Invasion of Sicily

                 Shortly after the Battle at Midway, the Allies had been fighting in the North African campaign, in which they win on May 13, 1943. At this point, a quarter million German and Italian troops surrendered on the north coast of Africa, called Tunisia. With this big of an army, the British and American felt the need to do something with them. They had two options: transfer the troops north to invade Europe from the English Channel, or remain where they were at attack at southern Italy. Prime minister Winston Churchill called this the “soft underbelly of Europe.” After the great amount of thought that was put into this decision, they decided the more logical option would be to move into Italy.

                  The first step to get into Italy would be to get through the island of Sicily. The Allies would have an advantage here because of the fighter cover they could rely on. They had air bases on the British Malta which conveniently was 60 miles south of the island, and was recently freed from the power of the Axis.

                  The code name made for the operation against Sicily was “Operation Husky.” It began on July 10, 1943, with combined air and sea landings involving 150,000 troops, 2,000 ships and around 4,000 aircraft- all directed at the southern shores of the island. The night before the planned attack a summer storm hit the sea around the island. While they thought this was going to be a disadvantage and almost cancelled it, this actually worked in their favor. The Axis defenders along the Sicilian coast had the impression that no commander would lead their troops in weather of that sort. By that afternoon of July 10, 150,000 troops entered the Sicilian shores with nearly 600 tanks.

                  The troops progressed on the ground with Lieutenant General George S. Patton in control of the American forces and General Bernard L. Montgomery leading the British ground forces. Hitler had previously been so deceived by “Mincemeat” that he only left two German groups to Battle the Allies in Sicily. In addition to this, the Axis forces were already weakened because of the casualties of several hundred thousand troops in North Africa.

                  For the following five weeks, the Allies continued to move towards the north and mark their territory throughout the whole island of Sicily. On July 25, the first Italian troops started to withdraw. The U.S. and British soldiers continued to push the Axis forces farther and farther until they were basically trapped in the northeastern corner of the island. They continued to move into Messina where they expected to have a battle, but their enemies had already evacuated. The Allies had officially taken over Sicily, and while they did not take out many Germans, they were still very happy with their accomplishment of taking over the territory.