What would have happened if, on the morning of the 9th, Rommel had put at Kesselring’s disposal his 24th Panzer Division and the ''Leibstandarte Adolf Hitler”, and Kesselring had then used them at Salerno? The question cannot be answered as the Fiihrer refused to reinforce the 10th Army, having been advised by Rommel that Italy could not be defended south of a line La Spezia-Rimini. In face of the threat to the American 5th Army, Alexander called on Montgomery to come up in haste and catch the forces attacking the bridgehead. Montgomery managed to do this, though in his memoirs he gallantly states that it was more or less all over on September 16 when his 5th Division got to Agropoli. On that day the 5th Army had five divisions or their equivalent engaged in the battle and had lost 5,674 officers, N. C.O. s, and men, including 756 killed and 2,150 missing. In addition, the British battleship Warspite and the cruiser Uganda, as well as the American cruiser Savannah, had been badly damaged by the Luftwaffe’s new radio-controlled bombs. After this crisis, Clark got Eisenhower’s permission to relieve VI Corps’ commander and replaced him by Major-General John P. Lucas. The British Army was assigned the province of Apulia and the Cassibile armistice allowed the uneventful landing of its V Corps (Lieutenant-General All-frey) in the well-equipped ports of Taranto and Brindisi.
The final defeat of the German lOth Army at Salerno and the threat to his rear forced Kesselring to disengage on September 16, but this brought a renewed conflict with Rommel, who wanted to abandon Rome, whereas Kesselring maintained that the Eternal City could be covered from a line running
Roughly Formia-Cassino-Pescara, using the Garigliano and the Rapido valleys and the Abruzzi mountains, which reached over 9,000 feet at La Malella. On November 21 Hitler recalled Rommel and moved Kesselring from his position as C.-in-C. South to head a new Army Group ”C”, thus leaving him in complete command in Italy.
Hitler transferred the 24th Panzer Division and the S. S. ''Leibstandarte" Division to the Eastern Front, Kesselring allotted three divisions to the 10th Army and the balance of Army Group ”B” in northern Italy went to form a new 14th Army under General von Mackensen.
World History
