War Office: Allied Forces, Mediterranean Theatre: Military Headquarters Papers, Second...

WO 228

1943-1946

This series contains microfilm copies of documents originating with the Headquarters of the US Fifth Army and British Eighth Army in Italy, 1943-1945, and HQ Allied Commission, Allied Military Government, Italy.

Original papers of Allied Forces Headquarters are in WO 204 although the microfilm in WO 228 contain some papers that did not survive as originals.

Public Record(s)

English

• Allied (Control) Commission, Italy, 1943-1947
• British 8th Army, Headquarters, Italy, 1943-1945
• US Fifth Army, Headquarters, Italy, 1943-1945

27 microform

Subject to 30 year closure

From 2002 Ministry of Defence

Topics

Army

Europe and Russia

Conflict

Armed Forces (General Administration)

Operations, battles and campaigns

Microfilm was made of the Allied Forces Headquarters records at the end of the war at the direction of the Combined Chiefs of Staffs prior to the distribution of the original records between allied authorities. The microfilm in this series were identified as containing material which had not survived in original form and were reviewed in 1996.

The US Fifth Army, which had British and French Forces under its command for much of 1943 and 1944, fought on the western side of the Italian Peninsula, while the British Eighth Army fought on the Adriatic side until it advanced into Austria and was redesignated HQ British Troops Austria (BTA) in July 1945.

Allied Military Government (AMG or AMGOT) was imposed by the allied authorities upon such parts of Italy as were deemed necessary for military reasons until such time it became appropriate to hand over to another body. Its officers and units had landed with the invading armies in Sicily and followed them throughout the ensuing campaign in Italy. It was formally absorbed into the Allied (Control) Commission.

The Allied (Control) Commission was an integrated British-American body set up in September 1943 under the Supreme Allied Commander to enforce the Italian Armistice and to act as the body through which the allied powers conducted business with the Italian government. The commission took over responsibility for military government when it absorbed AMGOT in January 1944. Later that year the word 'Control' was dropped from its title, reflecting the amount of civil affairs being returned to the Italian administration. Allied military government came to an end in December 1945 with the exception of the disputed northern territory of Venezia Giulia and the commission was abolished in March 1947 with allied troops being withdrawn in December of that year.