The first plan was for two widely separated landings. This would be the only time that Patton and Montgomery would serve alongside each other at the same rank, and the campaign would contribute to the rivalry between the two men. The invasion itself would be carried out by two armies - the British Eighth Army ( Montgomery) and the American Seventh Army ( Patton). General Alexander was made overall commander of the land forces (15th Army Group), Air Chief Marshal Tedder commanded the air forces and Admiral Sir Andrew Cunningham the naval forces. This decision was only made after the fall of Mussolini, and at this point the decision to invade Sicily instead of Sardinia limited Allied options, meaning that the invasion had to take place in the south, within fighter range of Sicily, eventually leading to the long, costly Italian campaign.Ī command structure was put in place that reflected the multi-national nature of the invasion force. However there was no plan to follow up the invasion of Sicily with an attack on the Italian mainland. The presence of Allied troops on Italian soil fatally undermined Mussolini’s position, and he was overthrown by his own supporters on 25 July, while the fighting on Sicily was still underway. Hitler officially cancelled Operation Citadel, the battle of Kursk, on 12 July, two days after the seaborne landings on Sicily, on the grounds that he might need to rush reinforcements to Italy. ![]() The invasion actually achieved all three of these objectives. Third, it might force Italy out of the war. ![]() Second, it might force the Germans to pull some troops away from the Eastern Front. First, it would help secure the Mediterranean sea lanes. ![]() The British and Americans eventually agreed to invade Sicily. There was also a fear that Stalin might decide to come to terms with the Germans if the western Allies were no longer involved in any land campaign against the Germans. The veteran troops now present in North Africa could hardly be left idle for the rest of the year. However even the Americans had to admit that the Allies wouldn’t be ready to carry out Overlord during 1943, so some alternative course of action had to be found. He was unable to win over General Marshall or the US Chiefs of Staff, who feared that he was actually trying to undermine Overload. He could also see the potential benefits of attacking Germany from the south, the unfortunately named ‘soft underbelly of Europe’, and advancing into the Balkans. Churchill in contrast wanted to continue to chip away at the flanks of the German empire, in order to weaken the German military and keep German troops pinned down away from France. The American military leaders wanted to focus entirely on Operation Overlord, the cross-channel invasion of France, and had no interest in getting involved in further major battles in the Mediterranean. A decision thus had to be made on what to do next. The campaign in Tunisia was still in progress, but it was clear that it would end some time in the spring of 1943. The decision to invade Sicily was made at the Casablanca conference of January 1943. With the help of our expert historian/ guide, you’ll learn about the events that preceded and followed the landing and made George Patton win the “Race to Messina”.The invasion of Sicily (10 July-17 August 1943) was the first successful Allied invasion of one of the Axis partners, and helped secure Allied control of the Mediterranean as well as helping to trigger the fall of Mussolini. ![]() The visit to bunkers and an air-raid shelter will shed light on the perilous daily life of soldiers and civilians. Whilst traveling in a scenery of compelling beauty you’ll see for yourself the difficulties posed by the terrain for both the attackers and the defenders. Our expert historian will make you re-live those crucial days in the Second World War. The tour will take you to Licata, Gela, the beaches, and the many significant sites that were the first portions of Axis territory hit by the American army in WWII. The same waters, on the night of 10 July 1943, were the scene of the first and largest amphibious operation of WWII: the Landing in Sicily (codenamed “Operation Husky”). Off its the coast, in 256, the fleets of Rome and Carthage fought one of the largest (perhaps the largest) naval battles in history during the First Punic War (“The War for Sicily”). Since ancient times the area around Licata and Gela has landed a role in world military history. Visit the WWII Sicily landing beaches and the battlefields that marked the beginning of the Husky Operation Brush up on history and retrace the events of the very first days of the Invasion of Sicily with an expert
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