Malta and the 1943 invasion of Sicily
By Wayne Saillard for Times of Malta
Landing craft in Grand Harbour during World War II
Photo and Caption as found at Times of Malta (link below)
Malta and the 1943 invasion of Sicily
Canadians who served on landing craft in Combined Operations and were involved in the invasions of Sicily and Italy write and talk about their times in Malta. Some visited Hill 10 Hospital to recover from fatigue and ailments (e.g., dysentery) while others poured hours of labour into repairing landing craft (damaged during the invasion of Sicily, July 1943) before participating in the invasion of Italy in September.
A few of the opening paragraphs of W. Saillard's article about Malta's role follows:
Malta played an important role in the 1943 invasion of Sicily with the nerve centre being housed within the Lascaris War Rooms. A multitude of aircraft, ships and troops were gathered at various points along the North African coast because of the limited space available on the island....
Overall command of Operation Husky was in the hands of General Dwight Eisenhower, while the invasion force comprised the British 8th Army under General Sir Bernard Montgomery and the American 7th Army under Lieutenant-General George Patton respectively.
The armada of just over 2,500 ships was under the command of Admiral Sir Andrew Cunningham while 4,000 aircraft were placed under Air Chief-Marshal Sir Arthur Tedder.
Overall command of Operation Husky was in the hands of General Dwight Eisenhower, while the invasion force comprised the British 8th Army under General Sir Bernard Montgomery and the American 7th Army under Lieutenant-General George Patton respectively.
The armada of just over 2,500 ships was under the command of Admiral Sir Andrew Cunningham while 4,000 aircraft were placed under Air Chief-Marshal Sir Arthur Tedder.
Allied assault troops board American invasion craft in North Africa
while, in the background, fully loaded landing craft set sail for Sicily
Men of 2nd Seaforth Highlanders embarking onto
landing craft at Sousse en route for Sicily, 5 July 1943
Credits for two photos above - WW2 Today
On July 10, 1943, with air superiority having been gained over Sicily, the invasion force began landing on the beaches under the cover of a naval bombardment and air support.
The British army landed in the vicinity of Syracuse while the Americans landed in the Gulf of Gela....
....The Allied forces captured Messina on August 17, bringing the campaign to a close....
The full article, published on Wednesday, July 11, 2012, may be found online at Times of Malta
Please link to Articles re Combined Operations, "Malta's Role in Operation Husky"
The full article, published on Wednesday, July 11, 2012, may be found online at Times of Malta
Please link to Articles re Combined Operations, "Malta's Role in Operation Husky"
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