Allied invasion of Sicily

The **Allied invasion of Sicily**, codenamed **Operation Husky**, was a major battle of World War II in which Allies captured Sicily from the Axis Powers (Kingdom of Italy and Nazi Germany).

The large sea and air operation was followed by six weeks of land fighting and started the Italian Campaign. It was followed by the Allied invasion of Italy.

_Husky_ began on the night of 9–10 July 1943 and ended on 17 August. It achieved the goals of the Allies. The Allies removed Axis air, land, and naval forces from the island.

As well, the Mediterranean's sea lanes were opened to the Allies, and the Italian dictator, Benito Mussolini, was briefly removed from power.

### Allies

The plan for Operation _Husky_ called for the sea attack of the island by two armies. One would land on the southeastern coast. Another would land on the central southern coast. The attack would be helped by naval gunfire and bombing, and its commander was US General Dwight D. Eisenhower.

The Allied land forces were from the American, British, and Canadian Armies and were put into two groups. The Eastern Task Force was led by General Bernard Montgomery. The Western Task Force was commanded by Lieutenant General George S. Patton. In addition to the sea landings, airborne troops were to be flown in to capture bridges and high ground.

The Allied naval forces were put into two groups to transport the invading armies.

### Axis

The island was defended by the two corps of Italian 6th Army under General Alfredo Guzzoni. In early July, the total Axis force in Sicily was about 200,000 Italian and 32,000 German troops, and 30,000 _Luftwaffe_ ground staff. By late July, there were 70,000 German troops.

### Planning

The attack plan was made on 17 May. At the Casablanca Conference in January 1943, American and British political and military leaders met to discuss future plans. The British wanted an invasion of Sicily. General Eisenhower was made Commander-in-Chief of the Allied Forces.

#### Preparatory operations

Once the Axis forces had been defeated in the North African Campaign, Allied bombers attacked airfields of Sardinia, Sicily, and the rest of southern Italy. They also bombed industrial targets in southern Italy and the ports of Naples, Messina, Palermo, and Cagliari.

#### Deception

To distract the Axis, the Allies did several trick operations. The most famous was _Operation Mincemeat_. The British allowed a corpse, disguised as a British officer carrying a briefcase with fake secret documents, to drift ashore in Spain.

They stated that the Allies were planning to invade Greece and Sardinia and had no plans to invade Sicily. The Germans thought that the documents were real and so they moved many of their defences from Sicily to Greece. That is a major reason for the Allies' success in Sicily.

## Battle

Two British and two American attacks by airborne forces were carried out on the night of 9–10 July. They wanted to capture the bridge over the River Anape, but strong wind made them land in the wrong places. Airborne troops attacked patrols. A platoon captured the bridge and fought off counterattacks for a few hours.

The strong winds made the sea landings hard. Landings were made on 10 July on 26 main beaches. By the evening of 10 July, the seven Allied divisions had landed, and the port of Syracuse had been captured. Alexander's plan was to establish his forces on a line between Licata and Catania. He wanted to capture ports.

The battles were successful and the remaining German and Italian forces evacuated to mainland Italy in the middle of August.

## Infobox (military conflict)

- **conflict**: Sicilian Campaign
- **partof**: the Italian Campaign (World War II), Italian Campaign of World War II
- **image**: SC180476.jpg
- **caption**: The U.S. Liberty ship _Robert Rowan_ explodes after being hit by a German bomber off Gela, Sicily, 11 July 1943
- **date**: 9 July – 17 August 1943
- **place**: Sicily, Kingdom of Italy
- **result**: Allied victory
- **combatant1**: **Allies of World War II, Allies:**

* British Raj

Free France
**supported by**

Union of South Africa
- **combatant2**: **Axis powers, Axis:**

- **commander1**: Dwight Eisenhower
 Harold Alexander
 Bernard Montgomery, 1st Viscount Montgomery of Alamein, Bernard Montgomery
 George S. Patton
 Arthur Tedder, 1st Baron Tedder, Arthur Tedder
 Andrew Cunningham, 1st Viscount Cunningham of Hyndhope, Andrew Cunningham
- **commander2**: Albert Kesselring
 Alfredo Guzzoni
 Fridolin von Senger und Etterlin
 Hans-Valentin Hube
- **strength1**: **Initial Strength:**
160,000 personnel
14,000 vehicles
600 tanks
1,800 guns
**Peak Strength:**
467,000 personnel
- **strength2**: 230,000 Kingdom of Italy personnel
40,000 – 60,000 Nazi German personnel
260 tanks
1,400 aircraft
- **casualties1**: 24,850 casualties
(5,837 killed or missing, 15,683 wounded, 3,330 captured)
- **casualties2**: **Nazi Germany**:
~20,000 casualties
 **Kingdom of Italy**:
131,359–147,000 killed, wounded and captured (mainly POWs)