Italy

bigpigeon.us webpage WWII-Germany > The MTO > Italy > Sicily, © 2023 by Robert A. Christiansen, updated by RAC 16 May 2022.
After the Axis surrender in Tunisia May 1943, the Italian island of Sicily, lying between Tunisia and the Italian mainland, was the next Allied objective.

​Sicily, July 9 - August 17, 1943:

• The Sicilian Campaign began with the Operation Husky amphibious and airborne landings on the south coast of Sicily on 9 July. Two Allied armies fought in Sicily:
• Patton's new US Seventh Army fought northward and then eastward.
• Montgomery's veteran British Eigh th Army fought northward. 

The Seventh Army included the US 1st, 3rd, 9th, and 45th Infantry Divisions, 2nd Armored Division, and 82nd Airborne Division.

Note: Error in upper right-hand corner of the map: August 7 should read August 17.

Operation Husky and the Sicilian Campaign

Although Allied progress during the Sicilian Campaign was generally steady, there were four major glitches:

• Friendly fire shot down US aircraft carrying airborne troops over the invasion beaches at Gela.
• Contention between Americans and Brits over roadway use northward slowed US progress.
• For nearly a week at the end of the campaign, 40,000 German troops were able to escape from Messina to the mainland with their equipment.
• General Patton personally administered corporal punishment to two men suffering from combat fatigue.

​The pending loss of Sicily led Italian Fascist Party leaders in Rome to stage a bloodless coup on 25 July 1943, removing Benito Mussolini from power. Italy soon left the Axis, and the German Army occupied the Italian mainland and disarmed the Italian Army.

Sources for Big Pigeon's The MTO > Italy > Sicily webpage:

• The Operation Husky and the Sicilian Campaign map, https://inflab.medium.com/southern-front-maps-of-world-war-ii-ffbd40467bc3 - courtesy of Infobase Publishing, https://www.infobasepublishing.com.
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Husky_order_of_battle

​Pottawattamie Area WWII Dead - The MTO > Italy > Sicily:

• Taken from the bigpigeon.us WWII Roster module.

​02-02 - The MTO > Italy > Sicily: (four dead, updated 31 Dec 2022) 
† Barnett, Walter McMillan Jr., SN 20-743-494, US Army, Pott. Co.

• Co. G, 505th Parachute Inf. Regt.; 82nd Airborne Div., Seventh Army; KIA 13 Jul 1943 Sicily; Operation Husky - The MTO > Italy > Sicily.

† Jensen, Carl Christian, SN 6-863-492, US Army, Audubon & Pott. Cos.

• Co. F, 18th Inf. Regt., 1st Inf. Div., Seventh Army; KIA 4 Aug 1943 near Troina, central Sicily; Battle of Troina - The MTO > Italy > Sicily.

† Stoelk, Leon Harley, SN 37-436-468, US Army, Shelby & Carroll Cos.

• Co. A, 753th Tank Bn., supporting 1st Inf. Div., Seventh Army; KIA 22 July 1943 NE of Enna, central Sicily; Operation Husky - The MTO > Italy > Sicily.

† Vanderhoof, George Duane, SN 37-466-726, US Army, Montgomery Co.

• Co. K, 26th Inf. Regt., 1st Inf. Div., Seventh Army; KIA 26 Jul 1943 Sicily; Operation Husky - The MTO > ​Italy > Sicily.