1943 military campaign of World War II on the island of Sicily, Italy
"Invasion of Sicily" redirects here. For the Athenian offensive in the Second Peloponnesian War, see Sicilian Expedition. For the 1860 conquest of Sicily as part of the Unification of Italy, see Expedition of the Thousand.
Sicilian campaign
Part of the Italian campaign of World War II
A map of the Allied army progress during Operation Husky from 11 July to 17 August 1943.
Date
9 July – 17 August 1943 (1 month, 1 week and 1 day)
Location
Sicily, Italy
Result
Allied victory
Territorial changes
Sicily occupied by Allied forces
Belligerents
United States United Kingdom Canada Free France[1] Australia[2][3][4]
Italy
Germany
Commanders and leaders
Dwight D. Eisenhower
Harold Alexander
Bernard Montgomery
George S. Patton
Walter Bedell Smith
Arthur Tedder
Andrew Cunningham
Alfredo Guzzoni
Vittorio Ambrosio
Pietro Barone
Albert Kesselring
Hans-Valentin Hube
F. v. Senger u. Etterlin
Strength
Initial strength:
160,000 personnel
600 tanks
14,000 vehicles
1,800 guns[5]
Peak strength:
467,000 personnel[6]
Italy:
131,359[7]–252,000 personnel[8]
260 tanks
1,400 aircraft[9]
Germany:
40,000–60,000 personnel[6][10]
Casualties and losses
United Kingdom and Canada:[11][12]
2,938 killed
9,212 wounded
2,782 missing
United States:[11]
2,811 killed
6,471 wounded
686 missing
Italy:[13]
4,678 killed
32,500 wounded
116,861 captured or missing[14]
Germany:[13]
4,325 killed
13,500 wounded
10,106 captured or missing
v
t
e
Campaigns of World War II
Europe
Poland
Phoney War
Finland
Winter War
Karelia
Lapland
Denmark and Norway
Western Front
1940
1944–1945
Britain
Balkans
Eastern Front
Italy
Sicily
Asia-Pacific
China
Pacific Ocean
South West Pacific
Franco-Thai War
South-East Asia
Burma and India
Japan
Manchuria and Northern Korea
pre-war border conflicts
Mediterranean and Middle East
Africa
North Africa
East Africa
Mediterranean Sea
Adriatic
Malta
Middle East
Iraq
Syria–Lebanon
Iran
Southern France
Other campaigns
Americas
Atlantic
Arctic
Strategic bombing
French West Africa
Indian Ocean
Madagascar
Coups
Yugoslavia
Iraq
Italy
Romania
Bulgaria
Hungary
French Indochina
v
t
e
Battle of the Mediterranean
1940
Vado
Malta
Club Run¹
Espero ¹²
Mers-el-Kébir
Calabria¹²
Cape Spada
Hurry ¹
Cape Passero¹
MB8 ¹
Taranto
Otranto²
White ¹
Cape Spartivento¹
1941
Excess ¹
Convoy AN 14¹
Genoa
Abstention
Souda Bay
Matapan
Tarigo ²
Crete ²
Substance ¹
Grand Harbour
Halberd ¹
Duisburg ²
Bon²
1st Sirte¹²
Alexandria
1942
2nd Sirte¹
Calendar ¹
Bowery ¹
Albumen
Harpoon ¹
Vigorous ¹
Pedestal ¹
Agreement
Torch
Stoneage ¹
Toulon
Portcullis ¹
Skerki²
Olterra¹
Algiers¹
1943
Zuwarah
Cigno ²
Campobasso ²
Pantelleria
Sicily
Gela
Scylla ²
Messina convoy²
Bastia
Strait of Bonifacio
Dodecanese
Rhodes
Leros
Kos
Cape Bougaroun¹
1944
Ist
Santorini
Symi
Port Cros
La Ciotat
1945
Ligurian Sea ¹
Allied convoys
Malta convoys
U-boat Campaign
¹ — Involved an Allied convoy or delivery mission
² — Involved an Axis convoy or delivery mission
v
t
e
Italian Campaign
Invasion of Sicily
Corkscrew
Mincemeat
Barclay
Animals
Chestnut
Narcissus
Fustian
Ladbroke
Gela
Troina
Centuripe
Invasion of Italy
Baytown
Avalanche
Slapstick
Armistice with Italy
Achse
Naples
Devon
Vatican bombing
Volturno Line
Barbara Line
Bari raid
Winter Line
Bernhardt Line
Monte la Difensa
San Pietro
Moro
Ortona
Rapido
Monte Cassino
Anzio
Cisterna
Diadem
Strangle
Chesterfield
Trasimene Line
Ancona
Elba
Gothic Line
Rimini
San Marino
Gemmano
Monte Castello
Garfagnana
1945 Spring Offensive
Tombola
Bowler
Roast
Bologna
Argenta Gap
Herring
Collecchio
Trieste
Italian Civil War
v
t
e
Invasion of Sicily
Prelude
Mincemeat
Animals
Corkscrew
Barclay
Invasion
Ladbroke
Narcissus
Chestnut
Fustian
Inland
Gela
Troina
Centuripe
v
t
e
Free French campaigns
Africa and Middle East
Dakar
Gabon
Keren
Exporter
Kufra
Bir Hakeim
Run for Tunis
Torch
Tunisia
Europe
Eastern Front
Husky
Corsica
Monte Cassino
Glières
Ist
Mont Mouchet
Overlord
Paris
Elba
Saint-Marcel
Vercors
Dragoon
Toulon
Marseilles
Lorraine
Dompaire
Strasbourg
Nordwind
Colmar Pocket
Alps
Indian Ocean and Asia
Réunion
Crimson
Indochina
North America
Saint Pierre and Miquelon
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 the Allied forces invaded the island of Sicily in July 1943 and took it from the Axis powers (Fascist Italy and Nazi Germany). It began with a large amphibious and airborne operation, followed by a six-week land campaign, and initiated the Italian campaign.
To divert some of the Axis forces to other areas, the Allies engaged in several deception operations, the most famous and successful of which was Operation Mincemeat. Husky began on the night of 9–10 July 1943 and ended on 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 and the Mediterranean sea lanes were opened for Allied merchant ships for the first time since 1941. These events led to the Italian dictator, Benito Mussolini, being toppled from power in Italy on 25 July, and to the Allied invasion of Italy on 3 September.
The German leader, Adolf Hitler, "canceled a major offensive at Kursk after only a week, in part to divert forces to Italy," resulting in a reduction of German strength on the Eastern Front.[15] The collapse of Italy necessitated German troops replacing the Italians in Italy and to a lesser extent the Balkans, resulting in one-fifth of the entire German army being diverted from the east to southern Europe, a proportion that would remain until near the end of the war.[16]
^Gaujac, p. 68
^Royal Australian Navy – the corvettes/minesweepers HMAS Cairns, Cessnock, HMAS Gawler, HMAS Geraldton, HMAS Ipswich, HMAS Lismore, HMAS Maryborough, and HMAS Wollongong Royal Australian Air Force – No. 3 Squadron RAAF (fighters), No. 450 Squadron RAAF (fighters), No. 458 Squadron RAAF (maritime patrol), and No. 462 Squadron RAAF (heavy bombers)
^"SICILY 1943 Battle Honors". Royal Australian Navy Official site. For service in the prescribed area, 10 July to 17 August 1943
^"450 Squadron RAAF Roll of Honour". Queensland War Memorial Register. 16 September 2015.
^Mitcham & von Stauffenberg (2007), p. 63
^ abMitcham & von Stauffenberg (2007), p. 307
^Le Operazioni in Sicilia e in Calabria (Luglio-Settembre 1943), Alberto Santoni, p.400, Stato maggiore dell'Esercito, Ufficio storico, 1989
^Including Navy and Air Force personnel.
^Dickson(2001) p. 201
^Shaw, p. 119
^ abHart, Basil H. Liddel (1970). A History of the Second World War. London, Weidenfeld Nicolson. p. 627.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
^Cite error: The named reference Sicily p. 305 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^ abUfficio storico dello Stato Maggiore dell'Esercito (USSME) (1993). Le operazioni in Sicilia e in Calabria. Rome. pp. 400–401.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
^"La guerra in Sicilia". Sbarchi Alleati in Italia.
^Atkinson 2007, p. 172
^Charles T. O'Reilly. "Forgotten Battles: Italy's War of Liberation, 1943–1945." Lexington Books, 2001. pp. 37–38.
and 20 Related for: Allied invasion of Sicily information
the successful AlliedinvasionofSicily. The main invasion force landed on the west coast of Italy at Salerno on 9 September as part of Operation Avalanche...
following the AlliedinvasionofSicily, Mussolini was arrested by order of King Victor Emmanuel III, provoking a civil war. Italy's military outside of the Italian...
The Alliedinvasionof Italy, a phase of the Mediterranean Theater of World War II, took place on 3 September at Reggio di Calabria (Operation Baytown)...
about an upcoming Alliedinvasionof German-occupied Greece, rather than Sicily, the more obvious target. Overcoming the reluctance of senior officers,...
Wehrmacht during World War II, having the rank of Obergefreiter. During the AlliedinvasionofSicily in Italy, Long was wounded on 10 July 1943, in the...
operation of the Second World War to disguise the 1943 AlliedinvasionofSicily. Two members of British intelligence obtained the body of Glyndwr Michael...
for the Alliedinvasionof the Italian island of Pantelleria (between Sicily and Tunisia) on 11 June 1943, prior to the AlliedinvasionofSicily, during...
Besass and his ship also participated in the Allied invasionofSicily. In September 1943, the month of the Vasilissa Olga's sinking, Blessas patrolled the...
were used to great effect during the Normandy landings and the AlliedinvasionofSicily on the Western Front, and across the Pacific through leapfrogging...
AlliedinvasionofSicily as the spearhead of Operation Husky. After the conquests of Palermo and Messina the Seventh Army prepared for the invasion of...
support of the AlliedinvasionofSicily. Two teams of ten men each, codenamed 'Pink' and 'Brig', parachuted into northern Sicily on the night of 12 July...
Commanding the Italian 6th Army on Sicily and commander of the Axis troops on Sicily during the Alliedinvasionof the island. The German–Italian resistance...
Command Sicily in Enna and also commanded by Generale d'Armata Alfredo Guzzoni had command of all Royal Italian Army and German Army units on Sicily. The...
away from the AlliedinvasionofSicily ("Operation Husky"). Montagu was president of the United Synagogue from 1954 to 1962, and President of the Anglo-Jewish...
Caltagirone, southern Sicily, Italy on 14 July 1943. As part of the AlliedinvasionofSicily, the Seventh United States Army under Lieutenant General George...
the AlliedinvasionofSicily. Scipione Africano fought a night engagement against four British motor torpedo boats (MTBs) during its passage of the Strait...
during the AlliedinvasionofSicily in 1943. The famous Italian novelist Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa was the last to hold the title of prince; Italian...