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 Hornbill (World War Two) by Hedleys Folboat section for army testing, were found to be extremely unstable in any but flat water and also infringed Hoehn's patent. ‘Special Operations Executive’ (SOE), the British clandestine warfare agency, was behind Ivan Lyon’s scheme, but because of the shortage of required submarines to help reconnoiter and deploy the small craft, and the growing complexity of the plan, the project was eventually shelved. Operation Hornbill (World War Two) Operation Hornbill was a proposed commando operation by Australian forces during World War Two. It was proposed by Ivan Lyons following the success of Operation Jaywick. A precursor to Operation