Click on North Africa (at the bottom of the map below) and read more information on that campaign. The fight for North Africa was important in the Mediterranean and Middle East Theater in World War II.
Click on North Africa (at the bottom of the map below) and read more information on that campaign.
The invasion of Italy started in July 1943, when the Allies quickly took Sicily (a large island off the southern coast of Italy). Although many of the Axis forces managed to avoid capture and escape to the mainland, in late July a coup deposed (overthrew) Benito Mussolini. The new Italian leaders immediately approached the Allies to make peace. Italian forces in the south surrendered, but the Germans reinforced their positions in the North. They also managed to help Mussolini escape to the North where he led resistance fighters against the Allies.
Source: The Invasion of Italy, Wikimedia
The two sides continued to "slug it out" for another year until the Allies finally broke through the German resistance lines in 1944. Mussolini attempted to escape to Switzerland, but he was quickly captured and executed by Italian locals. His body was then taken to Milan where it was hung upside down at a petrol station for public viewing and to provide confirmation of his death. With the occupation of Italy, the Allies now had an approach to Germany from the south and had secured control of the Mediterranean Sea.
Sources for images used in this section, listed from left to right: