Edward Dillon "Operation Avalanche"

Edward Peter Wentworth Dillon

Captain Manchester Regiment Royal Artillery

Died 28/09/1943, age 22

Edward is buried with honour at Salerno War Cemetery, Italy III. E. 7.

Before the war, Edward worked as an insurance broker. He was the son of Edward Wentworth Dillon and Lilian Irene Dillon of Brooksley, Northcliffe Drive, Totteridge

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 that was already defended by German troops.

Its primary objectives were to seize the port of Naples to ensure resupply and to cut across to the East Coast, trapping the Axis troops further south.

The Germans had established artillery and machine-gun posts, as well as scattered tanks, throughout the landing zones, which made progress difficult; however, the beach areas were eventually captured. Around 07:00, a concerted counterattack was created by the 16th Panzer Division. It resulted in heavy casualties but was ultimately beaten off. Both the British and the Americans made slow progress, and still had a 10-mile (16 km) gap between them at the end of day one.

Between 12 and 14 September, the Germans organised a concerted counterattack by six divisions of motorised troops, hoping to throw the Salerno beachhead into the sea before it could link with the British Eighth Army. Heavy casualties were inflicted, as the Allied forces were too thinly spread to resist concentrated attacks.