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Allied invasion of Sicily
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The Allied invasion of Sicily, codenamed Operation Husky, was a major World War II campaign, in which the Allies took Sicily from the Axis (Italy and Nazi Germany). It was a large scale amphibious and airborne operation, followed by six weeks of land combat. It launched the Italian Campaign.
Husky began on the night of July 9, 1943, and ended August 17. It was the largest amphibious operation of the war in terms of men landed on the beaches and of frontage.
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The Allied invasion of Sicily, codenamed Operation Husky, was a major World War II campaign, in which the Allies took Sicily from the Axis (Italy and Nazi Germany). It was a large scale amphibious and airborne operation, followed by six weeks of land combat. It launched the Italian Campaign.
Husky began on the night of July 9, 1943, and ended August 17. It was the largest amphibious operation of the war in terms of men landed on the beaches and of frontage. Strategically, Husky achieved the goals set out for it by Allied planners. The Allies drove Axis air and naval forces from the island; the Mediterranean's sea lanes were opened and Italian dictator Benito Mussolini was toppled from power. It opened the way to the Allied invasion of Italy.
Background
Participants
The Allied land forces were mainly from the American, British, and Canadian armies. Other countries also contributed to the air and naval forces for the invasion, but the main Allied naval forces involved were the British Mediterranean Fleet and the United States Eighth Fleet. The U.S. troops were in the Seventh United States Army. The British 8th Army was bolstered by the addition of the 1st Canadian Infantry Division, which was detached from the Canadian 1st Army based in England. Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower was in overall command, with Gen. Harold Alexander as commander of the land forces, designated the 15th Army Group. Under 15th AG were the British 8th Army, under Gen. Bernard Montgomery, and the U.S. 7th Army under Lt. Gen. George S. Patton.
The island was defended by the Italian 6th Army under Gen. Alfredo Guzzoni. The total Axis force was about 190,000 Italian and 40,000 German troops, with at least 147 tanks and about 220 artillery pieces. The Italians reinforced the garrison with 52,000 reinforcements and 127 tanks.
Planning
In the early part of 1943, Allied leaders concluded that a successful invasion of France would be impossible that year. So they decided to invade the Italian island of Sicily, using troops from the North African Campaign, which the Allies would soon win. The strategic goals were to remove Axis naval and air forces from Sicily, allowing free passage to Allied ships in the Mediterranean Sea, and to put pressure on Mussolini's regime and perhaps drive Italy out of the war. Taking Sicily might also lead to the invasion of Italy, although the Allies had not decided on this at the time of the invasion. The Americans in particular resisted committing to any operation which might delay the invasion of France.
Allied planners considered two strategies. One proposal was to land the two armies at separate locations in the eastern and western ends of Sicily, and then move to encircle the Axis forces. The Axis forces would be not just defeated but destroyed. This was considered risky because the two armies would be unable to support each other, and might be defeated in detail. The "encirclement" plan would probably fail.
The other proposed strategy was to land the two armies side by side in southern Sicily, and advance directly across the island. This was much less risky than separate landings, but did not offer an opportunity for encirclement. The Allied planners chose this strategy rather than risk a defeat.
7th Army was assigned to land in the Gulf of Gela, in south-central Sicily, with 3rd Division and 2nd Armored Division to the west at Licata, 1st Division in the center at Gela, and 45th Division to the east at Scoglitti. The U.S. 82nd Airborne Division was assigned to drop behind the defenses at Gela and Scoglitti. 7th Army's beach-front stretched over 50 kilometers.
8th Army was assigned to land in southeastern Sicily. 30th Corps would land on either side of Cape Passero, at the very southeastern corner of Sicily, while 13th Corps would land in the Gulf of Noto, around Avola, off to the north. 8th Army's beach front also stretched 50 kilometers, and there was a gap of some 40 kilometers between the two armies.
Once ashore, the armies would link up and secure a large beachhead area. Then 8th Army would drive north, along the east coast of Sicily, to Messina. 7th Army would cover 8th Army's left flank and clear the rest of the island.
Deception
To distract the Axis, and if possible divert some of their forces to other areas, the Allies engaged in several deception operations. The most famous and successful of these was Operation Mincemeat. A corpse disguised as a British officer was allowed to drift ashore in Spain, carrying a briefcase containing fake secret documents. These documents revealed that the Allies were planning to invade Greece, and had no plans to invade Sicily. The documents were accepted as genuine by German intelligence, and as a result much German defensive effort was diverted from Sicily to Greece. The Germans had soldiers on Sicily because they had been withdrawn from North Africa and had not been reassigned to the Eastern Front. However, there were still a large number of German and Italian soldiers on Sicily when the invasion started.
Canadian participation
The 1st Canadian Infantry Division was included at the insistence of Canadian Military Headquarters in the UK. This request was granted by the British, displacing the veteran British 3rd Infantry Division. The change was not finalized until April 27, when Gen. Andrew McNaughton, the 1st Canadian Army Commander, deemed Husky to be a viable military undertaking and agreed to the detachment of both 1st Canadian Infantry Division and 1st Canadian Tank Brigade
The Canadian forces were initially commanded by Maj. Gen. H. L. N. Salmon, who died in an airplane accident in the early days of planning, and was succeeded by Maj. Gen. Guy Simonds. Though the Canadians had served in the United Kingdom for a number of years, they had, with some exceptions (like the Dieppe raid by the 2nd Canadian Infantry Division), not served under fire. Also, the Canadians, unlike the rest of 15th Army Group, had not served in the Mediterranean, and had not become acclimatised to its searing temperatures. That reality, combined with a shortage of transport caused by losses at sea, resulted in 1st CID and its tank brigade being halted just days into the operation, for a much needed rest.
Battle
Allied landings
The landings took place in extremely strong wind, which made the landings difficult but also ensured the element of surprise. Landings were made on the southern and eastern coasts of the island, with British forces in the east and Americans towards the west. The British walked virtually unopposed into the port of Syracuse, but Canadian troops met increasing resistance by determined Italian troops from the 206th Coastal Division in the hills. Canadian war correspondent Ross Munro recorded his experiences of the first few days of the attack on the Italian 122 Infantry Regiment north of Pachino in a newspaper article printed on July 12:
Stubborn resistance has been put up by the Italians north and west of Pachino, and along other [Canadian] sectors of the front there were heated engagements. Big battles will probably come before long, but meanwhile large numbers of prisoners are being captured. (The Toronto Globe & Mail, 12 July, 1943)
Attacks by airborne forces were carried out just after midnight on the night of the July 9-July 10, as part of the invasion — two British and two American. The American paratroopers consisted largely of the 505th Parachute Infantry Regiment of the 82nd Airborne, making their first combat drop and the British glider-borne troops were from British 1st Airborne Division. Strong winds of up to scattered aircraft widely off course, and half the U.S. paratroopers failed to reach their rallying points. The British glider-landed troops fared little better, with only one out of 12 gliders landing on target and many crashing at sea. Nevertheless, the scattered airborne troops maximized their opportunities, attacking patrols and creating confusion wherever possible. A company of British parachute soldiers had a desperate battle to hold on to Ponto Grande Bridge against what was incorrectly reported as German counter-attacks on July 10.With approximately 90 men, the British force held out till about 1500 hours until forced to surrender to Colonel Francesco Ronco's 75th Infantry Regiment, 54th "Napoli" Division.
Despite the weather, the beach landings (three hours after the airborne drops) met only moderate opposition from Italian units stationed on the shoreline, because the defenders had been weakened by naval bombardments. However, the Italian Navy and Italian Air Force made several attacks against the invasion fleet with airplanes, warships, and submarines, sinking and damaging several warships, transport vessels and landing craft, at the cost of few of their own vessels and aircraft. Italian SM.79 torpedo-bomber squadrons coordinated their attacks with the German Ju-87 and Ju-88 bomber units, and Rome reported as follows on July 12:
As a result of the adverse weather, many troops landed in the wrong place, in the wrong order and as much as six hours behind schedule. The British walked lightly opposed into the port of Syracuse, but by July 13 British armour and infantry met increasing resistance from R 35 tanks and then infantry from General Giulio Porcinari's "Napoli" Infantry Division. Porcinari and his staff were captured, however, by elements of 4th Armoured Brigade on the 13th.
In the American centre there was a substantial Italian division-sized counterattack at exactly the point where the airborne were supposed to have been. The German Tiger tanks of the Hermann Göring Panzer Division which had been due to advance with the "Livorno" Division had failed to turn up. Nevertheless on Highways 115 and 117 during July 10 Italian tanks of the "Niscemi" Armoured Combat Group and "Livorno" infantry pressed home their attack on the city of Gela, but guns from the destroyer USS Shubrick and the cruiser USS Boise destroyed several tanks and dispersed the attacking infantry battalion. The 3rd Battalion, 34th Regiment, "Livorno" Infantry Division, composed mainly of conscripts, is recorded by its commanding officer as having made a valiant but ultimately equally unsuccessful daylight attack in the Gela Beachhead two days later alongside infantry and armour of the Hermann Göring Panzer Division.
On July 11, Patton ordered his reserve parachute troops from the 504th PIR of the 82nd Airborne to drop and reinforce the center. It seems that not every Allied unit had received warning of the drop, and the 144 C-47 transports, which arrived shortly after an Axis air raid, were fired on by the ships of the Allied landing fleet; 23 were shot down and 37 damaged, resulting in 229 casualties to "friendly fire."
Landing battle
The plans for the post-invasion battle had not been worked out; Army Group Cmdr. Harold Alexander never developed a plan. This left each Army to fight its own campaign with little coordination. Boundaries between the two armies were fixed, as was normal procedure. In the first two days progress was rapid, capturing Vizzini in the west and Augusta in the east.
Then resistance in the British sector stiffened. Gen. Bernard Montgomery persuaded Alexander to shift the inter-Army boundaries so the British could bypass resistance and retain the key role of capturing Messina, while the Americans were given the role of protecting and supporting their flank. Historian Carlo D'Este has called this the worst strategic blunder of the campaign. It necessitated having the U.S. 45th Infantry Division break contact, move back to the beaches at Gela and thence northwest, and allowed the German XIVth Panzer Corps to escape likely encirclement. This episode was the origin of what would become greater conflicts between Montgomery and the II Corps commander Omar Bradley. Patton, however, did not contest the decision.
In the western coast of Sicily the Italians managed to slow down the American advance on the Castrofilippo-Napo area; the 35th Bersaglieri Battalion, who were a recently rebuilt battalion, showed enormous courage and tenacity, but were eventually overwhelmed by sheer weight of fire. On the Naro River the 73rd Bersaglieri Battalion and the remnants of the 35th and 160th Coastal Artillery Battalions held out grimly. General Enrico Francisci, commander of the Blackshirts in Sicily and liaison officer of the Sicilian command was among the Italian dead on 11 July. It was clear that not all of the Italian forces had lost the will to fight.
The 10th Bersaglieri Regiment under Colonel Fabrizio Storti similarly forced Colonel William Darby's 1st and 3rd Ranger Battalions to fight its way into Agrigento, a city of 34,000. Resistance was stiff enough to require house-to-house combat fighting,but by late afternoon on 16 July, the city was in American hands.
After a week's fighting, Patton sought a greater role for his army and decided to try to capture the capital, Palermo. After dispatching a reconnaissance toward the town of Agrigento which succeeded in capturing it, he formed a provisional corps and persuaded Alexander to allow him to continue to advance. Alexander changed his mind and countermanded his orders, but Patton claimed the countermand was "garbled in transmission", and by the time the position had been clarified Patton was at the gates of Palermo. Although there was little tactical value in taking the city, the rapid advance was an important demonstration of the U.S. Army's mobility when U.S. forces were still recovering from the Battle of the Kasserine Pass.
The fall of Palermo showed the Italian and German defenders that Sicily was lost. Axis commanders immediately retreated to Messina to be withdrawn to Italy. This however, didn't dampen Italian hopes of victory. Most Allied commanders were shocked because they thought the loss of Sicily and the Italian colonies would drive Italy from the war.
After Patton's capture of Palermo, with the British still bogged down south of Messina, Alexander ordered a two-pronged attack on the city. On July 24, Montgomery suggested to Patton that the Seventh U.S. Army take Messina, since they were in a better position to do so. The Axis had prepared a strong defensive line, the "Etna Line" around Messina, which would enable them to make a progressive retreat while evacuating large parts of the army to the mainland.
Patton launched the Battle of Troina on July 31, but it was a linchpin of the defense and stubbornly held by the 15th Panzer Grenadier Division. The remnants of the 28th "Aosta" Division had also been pulled back to Troina to assist in the defensive preparations. For six days the Italians and Germans stubbornly defended the position inflicting and taking heavy casualties. During the battle they launched twenty-four medium-scale counterattacks and countless smaller local ones, in one of which Lieutenant-Colonel Gianquinto's 1st Battalion, 5th Regiment of the 'Aosta' managed to take 40 American prisoners. But by August 7 the U.S. 18th Infantry Regiment had captured Mount Pellegrino which overlooked the Troina defenses allowing accurate direction of Allied artillery. The defenders' left flank was also becoming exposed as the adjacent Hermann Goering Division was pushed back by XXX Corps and they were, as a result, ordered to withdraw that night in phases to the defensive positions of the Tortorici Line.
Despite three end run amphibious landings the Germans and Italians in the form of their 15th Panzer Division and 26th "Assietta" Division
managed to keep the bulk of their forces beyond reach of capture and maintain their evacuation plans. After all the soldiers not defending the line withdrew, the defenders raced for transport ships under the cover of night. The Allies weren't watching the Axis troops, so they escaped from Messina and reached Italy. Elements of the U.S. 3rd Infantry Division entered Messina just hours after the last Axis troops boarded ship for Italy. However, Patton had won his race to enter Messina first. Operation Baytown was planned to land troops near the tip of Calabria (the "toe" of Italy) in connection with the invasion of Italy, and to not prevent an Axis escape from Sicily was a major strategic blunder. Instead of a major Axis defeat, it started a long and bloody campaign.
Aftermath
The casualties on the Axis side totaled 29,000, with 140,000 (mostly Italians) captured. The U.S. lost 2,237 killed and 6,544 wounded and captured; the British suffered 2,721 dead, and 10,122 wounded and captured; the Canadians suffered 2,410 casualties including 562 killed and 1,848 wounded and captured. For many of the American forces and for the entire Canadian contingent, this was their first time in combat. The Axis successfully evacuated the entire garrison in Messina. Rescuing such a large number of troops from the threat of capture represented a major success for the Axis. In the face of Allied naval and air superiority, this evacuation was a major Allied failure.
The Allied command was forced to improve interservice coordination, particularly with regard to use of airborne forces. After several misdrops and the deadly "friendly fire" incident, increased training and some tactical changes kept the paratroopers in the war. Indeed, a few months later, the initial assessment of the Operation Overlord plan included a request for four airborne divisions.
American soldiers killed 74 Italian and two German prisoners of war during two separate massacres at Biscari airfield. Two soldiers were charged for this war crime; one was convicted and sentenced to life in prison (later commuted) and another was acquitted.
Constituent operations
See also
External links
- , Time, July 26, 1943
- Canadians in Sicily: Photos, battle info, video footage and newspaper archives.
- by Thomas E. Nutter
- Royal Engineers and Second World War (Sicily)
- History of the Allied Campaign and its social context
- Dedicated to the historical event which culminated in the liberation of Sicily and Italy from the German occupation.
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