Cobras over Sicily
Text: Jan Zdiarsky
Illustrations: Gareth Hector
Cat. No. 8463
The Allied landings on the Italian island of Sicily, intensively prepared in the spring of 1943, were intended to open up the Italian campaign with the aim of expelling Italian and German troops from the entire territory of Italy.
The preparations for the invasion, codenamed Operation Husky, included not only the concentration of British, Canadian and American invasion forces in Tunisia, Malta and the Suez. An accompanying bombing offensive would disrupt transport, air force bases, ground force bases, and several deception operations of a military and intelligence nature would be used as well. These were intended to convince the enemy as to the areas of an anticipated Allied invasion, and thus to induce him to redeploy his own assets. This part of the preparation later proved to be very effective and certainly saved many Allied lives.
The commander-in-chief of the entire operation was General Dwight D. Eisenhower, as Commander-in-Chief of American forces in North Africa. His deputy was British General Sir Harold Alexander. The ground invasion forces were divided into two tactical groups (Task Forces). No. 545, the eastern section (consisting of British and Canadians, under the command of Sir Bernard Montgomery) and No. 343, the western section (American General George S. Patton commanding). The ground invasion forces were to land on the southeast coast of the island and in the middle of the south coast. The invasion counted on the support of naval artillery fire, bombardment of the lines behind the invasion front, as well as direct air support.
The landings themselves began on the night of July 9/10th 1943. They were preceded by intensive bombing of Sicilian airfields and its transport network. On the other hand, the coastal batteries remained out of the main focus of the air attacks, so as not to undermine the effect of the misleading information that the Allies managed to sow through the aforementioned diversionary operations. The main burden of the invasion rested on the ground troops, concentrated in landing craft and on paratroopers. The activities of both of these were severely affected by strong winds, which greatly disrupted the plans of the invasion planners in many places. Several units landed in places other than where they had planned. Despite the initial difficulties, the element of surprise was not lost and subsequent progress was relatively rapid.
Strong air support combined with the pressure applied in the previous months had also paid off. From May, 1943 to the beginning of the July invasion, Allied airmen destroyed more than four hundred enemy aircraft. Of course, this was not without cost, as their own losses reached 250 aircraft, most of them falling victim to the island's anti-aircraft artillery. By July 10th, only two airfields remained operational in Sicily, and about half of the German and Italian aircraft had been forced to withdraw to the continent.
The 81st Fighter Group also provided air support for the invasion, undertaking escort duties and direct support of the invasion ships. Its Airacobras took off from Sidi Ahmed Air Base in Tunisia to participate in the invasion process. The unit, which was formed in January, 1942, and after advanced training of its pilots in joint operations and tactics, moved to Europe and then to Africa, from where it participated in the fighting in the Mediterranean from early 1943 under the command of the 12th Air Force. Its main tasks included protecting Allied ships in the Mediterranean and in June, 1943 participated in the occupation of the island of Pantelleria. This was only a prelude to the invasion of Sicily, which came a month later.
Fierce fighting continued until the end of July, when the evacuation of German troops began, mainly through the Strait of Messina, to the continent. ByAugust 18th, Sicily was considered cleared for the Allies. According to contemporary reports, the Germans managed to move over 60,000 men to the continent, the Italians even around 75,000. The actual numbers will be somewhat lower, but they nevertheless make it clear that opposition to the Allies was fierce.
However, Allied losses were also high. Official records put the count at 8,781 dead, wounded and captured members of the American Seventh Army, while for the British Eighth Army this total reached almost 12,000 and for the Canadians, close to 2,500. Add to that 1,200 sailors (for the US and Royal Navy combined). For the USAAF, losses exceeded 150 men. On the German side, losses incurred in the defense of Sicily against the Allies reached almost 28,000 troops and for the Italians it was almost 190,000 (according to the historical section of the Italian army). The price of the occupation of Sicily was enormous on both sides. Unfortunately, there was also a lot of violence committed against the civilian population and war crimes against prisoners, which some Allied soldiers committed during the occupation of Sicily.
As a result, this operation opened the door to the advance into continental southern Europe, which continued through September, 1943. It was also one of the reasons for the fall of Mussolini's regime at the end of July. Another significant benefit was the full opening up of the Mediterranean shipping lanes to the Allies.