Husky: The Allied Invasion of Sicily, 1943

Husky: The Allied Invasion of Sicily, 1943

by Shawn Nutter

139 pages, 52 photos and illustrations, 4 maps

Merriam Press PDF edition 2025 (originally published in paperback in 2013; out of print)

The Allied invasion of Sicily, also known as the Battle of Sicily and Operation Husky, was a major campaign of World War II in which Allied forces invaded the Italian island of Sicily in July 1943 and took it from the Axis forces defended by the Italian 6th Army and the German XIV Panzer Corps. It paved the way for the Allied invasion of mainland Italy and initiated the Italian campaign that ultimately removed Italy from the war.

With the conclusion of the North Africa campaign in May 1943, the victorious Allies had for the first time ejected the Axis powers from an entire theatre of war. Now at Italy's doorstep, the Allied powers—led by the United States and United Kingdom—decided to attack Axis forces in Europe via Italy, rather than western Europe, due to several converging factors, including wavering Italian morale, control over strategic Mediterranean sea lanes, and the vulnerability of German supply lines along the Italian peninsula.

To divert some Axis forces to other areas, the Allies engaged in several deception operations, the most famous and successful of which was Operation Mincemeat. Operation Husky began on the night of 9–10 July 1943 with a large amphibious and airborne operation, followed by a six-week land campaign that ended on 17 August.

The Allies successfully achieved their primary aims: Axis air, land and naval forces were driven from the island, and the Mediterranean was now open to Allied merchant ships for the first time since 1941. These events led to the ousting of Italian leader Benito Mussolini and the fall of his regime, which was replaced by a new government. Italy's collapse necessitated German troops replacing Italian forces in the country, and to a lesser extent the Balkans, resulting in one-fifth of the entire German army being diverted from the intensive Eastern Front, a proportion that would remain until near the end of the war.

Contents

• The Allied Strategic Debate
• The Struggle for an Allied Plan
• The Invasion of Sicily and Allied Grand Strategy 
• Allied and Axis Plans and Dispositions 
• HUSKY in Execution: Pantelleria and Initial Landings 
• The Naval Experience 
• The Post-Landing Battle in Brief