Compared to the fighting in Northwest Europe or the epic battles in the
Soviet Union, the battles for the possession of the Italian peninsula
seem to seem to pale in insignificance. The Allies regarded it as a
side-show and the men that fought there were often referred to as the
'D-Day Dodgers'. The Germans must have regarded it similarly judging by
what forces they sent to Italy. Nevertheless, while the terrain in the
Italian peninsula was often unsuitable for the offensive use of armor,
it was entirely suitable for armor in a defensive role. As the Allied
troops were soon to learn, often a lone tank (quite often a Tiger) or
assault gun, strategically placed, could hold up an entire advance for
hours, if not days in some cases. Moreover by the time the Allies had
reached the Gustav Line around Cassino, German resistance had hardened.
From here, the Liri valley offering what appeared to be an easy route
northwards to Rome, was in fact the opposite and the strong defense put
up by the German troops there proved a major stumbling block to Allied
plans. This prompted the Allies to seek a way around this, one that
involved landing troops at Anzio-Nettuno in January 1944. Here the
Germans were quick to respond and soon contained the Allies to a narrow
beachhead and one that they were unable to break out of until June that
year. This deployment involved a wider range of armor than the Allies
previously had to deal with. Not only was this it first time that Tigers
had been employed on mainland Italy, but it was the first time the
Elefant heavy tank destroyer went into action against the Allies. The
Sturmpanzer 43 or Brummbär, an infantry support self-propelled gun, also
made its appearance on this occasion. As the Germans continued their
retreat up the Italian peninsula, vehicles such as Sturmgeschütz IVs,
Jagdpanzer IVs and Hetzers were added to their inventory. The Germans
became more dependent on Italian armor, bringing into service some of
the higher performance Semovente assault guns. Concurrent with this was
the deployment some of their obsolete types with police units in the
rear areas, often in anti-partisan operations. These included the PzKpfw
III Ausf. N with its 75 mm L/24 gun, the Italian AB41 armored car and P
26/40 tank, along with some Russian T-34/76 tanks. This proliferation of
vehicle types also saw a move away from the overall Dunkelgelb finish
that seemed to be predominant in the earlier engagements in Italy. This
saw the use of Olivgrün, Rotbrun or both in a variety of patterns,
something that had started to happen at Cassino. Italian armor taken
into service usually retained its factory scheme of Dunkelgelb, Olivgrün
and Rotbrun, but some units repainted them with a scheme of their own.
