Top of the World
The massive operation Avalanche, codename indicative of the Allied Landing in Salerno on September 9, 1943, destined to remain in history as the most majestic amphibious operation, lives again in the City of Salerno with the finds kept at the Museum of the Landing and Salerno Capital. Inaugurated in September 2012 under the patronage of the President of the Republic Giorno Napolitano, it was established at the temporary headquarters of the Gallotta Institute. During the Italian campaign of the Second World War the military landing operation was set up by the Allies along the coasts of the Gulf of Salerno with the aim of conquering Naples and its port, necessary as a base to supply the Allied troops of the South. It was the occasion when the U.S. Fifth Army led by General Mark Clark aimed to reunite with the Eighth Army forces under the command of Bernard Montgomery. General Clark's troops were, however, counterattacked by German forces led by Marshal Albert Kesselring. There was tenacious Anglo-American resistance despite the harshness of the German attack. After ten days of combat, however, the Allies managed to reorganize themselves in view of the advance towards Naples, which was conquered on October 1, 1943. More than two hundred finds, part of the collection of the Associazione Parco della memoria della Campania, at the Museo dello sbarco, remind us of the harshness of those days. Photographs, the unpublished video, a Shernantan K M4, medals, uniforms of the German and American armies, numerous objects, a Willys Jeep and even a railway wagon are some of the many finds that relive that unforgettable phase of the Second World War. Some of the exhibits, such as the car on display on its way to Auschwitz during the war to deport Jews to the concentration camp, are examples of absolute rarity worldwide.
