Salerno mutiny

Last updated April 11, 2024

The Salerno mutiny occurred during the Second World War and involved about 200 British soldiers who, on 16 September 1943, refused assignment to new units as replacements during the initial stages of the Allied invasion of Italy.

About 1,500 men from the 50th (Northumbrian) and 51st (Highland) Infantry Divisions sailed from Tripoli, on the understanding that they were to join the rest of their units, at the time based in Sicily and soon to return to the United Kingdom in preparation for Operation Overlord, the Allied invasion of Normandy. Both of these divisions had served as part of General Sir Bernard Montgomery's British Eighth Army, and were veterans of the North African campaign.^[1]

Once aboard ship, the men were told that they were being taken to Salerno, Italy, to join the British 46th Infantry Division (Major-General John Hawkesworth) and 56th (London) Infantry Division (Major-General Douglas Graham), which had both suffered heavy losses. Both divisions were serving as part of Lieutenant-General Richard McCreery's British X Corps, which itself was fighting as part of Lieutenant General Mark Clark's U.S. Fifth Army. Many of the soldiers felt they had been deliberately misled.^[2]

Matters were made worse by the complete lack of organisation when they reached Salerno, leaving them angry and frustrated. About one thousand of the men, who were fresh recruits, were taken off to join new units, leaving 500 veterans, 300 of whom were billeted in a nearby field. They were still there by 20 September, refusing postings to unfamiliar units. They were addressed by Lieutenant-General McCreery, the General Officer Commanding (GOC) of the British X Corps, who admitted that a mistake had been made, and promised that they would rejoin their old units once Salerno was secure. The men were also warned of the consequences of mutiny in wartime.^[3]

Of the three hundred men in the field, 108 decided to follow orders, leaving a hard core of 192. They were all charged with mutiny under the Army Act. This was the largest number of men accused of mutiny at any one time in all of British military history.^[4] The accused were shipped to French Algeria, where the courts-martial opened towards the end of October. All were found guilty, and three sergeants were sentenced to death. The sentences were subsequently commuted to 12 years of forced labour and eventually suspended.^[3] In the House of Commons debate held in March 2000 an official pardon was requested by Aberdeen South MP Anne Begg claiming that those indicted were not refusing to fight but merely requesting the fulfilment of a promise by higher command. However John Spellar, the then Minister for the Armed Forces denied this request by indicating that however unfair the order to proceed to combat in other units seemed, the refusal to do so in war time situations constituted a grave crime, not to be pardoned.^[3]

Related Research Articles

The Battle of Anzio was a battle of the Italian Campaign of World War II that took place from January 22, 1944. The battle began with the Allied amphibious landing known as Operation Shingle, and ended on June 4, 1944 with the liberation of Rome. The operation was opposed by German and by Italian Repubblica Sociale Italiana (RSI) forces in the area of Anzio and Nettuno.

General Lucian King Truscott Jr. was a highly decorated senior United States Army officer, who saw distinguished active service during World War II. Between 1943–1945, he successively commanded the 3rd Infantry Division, VI Corps, Fifteenth Army and Fifth Army, serving mainly in the Mediterranean Theater of Operations (MTO) during his wartime service. He and Alexander Patch were the only U.S. Army officers to command a division, a corps, and a field army in combat during the war.

The Allied invasion of Sicily, also known as the Battle of Sicily and Operation Husky, was a major campaign of World War II in which the Allied forces invaded the island of Sicily in July 1943 and took it from the Axis powers. It began with a large amphibious and airborne operation, followed by a six-week land campaign, and initiated the Italian campaign.

Mark Wayne Clark was a United States Army officer who saw service during World War I, World War II, and the Korean War. He was the youngest four-star general in the US Army during World War II.

The 15th Army Group was an army group in World War II, composed of the British Eighth Army and initially the Seventh United States Army (1943), replaced by the Fifth United States Army, which apart from units from across the British Empire and United States, also had entire units from other allied countries/regions, including: one corps from Free France and one from Poland; one division from Brazil; multiple separate brigades of Italians and Greeks; plus support to, and from, local Italian partisans. It operated in the Italian Campaign from 1943 to 1945.

Operation Avalanche was the codename for the Allied landings near the port of Salerno, executed on 9 September 1943, part of the Allied invasion of Italy during World War II. The Italians withdrew from the war the day before the invasion, but the Allies landed in an area defended by German troops. Planned under the name Top Hat, it was supported by the deception plan Operation Boardman.

The 51st (Highland) Division was an infantry division of the British Army that fought on the Western Front in France during the First World War from 1915 to 1918. The division was raised in 1908, upon the creation of the Territorial Force, as the Highland Division and later 51st (Highland) Division from 1915. The division's insignia was a stylised 'HD' inside a red circle. Early doubts about the division's performance earned it the nickname of "Harper's Duds" after the name of its commander, Major-General George Harper although they would go on to gain a fearsome reputation with the Allies and Germans.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Allied invasion of Italy</span> 1943 military campaign of World War II resulting in the fall of Fascist Italy

The Allied invasion of Italy was the Allied amphibious landing on mainland Italy that took place from 3 September 1943, during the Italian campaign of World War II. The operation was undertaken by General Sir Harold Alexander's 15th Army Group and followed the successful Allied invasion of Sicily. The main invasion force landed on the west coast of Italy at Salerno on September 9 as part of Operation Avalanche, while two supporting operations took place in Calabria and Taranto.

Operation Baytown was an Allied amphibious landing on the mainland of Italy that took place on 3 September 1943, part of the Allied invasion of Italy, itself part of the Italian Campaign, during the Second World War.

Operation Slapstick was the code name for a British landing from the sea at the Italian port of Taranto during the Second World War. The operation, one of three landings during the Allied invasion of Italy in September 1943, was undertaken by airborne troops of the British 1st Airborne Division, commanded by Major-General George Hopkinson.

The 78th Infantry Division, also known as the Battleaxe Division, was an infantry division of the British Army, raised during the Second World War that fought, with great distinction, in Tunisia, Sicily and Italy from late 1942–1945.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">X Corps (United Kingdom)</span> Military unit

X Corps was a corps of the British Army that served in the First World War on the Western Front before being disbanded in 1919. The corps was re-formed in 1942 during the Second World War and saw service in the North African Campaign and the Italian Campaign where it came under command of the US Fifth Army and the British Eighth Army.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Battle of San Pietro Infine</span> WWII major engagement from 8–17 December 1943, in the Italian Campaign

The Battle of San Pietro Infine was a major engagement from 8–17 December 1943, in the Italian Campaign of World War II involving Allied forces attacking from the south against heavily fortified positions of the German "Winter Line" in and around the town of San Pietro Infine, just south of Monte Cassino about halfway between Naples and Rome.

The United States Army North (ARNORTH) is a formation of the United States Army. An Army Service Component Command (ASCC) subordinate to United States Northern Command (NORTHCOM), ARNORTH is the joint force land component of NORTHCOM. ARNORTH is responsible for homeland defense and defense support of civil authorities. ARNORTH is headquartered at Fort Sam Houston, Texas. Redesignated ARNORTH in 2004, it was first activated in early January 1943 as the United States Fifth Army, under the command of Lieutenant General Mark W. Clark.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Douglas Graham (British Army officer)</span> British Army general (1893–1971)

Major General Douglas Alexander Henry Graham, was a senior British Army officer who fought with distinction in both world wars. He is most notable during the Second World War for commanding the 153rd Brigade of the 51st (Highland) Division in North Africa from 1942 to 1943, later being the General Officer Commanding (GOC) of the 56th (London) Infantry Division during the Salerno landings in Italy in September 1943 and the 50th (Northumbrian) Infantry Division during the Normandy landings in France in June 1944.

Operation Achse, originally called Operation Alaric, was the codename for the German operation to forcibly disarm the Italian armed forces after Italy's armistice with the Allies on 3 September 1943.

At the start of 1939, the British Army was, as it traditionally always had been, a small volunteer professional army. At the beginning of the Second World War on 1 September 1939, the British Army was small in comparison with those of its enemies, as it had been at the beginning of the First World War in 1914. It also quickly became evident that the initial structure and manpower of the British Army was woefully unprepared and ill-equipped for a war with multiple enemies on multiple fronts. During the early war years, mainly from 1940 to 1942, the British Army suffered defeat in almost every theatre of war in which it was deployed. But, from late 1942 onwards, starting with the Second Battle of El Alamein, the British Army's fortunes changed and it rarely suffered another defeat.

The 46th Infantry Division was a British Army infantry division formed during the Second World War that fought during the Battle of France, the Tunisian Campaign, and the Italian Campaign. In March 1939, after Germany re-emerged as a significant military power and occupied Czechoslovakia, the British Army increased the number of divisions in the Territorial Army (TA) by duplicating existing units. The 46th Infantry Division was formed in October 1939, as a second-line duplicate of the 49th Infantry Division. The division's battalions were drawn largely from men living in the English North Midlands.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lewis Lyne</span> British Army general (1899–1970)

Major General Lewis Owen Lyne, was a British Army officer who served before and during the Second World War. He saw distinguished active service in command of the 169th Brigade in action in North Africa and Italy from 1943 to 1944, followed by the 59th Division during the Battle of Normandy in mid-1944, finally commanding the 7th Armoured Division during the final stages of the Northwestern Europe Campaign until Victory in Europe Day in May 1945.

The Allied invasion of Italy, a phase of the Mediterranean Theater of World War II, took place on 3 September at Reggio di Calabria, and on 9 September 1943 at Taranto and Salerno. Allied naval forces landed American and Commonwealth troops on the beaches of southern Italy where they faced resistance from Axis forces.

References

↑ Whicker, Alan. Whicker's War HarperCollins 2005 pp87-8 ISBN 0007205074
↑ Saul, p. 88
1 2 3 "Salerno Mutineers". Hansard. 22 March 2000. Retrieved 25 May 2020.
↑ Bainton, Roy (August 2003). "The Salerno Mutiny of 1943". History Magazine. BBC. Archived from the original on September 4, 2006. Retrieved 2007-06-28.

Bibliography

David, Saul (2005). Mutiny at Salerno: An Injustice Exposed. London: Conway Maritime Press. pp. 240 pages. ISBN 978-1-84486-019-7.

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.

[1] Whicker, Alan. Whicker's War HarperCollins 2005 pp87-8 ISBN 0007205074

[2] Saul, p. 88

[hansard-3] 1 2 3 "Salerno Mutineers". Hansard. 22 March 2000. Retrieved 25 May 2020.

[4] Bainton, Roy (August 2003). "The Salerno Mutiny of 1943". History Magazine. BBC. Archived from the original on September 4, 2006. Retrieved 2007-06-28.

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]