What was the Sicily landing campaign like?

<> "The Background to the Outbreak of the Sicily Landings.

After the victory of the war in North Africa, the Allies chose to attack a variety of targets. Although the Allies had control over the sea and could land on any coast of the Mediterranean, in practice the specific plan needed to be developed on a case-by-case basis. At that time the allies had three options:

The opening of the Balkan theater in Sicily and Italy, southern France, and Greece had its advantages and disadvantages in each direction. The Allies needed to consider the situation and work out the best strategy for the situation to achieve victory.

The Allies ultimately chose to conduct landing operations in Sicily and Italy, mainly considering the problem of air cover. Landing directly in France and Greece would have made it more difficult to cover and would require a large number of aircraft carriers, but the Allies could not afford to enter the Mediterranean at the time. Landing in Sicily avoids this.

Located in close proximity to Tunisia, Sicily can be covered with nearby airfields without the need for a large number of aircraft carrier support. Moreover, it is convenient to transport landing ships to and fro, with less demand and a high probability of successful landing.

Strategically, the landings in southern France and Greece were the envy of opening up new land fronts, which meant the investment of large numbers of troops and supplies, and maintaining such a large-scale land war required a stable Mediterranean route. The geographical location of Sicily dictates its importance, and Axis bombers taking off from here will pose a serious threat to the Allied transport fleet. Therefore, in order to open up the Mediterranean route, it is necessary to occupy important islands such as Sicily and Sardinia, which are of great strategic significance.

Therefore, in any case, before the Allies launched any large-scale combat operations in the Mediterranean, they had to occupy Sicily, ensuring the smooth flow of air routes. After that, the Allies were free to choose southern France, Italy, or Greece to fight.

The Sicilian landings began on the night of July 9, 1943, and ended with an Allied victory on August 17.

The operation that landed on Sicily was codenamed the Husky and was considered one of the attacks on Italy.

This action was the prelude to the subsequent attack on Italy.

In the middle of the night on July 9, 1943, the Allies began the Sicilian campaign with an airborne landing.

Due to Hitler's gross error in judging the Allied landing site, the counterattack of the German Panzer Division was crushed by the Allies, and the Italians retreated in a hurry almost without resistance, and the coastal defense line was quickly destroyed.

American and British troops entered Messina and occupied the island.

The landing campaign in Sicily was declared over.

The Battle of Sicily was an important battle carried out by the Allies on enemy territory since the outbreak of World War II, and the Allies not only obtained a springboard for a direct attack on Italy militarily, but also strongly shook the already shaken Italy politically** led to the fall of Mussolini and the surrender of Italy, opening the door for the Allies to land in Europe from the south.

The Axis powers totaled 10,000 men and 140,000 were taken prisoner (mainly Italian soldiers, many of whom were recorded by the Allies who fled the lines of their own accord rather than were forced to surrender).

A total of 2,237 U.S. troops were killed and 6,544 wounded and captured. The British army suffered 2,721 killed and 10,122 wounded and captured; A total of 562 Canadian troops were killed and 748 wounded and captured. Many U.S. and all Canadian troops entered the war for the first time.

The Axis powers succeeded in evacuating more than 100,000 men and more than 100,000 vehicles from Sicily, a stunning success in the face of the Allied superiority in the air and sea.

Landing in Sicily.

The Allied victory in the Sicily landing was the prelude to the future attack on Italy, and it also opened the door for the Allies to land in Europe from the south, which can be regarded as one of the most important famous battles in World War II. The Battle of Sicily was an important battle carried out by the Allies on enemy territory since the outbreak of World War II, and the Allies not only obtained a springboard for a direct attack on Italy militarily, but also strongly shook the already shaken Italy politically ** leading to the fall of Mussolini and the surrender of Italy. During the Sicily landing campaign, the Allies covertly mobilized a large number of land, navy, and air forces from all over the country, and they had an absolute superiority in troops"Weak with a strong blow"The vantage point, camouflage and deception were also successful, and the suddenness of the battle of infiltration was ensured from the bushes.

However, the US and British forces were not resolute enough to stop the German retreat in the Strait of Messina despite the superiority of naval and air forces, resulting in the German army successfully retreating more than 20,000 men and more than 10,000 vehicles to the Italian mainland. However, the German and Italian senior commanders disagreed, their actions were not coordinated, and the main forces were dispersed, and in the course of the battle, the German and Italian defenders were suspicious of each other and did not cooperate with each other, which led to defeat. This invasion also affected the Soviet-German war, and the 1st Adolf Guard Panzer Division was withdrawn and transferred to Greece, which was one of the reasons for the defeat of the German army at the Battle of Kursk.