The Allied landing in Sicily was troublesome, why didn t the Italian army resist to the end?

The Allied landing in Sicily was troublesome, and the Italian army did not resist to the end because the Italian army itself did not want to be an enemy of the Allied forces, so it decided to give up resistance!

The disparity in strength is huge, and the Allies have a well-developed strategy plan. The Allies bombed air bases, ports and other important military facilities in Sicily, Sardinia and mainland Italy almost two months before the landing. In order to conceal the campaign attempts, the Allies also resorted to a series of deceptive measures, which made the German and Italian armies in Sicily poorly prepared for the defenses.

And the Allied landing plan was meticulous and detailed, and the landing was a success. In this case, the Italian army could only retreat to Italy proper with the remnants of the troops.

At the beginning of the war, the Allies targeted the psychological tactics of the Italian army and threw pieces of surrender paper into the territory of the Italian army.

Of course, there is no ** equipment, and it is not so powerful. So it's like this to hide, that is, to take the best policy, which is also good.

Because the Italian army was war-weary. Although Italy was an ally of Germany, their awareness of fighting a war had always been poor, and they would become war-weary when faced with difficult battles.

Because they lack the right leadership to form effective resistance, they do not resist to the end.

The Allied landing in Sicily was a strategic deception, their purpose was to divert the attention of the Germans, the area where the Allies really wanted to land was the Calais region, and the landing in Normandy was only to cover people's eyes.

As the day of landing approached, the Allies began a series of strikes on air force facilities in Sicily and its nearby islands, clearing the perimeter. The island of Banterella was the base of aircraft and torpedo boats of the Italian army, located between Tunisia and Sicily. In order to seize this forward base, the Allies successfully landed on the island on June 11, 1943 after a 10-day bombardment of the Pure Tomb, and captured 10,000 Italian soldiers as a preparation, and the Allies lost only 40 pilots and less than 20 aircraft.

Two days later, the Allies captured the nearby islands of Linosa and Lampione. At this point, the Allies took control of all the islands in the Strait of Sicily and cleared the Axis outposts.

Beginning on 3 July, the Allied air forces began heavy air raids on airfields, ports, submarine bases, and industrial centers in Sicily, Sardinia, and the southern Apennine Peninsula, destroying many important targets and forcing the German and Italian long-range air forces to withdraw their bases to northern Italy. Four of the five train ferries in the Strait of Messina were also sunk, making it even more difficult for Sicily to connect with mainland Italy.

At 2:30 a.m. on July 10, the Allies parachuted one division each in the landing zone of the British and American forces, opening the curtain of the Sicilian Campaign. Due to excessive wind speeds, poor navigation systems, and lack of experience, 47 out of 133 gliders crashed into the sea, and most of the airborne troops failed to land at the designated sites. The small number of airborne troops that arrived in the target area as planned delayed the advance of the Italian reserve to the landing beachhead, but failed to stop its movement.

At the same time, the Allied amphibious assault fleet successfully arrived at the intended landing site. Fifteen minutes after the landing of the Airborne Forces, the Allies landed on the 160-kilometer-long coastline of Sicily with the huge strength of the first eight divisions under the cover of darkness and storms; Montgomery commanded the British 8th Army to land south of Syracuse, and Patton's American 7th Army to land at Jera Bay. In the face of the Allied raids, the German and Italian beach defenses were quickly destroyed.

The Italian divisions defending the coast retreated in a hurry almost without resistance. In this way, the burden of defense fell almost entirely on the shoulders of the German divisions.

There were two reasons, one was that the range of the Allied bombers at that time was too short to strike Sicily directly, and the other was that the capture of Panteria was regarded as a drill to capture Sicily.

Because if Pantenia were bypassed, it would be particularly difficult for the Allies to attack Sicily, and the hope of victory would be even less.

Because the geographical location of this island is just halfway between Tunisia and Sicily, if you want to attack Sicily, then Pantelleria is very useful, not only to shorten the attack distance, but also to serve as a forward position.

For the sake of morale, the Allies believed that establishing a base on the Axis territory would greatly boost morale, so they chose the island of Pantelleria, and the Allies mostly landed tanks, which was not suitable for long journeys around too far.

The reason why the Allies attacked Sicily and did not bypass Pantelleria was to seize this important place and prevent the Japanese from escaping!

Because of the limited conditions of the fighters at that time, the attack range was limited, and the capture of Pantelleria Island could shorten the attack distance by nearly 90 kilometers, so that it could strike the entire island of Sicily with full coverage.

Because of its excellent location. It was an outpost for the Allied attack on Italy, and it was important to note that the Allied fighters had a short flight range, and if they captured the island, they could cover Sicily.

Because of the geographical location of Pantelleria, capturing it would shorten the distance of the attack and lay the foundation for the Allied victory.

Traffic fortress. The island is located between Tunisia and Sicily and is known as the "Gibraltar of the Middle Mediterranean".