Road to Messina - Europe 1943

Road to Messina - Europe May-August 1943

Churchill speaks to U.S. Congress May 19, from ILN, 1943/06/12

VP Wallace and Speaker Rayburn listen, from ILN, 1943/06/12

TRIDENT conference

May 11-27, 1943 - 3rd in Washington with Churchill and Roosevelt
1943 was the "year of summit conferences" that shaped "alliance politics" - the series of conferences started with Casablanca, followed by TRIDENT in May, QUADRANT in August, SEXTANT in November and ending with the important EUREKA meeting in Teheran at the end of the year.
momentum of victory in Tunesia - continue the attack in the Mediterranean & use troops already there, but where?
should attack Corsica and Sardinia to establish air bases against Italy & S. Europe
op. MINCEMEAT - plan by Ewin Montagu to mislead OKW with false plans for Sardinia, Greece - "Major Martin" washed up in Spain - "The Man Who Never Was"
ULTRA had indicated Hitler would not defend Sicily or Italy - made Allies overconfident
agreed on HUSKY, but not Italy yet
top priority should be ROUNDUP & SLEDGEHAMMER - U.S. strategy rising over British
date set for ROUNDHAMMER May 1, 1944 - 29 Divisions to go to England, but landing craft diverted to Sicily
FDR threat of "Pacific Alternative" = shift all resources to Japan 1st
FDR wanted ANAKIM in Burma, but Churchill wanted emphasis on Mediterranean

June 2 - FDR sent Stalin Trident communique, but Stalin angry over 2nd Front delay

growing need for personal meeting to preserve allied unity - would lead to Teheran in November

June 5-11 - Pantelleria

island had airfield, 11,000 Italian troops, guns controlling access to Sicily
6 day air bombardment - map - all 11,000 enemy surrendered without a fight
1st time Tuskegee Airmen "Black Eagles" flew under Col. Ben Davis, Jr.

June 12 - Lampedusa surrendered, then Linosa and Lampione by June 14

Mediterranean map from ILN 1941/04/19 - mid bott

HUSKY

July 10 to Aug. 17, 1943 - the invasion of Sicily - only 90 miles from Africa - "greatest amphibious operation in history" - 38 day campaign - see images

LSTs loading 2 days before invasion, from NA

Landing craft LST and LCT and LCA, from ILN 1944/02/05 - more landing craft images

from ILN 1943/05/15 - big

Sicily invasion map
from Newsweek 1943/09/06

German 88mm gun captured in Sicily, from ILN 1943/08/14

Patton, Arnold, Clark, ca. 12/08/1943, from NA

German 88mm gun captured in Sicily, from ILN 1943/08/14

Sicily map, from USAAF - bg

160,000 troops - 4000 aircraft - 7 amphibious divisions (only 5 such divisions at Normandy June 6, 1944)
Adm. Hewitt = 580 ships & 1124 landing craft
Adm. Ramsay = 795 ships & 715 landing craft
LST = Landing Ship Tank (or Large Stationary Target) = held 20 tanks, or 12 deuce trucks or, if hit sand bars, could disgorge DUKWs that would go into water
LCT = Landing Craft Tank = held 3 tanks
LCI = Landing Craft Infantry = entire company of 196 men
LSD was not a landing craft, but an hallucenagenic drug discovered by accident 1943 by chemist - 1st "trip" Apr. 16

objective = Messina on NE coast, only 3 mi from Italy, vital communication center - Mt. Etna

U.S. 7th Army under Patton landed on south coast with objective to take Palermo (150 mi west of Messina)

Patton did not like plan that U.S. only to support British
Patton got 3rd star March 12 - now a Lt. General able to command an army, not just a corps

Brit. 8th Army under Monty landed on east coast with objective to take Syracuse (80 mi south of Messina)

Monty a WWI soldier of the past
slow, failed to mass modern superior combat power
was not a manager like Ike - a superb leader of a corps, but not an army

shortage of landing craft delayed campaign

Gen. Lucian Truscott overloaded LSTs 100% - 450 men and 94 vehicles

82nd Airborne Division - Gen. Matthew Ridgeway

also included Troop Carrier Command in Waco steel-tube gliders - 14,000 made in Minn. & Ohio

July 10 - lucky bomb hit on HQ of Italian Gen Guzzoni - no communication for 24 hrs

July 10-12 - US struggled against elite Livorno Division and Hermann Goring Panzer Division

1st Divison "Big Red One" under Gen. Terry Allen landed at fishing village of Gela, spearheaded by Darby's Rangers
3rd Division under Gen. Lucian Truscott joined beachhead

July 11 - 144 allied transport planes fired on by US Navy ships

23 C-47s shot down, 300 paratrooper casualties
mistakes caused reform of AF & Navy coordination
in general, U.S. artillery very effective
big 4.2" mortars fired white phosphorous rounds - were rifled and more accurate than 105mm
TOT (Time on Target) - all artillery fired at once on small target (108 guns of 9 battalions)
Navy cruiser fired 8" guns off shore

July 13 - Brit. take Augusta

Brit. 8th Army stalled - Monty waited 5 days on the beach before moving out
Patton allowed by Alexander to head for Messina
Patton had ULTRA info on German positions

July 19 - Hitler met with Mussolini at Feltre, northern Italy

July 22 - US 3rd Division took Palermo

but Patton restaged surrender of Palermo with 2nd Armored Division
Omar Bradley led 2nd Corps on west side of Mt. Etna - recently promoted by Marshall to 3 stars for his Tunesia victories
Patton innovated tactics - mounted amphibious landings behind retreating defenders, but lacked landing craft

July 26 - fall of Mussolini

due to success of Sicily - also, July 19 attack by 12th AF bombers on Rome
King Victor Emmanuel replaced Mussolini with Pietro Badoglio who favored Allies
daring parachute drop on Rome planned for Sept 8 by Ridgeway & 82nd
but called off at last minute, stopped by code word "Innocuous" because would have been suicide due to 40,000 Germans near Rome

Aug. 11 - German retreat began

Hitler took personal charge - no hold-at-all-cost order this time; rather, delay by 6 lines while troops retreated
AAF and Navy failed to interdict Strait of Messina
4 German Divisions escaped (40,000) + 62,000 Italians

Aug. 8 - Amphibious landing captured Sant Agatoa and Cesaro Island.

Aug. 10 - Amphibious landing captured Brolo.

Aug. 15 night - patrols from 3rd Division reached Messina 1st - Monty 12 mi. away.

Aug. 16 - Truscott ready to accept surrender, but had to wait 2 hours for Patton.

Aug. 19 - Surrender negotiations began in Lisbon By Gen. Bedell Smith with Castelllano, who signed final surrender Sept. 3 in Sicily as Allied invasion of Italy began.

In the Sicily campaign, U.S. lost 7000 casualties but took 100,000 prisoners; British lost 12,000 casualties.

significance of Sicily:

lack of any grand strategy - decisions made by Patton and Montgomery.
American soldier took the spotlight away from the British - images 1-11
concentrated power of TOT artillery - but shortage of ammo .
success of amphibious landings - but lack of landing craft.
lack of AAF support - planes strafed own soldiers .
WEFT (Wings, Engine, Fuselage, Tail) came to mean "Wrong Every F---ing Time" - like the dillies of Lt. Richard Osborn.
Patton careless with logistics - too eager to outrun his supplies - ignored maintenance - but tactical success of his wide flanking movement.
Patton slapped soldier in field hospital as a coward - ordered by Ike to apologize to all - but story not made public until November by Drew Pearson.
Patton was hero to U.S. public, but not allowed by Ike to command in Italy.
AVALANCHE plan approved by CCS July 20 - Salerno landings Sept. 9.

radio and newsreel reports:

Edward R. Murrow radio report from London July 11 on CBS World News Today
"Sicily Invaded," Universal newsreel 16-206 (7/12/1943) DVD42
"Softening Up For Invasion ," Universal newsreel 16-207 (7/15/1943) DVD42
"War's End for Axis Captives," Universal newsreel 16-220 (8/30/1943) DVD42
"Roosevelt Warns Axis," Universal newsreel 16-219 (8/26/1943) DVD42
"Italy Quits" and "Long Way to Go Says FDR," Universal newsreel 16-223 (9/9/1943) DVD42
"Reds Rout Nazis Hordes," Universal newsreel 16-221 (9/2/1943) DVD42
Bill Downs radio report from Moscow July 25 on CBS World News Today