As great as Churchill was, he was no military genius. He also thought the quickest way to defeat the Nazis was by going through the 'soft underbelly' of Italy, only to find out it turned out to be a 'tough old gut', he originally scoffed at the idea of a Normandy invasion.
“As great as Churchill was, he was no military genius.”
Not even close. And a tough old gut is right.
He should have looked at a topographic map and noticed what a cluster screw attacking Italy would be. Or he could have taken the lessons from WWI and learned something. Mountainous Italy was MADE for defensive war. The Germans used the terrain very effectively with the Gothic and Gustav lines.
They could have taken Sicily and pinned down every German in Italy without invading. They could have taken the men and material used in the Italian campaign and invaded France earlier with a more overwhelming force.
Why Churchill was so enamored of invading Italy I will never understand.