Sicily '43. James Holland

well camouflaged: Dohm/Bundesarchiv, bild: 101I-303-0559-27

      46 A German Kubelwagon needs a change of wheel as a Sicilian boy watches: Grund/Horst/Bundesarchiv, bild: 101I-303-0559-27

      47 The Allies captured tens of thousands of prisoners: Courtesy National Archives and Records Administration, USA

      48 Germans of the Herman Göring Division talk to their captor: Courtesy National Archives and Records Administration, USA

      49 A Spitfire comes into land: © Imperial War Museum CAN 1098

      50 A British sapper clears one of the many mines the Germans left: National Army Museum

      51 British tanks of the County of London Yeomanry cross the Plain of Catania: National Army Museum

      52 All other images on page 13: Courtesy National Archives and Records Administration, USA

      53 A Fallschirmjäger anti-tank gun crew: Haas/Bundesarchiv, bild: 101I-567-1515-32

      54 All other images on page 14: National Army Museum

      55 Major-General Vyvyan Evelegh and Colonel George R. Smith meet on the road to Randazzo: Courtesy National Archives and Records Administration, USA

      56 The astonishing bridge-building effort by American 10th Engineer Battalion at Capo Calavà: Courtesy National Archives and Records Administration, USA

      57 US troops enter the wreckage of Messina: Courtesy National Archives and Records Administration, USA

      58 All other images on page 15: National Army Museum

      59 The view from Assoro: © Mike Peters

      60 Centuripe – the prostrate man: 4Corners images

      61 All other images on page 16: Supplied by author

       Integrated Pictures

      62 Operations room in Malta: © Imperial War Museum NA 4094

      63 SRS men with captured Italian gun: Paul Davis

      64 Supplied by the author from various sources where known: Airborne Assault Museum, Angela Bruccoleri, Max Corvo, Paul Davis, Charles Dryden, Robin Dundas, Imperial War Museum, National Archives UK, National Archives and Records Administration USA, Roberto Piccione.

      65 Part 3 opener: ‘The Race to Catania’: © Imperial War Museum NA 4666

      © Naval History and Heritage Command

      Note on the Text

      Writing a campaign history such as this is a complicated undertaking. Although dealing with American, British, Canadian, German and Italian units across the armed services, I’ve tried to keep the numbers of unit names as low as possible. To help distinguish one side from another, I have used a form of vernacular, styling German and Italian units more or less as they would be written in German and Italian – not to be pretentious in any way, but just to reduce the potential for confusion. Having said that, it seemed to me that to describe a Tiger tank company as the 2. Schwere Panzerkompanie was perhaps taking this too far, so I have called it more simply 2. Heavy Panzer Kompanie.

      For those who are not familiar with the scale of wartime units and the numbers involved, the basic fighting formation on which the size of armies was judged during the Second World War was the division. German panzer divisions were an all-arms formation of motorized infantry, artillery and tanks; panzer-grenadier divisions had fewer panzers – tanks – and more motorized infantry: a grenadier was simply an infantryman who was provided with motor transport to get from A to B. Infantry divisions had much less motorization by 1943 as fuel and other shortages were increasingly keenly felt within the Reich.

      As a rule of thumb, a division was around 15,000 men, although some divisions could have as many as 20,000. Two divisions or more made up a corps, usually denoted in Roman numerals to distinguish them. Two corps or more constituted an army, and two armies or more an army group. Going back down the scale, American, German and Italian divisions were divided into regiments, while British and Canadian divisions were divided into brigades. Confusingly, the British did have regiments too, but in the case of infantry these were parent organizations and never fielded as a whole. US and German regiments and British brigades were much the same, each consisting of three core components, which in the case of an infantry regiment/brigade were battalions, although the Americans termed these ‘regimental combat teams’ or RCTs. An infantry battalion was around 850 men, divided into companies of some 120 men, each of which in turn broke down into three platoons and finally to the smallest formation, the ten-man squad, Gruppe or section, depending on nationality. I hope this helps.

      List of Maps

      Sicily, Mediterranean and Allied Shipping Routes

      Axis Dispositions, 9 July

      HUSKY Final Landings Plan, 10 July

      US Seventh Army Assault, 10 July

      Withers’ Route to Ponte Grande, 9 July

      SRS on Capo Murro di Porco, 10 July

      Axis Counter-attack at Gela, 11 July

      Allied Operations, 10–22 July

      Primosole Bridge, 13–18 July

      5th Division Attacks in the Plain of Catania, 18–21 July

      US Seventh Army Drive West, 19–23 July

      Axis Defensive Lines

      Ridgeline Battles, 14 July–7 August

      San Fratello, 8 August

      The End in Sicily, 3–17 August

      Map Key

      (See also the Glossary of Terms and Abbreviations on p. 501)

      ALLIED UNITS AXIS UNITS

       STANDARD MILITARY SYMBOLS

      I = Company

      II = Battalion

      III = Regiment

      X = Brigade

      XX = Division

      XXX = Corps

      XXXX = Army

      XXXXX = Army Group

       OTHER ABBREVIATIONS

      Air = Airborne

      Arm = Armoured

      bde = brigade

      bn = battalion

      Br = British

      Can = Canadian

      CB = Coastal Battalion (Italian)

      CC = Combat Command

      CD = Coastal Division (Italian)

      Cdo = Commando

      FA = Field Artillery

      Fall = Fallschirmjäger

      GM = Gruppo Mobile

      gp = group

      HG = Hermann Göring (Panzer Division)

      Inf = Infantry

      It = Italian

      LCI = landing craft, infantry

      LST = landing ship, tank

      LZ