In Italian history, what is specifically significant about September 8, 1943?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1943#August-September September 8 - World War II: United States General Dwight D. Eisenhower publicly announces the surrender of Italy to the Allies and the USAAF bombed the German General Headquarter for the Mediterranean zone Frascati bombing raid September 8, 1943.

That was the day that Italy formally surrendered to the Axis Powers in World War 2. Allied Forces had already invaded and occupied the island of Sicily and were, literally hours from invading mainland Italy (Allied Assault troops stormed onto becahes near Naples the next morning.)

The Italians, never particularly eager to fight for the Axis with their German allies, finally folded and surrendered. It didn't matter much because the Germans rushed in and quickly made sure Italy would not fall entirely into allied hands by forcibly seizing key government and military infrasurtcture. Although there was a wild plan codenamed "Operation: Giant" that called for the parachute drop of the 82nd Airborne onto Rome to try and prevent this from happening. The mission was aborted at the last moment due to it's low chance of success.

General Dwight D. Eisenhower publicly announces the surrender of Italy to the Allies and the USAAF bombed the German General Headquarter for the Mediterranean zone Frascati bombing raid September 8, 1943.

Basically Italy is no longet allied with Hitler

Looks like the Italians surrendered to Eisenhower in WWII. It's also right around the time of the Allied invasion to Italy. I just googled the date and Italian history:

http://www.google.com/search?sourceid=navclient&ie...

Italy surrenders in world war 2

That's the day before the Invasion of Italy.

http://www.worldwar2database.com/html/italy43_45.h...

i think italy (rome) surrenders in ww2 on that day...im not sure what that has to do with cinema but thats what happened on that day

trip out....

September 8, 1943 is the date of the bombing raid of USAAF in Frascati because there were the German General Headquarters for the Mediterranean zone - O.B.S. and the Italian headquarters, scattered in buildings and Villas nearby the town.

130 USAAF aircraft (B17G and B24 bombers under convoy of "P38 Lightning" fighters) carried out a selective-bombing from hight altitude because the aircraft were equipped with the modern laying control system "Norden". The aircraft headed for Monte Cavo (Alban Hills), after having bombed the railway station of Velletri, arrived on Frascati at 10 minute past 12 a.m., they were looking for Marshall Albert Kesselring and his staff.

The anti-aircraft defence was equipped with heavy anti-aircraft guns of 88/56 mm and machineguns of 37/20 mm, they had placed on Tuscolo ridge and terraces in the town reinforced with cement pillars to stand the recoils.

About of 50% of buildings, many of the monuments and villas was deleted, St. Pietro square was destroyed but the Cathedral facade was undamaged.

The Italian Regia Aeronautica engaged about thirty aircraft fighters, some of anachronistic biplane Fiat CR42, some of Macchi C200, some of Fiat G50, two Fiat G55 and one Macchi C202. These italian fighters mounted 2 machine-guns Breda-SAFAT of 12,5 mm (0.5 inch). This was the last mission of Regia Aeronautica because after the armistice with the allied, this armed force had divided into two parts. The Luftwaffe engaged some of Messerschmitt Bf 109 with 2 machine-guns Mauser MG 17 of 7,92 mm (0.31 inch) and 2 heavy wing machine-guns Mauser MG-FF of 20 mm (0.79 inch). The allied fighters (P38) mounted 6 machine-guns Browning .50 M2 (12,7 mm).

The aircraft of the USAAF shootted down: one B17 and one P38.

After few days, Kesselring and the militar headquarters moved to Monte Soratte. Marshal Kesselring relate in his memoris that the day of 8th September, as the day of Italian treason, while the true treason was Enigma machine: the Whehrmacht Enigma machine as a matter of fact, in each action of Italian military forces known to Kesselring staff, the informations had passed to the allied forces by the Enigma code machine communications, listened and deciphered by Bletchley Park base.

However the italian headquarters had deserted because the italian generals of the Army expected the bombing raid, to agreed it with the surrander in Cassibile (Sicily) on September 3.

In Frascati, the official announcement of the armistice with allied forces, was given at 7.45 p.m. Therefore, those who had rushed from nearby towns to the help of the survivors fled to escape capture by German troops, so giving up any work to remove the debris and to recover bodies.

Later on, the town ran the risk of being completely swept away, having declared it "infect area". The German troops, for fear of epidemics, were going to set it to fire by flame-throwers.

But the citizens, the clergy and his Bishop Budelacci, undertook to pull the bodies out of the ruins, thus, the town was safe. In Frascati bombing raid the civil victims had been 485 people.

The Invasion of Italy

September 9, 1943 - May 8, 1945

The Allies were flushed with excitement over the possibility of the Italians surrendering. The 82nd Airborne Division prepared for a drop on Rome and Allied planners thought the Italian Campaign would be over in a matter of weeks.

They were wrong. Italy would represent frustration and death for thousands of Allied soldiers in a bitter stagnated fight. It would be a year before Allied troops entered Rome, and the Invasion of France would overshadow that victory.

In September 1943 Allied hopes were high. The Italians separated into two camps, pro-Allied and pro-German factions. The Allies landed Americans at Salerno and British at Taranto on September 9, and by September 26 had built a force of 189,000 men and 30,000 vehicles.

Blown bridges and blocked roads hampered the initial assault, but the Allies moved quickly and gained 300 miles in seventeen days. The UK Fifth Army took Naples on October 1, 1943. The port was repaired to land supplies and airfields were taken at Foggia to give the Allies command of the air.

But the Germans were also making preparations. A series of prepared fortifications in mountainous country called the Gustav Line, which incorporated the Rapido, Garigliano, and Sangro Rivers as natural defenses. Studded with pillboxes, the Gustav Line hinged on the town of Cassino.

The Allies were stopped cold by a combination of German artillery, Italian winter, and mountainous terrain. Little advance could be made, even employing mules to carry troops and supplies over the rocky battlefields. By January 1944, it was clear the Allies were not going to break the line.

The answer was to leapfrog around the Gustav Line with an amphibious landing. Choosing to land at Anzio, US Army General Mark Clark put ashore one and 2/3 divisions. A major concern was the lack of landing craft, especially Landing Ship Tank (LSTs) that were the backbone of most American amphibious landings in all theatres. Generalfeldmarschall Albert Kesselring poured fire down on the Americans, depressing antiaircraft batteries elevation to zero to cut down infantry as they came off the ships. The fire was subdued with heavy casualties and the Americans were ashore to stay. After the violent landing, Clark’s subordinates waited to build up forces, allowing chances to break through the fragmented German lines to slip away.

When the Americans were finally ready to break out of Anzio, they ran into Kesselring’s superior generalship and were hung up. Clark had tried to move the Anzio beachhead forward while breaking through the Gustav Line, a move Kesselring had anticipated and was able to counter. A disastrous crossing of the Rapido cost the lives thousands of Texas National Guardsmen of the 36th Division. The 442nd Regimental Combat Team, an all-Japanese’American unit, extricated them from their tenuous beachhead across the river.

Dozens of nations’ armies were poured into the area around Monte Cassino, a 15th Century abbey overlooking the town. Allied bombers, in a controversial move, reduced the ancient landmark to rubble in an attempt to wipe out the supposed German defenders, who actually had guaranteed the abbey’s safety. The Germans, crack paratroopers heavily armed with automatic weapons and backed by artillery, occupied the remains of the abbey and laid waste to whole units of Americans, New Zealanders, British, South Africans, French, Ghurkas, Brazilians, Australians, and many other national units.

Meanwhile fighting at Anzio had lasted for months. In May 1944 the war of attrition, affected by the Germans’ growing problem of supply and manpower needs everywhere, allowed the Allies to break out of the Anzio beachhead. Polish soldiers, taking heavy casualties, conquered Monte Cassino.

The Germans retreated and the Americans drove eastward from Anzio. Clark had an opportunity to cut off and destroy the German forces retreating north, but he decided to head for Rome. Entering Rome on June 4, 1944, he had no way of knowing that the Allied landing in France two days later would knock the liberation of the ancient capital from the public eye.

Instead of a quick campaign, the Italian Campaign took 275 day and cost 124,917 Allied dead. And they were not close to the end of the fighting. German soldiers took up defensive positions behind the Gothic Line on August 4.

The Allies opened an offensive under very different circumstances than the attack on the Gustav Line. First, Allied soldiers landed in Southern France on August 15, threatening the Germans’ west flank. Then, Greece was evacuated in October, allowing the Allies to menace the Germans from both sides of the Italian command. British forces began the attack on the Gothic Line on September 10, 1944.

Again the Italian mountains helped the Germans. The British Eighth Army, the American 10th Mountain Division, and many other units, fought a hard battle through Ravenna and up the Po Valley through April 1945. On April 27, roving bands of Italian guerillas captured Mussolini and executed him the next day. German forces surrendered on April 29.

Bitter feelings over the generalship of Mark Clark would lead to congressional reviews, lagging questions, and decades of controversy. While Clark gets the lion’s share of the blame, he was charged with an almost impossible task in unfamiliar terrain, under pressure from Churchill to give Stalin a second front. Clearly the Italian campaign could have been better fought, but at a time when an invasion of France was not possible, the Western Allies attacked what they perceived as an easy target. The thousands of soldiers who never returned form the mud of Italy’s battlefields are as much a testament to Allied ignorance as to their own courage and bravery.