page_title: Battle of Centuripe
section_title: Aftermath
hierarchical_section_title: Battle of Centuripe / Aftermath
caption_attribution_description: English: The British Army in Sicily 1943 Universal carriers of the 6th Inniskillings, 38th Irish Brigade, 78th Division in Centuripe, August 1943.
context_page_description: The Battle of Centuripe was fought from 2 to 4 August 1943, as part of the Allied invasion of Sicily during World War II. The 78th Battleaxe Division, of the British Eighth Army, was engaged in fierce fighting around the town of Centuripe in the central portion of Sicily in the hill country between the Rivers Dittaìno and Salso. Centuripe, a hill town set on a very high rocky pinnacle and approached by only one steep and twisty road, itself was the key to the whole Adrano position, the capture of which would in turn force the Germans to withdraw to new positions. The British troops captured the town after heavy fighting and as a result caused the Germans to start contemplating abandoning Sicily altogether.
context_section_description: The successful capture of Centuripe had caused the whole German line to Catania to crack and thus had to withdraw to a new position: the Etna line. This however had to be abandoned and soon plans were made to abandon the island of Sicily as a whole.
  The London Irish quickly reached high ground on the far side of the Salso, and at night 'E' and 'F' Companies got to the Simeto. As dusk approached, two platoons of 'G' Company moved across the river with reserve ammunition, mortars, and machine-guns for the immediate support of the two other companies. By darkness the bridgehead was secure and the Germans withdrew during the night so that in the morning a fighting patrol from the London Irish located the Germans half-way up the hills on top of which was the next objective, the much-bombed town of Aderno. That, however, was not an Irish Brigade task, for the two other brigades (11th and 36th) of the 78th Division went through. From the afternoon of August 1 to nightfall on August 5 the Irish Brigade had advanced twenty-five miles fighting battles at Centuripe, Salso, and the Simeto.
  The battalion spent five days resting in the cool waters of the Simeto, by which time the rest of the division had captured Aderno and Bronte, and were holding the hills on the far side of the latter town. The crossing of the Salso and Simeto Rivers and the fall of Aderno had cut all the German lateral communications west and south of Mount Etna, and caused the fall of Paterno, Santa Maria, and Biancavilla. The 1st Royal Irish Fusiliers, in the meantime, had captured Capella and Monte Maletto and cleared the village. The fall of Maletto and the subsequent rapid approach to Randazzo forced the Germans on their last hurried withdrawal to the sea.
  News of the capture of Centuripe was met with great enthusiasm, General Bernard Montgomery, the British Eighth Army commander, when shown the cliffs of the town after its capture shouted impossible!. The British Prime Minister, Winston Churchill mentioned the news of the capture in the House of Commons only a few days later, citing the capture as one of the greatest achievements in storming.
caption: British troops in Centuripe.
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