Thunderbolt
As explained in
this USAAF film, the American and British armies were stymied at the Gustav Line
in Southern Italy. An attempt to flank the Germans with an amphibious landing
at Anzio stuck another 100,000 men in place. The Mediterranean Allied Air
Forces were at first used as artillery to bombard defensive positions, but “it
didn’t work,” says the narrator. Then, someone had the idea of
applying MacArthur’s Pacific strategy to the Italian campaign. Planes
were used in the North to cut rail lines, followed by roadways, so that
reinforcements could not be sent to the front. This was the Spring offensive of
1944, called Operation Strangle.
A half-dozen
cameras were placed on P-47 fighter-bombers to record the action. Wyler and Sturges
also have camera planes for aerial footage, and there are scenes of life at
Alto Air Base in Corsica, as well as ground footage of the subsequent advance
to Rome.
The same
toughminded direction as The Memphis Belle, with the addition of
experience and John Sturges.