Operation Husky


Book Description

On July 10, 1943, two great Allied armadas of over 2,000 ships readied to invade Sicily. This was Operation Husky, the first step toward winning a toehold in fascist-occupied Europe. Among the invaders were 20,000 Canadian troops serving in the First Canadian Infantry Division and First Canadian Tank Brigade — in their first combat experience. Over the next 28 days, the Allied troops carved a path through the rugged land, despite fierce German opposition. Drawing on firsthand accounts of veterans and official military records, Operation Husky offers a gripping, meticulous account of this seminal operation and the young men who fought, died, and survived it.







Leyte Gulf 1944 (1)


Book Description

In October 1944, the US prepared to invade the Philippines to cut Japan off from its resource areas in Southeast Asia. This is the first in a two-part study of the October 23-26 Battle of Leyte Gulf, which resulted in a decisive defeat for the Japanese.




The Invasion of Sicily 1943


Book Description

With victory in North Africa complete, the Allies had a choice. The Americans wanted an early cross channel attack from Britain on North West Europe. Churchill favored invading the soft underbelly of Italy to weaken the Axis forces and gain Italian surrender. With Eisenhowers army and battle-hardened Eighth Army in North Africa, Churchill prevailed.The ambitious Operation HUSKY required meticulous planning. Montgomery's Eighth Army and Patton's Seventh landed successfully although the air landing proved costly. While the outcome was not in doubt the mountainous terrain acted in the defenders favor. The German presence was higher than expected and the vast bulk of the enemy were Italian. In little over a month, the first Americans reached Messina.The strategic plan was successful: the Italian capitulated, Hitler had to reinforce his Southern flank relieving pressure on the Soviets and valuable lessons were learned by Allied for D-Day.




Sicily 1943


Book Description

A detailed examination of Operation Husky, the US and British invasion and conquest of the Italian island of Sicily. Not only did the Sicily operation represent a watershed in tactical development of combined arms tactics, it was also an important test for future Allied joint operations. Senior British commanders left the North African theater with a jaundiced and dismissive view of the combat capabilities of the inexperienced US Army after the debacle at Kasserine Pass in Tunisia in February 1943. Sicily was a demonstration that the US Army had rapidly learned its lessons and was now capable of fighting as a co-equal of the British Army. The Sicily campaign contained a measure of high drama as Patton took the reins of the Seventh US Army and bent the rules of the theater commander in a bold race to take Palermo on the northern Sicilian coast. When stiff German resistance halted Montgomery's main assault to Messina through the mountains, Patton was posed to be the first to reach the key Sicilian port and end the campaign. This richly-illustrated volume details the highs and lows of the Sicily campaign, including the disastrous problems with early airborne assaults and the Allied failure to seal the straits of Messina, allowing the Germans to withdraw many of their best forces.




Bitter Victory


Book Description

Bitter Victory illuminates a chapter of World War II that has lacked a balanced, full-scale treatment until now. In recounting the second-largest amphibious operation in military history, Carlo D'Este for the first time reveals the conflicts in planning and the behind-the-scenes quarrels between top Allied commanders. The book explodes the myth of the Patton-Montgomery rivalry and exposes how Alexander's inept generalship nearly wrecked the campaign. D'Este documents in chilling detail the series of savage battles fought against an overmatched but brilliant foe and how the Germans—against overwhelming odds—carried out one of the greatest strategic withdrawals in history. His controversial narrative depicts for the first time how the Allies bungled their attempt to cut off the Axis retreat from Sicily, turning what ought to have been a great triumph into a bitter victory that later came to haunt the Allies in Italy. Using a wealth of original sources, D'Este paints an unforgettable portrait of men at war. From the front lines to the councils of the Axis and Allied high commands, Bitter Victory offers penetrating reassessments of the men who masterminded the campaign. Thrilling and authoritative, this is military history on an epic scale.




Operation Husky


Book Description

"An illuminating account, firmly grounded in archival research, showing the importance of logistics in a much neglected but hugely significant amphibious operation in World War Two." Sir Anthony Seldon Operation Husky, the amphibious invasion of Sicily in July 1943, was the largest and most complex logistical exercise attempted by the Allies up to that point in the war. An assault force of 176,000 soldiers embarked on 2,590 vessels from ports across the Middle East, North Africa, the UK and the US. Both the size of the initial Allied assault force and the frontage of the campaign would be larger than the Normandy invasion in June 1944. To further compound the monumental challenges facing the Allied logisticians, the preparatory period for Operation Husky was disjointed and chaotic. In April 1943, General Montgomery described the operational plan as a 'dog's breakfast'. Drawing extensively on new research, James Garvey tells the previously untold story of the British logisticians who triumphed against immense odds to deliver the task force to the beaches of Sicily and supply it successfully in the field. The lessons learned on the beaches of Sicily established the blueprint for Allied success at Normandy ten months later. Garvey further argues that the contribution of logisticians to in World War II has been consistently overlooked. What emerges is a dramatic re-evaluation of the role that they played in winning the war in Europe. Praise for Operation Husky: "A brilliant forensic examination of the key role that British logisticians played in the success of the Allied invasion of Sicily in 1943, preparing the ground for the D-Day landings a year later." Saul David James Garvey lives in London and studied the MA in Military History at the University of Buckingham. Operation Husky is his first book.




Italian Campaign


Book Description

Please note that the content of this book primarily consists of articles available from Wikipedia or other free sources online. Pages: 83. Chapters: Allied invasion of Sicily, Operation Shingle, Operation Husky order of battle, Allied invasion of Italy, Gothic Line, Bernhardt Line, Spring 1945 offensive in Italy, Four days of Naples, Gothic Line order of battle, Armistice between Italy and Allied armed forces, Operation Grapeshot order of battle, Battle of Monte Cassino order of battle January 1944, Allied Invasion of Italy Order of Battle, Battle of San Pietro Infine, Invasion of Elba, Operation Diadem order of battle, Second Battle of Monte Cassino order of battle February 1944, Marocchinate, D-Day Dodgers, Hamish Henderson, Moro River Campaign order of battle, Anzio order of battle, Badoglio Proclamation, Operation Slapstick, Bombing of the Vatican, Trasimene Line, Operation Strangle, Winter Line, Operation Goldflake, Volturno Line, 6615th Ranger Force, Barbara Line, Thunderbolt!, Monte la Difensa, 1943 Naples post-office bombing, Hitler Line, Caesar C line, Roman switch line. Excerpt: The Allied invasion of Sicily, codenamed Operation Husky, was a major World War II campaign, in which the Allies took Sicily from the Axis (Italy and Nazi Germany). It was a large scale amphibious and airborne operation, followed by six weeks of land combat. It launched the Italian Campaign. Husky began on the night of 9-10 July 1943, and ended 17 August. Strategically, Husky achieved the goals set out for it by Allied planners. The Allies drove Axis air, land and naval forces from the island; the Mediterranean's sea lanes were opened and Italian dictator Benito Mussolini was toppled from power. It opened the way to the Allied invasion of Italy. The plan for Operation Husky called for the amphibious assault of the island by two armies, one landing on the south eastern and one on the central southern coast. The amphibious assaults were to be supported by naval gunfire, and...




Drop Zone, Sicily


Book Description

The author relates the events of the successful invasion of Sicily, which marked the beginning of the end of Hitler's hold on Europe.