Turning the Mediterranean into a movement zone

The argument reads Churchill's objective as eliminating Italy from the war rather than sending an army over the Alps. With Germany contained in northern Europe, Italy's defeat could turn the Mediterranean from a major combat theatre into a movement zone with only occasional opposition. Shorter lines of communication would then connect Britain more directly with the Far East. The counterfactual of a neutral Italy shows the stakes: fewer Royal Navy units held in the Mediterranean, a different role for Force H at Gibraltar, and less pressure on Cunningham's Mediterranean Fleet in the eastern basin and North Africa. Those ships could instead reinforce the Indian Ocean or the Atlantic.