Allied invasion of Italy two hours traveling from the transports to the landing beaches. On the German side, Albrecht von Kesselring lacked the strength to push the Salerno landing back, and was refused two panzer divisions from northern Italy to assist him. Operation Avalanche was planned under the name Top Hat and supported by a deception plan, Operation Boardman, a false threat of an Allied invasion of the Balkans. In mid-August, the Germans had activated Army Group B ("Heeresgruppe B") under Erwin Rommel with responsibility for German troops in Italy as far south as Pisa. Army Command South ("OB Süd") under Albert Kesselring continued
World War Two: 1941 and the Man of Steel World War Two: 1941 and the Man of Steel World War Two: 1941 and the Man of Steel is a feature-length BBC TV programme, presented by the historian David Reynolds and directed by Russell Barnes. First broadcast on BBC Four on 13 June 2011, it marked the 70th anniversary of Operation Barbarossa, the Third Reich’s invasion of the USSR. The programme re-assesses Joseph Stalin’s erratic response to the military threat posed by Hitler and examines the moral dilemma for the Western Allies of an alliance with a dictator arguably as brutal as the enemy. The programme received critical praise and