"Dragoon" might have been overreaching, but securing Sardinia & Corsica was certainly doable. Holding those creates all sorts of headaches for the Axis and enables the proposed Anvil Operation to be launched in the spring of 1944 as originally planned. Sardinia/Corsica are also good for airbases to attack souther France, Northern Italy, and as far east as Rumania. In OTL the Allies had six bomber wings based in Corsica just three months after the initial landings there.
Not having a army group in Central Italy, and not sustaining the South Italian population with food and coal frees up a lot of Allied cargo ships. On the down side the German army group in Italy is not pinned down and constitutes a defacto reserve. Pros & Cons both ways.
bm79;7266260 Attempting Dragoon while Sicily and the whole of the Italian peninsula are still in Axis hands would be nearly impossible. Imagine trying to maintain supply links across the western Med while German and Italian planes .[/QUOTE said:Does not require any imagination. Twice the Axis tried to oppose Allied airpower in the Med in 1943 & twice they were shot out of the sky. The Germans did win some spectacular tactical victories but both times they lost the campaign.
While Corsica is nicely positioned for Allied use Sardinia to the south is not so well located for Axis defense. It sits well to the east of Italy & Sicily, out of useful fighter range, & the west coast is at the limits of useful bomber range. Effective Axis. Even before the Allies control Sardinia Axis interdiction of the sea lanes from the Atlantic will be no more effective than their efforts to interdict those same sea lanes along the African littoral in 1943 of OTL.
With Sardinia/Corsica in allied hands the sea route from the Atlantic will be shielded from effective long range interdiction & out of range of things like Mas boats.
Not having a army group in Central Italy, and not sustaining the South Italian population with food and coal frees up a lot of Allied cargo ships.
Not capturing Sicily and opening the Mediterranean ties down a lot of Allied ships.
Taking Sicily brought down Mussolini, after which Italy surrendered and Sardinia, Corsica, and southern Italy all fell quickly to the Allies.
Southern Italy was the logical base for air operations against the Balkans, Hungary, Austria, and southern Germany.
When people have proposed sardinia first before, its been pointed out that there isnt enough flat land available for air strips to gain air superiority.
That is an enormous benefit to the buildup for Neptune (&/or Anvil). Plus, no Italian ops don't tie up LCs, freeing them for other use. (Recall, Sicily saw more divisions afloat than Neptune.Carl Schwamberger said:Not having a army group in Central Italy, and not sustaining the South Italian population with food and coal frees up a lot of Allied cargo ships.
Not necessarily. If Mussolini falls, if Italy changes sides (& IMO that's a credible option), Italy becomes hostile territory for Germans.Carl Schwamberger said:On the down side the German army group in Italy is not pinned down and constitutes a defacto reserve. Pros & Cons both ways.
I did wonder about those claims. Thank you.Italy had built a fair number of all weather & secondary airfields on Sardinia. At least once in 1942 they 'surged the aircraft there to approx 300 combat aircraft. The Allies could do better. They secured Corsica in late October & in January 1944 had six wings of bombers based there (500+ aircraft) plus a similar number of fighters and several groups of reconissance, maritime patrol, & transports scattered about both islands. The robust Brit & US logistics/construction capability dealt with the lack of 'flat'. Later for Op Dragoon well over 2000 aircraft supported from the two islands.
I'll second that question. It even provides a good cover for the buildup, make as if to invade Italy, but then instead sail for Sardinia.What about Sicily and THEN Sardinia and Corsica?
What about Sicily and THEN Sardinia and Corsica?
Sounds utterly logical to me. I think there are equally logical arguments for Sardinia first then Sicily. Either way you put air bases near the entire length of Italy, in range of the industrial north Italy & the Rumanian oil industry, and the potiential invasion sites all along the French/italian littoral, and you make the sea route to Suez more secure. Just depends on which sub-objective you want first.
What about Sicily and THEN Sardinia and Corsica?
I'll second that question. It even provides a good cover for the buildup, make as if to invade Italy, but then instead sail for Sardinia.