"COME ON IN AND GIVE UP!" THE 36th and 45th divisions and the British 10th Corps punched the first wedge into Hitler's Fortress Europe near Paestum on the Gulf of Salerno. H-hour, D-day was 0330, 9 September 1943. A voice blared out in English over a loudspeakeer apparently from the landing-area: "Come on in and give up." The Krauts were waiting. It took seven critical days to secure the beachhead. But the navy, airforces, and men on the beaches beat off the full weight of every German counterattack. The Eighth army landed at the toe and instep of the boot 5 September. When patrols of the Fifth and Eighth linked up 16 September, the Germans had begun to retreat. Naples fell 1 October. By 6 October Fifth army troops were at the south bank of the Volturno river. They had battered their way 48 miles in 27 days.

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