Was Italian Campign worth effort and casaulties ?

You hit on a great point with your first sentence. Let's not forget that during the invasion of Italy the Allied forces were given their first "run through" of an amphibious landing. If memory serves me correctly, Alled invasion forces took a consider hit during the invasion of Sicily and, although technically successful, was quite a problem logistically. Both the Wermacht and Allies gained valuable lessons regarding defense/assualt in an amphibious operation.


PS- Just wanted to say hello to everyone. This is my first post

 

Not quite. Torch was just as complicated and challenging amphibious operation. In the Pacific a half dozen aphibious operations had been undertaken by mid 1943. Then there were the many divsion & corps size exercises run in the US from 1941.

From the PoV of the soldiers on the spot the Axis counter attacks in Sicilly looked like a major hit. But casualties were realatively light on the Allied side and the attacks repulsed in a couple days. The fight on the Sicillian coast was not remotely at the same scale as at Salerno or Anzio. The Germans stood for a week at Salerno & inflicted as many casualties on just two Allied corps as were lost by two Allied armys in the first week of the Sicillian campaign.

 

With all of the procrastination in getting to the invasion of France, I doubt that much was gained in the effort to secure the Med. While the allies were not as ready in 43 as they were in 44, it still would have been possible and practical in 43 except that the Med took those preparations and sent them else where, nothing short of a front in France would directly help Great Briton. Yes things were learned in Africa and Italy but they could have been learned in France too.

 

It was mentioned earlier but I agree that with Stalin becoming impatient, the Allies needed Stalin, and Stalin knew it, to keep the Germans at bay in the East to make a second front successful. So at the time, my guess, hitting Italy seemed to be an easy foray. The allies assumed that Italy would capitulate and the allies would gain all of the airfields for use against Germany. What they did not count on was the German response and their tenacous defense.