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
Operation Marne Avalanche Operation Marne Avalanche Operation Marne Avalanche was a US military operation that occurred in southern Baghdad in July 2007 as part of Operation Phantom Thunder. The goal of the offensive operation was to stop southern Baghdad from being used as a haven and to prevent the movement of weapons, munitions and insurgent activity into Baghdad. The operation’s intent was to improve security conditions in southern Baghdad and reduce the influence of insurgents in the area. Another goal of the operation was to stanche the flow of weapons into Baghdad. Marne Avalanche built on the successes of Task Force Marne’s offensive