* The last time we heard from Frank L. Kluckhohn was May 13, when he reported on the end of the war in North Africa. Now he is in Australia.
http://www.onwar.com/chrono/1943/sep1943/f06sep43.htm
German battleship at sea
Monday, September 6, 1943 www.onwar.com
German battleship Tirpitz at sea [photo at link]
In the Arctic... The German battleship Tirpitz and battle cruiser Scharnhorst depart on a bombardment sortie to Spitzbergen (September 6-9).
In Italy... The British 8th Army advances slowly, capturing Palmi and Delianuova. There is little German resistance but demolitions cause delays.
On the Eastern Front... Soviet forces capture Makeyevka, west of Stalino, Kromatorsk and Slavyansk as well as the railroad junction town of Konotop.
In the Solomon Islands... On Arundel the Japanese begin to resist American attempts to advance.
In New Guinea... Elements of the Australian 9th Division advance west, from Huon Gulf, toward Lae, meeting strong Japanese resistance.
A little more discussion about Allied grand strategy and the invasion of Italy.
If World War 2 was a football fantasy draft between Hitler and Churchill, Hitler did a very bad job of drafting his allies. The only one he sort of lined up that was worth a damn was the USSR early on with his Non-Aggression Pact. And then he turned on the USSR. Otherwise, he lined up countries like Italy, Hungary, Romania, Finland, Slovakia and Bulgaria. Not only did they offer very little war making capacity, they were very reluctant allies to say the least, and a good many of them absolutely despised the others. The Romanians and Hungarians kept their best forces in the Carpathians facing each other instead of sending them into the USSR to fight with the Germans. When Romania gets a chance in late 1944, their armies will actively fight with the Red Army to clear the Hungarians out of Transylvania.
Churchill on the other hand drafted France (who turned out to be a bust, going down in Game 2 with blown-out knee), Canada, Australia, the United States and the Soviet Union. Pretty much all top picks.
But I digress. The Grand Strategy for Italy is to knock Germany’s top ally out of the war. And that becomes a lesson for the lesser reluctant allies. They have already become nervous about staying in the war at Germany’s side. The capitulation of Italy will only reinforce their desire to desert at the first opportunity. Germany needed the soldiers of her little allies as cannon fodder. Now, there is absolutely no chance they will ever get cooperation from them again.
There is, of course, an alternative to this strategy, requiring more risk and daring - one great sea flanking move directly to, or above the vicinity of, Naples, where a major amphibious force might be landed in an attempt to outflank all Axis troops below that point.
But such a strategy, though it might pay dividends in time if it were successful, is less sure and more risky than the step-by-step advance. Judging by past experience, we shall probably stick to caution.
Eisenhower famously told the press the date and location of the Sicily landing well in advance and relied on their discretion to avoid leaks. Is something of the same nature going on here? I just find it suspicious that Baldwin is unwittingly presenting such a fine piece of misinformation three days before D-Day at Salerno.