"I don't know... Italy, somewhere..."

In hindsight, all that Jambo said is true... and perhaps he has understated the facts a bit.

If the campaign was to drain resources away from Nazi Germany and keep Americans "in the fight" after Africa (as FDR and his cabinet claimed it was), then it did just that. This gives lie to the strategy that many of the British high command initially fronted of knocking Italy out of the war quickly, and demoralizing Germany's eastern allies and supporters. The fighting in Italy wasn't over quickly... in fact, German forces in Italy didn't surrender until May 7th 1945, just one day before the German total capitulation on the 8th.

The drives to take Palermo, Salerno, Rome and Trieste were meat-grinders on the men, machines and supplies of the Allied effort. The only "saving grace" that the effort had in its composition was that, of all the campaigns in Europe during the War, this was the most multi-national... there was an entire Indian division there, units from Siam, a Polish infantry division, Carpathian "grenadiers" (I'm not sure what they did... they might still have been "mounted!") and three Brazilian "light" divisions. This spread the "cost" of the campaign across a greater number of allies than simply having the US and UK do it all.

The main point is still true... everything the Allies gained from liberating MOST of the "boot", they already had with the capture of Sicily and the destruction/capture of the Italian Navy... and that goes for the liberation of Rome, too. As much of a media and propaganda surge as that was... no one needed to "liberate" Pius XII, did they? No tanks or troops crossed the frontier (although Kesselring had a battalion of SS ready to seize the Vatican, if called to do so).

The pressure from Stalin and the British commanders (thank you, Monty) to take the boot was a lot for FDR and Churchhill to deal with, and the concession to invade wasn't made lightly, I'm sure. FDR was convinced that US troops needed to stay in the fight between the North African campaign and D-Day... and Italy was the only choice.

I hesitate to go as far as Jambo did and say it was a total waste... but anything north of Rome was extrenious and wasteful... no question there.