The Battle of Tunisia was won, and the Axis forces surrendered. The division skipped the Allied invasion of Sicily (Operation Husky) and instead trained intensively for the invasion of the Italian mainland, with the main landings being at Salerno (Operation Avalanche) on 9 September 1943, D-Day, to be undertaken by elements of the U.S. Fifth Army, commanded by Lieutenant General Mark Clark. The 151st Field Artillery Battalion went in on D-Day, 9 September, landing at Salerno, while the rest of the division followed on 25 September. 2nd Battalion, 133nd Infantry Regiment, had been left behind to provide security for Allied installations in England, and the segregated Japanese-American 100th Infantry Battalion would be attached to replace their 2nd Battalion in North Africa, travelling with them to Italy. Engaging the enemy at the Calore River, 28 September, the 34th, as part of the VI Corps under Major General John Lucas, relentlessly drove north to take Benevento, crossed the winding Volturno three times in October and November, assaulted Monte Patano, and took one of its four peaks before being relieved on 8 December. In January 1944, the division was back on the front line battering the Bernhardt Line defenses. Persevering through bitter fighting along the Mignano Gap, the 34th used goat herds to clear the minefields. The 34th took Monte Trocchio without resistance as the German defenders withdrew to the main prepared defenses of the Gustav Line. On 24 January 1944, during the First Battle of Monte Cassino they pushed across the Gari River into the hills behind and attacked Monastery Hill which dominated the town of Monte Cassino. While they nearly captured the objective, in the end their attacks on the monastery and the town failed. The performance of the 34th Infantry Division in the mountains has been called one of the finest feats of arms carried out by any soldiers during the war. The unit sustained severe losses. In the 133rd Infantry, the 100th Battalion, attached in place of the 2nd Battalion, had only 7 officers and 78 men remaining in its rifle companies. In the 135th Infantry, there was an average of only 30 men in each rifle company. The 1st Battalion, 168th Infantry, had only 154 combat effective men, the 2nd Battalion had 393, and the 3rd Battalion had 246. They were relieved from their positions 11–13 February 1944. Eventually, it took the combined force of five Allied infantry