Today in World War II History—Sept. 9, 1943

US Fifth Army landing via LST at Paestum in Salerno Bay, Italy, 9 September 1943. (US National Archives)
75 Years Ago—Sept. 9, 1943: Operation Avalanche: US Fifth Army and British X Corps land at Salerno, Italy, while British Eighth Army lands at Taranto.
Italian fleet departs La Spezia, Genoa, and Taranto as Germans occupy the country; Italians scuttle warships that can’t sail.
Luftwaffe sinks Italian battleship Roma as it tries to escape, 1253 killed.
Esther Forbes’s classic children’s book Johnny Tremain is published.