On 3 September, elements of the British Eighth Army crossed into Italy and advanced up the Italian toe in pursuit of the retreating Germans. On 9 September the main assault was launched when an Anglo-American force, part of the U. S. Fifth Army, landed on the beaches near Salerno, south of Naples. Since the enemy had expected landings in the vicinity of Naples and had disposed his forces accordingly, the Allies encountered prompt and sustained resistance. By 15 September, however, the Germans started to withdraw up the Italian Peninsula, pursued on the west by the Fifth Army and on the east by the Eighth Army. The port of Naples fell on 1 October and the Foggia airfields about the same time. After crossing the Volturno River against stiff resistance, the Allies advanced to the Winter Line seventy-five miles south of Rome. In bitterly cold weather the troops slogged through mud and snow to breach the series of heavy defenses and advanced to the Gustav Line. In midJanuary the main Fifth Army launched a new offensive across the Rapido and Garigliano Rivers to pierce the Gustav Line and advance up the Liri Valley toward Rome. Bridgeheads were secured across the rivers and footholds were obtained in Cassino and surrounding hills, but no break-through of the main German positions was effected. A few days after the initial attack against the Gustav Line, an Anglo-American amphibious force landed at Anzio and struck inland with the purpose of compelling the Germans on the southern front to withdraw. But the Allied beachhead force was contained by the enemy’s unexpectedly rapid build-up and was hard pressed to stave off several fierce German counterattacks. After the Anzio front became stabilized and the effort to take Cassino was abandoned, the AAI (Allied Armies in Italy) regrouped and launched a new offensive on 11 May 1944. Fifth Army, led by French troops and assisted by American troops, broke through the main German positions in the Arunci Mountains west of the Garigliano River while the Eighth Army advanced up the Liri Valley. A few days later the beachhead force effected a junction with the troops from the southern front, and advanced almost to Valmontone on Highway 6 before the axis of attack was shifted to the northwest. After several unsuccessful attacks toward Lanuvio and along the Albano road, the Fifth Army discovered an unguarded point near Velletri, enveloped the German positions based on the Alban Hills, and pushed on rapidly toward Rome, which fell on 4 June 1944 with the Germans in full retreat. Meanwhile preparations were being rushed for an invasion of southern France by Allied troops, most of them drawn from forces in Italy. [Illustration: ITALY