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) 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 Rimau, it was an ambitious plan by Ivan Lyon to sabotage Japanese military operations in the Pacific by using so called 'Snake Boats'; a craft made to look like an Asian junk, which were to be built in Melbourne, Australia. A number of folboats and fifteen one-man submersible canoes, called ‘Sleeping Beauties’ (SBs) were to be deployed from the junks. The operation was to be