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Allied invasion of Sicily | HearLore
Allied invasion of Sicily
A corpse dressed as a British officer drifted ashore on the Spanish coast, carrying a briefcase that would alter the course of World War II. This was Operation Mincemeat, a deception plan conceived by Naval intelligence officer Ewen Montagu and RAF Squadron Leader Charles Cholmondeley to divert Axis forces from Sicily to Greece. The documents inside the briefcase, disguised as official correspondence, suggested that the Allies were planning an invasion of Greece under Operation Brimstone, while Operation Husky was merely a feint. German intelligence accepted the fabrication, leading Generalfeldmarschall Erwin Rommel to be sent to Greece to assume command. The deception proved so effective that the Germans transferred three panzer divisions to Greece, one from France and two from the Eastern Front, significantly reducing German combat strength in the Kursk salient. This strategic misdirection allowed the Allies to land on Sicily with a critical advantage, as the Axis powers had been left vulnerable to the amphibious assault that began on the night of 9, the 10th of July 1943.
The Architecture of Invasion
The Allied invasion of Sicily, codenamed Operation Husky, required a complex command structure that integrated land, naval, and air forces under a unified strategy. American General Dwight D. Eisenhower served as Commander-in-Chief of all Allied forces in North Africa, with British General Sir Harold Alexander as his second-in-command and commander of the 15th Army Group. The American Major General Walter Bedell Smith acted as Eisenhower's Chief of Staff, while the overall Naval Force Commander was the British Admiral Sir Andrew Cunningham. The land forces were divided into two task forces: the Eastern Task Force, led by General Sir Bernard Montgomery and consisting of the British Eighth Army, which included the 1st Canadian Infantry Division, and the Western Task Force, commanded by Lieutenant General George S. Patton and comprising the American Seventh Army. The British Eighth Army had four infantry divisions and an independent infantry brigade organized under XIII Corps, commanded by Lieutenant-General Sir Miles Dempsey, and XXX Corps, commanded by Lieutenant-General Sir Oliver Leese. The American Seventh Army initially consisted of three infantry divisions, organized under II Corps, commanded by Lieutenant General Omar Bradley, with the 1st and 3rd Infantry Divisions sailing from Tunisia and the 45th Infantry Division sailing from the United States via Oran in Algeria. The 2nd Armored Division, under Major General Hugh Joseph Gaffey, served as a floating reserve. The 1st Canadian Infantry Division was included at the insistence of Canadian Prime Minister William Mackenzie King, displacing the veteran British 3rd Infantry Division, a decision finalized on the 27th of April 1943. The operation also involved airborne troops, with the British 1st Airborne Division commanded by Major-General George F. Hopkinson tasked with seizing vital bridges and high ground, and the U.S. 82nd Airborne Division, commanded by Major General Matthew Ridgway, held as a tactical reserve in Tunisia.
What was Operation Mincemeat and how did it help the Allied invasion of Sicily?
Operation Mincemeat was a deception plan conceived by Naval intelligence officer Ewen Montagu and RAF Squadron Leader Charles Cholmondeley to divert Axis forces from Sicily to Greece. The documents inside the briefcase suggested that the Allies were planning an invasion of Greece under Operation Brimstone, while Operation Husky was merely a feint. This strategic misdirection allowed the Allies to land on Sicily with a critical advantage as the Germans transferred three panzer divisions to Greece.
Who commanded the Allied forces during the Allied invasion of Sicily?
American General Dwight D. Eisenhower served as Commander-in-Chief of all Allied forces in North Africa, with British General Sir Harold Alexander as his second-in-command and commander of the 15th Army Group. The land forces were divided into two task forces: the Eastern Task Force led by General Sir Bernard Montgomery and the Western Task Force commanded by Lieutenant General George S. Patton.
When did the Allied invasion of Sicily begin and what were the weather conditions?
The amphibious assault began on the night of 9, the 10th of July 1943. Strong winds of up to 40 miles per hour blew troop-carrying aircraft off course during the airborne landings, scattering the American and British forces widely across south-east Sicily.
How did the Axis forces evacuate Sicily during the Allied invasion of Sicily?
Full-scale withdrawal, codenamed Operation Lehrgang, began on the 11th of August and continued to the 17th of August. The Germans transferred over 12,000 men, 4,500 vehicles, and 5,000 tons of equipment from 1, the 10th of August, using the narrow straits protected by 120 heavy and 112 light anti-aircraft guns.
What war crimes occurred during the Allied invasion of Sicily?
American troops committed several massacres including the Biscari massacre on the 14th of July where 73 Axis prisoners of war were executed. Another incident involved Captain John T. Compton ordering 35 Italian POWs to be summarily executed by firing squad, while Sergeant Horace T. West executed 37 POWs after separating them from the rest.
Strong winds of up to 40 miles per hour blew troop-carrying aircraft off course during the airborne landings on the night of 9, the 10th of July 1943, scattering the American and British forces widely across south-east Sicily. The American paratroopers, consisting largely of Colonel James M. Gavin's 505th Parachute Infantry Regiment, were dispersed between Gela and Syracuse, with about two-thirds of the 505th managing to concentrate by the 14th of July and half failing to reach their rallying points. The British air-landing troops fared little better, with only 12 of the 147 gliders landing on target and 69 crashing into the sea, resulting in over 200 men drowning. Among those who landed in the sea was Major General George F. Hopkinson, commander of the British 1st Airborne Division, who was eventually rescued by the landing ship HMS Keren after several hours clutching a piece of wreckage. Despite these mishaps, small isolated units acted on their initiative, attacking vital points and creating confusion. A platoon of the 2nd Battalion, South Staffordshire Regiment, under Lieutenant Louis Withers, landed on target, captured Ponte Grande, and repulsed counterattacks. The British force held out until about 15:30 hours, when, low on ammunition and reduced to 18 men, they were forced to surrender 45 minutes before the leading elements of the British 5th Division arrived from the south. The scattered airborne troops, though far from their intended drop zones, successfully attacked patrols and created confusion wherever possible, contributing to the overall success of the invasion.
The Blood of Gela
On the beaches of Gela, Italian tanks of the Niscemi Armoured Combat Group and Livorno Division infantry nearly reached the Allied position on the 10th of July, but gunfire from the destroyer USS Walker and the light cruiser USS Philadelphia destroyed several tanks and dispersed the attacking infantry battalion. The 3rd Battalion, 34th Regiment, Livorno Infantry Division, composed mainly of conscripts, made a daylight attack on the Gela beachhead two days later, but was repulsed by the Hermann Göring Panzer Division. In Major General Terry Allen's U.S. 1st Infantry Division sector, the Italian defensive plan did not contemplate a pitched battle on the beaches, making the landings somewhat anticlimactic. More trouble was experienced from the difficult weather conditions and unexpected hidden offshore sandbars than from the coastal divisions. Some troops landed in the wrong place, in the wrong order, and as much as six hours behind schedule, but the weakness of the defensive response allowed the Allied force to make up lost time. Nevertheless, several Italian coastal units fought well; the 429th Coastal Battalion, under Major Marco Rubellino, tasked with defending Gela and its beachhead, had lost 45 percent of its men, while the attacking U.S. Army Ranger Battalion lost several men to mines and machine-gun and cannon fire. Gruppo Tattico Carmito, under Lieutenant-Colonel Francesco Tropea, tasked with defending Malati Bridge, defeated a Royal Marines Commando Battalion on the 13th of July with the help of local middle-age reservists. The Italian 4th Self-Propelled Artillery Battalion attacked the Commandos with the help of the 372nd Coastal Defence Battalion, 553rd and 554th Motorcycle Companies, and three Panzer IV medium tanks. The 246th Coastal Battalion, under Major Rollo Franco, defeated British attempts to capture Augusta on the night of 11, the 12th of July.
The Friendly Fire Tragedy
On the 11th of July, Patton ordered his reserve parachute troops from the 504th Parachute Infantry Regiment to drop and reinforce the center, but an Allied naval vessel fired on the formation, causing a catastrophic friendly fire incident. The 52nd Troop Carrier Wing lost 23 of 144 C-47s to friendly fire, with 318 casualties and 83 dead. Thirty-seven aircraft were damaged, while eight returned to base without dropping their parachutists. The paratroopers suffered 229 casualties to friendly fire, including 81 dead. Among the casualties was Brigadier General Charles L. Keerans, Jr., the 82nd Airborne's assistant division commander, who was along with the 504th as an unofficial observer. The 325th Glider Infantry Regiment, part of the 82nd Airborne Division and commanded by Colonel Harry L. Lewis, was then waiting in North Africa and scheduled to land in Sicily by glider that night. After what happened to the 504th, Ridgway canceled the operation. Despite this, the American beach landings went well, and a substantial amount of supplies and transport was landed. The 1st Infantry Division took Ponte Olivo on the 12th of July and continued north, while the 45th Infantry Division on the right had taken the airfield at Comiso and entered Ragusa to link up with the Canadians. On the left, the 3rd Infantry Division, having landed at Licata, pushed troops up the coast almost to Argento and inland to Canicatti.
The Etna Line
During the last week in July, Montgomery gathered his forces to renew the attack on the 1st of August, with the immediate objective of capturing Adrano, which would split the German forces on either side of Mount Etna. The Canadians and the 231st Brigade Group continued their eastward push from Leonforte, and on the 29th of July had taken Agira, some 15 miles west of Adrano. On the night of the 29th of July, the British 78th Division with the 3rd Canadian Brigade under command took Catenuova and made a bridgehead across the river Dittaino. On the night of the 1st of August, they resumed their attack to the northwest toward Centuripe, an isolated pinnacle of rock, which was the main southern outpost of the Adrano defences. After heavy fighting against the Hermann Göring Division and the 3rd Parachute Regiment all day on the 2nd of August, the town was finally cleared of defenders on the morning of the 3rd of August. The capture of Centuripe proved critical, as the growing threat to Adrano made the position covering Catania untenable. Patton had decided that his communications could support two divisions pushing east, the 45th Division on the coast road and the 1st Division on Route 120. In order to maintain the pressure, he relieved the 45th Division with the fresher 3rd Division and called up the 9th Infantry Division from reserve in North Africa to relieve the 1st Division. Axis forces were now settled on a second defensive line, the Etna Line, running from San Fratello on the north coast through Troina and Aderno. On the 31st of July, the 1st Division with elements of the arriving 9th Division attached reached Troina, and the Battle of Troina commenced. This important position was held by the 15th Panzer Grenadier Division. The remnants of the 28th Infantry Division Aosta in the form of four battalions had also been pulled back to Troina to assist in the defensive preparations and forthcoming battle. For six days, the Germans and Italians conducted a costly defence, launching 24 counter-attacks and many small local ones. By the 7th of August, the U.S. 18th Infantry Regiment, of the 9th Division, had captured Mount Pellegrino, which overlooked the Troina defences, allowing accurate direction of Allied artillery.
The Great Escape
By the 27th of July, the Axis commanders had realized that the outcome of the campaign would be an evacuation from Messina. Kesselring reported to Hitler on the 29th of July that an evacuation could be accomplished in three days, and initial written plans were formulated dated the 1st of August. However, when Hube suggested on the 4th of August that a start should be made by transferring superfluous men and equipment, Guzzoni refused to sanction the idea without the approval of the Comando Supremo. The Germans nevertheless went ahead, transferring over 12,000 men, 4,500 vehicles, and 5,000 tons of equipment from 1, the 10th of August. Full-scale withdrawal, codenamed Operation Lehrgang, began on the 11th of August and continued to the 17th of August. During this period, Hube ordered successive withdrawals each night of between 10 and 15 miles, keeping the following Allied units at arm's length with the use of mines, demolitions, and other obstacles. As the peninsula narrowed, shortening his front, he was able to withdraw units for evacuation. The German and Italian evacuation schemes proved highly successful, with the Allies unable to prevent the orderly withdrawal nor effectively interfere with transports across the Strait of Messina. The narrow straits were protected by 120 heavy and 112 light anti-aircraft guns, with about half being Italian-built pieces. The resulting overlapping gunfire from both sides of the strait was described by Allied pilots as worse than the Ruhr, making daylight air attacks highly hazardous and generally unsuccessful. Night attacks were less hazardous, and there were times when air attack was able to delay and even suspend traffic across the straits, but when daylight returned, the Axis were able to clear the backlog from the previous night. Nor was naval interdiction any more practicable, as the straits varied from 2 to 3 miles wide and were covered by artillery up to 150 mm in caliber.
The Shadow of War Crimes
Immediately after Allied landings, a number of instances where American troops killed civilians were reported, including a massacre at Vittoria where 12 civilians were killed, another at Agrigento, and the Canicattì massacre, in which Lieutenant-Colonel George Herbert McCaffrey fired into a civilian crowd looting a factory in Canicattì which refused to disperse, killing eight. During and after the invasion, Allied troops committed a number of rapes and other forms of sexual assaults against civilians in Sicily, with Italian statistics reporting a number of rapes committed by American and Free French forces. On the 19th of July, just over a week after the Allied landings, Captain Angelo Thomas Sesia, a Canadian Army officer in the 1st Canadian Division, recorded that fellow Canadian troops were involved in a number of unsettling incidents, including looting, shooting at civilians, and one gang rape in Piazza Armerina. On the 14th of July, American troops of the 180th Infantry Regiment summarily executed 73 Axis prisoners of war in the Biscari massacre. After capturing 45 Italian and 3 German POWs while attacking an airfield near Santo Pietro, a regimental detachment led by Sergeant Horace T. West marched the POWs for approximately a mile before West directed that eight or nine be separated from the rest and taken to the regiment's intelligence officer for questioning; West summarily executed the remaining 37 POWs. On the next day, the 37 bodies were spotted by an American military chaplain, Lieutenant-Colonel William E. King. King reported the incident to his superiors, who at first dismissed it due to the bad press which would occur if it were made public; after some convincing, they agreed to court-martial West. Troops from the 180th Infantry Regiment committed another massacre on the 14th of July, when Captain John T. Compton ordered 35 Italian POWs to be summarily executed by firing squad. West and Compton were charged by the United States Army with committing a war crime; West was convicted and sentenced to life in prison and stripped of his rank but was released back to active service in November 1944 as a private and honorably discharged at the end of his service. Compton was charged with killing 40 prisoners in his charge but was acquitted and transferred to another regiment, where he died in November 1943 during the Italian campaign.