Operation Husky was formed during the Casablanca Conference in January 1943. And it was the first major Allied campaign of WW2.

It was also at that time, the largest amphibious operation carried out by the Allies. And was a rehearsal for the much bigger D-Day operation, planned for the following year in Normandy, France.

The plan was to invade and liberate Sicily – a large island off the southern Italian coast

At this time, Italy was under the dictatorship of Mussolini and his fascist regime. They ruled by fear and terror and were sympathetic supporters of Hitler. The Allies needed to defeat them to achieve success in liberating occupied Europe.

OPERATION MINCEMEAT: A SUCCESSFUL DECEPTION

Operation Mincemeat was a cleverly planned decoy operation, created to distract the Germans from the invasion of Sicily.

The plan had three goals:

• Distract attention from Operation Husky
• Draw German troops from the north of France before the D-Day invasion. Thereby reducing enemy
  resistance to the invading troops
• Force Italy out of the war.

British counterintelligence launched the operation by planting a body on a beach in Spain.  He wore the uniform of a British Royal Marine pilot, and he had a briefcase and personal documents with him.

The Allies hoped the false maps and papers would persuade the Germans there was an imminent invasion planned on Sardinia and possibly Greece.

The body was soon recovered by local Spanish fishermen who handed it over to the Spanish Navy. 

And the German military intelligence unit, Abwehr found out about the body and the documents.  The head of Abwehr persuaded the Spanish authorities to photograph the document, then hand them over to the Germans.

They were then quickly taken to the German High Command, where Hitler believed the contents to be genuine

The strategy worked.

Hitler reacted just as the Allies had hoped.  He immediately diverted troops from northern France and from the Russian battlefront at Kursk.  And used them to reinforce Sardinia against the impending Allied attack.

But it never came.

With German troops, previously on Sicily, now deployed on Sardinia thanks to the fictitious Operation Mincemeat, only two small German garrisons of 35,000 men were left to defend the whole island, supported by a few thousand Italian coastal defense troops.

THEIR WORST NIGHTMARE – BAD WEATHER

By the time the Germans realized they’d been duped, thousands of Allied troops were already mobilized and
gathering in the Mediterranean.

Operation Husky had started.

This was the beginning of the Allied invasion of Italy. And the commander-in-Chief was General Dwight D
Eisenhower.

Over 150,000 Canadian, British, US and Free French troops made up the landing force. And combined with air and sea support, almost 500,000 troops took part.

General Sir Bernard Montgomery led the Eastern task force. And the Western task force was under General George Patton.

The operation started during the night of July 10th, 1943 and continued until 17th August.

British bases on Malta, just 60 miles south of Sicily, provided much needed air support for Operation Husky. And the 4,000 fighter and bomber aircraft were joined by over 3,000 Allied ships.

However, bad weather and high winds proved a major problem for air drops.   

American and British paratroopers were deployed from a base in Tunisia using gliders and troop carriers. But due to the poor navigational conditions, many aircraft were blown off course with paratroopers landing miles from their targets.

And several of the gliders never made it to the drop zones, crashing into the sea.

THE END OF A REGIME

German and Italian troops fought hard to hold Sicily.

But shocked by the sudden invasion of the island, Mussolini's fascist regime fell apart.

In July 1943, he was deposed and arrested – he would later be publicly executed.   And the newly-appointed
anti-German leader, Marshal Pietro Badoglio, quickly began working with the Allies towards an armistice.

However, the fighting on Sicily continued

German garrisons resisted the Allied advance. And it took five weeks for the troops to push them back. The
Germans were dug into a dense mountainous area in the north of the island. And mountaintop towns gave them major vantage points during the battle.

It was hard for the Allies to make progress. But their determination won and they forced the Germans to retreat to the northeast port of Messina.

A VANISHING ACT

The commanders Montgomery and Patton regrouped, allowing their troops a few days of well-earned rest as they prepared for one final hard battle.

But the Italians and Germans had other ideas.

During this lull, they managed to evacuate over 100,000 troops, steathily moving men, supplies and equipment across the narrow Strait of Messina to the mainland.

When the Allied troops invaded Messina on August 17th, the enemy had vanished.

HARD-WON SUCCESS

Operation Husky was a shocking blow to the Axis forces, and played a major part in the liberation of Europe.
But it was a hard-won success.

By driving the Axis powers off the island, it opened shipping routes for Allied troops and support ships.  This was the first time, since the start of the war, that they could move freely around this area of the Mediterranean.

But the weather and the rough terrain caused major problems for the Allies.  In some areas troops used pack mules to travel and transport equipment.

And there was the ongoing lack of military coordination, and poor logistical planning between the leaders.

Operation Husky also claimed over 24,000 Canadian, British and American casualties. Many of them still buried in the war cemeteries on the island today, like this peaceful place in Catania.  

Meanwhile German and Italian troops regrouped on the mainland.  They were ready now for the Allied invasion.

And the Allies faced a hard and bitter fight in the months ahead, during the battle to liberate Italy.

But they won.

Not only did the Allies successfully take this island back from the Germans, they got rid of Mussolini, and it forced Hitler to divert troops from the battle on the Eastern Front in the Soviet Union.

If you'd like to know more about Operation Mincemeat, check out Ben Macintyre's book.

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Image & research credits:
Museo dello Sbarco (Allied Landing Museum) in Catania
Museo della Memoria (Museum of Memory) in Modica, Ragusa
http://www.museionline.info/musei/museo-della-memoria-sicilia-1943
http://www.museionline.info/musei/musei-militari/3
https://www.cwgc.org/find-a-cemetery/cemetery/2006200/CATANIA
http://www.veterans.gc.ca/eng/remembrance/memorials/overseas/second-world-war/italy/agira
http://www.italymagazine.com
http://www.relaysystem.co.uk/RN_Commando_1_Husky.pd
https://www.warhistoryonline.com/news/operation-husky-2.html
https://www.canadiangeographic.ca
https://www.learning.history.com
https://tracesofwar.com
https://www.iwm.org.uk/
http://www.nww2m.com/2013/07/13131/
Author's own images