Strana 33
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BOXART STORY
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.
By August 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.
Illustration: Gareth Hector
Cobras over Sicily
Text: Jan Zdiarský
INFO Eduard
33
May 2025