The map exposes the problem with calling Italy Europe's soft underbelly. Allied armies did not race north, and they were still in Italy when the war ended. Judged only as a route into Germany, the campaign looks like a failed shortcut. Its wider purpose concerned Mediterranean communications, naval freedom, and the global allocation of forces.
Notable Point · 0:24-1:13
Why Italy was no shortcut to Germany
A map of the slow Allied advance separates Churchill's soft-underbelly phrase from the campaign's wider strategic purpose.