A. Spaatz, USAAF, and Air Vice-Marshal Sir Arthur Coningham, RAF, regarding the lack of cooperation on close air support from the Allied air forces. Wright did praise Air Vice-Marshal Sir Hugh Pughe Lloyd, RAF, for providing air support from Malta. The loading of ships and landing craft of the Western Naval Task Force was completed on July 8, 1943, with Vice Admiral Hewitt and his staff embarking on the USS Monrovia, the invasion force's flagship. D-Day was July 10, and Patton's troops stormed ashore and began their history-making drive for Messina. Operation Avalanche Operation Avalanche was the Allied invasion of the Italian mainland with amphibious landings at Salerno, with additional landing at Calabria (Operation Baytown) and Taranto (Operation Slapstick). For the Salerno landing, Wright faced two major challenges in his capacity as the assistant chief of staff for U.S. Naval Forces, Northwest Africa Waters (NAVNAW), namely the shortage of U.S. escort vessels and a shortage of landing craft. While Wright was able to secure additional British escorts, landing craft would remain a persistent problem given the competing demands from Operation Overlord and the Pacific Theater of Operations, with Wright noting: "LST's don't grow on trees." On the other hand, two developments were welcomed by Wright and his fellow invasion planners, including U.S. escort aircraft carriers (CVE) which would provide much needed off-shore close air support for the landing force, and the news that Major General E. J. House would oversee tactical air support for the ground forces using aircraft from the Northwest African Air Force. However, Wright felt that the Army's decision to forgo pre-invasion naval gun bombardment was ill-considered, even for the sake of maintaining the element of surprise. The invasion force got underway, with Vice Admiral H. Kent Hewitt, Wright, and the NAVNAW staff embarked on the USS Ancon, Hewitt's flagship for Operation Avalanche. While en route, Wright heard the announcement about the Armistice with Italy by General Dwight D. Eisenhower, the supreme allied commander, on September 9. While this removed the Italian military from the battlefield, German Army forces in Italy under Generalfeldmarschall Albert Kesselring were not bound by this agreement. The immediate objective for Operation Avalanche was to secure the Gulf of Salerno and capture Naples. September 9, 1943 was D-Day for Operation Avalanche as the 36th Infantry Division, under the command of Major General Fred L. Walker USA, stormed ashore at Salerno under heavy fire