The month of August 1943 was used by the 45th Division for some rest and planning. Seven plans for the invasion of Italy were put on the table, and three of them were adopted, of which the British had two (Operation Baytown and Operation Slapstick) and the Americans had one, called Operation Avalanche. The 45th Division would be under Major General Ernest J. Dawley's U.S. VI Corps, within the U.S. Fifth Army commanded by Lieutenant General Mark W. Clark. The plan called for the landing of the Allied forces in the vicinity of Salerno, Italy, about 200 miles north of Sicily.