The Allied Forces landed in Sicily in July 1943

The Allied Forces landed in Sicily in July 1943

It was July 10, 1943, shortly after midnight, was still in place in World War II when a shipping body formed by American soldiers, British and Canadians, the so-called Allied forces landed on the coast of Sicily.

A platoon of about 180 thousand soldiers deployed along 160 km of coast between Licata and Syracuse to what was once a major operation (the largest in history for the number of men landed on the first day and the coast size) aims to liberate ‘from Italy fascism. ‘Husky’, this is the name of the operation of landing on the coasts of Sicily still controlled by the Axis forces, was a success and it took him only 39 days to come to fruition. On 17 August 1943 the Allies entered Messina after conquering the other major cities of the island and Sicily was officially released by the presence of fascists, who are forced to flee.

HUSKY OPERATION

The air and naval operation that took the name of Hasky was, as mentioned, very quick and efficient: the landing in Sicily took place on the night between 9 and 10 July 1943 in an area between Syracuse and Licata.

Sicily represented a gateway to the allied troops: in addition to the approximately 180 thousand soldiers above, the Husky operation saw the use of 4000 combat aircraft and transport, 285 battleships, two aircraft carriers and 2,775 transport units ; also for the first time it appeared the DUKW, amphibian trucks to six wheels, and the LST, landing craft for tanks. With this imposing force in 39 days Sicily was liberated: the military campaign that followed the landing went on for two years making Italy a real battlefield until April 25, 1945, Liberation Day and date where the Allies entered Rome freeing it from Nazi occupation.