Evening star., 1943-07-11
British Expect Sicily
10 Fight Stiff Battle;
New Blows Forecast
BY the Associated Press.

BY the Associated Press.
LONDON, July 10.-The Allies
invasion of Sicily was hailed in
London today as the first in a rain
of invasion blows designed to batter
the enemy to his knees.
Military observers believed the
Allies now are strong enough to
drive heavy blows home in swift
succession.
Gen. Eisenhower landed a solid
left on Sicily" one military man
said, "but his forces there comprise
only one of the Allied fists in the
Mediterranean. Our right menaces
the Balkans and we have other fists
IN the West, so that the enemy
cannot throw everything into coun-
tering this punch"
While assuming that the inva-
sion of Sicily will succeed, American
and British officers joined in warm
ing against any idea that the island
will fall without the fiercest kind
of fighting and heavy casualties.
Assault Force Large.
None was willing to predict
whether the campaign to subdue
Sicily would require weeks or
months.
With operationa1 reports still
scanty late today, these seemed to
emerge as significant facts:
Gen. Eisenhower has struck with
what probably is the best-trained.
best-equipped and one of the largest
amphibious assault forces ever sent
into action.
His American, British and Cana
dian troops are hitting an island
strongly defended by mixed
italian German force which may
total as high as 400, 900 men, backed
by an unknown number Of planes
probably at least several hundred.
Veterans Still In Africa.
The vaunted British 9th Army,
though well rested, apparently Is
not in these operations, but is stand
ing by along with the bulk of the
American 1st Army in Algeria and
the British 9th and 10th Armies in
Iran and Iraq.
Thus it is assumed that the Allied
forces not participating in the at
tack on Sicily, greatly outnumber the
present striking force. They remain
as major menaces to other Medit-
erranean points.
Should Hitler and Mussolini de-
eide to make an all-out fight for
Sicily and bring in reinforcements
from Southern Italy or Southern
France, they would expose those
areas to blows from other powerful
Allied contingents waiting for the
signal to hit. r
Similarly, any Axis planes flown
In to oppose the assault on Sicily
would have to be withdrawn from
Western Europe or the Russian
front. Military observers doubted
Hitler could afford to weaken his
aerial forces at either of these points.
British Reaction Cautious.
While there was no indication that
the Mediterranean attack was di-
rectly co-ordinated with the renewal
Of heavy fighting in Russia, military
men agreed that the two campaigns
inevitably would complement each
other.
There was uncertainty here
whether the Germans failure to
reinforce Sicily and Southern Italy
more strongly was due to inability
or lack of desire There has been
considerable speculation that the
Nazis were prepared to let italy do
most of the fighting in the south,
with Germany possibly holding a
defense line across the peninsula
north of Rome and protecting Italy's
industrial centers.
Conditioned by four years of war,
with a large share of defeats and
disappointments, the British public
and press took cautious view of
the invasion of Sicily. Typical was
an editorial in the Evening News:
Fighting is certain to be bitter.
Our leaders and their men are
under no illusions on that score.
We at home do not doubt their
ability to prevail, but we must not
underestimate what it is they are
about. Let us all be realistic at
this historic moment of the war;"
American Role Important.
The Allied announcement broke
the tension for millions on the
British Isles who had taken each
new report of gathering Allied
strength as an immediate prelude
to invasion.
Around the gathering places Of
American soldiers there was not
the same jubilation as among the
British, who had been waiting since
Dunkerque for this moments
In Northern Ireland an inter-
camp communications hookup gave
American troops a detailed broad
cast of invasion news. Elsewhere
the Americans heard reports from
the BBC and from their own radio
circuit.
1t was believed here that Ameri-
can units fighting in Sicily today
probably were the same ones that
gained Inelr spurs III Gne nerCe
Tunisian campaign that ended just
two months ago-the 1st, 9th and
34th Infantry Divisions and the 1st
Armored Division.
Italian Navy Weak.
1t was assumed, too, that the
American Navy was playing a more
important role than previously in
Mediterranean amphibious opera
tion.
The italian Navy, of which moth
ing had been heard so far, is built
around three modern battleships
and four old but rebuilt battleships,
plus perhaps two surviving heavy
cruisers, six or eight light cruisers,
fewer than so destroyers and prob
ably between 60 and 80 submarines.
There was little doubt that this
scanty force could be overwhelmed
In short order by the powerful
American-British armada now in the
Mediterranean, and 1t was consid-
cred improbable here that the Ital-