Editing Winston Churchill (section)

====Invasions of Sicily and Italy====
[[File:Winston Churchill au théâtre de Carthage, 1943.jpg|thumb|Churchill in the Carthage theatre, near the ancient Carthage Amphitheatre, to address 3,000 British and American troops, June 1943]]
In the autumn of 1942, after Churchill's meeting with Stalin, he was approached by Eisenhower, commanding the [[North African Theater of Operations]], US Army (NATOUSA), and his aides on the subject of where the Western Allies should launch their first strike in Europe. According to General [[Mark W. Clark]], the Americans admitted a cross-Channel operation in the near future was "utterly impossible". As an alternative, Churchill recommended "slit(ting) the soft belly of the Mediterranean" and persuaded them to invade Sicily and then mainland Italy, after they had defeated the Afrika Korps. After the war, Clark still agreed Churchill's analysis was correct, but added that, when the Allies [[Allied invasion of Italy#Salerno landings|landed at Salerno]], they found Italy was "a tough old gut".<ref>{{cite web |url=https://winstonchurchill.hillsdale.edu/soft-underbelly-fortress-europe/ |title=Were "Soft Underbelly" and "Fortress Europe" Churchill Phrases? |work=The Churchill Project |publisher=Hillsdale College |date=1 April 2016 |access-date=21 May 2020 |archive-date=9 June 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200609191114/https://winstonchurchill.hillsdale.edu/soft-underbelly-fortress-europe/ |url-status=live}}</ref>

The invasion of Sicily began on 9 July and was completed by 17 August. Churchill was not keen on ''Overlord'' as he feared an Anglo-American army in France might not be a match for the fighting efficiency of the Wehrmacht. He preferred peripheral operations, including a plan called [[Operation Jupiter (Norway)|Operation Jupiter]] for an invasion of Norway.{{sfn|Jenkins|2001|pp=713–714}} Events in Sicily had an unexpected impact in Italy. [[Victor Emmanuel III|King Victor Emmanuel]] sacked Mussolini on 25 July and appointed [[Pietro Badoglio|Marshal Badoglio]] as prime minister. Badoglio opened negotiations with the Allies which resulted in the [[Armistice of Cassibile]] on 3 September. In response, the Germans activated [[Operation Achse]] and took control of most of Italy.{{sfn|Jenkins|2001|p=713}}

Although he still preferred Italy to Normandy as the Allies' main route into the Third Reich, Churchill was concerned about the strong German resistance at Salerno and, after the Allies successfully gained their bridgehead at [[Battle of Anzio|Anzio]] but still failed to break the stalemate, he caustically said that instead of "hurling a wildcat onto the shore", the Allied force had become a "stranded whale".<ref>{{Cite journal| issn = 0032-325X| volume = 50| issue = 3| pages = 509–528| last = Tompkins| first = Peter| title = What Really Happened at Anzio| journal = Il Politico| date = 1985| url = http://www.jstor.org/stable/43099608| jstor = 43099608| access-date = 22 November 2021| archive-date = 22 November 2021| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20211122221803/https://www.jstor.org/stable/43099608| url-status = live}}</ref>{{sfn|Jenkins|2001|pp=720, 729}} The big obstacle was [[Battle of Monte Cassino|Monte Cassino]] and it was not until May 1944 when it was finally overcome, enabling the Allies to advance on Rome, which was taken on 4 June.{{sfn|Jenkins|2001|p=730}}