was firmly against going on the offensive into Austria. He felt it was too risky to go right into the heart of the lion; any advance into Germany proper would likely draw a massive counteroffensive from the German army, and he was not optimistic about going on the offensive into the Alps. Both Gort and Devers concurred with this initial plan that Ironside's force should for the time being act as a defensive barrier only, albeit a strong one.
The one remaining issue regarding Italy was whether or not to expend the resources to wrestle Sicily away from the remaining Axis forces. This defense in the past months had thwarted several British and Australian landings, so Gort and Sinclair Burgess suggested that they just let it die on the vine with a full naval blockade rather than risk severe casualties. American general Jacob Devers quickly pointed out that while this might make good military sense, it could become a thorny political issue to keep such a historically important island in enemy hands. Leaving Sicily isolated but defiant would lead to considerable political fallout, and he pointed out none of the commanders wanted to hear about it from their respective elected leaders in London or Washington. With so many divisions in Italy now looking for their next assignment, the manpower was certainly there for a large scale invasion of the island. After some discussion it was decided that the American general Bedell-Smith, his corps borrowed from Fourth Army for the campaign in Italy, would lead an amphibious invasion of Sicily, though it would be done in overwhelming force this time.
With the overall strategy for Venice and Sicily thus agreed upon, now it came time for a very complicated issue: France. The ranks of Allied soldiers in the region had grown immensely over the past two months, as the British landed division after division to help fortify the Rhone defenses. While Xerxes and Cygnus were underway, the defense in France was meant to be merely a defensive position against German incursion that might threaten the two operations. But with the incredible amount of Allied divisions that now were guarding the lines, it seemed logical that a large offensive should be attempted. Further, with Ironside not wishing to enter Germany thru the Alps and Austria, that left the American Eleventh Army Group's area as the only remaining path into Germany.
Superiority in numbers aside, Eisenhower and Stillwell were quick to point out the examples of their joint attack upon Nimes which had failed, coupled with a series of British and French ones as well. If it were to be done right, Devers backed up his Army commanders in saying a westward offensive could not happen until both American armies were brought back up to a full complement of divisions. Any coordinated attack on Nimes would have to be much delayed until they were back up to full strength. That left one remaining option for an offensive in the short term: Patton.
Besancon was as the army had formerly touted back home, the Xiamen of Europe. George Patton and his Tenth Tank Army had thrown aside brutal assault after assault from the Germans. Be it Panzergrenadiers, armor, or a two to one numerical advantage - none of these things were able to make a dent in Patton's brilliant defense. More German vehicles had been destroyed in vainly assaulting these defenses than in all other Allied theaters combined. It was therefore obvious why Jacob Devers was so reluctant to lose this strategic defensive gem to offensive operations. He felt the Germans would lose more armor assaulting this tasty defensive line than if Patton went on the offensive against them. Considering the carnage laid upon the Germans since Patton first inhabited Besancon, Dever's logic was clearly a sound. In a war of attrition, this was the proper thing to do.
But with all this firepower laying about, over 40 Allied divisions in all, there were too many resources being tied up for the Rhone to be a defensive front. Patton once again proposed the plan he had given to Jacob Devers after Nimes fell: the whole of Tenth Army should drive directly north in mass towards Germany itself. If successful, the Germans would not see holding onto southern France as quite as important when their own borders were being threatened. With the recent victories over the Germans assaulting Besancon, he noted the intelligence reports estimating their strength to be much lessened around Dijon. The Germans in effect were still licking their wounds and counting their losses. His ideology in asking for this offensive was nearly identical to his reasoning many months ago when Tenth Tank Army was first formed, that moving north and seizing Besancon would temporarily alleviate the stress that Stillwell and Eisenhower's armies were currently under.
Devers reluctantly agreed to this plan, especially when the French and British commanders offered the units to take up the defensive positions in Patton's absence. Liddell-Hart, in command of the British troops complementing the defense of the Rhone, offered large scale diversions towards Nimes while Patton's operation to the north was taking place. It was assumed as well that the large amount of Allied divisions in Venice posing a threat to Austria would cause a shift in the German armor to strengthen that entry into Germany as well.
Realignment
With the considerable increase in troops over the past several months, and their rapid redeployment between fronts, the command structure was to be redone entirely. For the American forces, Dever's Eleventh Army Group would remain intact, which included Eisenhower's Fourth Army in Marseilles, Stillwell's Eighth Army in Lyon, and Patton's Tenth Tank Army in Besancon. Because of operations elsewhere, Fourth and Eighth Armies remained for the time being undersized, Fourth only at six divisions and Eighth at just three. With the amount of other Allied troops in this region, it was considered sufficient as a merely defensive force.
The Northern Italian Front (NIF) as the theatre came to be called was the successor to Xerxes. It was a combination of British and American armies under one flag. Fifteenth Army Group was created, with the British Field Marshal William Ironside in command. It included the British Armies under both General Alexander and Montgomery-Massingberd. Included under Ironside's command was US General Decker's First Army, and the newly created US Twelfth Tank Army commanded by General Lear. In effect his tank corps had been graduated to full army status, with two corps of two divisions apiece. It would be supplemented with more divisions as they became available.
Allied Command Structure - Southern Europe
All units south of Bologna were assigned to the command of the British general Gort, this included his Third Army. Under his new Army Group fell the New Zealand and South African forces under Sinclair-Burgess, as well as the American forces in southern Italy. Walter Bedell-Smith was put in command of the American forces, which were reconstituted into the newly created US Fourteenth Army. It was Fourteenth Army which was tasked with the amphibious assault of Sicily in May. So in but a few short months, the American presence on the continent had grown from but three full armies to six. In addition the British forces on the continent had nearly tripled in size from what they had been six months ago. Suffice to say, the Allied effort was looking considerably brighter than it had been a year earlier.
Though it no doubt rankled the American staff to some extent, the British Field Marshal Henry Wilson was given the title of Supreme Allied Commander Mediterranean. It was nevertheless this cooperation of command between the Allies which had led to the incredible success of Xerxes and Cygnus. With the short term goals agreed upon, the meeting concluded and the generals went back to their respective commands. While some came away with the proverbial spoils, Lear and Bedell-Smith receiving full armies, others like Stillwell and Eisenhower felt snubbed, and rightly so. After being the main characters in the defense of southern France for so long, they were asked to take merely a supporting role, with most of their units stripped from them.
