Operation Buttress, a proposed landing across the Strait of Messina on mainland Italy. This operation did not occur, and the division was allotted to Operation Avalanche; the Allied invasion of mainland Italy at Salerno. In August, the division undertook Exercise Dryshod as a final rehearsal for this landing. During the exercise, a truck containing land mines exploded, killing 15 men and injuring around 30 more. On 25 August, Major-General John Hawkesworth took command. Italian campaign Salerno beachhead The division embarked and sailed from Africa on 7 September, assigned to the British X Corps, part of the US Fifth Army. The division was to land near Salerno and capture it and then assist in the capture of the port of Naples. En route, the Luftwaffe attacked the convoy, with one ship hit. The next day, the Armistice of Cassibile, the Italian surrender, was announced. As the ships neared shore, they were engaged by German artillery. Supported by a naval bombardment, the division landed under the cover of dark with at least one battalion landed in the wrong area. Mines and German resistance impeded the advance from the beach, and during the day the 16th Panzer Division launched counterattacks with tanks and self-propelled guns. By the end of the day, Salerno had been captured, and the division had suffered 350 casualties. Over the next two weeks, fierce fighting occurred as the Germans launched a major counterattack by six divisions against the various Allied landing zones. In the 46th Division's sector, the counterattack was conducted by the Hermann Göring Panzer Division, the 3rd Panzergrenadier Division, and the 15th Panzergrenadier Division. The fighting saw ongoing artillery fire on the 46th's landing zone and support ships, Royal Navy shell fire against German positions, tank attacks, back-and-forth fighting, hand-to-hand combat and bayonet charges. In places, the division was forced back, but Salerno was held throughout. By 13 September, the ongoing heavy fighting made the Allied commanders consider withdrawing the landed troops. Particularly heavy fighting occurred for a hill near Salerno dubbed White Cross Hill. A German attack forced the division off the hill, which was followed by repeated failed counterattacks. Having only been retaken once, the Germans withdrew. Other major attacks were launched upon the division and repulsed. By 16 September, the German counterattack ended and their forces began to withdraw. Volturno Line to the Winter Line On 22 September, the division advanced north, and captured