Operation Avalanche was disagreement between the Allies as to what the next step should be. Winston Churchill in particular wanted to invade Italy, which he called the "underbelly of Europe" (commonly misquoted as "soft underbelly"). Popular support in Italy for the war was declining, and he believed an invasion would remove Italy, and thus the influence of the Italian Navy ("Regia Marina") in the Mediterranean Sea, opening it to Allied traffic. This would make it much easier to supply Allied forces in the Middle East and Far East, and increase British and American supplies to the Soviet Union. In addition, it would
Invasion of Tabriz, World War I forces quickly took action and occupied northwestern Iran and Tabriz. They stayed in Tabriz up until August 23, 1918. Invasion of Tabriz, World War I Invasion of Tabriz during World War I was multiple occupations and re-occupations of the city of Tabriz in Iranian Azerbaijan by forces of the Ottoman Empire and the Russian Empire during World War I. Before World War I Tabriz was already held by Russian forces and had been since the Russian Invasion of Tabriz, 1911. On June 31, 1914, three days after the war began, the Iranian government declared neutrality. Despite this, once the Russians