Italy is like a boot.

It should be entered from the top.

Napoleon Bonaparte.

Welcome to the history of the 20th century.

Music The

The Episode 411 From the top

Last week I took you day by day through an eventful period From the top.

Last week, I took you day by day through an eventful period in July and August 1943, when so many things were happening at once, and, as I'm sure you noticed, most of them

were allied victories. August 17th, two days after the invasion of Kiska, which is where I ended the previous episode,

was the beginning of the Quebec conference between Winston Churchill and Franklin Roosevelt.

I've already talked about this conference in episode 400, so I won't go over it again, although I will

remind you that the opening day of the conference was also the day that the U.S. 7th Army and the British

8th Army met at the city of Messina in northeast Sicily, completing the Allied takeover of that

island. Allied artillery immediately began firing across the

Strait of Messina into mainland Italy. That very same day, Allied war correspondents first told

General Eisenhower about the two incidents earlier that month, in which General Patton struck privates under his

command, who had been hospitalized for battle fatigue. I described those incidents last time.

The news angered Eisenhower, but he judged Patton too valuable to relieve of his command.

So he persuaded the reporters to spike the story and ordered Patton too valuable to relieve of his command, so he persuaded the reporters to spike the story

and ordered Patton to apologize, to the two soldiers, to the medical staff who had witnessed the

two incidents, and publicly in front of the soldiers under his command. Some of his soldiers welcomed

his apology, others continued to resent Patton's

...