Rubuta ci gaba don wannan sakin layi - Churchill yana da sha'awar Balkans, wanda ya gani a matsayin daya daga cikin wurare mafi kyau don ayyukan. Wani jigon maimaitawa na "Tsarin Bahar Rum" shi ne shirinsa na Allies don sauka a gabar Adriatic na Yugoslavia da ci gaba ta hanyar Ljubljana Gap a cikin Alps don isa Austria don yin da'awar bayan yakin a Gabashin Turai. Rushewar matsayin Jamus a cikin Balkans ya sake haifar da sha'awar Churchill a cikin shirinsa na Ljubljana Gap, amma sauka a Dalmatia zai buƙaci kama arewa maso gabashin Italiya da farko. A ranar 25 ga watan Agusta, Sojoji na 8 na Burtaniya sun fara Operation Olive, wani hari a kan Gothic Line a arewacin Italiya wanda rundunar 1st Canadian Corps ke jagoranta tare da manufar daukar Pesaro da Rimini, wadanda za a yi amfani da su a matsayin tashar jiragen ruwa don tallafawa shirin Birtaniya da aka shirya a Yugoslavia. Tsananin juriya na Jamusawa a kan Layin Gothic, wanda ya yi amfani da mafi kyawun yanayin kariya na arewa maso gabashin Italiya wanda duwatsu da koguna 14 suka ratsa, ya haifar da Sojoji na 8 suna ci gaba da hankali fiye da yadda aka yi fata kuma ya haifar da tsare-tsaren ƙofar Ljubjana. A cikin "Triumph and Tragedy", na karshe daga cikin "Tarihin Yaƙin Duniya na Biyu", Churchill ya kai wa Amurkawa hari don Operation Dragoon
, mamaye kudancin Faransa, wanda ya yi adawa da shi. A matsayin nuna bacin rai cewa Amurkawa sun yi adawa da dabarun Bahar Rum, Churchill ya yi iƙirarin cewa idan kawai ma'aikata da albarkatun da aka keɓe ga Operation Dragoon sun kasance a shirye don shirye-shiryen ci gaba da Ljubanja Gap, to, Allies za su dauki Vienna a 1944 kuma ta haka ne ya hana Red Army daga kama wannan birni a 1945.