During
World War IIWorld War II, or the Second World War , was a global military conflict which involved a majority of the world's nations, including all great powers, organized into two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
,
Operation Fustian (also referred to inaccurately in several histories as "Operation Marston") was a British airborne assault to seize and hold the Primosole Bridge over the River Simeto, south of
Mount EtnaMount Etna Mount Etna Mount Etna ( (Aítnē) in Classical Greek, Aetna in Latin, also known as Muncibeḍḍu (our mountain) in Sicilian and Mongibello in Italian (from the Latin mons and the Arabic gibel, both meaning mountain) is an active stratovolcano on the east coast of Sicily, close to Messina and...
on the island of
SicilySicily is the largest island in the Mediterranean Sea. It is an autonomous region of Italy. Several much smaller islands surrounding it are considered to be part of Sicily....
, until relieved by ground forces.
Allied plan
Operation Fustian was ordered on 12 July when a similar operation to capture a bridge near Augusta, Operation Glutton, was cancelled. The 8th Army's plan of attack on Sicily was to conduct a fast-paced campaign, the prosecution of which was dependent on securing roads and bridges. The bridge over the Simeto was one of three spans vital to the overall invasion; crossings of the Ponte Grande near Syracuse and dei Malati northeast of Lentini would also have to be secured.
A
coup de mainA coup de main is a swift attack that relies on speed and surprise to accomplish its objectives in a single blow. The United States Department of Defense defines it as:The literal translation from French means a stroke or blow of the hand...
was orchestrated for the Simeto in which just two platoons of the 1st Battalion of the Parachute Regiment with support of the 1st Field Squadron Royal Engineers would land on or as close to the bridge as conditions allowed. The 2nd Battalion was to organize a defensive perimeter 1,000 yards from the bridge in a loop of the river. The 3rd Battalion was to seize and hold high ground to the south.
The bridge
The bridge itself was a 400 foot-long box girder type bridge bearing a passing similarity to a
Bailey BridgeThe Bailey bridge is a portable pre-fabricated truss bridge, designed for use by military engineering units to bridge up to 60 m gaps. It requires no special tools or heavy equipment for construction, the bridge elements are small enough to be carried in trucks, and the bridge is strong enough to...
. At each end were concrete blockhouses from which the defenders overlooked the 30-yard wide stream, running through marshland devoid of cover. To the north of the bridge was a series of farms, with vineyards and olive gardens and fruit orchards to the east and west breaking up the terrain. The bridge was referred to as a "heretofore obscure speck on the harsh Sicilian landscape" which "became the pawn in a deadly game between British and German forces which was to alter the course of the (Sicilian) campaign." The bridge was considered vital by General Montgomery in securing the Catania plain and the city itself.
German plans
German reaction to the invasion of Sicily was reaching high gear as Operation Fustian was being mobilized; OKW's strongest mobile reserve was Fliegerkorps XI with 30,000 trained paratroops, and it found itself on full alert. A proposal to drop them immediately onto Sicily was rejected as too dangerous, but a suggestion to send a single parachute regiment to relieve pressure on the hard-pressed
Hermann Goering DivisionThe Fallschirm-Panzer-Division 1. Hermann Göring was an élite German Luftwaffe armoured division. The HG saw action in North Africa, Sicily, Italy and on the Eastern front...
was met with acceptance.
OberstleutnantOberstleutnant is a German military rank equivalent to Lieutenant Colonel, above Major, and below Oberst. During World War II, the SS maintained an equivalent rank known as Obersturmbannführer....
Ludwig Heilmann's 3rd Parachute Regiment was ordered as the advance guard of a force that would eventually include machine gunners, engineers, anti-tank units and the entire 1st Parachute Division. His men began deploying by parachute in the vicinity of the Primosole bridge, and once on the ground, they were concealed from aerial observation in the local foliage.
Allied forces
The British assault force was composed of three
battalionA battalion is a military unit of around 1000-1500 soldiers usually consisting of between two and seven companies and typically commanded by a Lieutenant Colonel...
s of the
1 Parachute BrigadeThe 1st Parachute Brigade was formed during the Second World War as part of the British Army .- History in World War II :Brigade HQ formed 5 Sep 1941 in the UK. Assigned 1st Airborne Division 10 Dec 1941. Relieved from 1st Airborne Division 22 Sep 1942 and allotted to forces for Invasion of...
and an independent company of pathfinders. The attack was scheduled for the night of 13 July-14 July, 1943. Advance elements of the 4th Armoured Brigade were scheduled to link up from overland with them.
The attack
Delayed a day by German resistance to the advance of 8th Army, the mission took off from Tunisia between 1920 and 2040 of 13 July. 105
C-47sThe Douglas C-47 Skytrain or Dakota is a military transport aircraft that was developed from the Douglas DC-3 airliner. It was used extensively by the Allies during World War II and remained in front line operations through the 1950s with a few remaining in operation to this day.-Design and...
of the U.S. 51st Troop Carrier Wing and 11 British Albemarles carried 1,856 British paratroopers to three drop zones near the bridge. A supporting mission of 16 gliders to deliver ten
6-pounder gun6-pounder gun, 6 pounder, 6pdr, QF 6 pounder or QF 6-pdr are abbreviations usually denoting a gun which fired a projectile of approximately 6 pounds...
s and 77 artillerymen took off at 2200.
En route, Allied shipping convoys fired on at least 30 aircraft before opening a general antiaircraft fire at the troop carrier stream while it was still 25 miles offshore, shooting down two C-47s. German and Italian antiaircraft fire accounted for 12 other aircraft and at least four gliders shot down. Altogether 25 aircraft abandoned the mission without dropping their loads because of battle damage or an inability to penetrate the fire.
Some 87 others, however, made drops despite the intense fire. 39 dropped their sticks within a mile of the planned drop zones, including a near perfect drop on Drop Zone 3. However 22 others missed their zones by at least five miles, 22 more were up to ten miles off target, and four dropped their troops on Mt. Etna. Brigade commander Brigadier G. W. Lathbury assembled an ad hoc force of some 150 men who succeeded in capturing both ends of the bridge by 0430 of 14 July.
Despite being scattered on landing the airborne seized their objective and held it. Out of 1,900 soldiers of the British Parachute Brigade despatched to Sicily, only about 200 men and three anti-tank guns reached the Primosole Bridge.
The assault on the bridge
At the bridge itself, the 1st Battalion's intention was to land two assault platoons astride the Simeto, with Drop Zone 1 and Drop Zone 2 on either side of the stream, to launch an immediate assault on the span from both sides. Neither platoon arrived on their DZ, and Captain Rann assembled 50 men at DZ1 and pressed on alone. At 0200, they sent forward a small reconnaissance, and at 0215 overran the 50-man Italian garrison which quickly surrendered.
The British managed to remove the German demolition charges and establish a defensive perimeter.
Under attack from three sides, the force was contracted into a shrinking perimeter, which nonetheless held until the arrival of the 4th Armoured Brigade.
It should be noted that there was a strange bond of comradeship between the German and British paratroopers fighting for Primosole Bridge. Red Devils, swinging helplessly from the orange trees, were not shot or bayoneted in their harnesses as one might expect in such a confused night battle: rather, the enemy paratroopers were allowed to unbuckle and fall to the ground where they were taken prisoner. Captives were not shot, or even roughly handled, but were treated almost like guests.
The glider landings
The glider landings were decimated by antiaircraft fire, with only four Horsas landing intact, but their four surviving guns provided crucial support to the paratroops. During the afternoon, Lathbury's troops ran out of ammunition and were forced to withdraw under intense counterattacks by German paratroops who themselves had been parachuted into Sicily only hours earlier.
German response
German attempts to overrun the remainder of the brigade were unsuccessful when tanks of the 8th Army appeared at dusk.
An attempt to retake the bridge by the paratroops on 15 July was repulsed, but it was captured intact at dawn on 16 July by a combined arms attack. The total losses for the British airborne brigade were 27 men killed in action, 78 wounded, and 314 missing.
Legacy
The battle has been described as a foreshadowing of the later
Battle of ArnhemThe Battle of Arnhem was a famous Second World War military engagement fought in and around the Dutch towns of Arnhem, Oosterbeek, Wolfheze, Driel and the surrounding countryside from the 17–26 September 1944....
during Operation Market-Garden, a similar operation in which British paratroopers were dropped to secure a bridge, became outnumbered, and fought on dependent on ground troops linking up with them to effect their relief.
The battle was popularized in the
Squad Leaderthumb|Squad Leader game package.Squad Leader is a tactical level board wargame originally published by Avalon Hill in 1977. It was designed by Hall of Fame game designer John Hill and focuses on infantry combat in Europe during World War II...
scenario "Operation Marston" released in Volume 20 Number 2 of
The GeneralThe General Magazine was first published in 1964, as a bi-monthly periodical devoted to supporting Avalon Hill's line of wargames, with articles on game tactics, history, and industry news...
. A Historical Campaign Game variant for
Advanced Squad LeaderAdvanced Squad Leader is a tactical-level board wargame, originally marketed by Avalon Hill Games, that simulates actions of approximately company or battalion size in World War II. It is a detailed game system for two or more players . Components include the ASL Rulebook and various games called...
was later released in the
ASL Journal based on this battle.
Visiting
The Primosole bridge has been replaced and little visible remains of the WWII structures, but the area remains rural and the marshy landscape is similar to that seen in historic photographs. Public parking is available on the north-east shore, where a memorial to the Durham Infantry Brigade has been erected.
See also
- World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global military conflict which involved a majority of the world's nations, including all great powers, organized into two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
- Operation Husky: Allied invasion of Sicily.
- Airborne operations