laitimes

Decisive Battle of Sicily: The First Allied Counterattack on Europe!

In 1943, it was known that the Anglo-American Allies were going to counterattack Europe, but no one thought that the Allies would prefer Sicily. In fact, the Allies had long been prepared to squeeze the persimmons, and the Allied operations in Sicily also indirectly supported the Soviet Battle of Kursk and made Italy completely surrender to the Allies.

Decisive Battle of Sicily: The First Allied Counterattack on Europe!

In the summer of 1943, the Allies were ready to land in Sicily, and in Malta, the Allied paratroopers were hesitant to take advantage of the favorable weather to launch an attack, and thousands of Allied paratroopers entered combat, landing in Sicily in Allied transport aircraft. Behind the paratroopers was a landing force of 160,000 Allied troops. The Allied attack was resolute and decisive, and the German-Italian forces in Sicily resisted only a little, and there was no more sound.

It was not until the third day that italy planned a counterattack, and the Germans joined in and began to attack the U.S. Seventh Division. However, in the face of the strong allied firepower, the American army continued to win consecutive victories and occupied the city of Jella, and the area of Sicily was not small. In the course of the Allied attack on Sicily, the German resistance was the most tenacious, especially the US 1st Infantry Division, which fought the Germans in the Troina area for a week, paid heavy casualties, and finally occupied the area.

Decisive Battle of Sicily: The First Allied Counterattack on Europe!

The end of Sicily marked the capture of Messina by the Americans. The Battle of Sicily lasted more than a month and ended in an Allied victory. The Allies' choice to attack Sicily was actually a deliberate choice. On the one hand, the German army in France is stronger, and Sicily is basically Italian miscellaneous soldiers, landing in France may be dangerous, but the capture of Sicily is a hand.

Decisive Battle of Sicily: The First Allied Counterattack on Europe!

Moreover, the Sicily landing operation involved 160,000 Allied troops, which is not at all the same as the more than 2 million people who landed in Normandy. It can be said that the Battle of Sicily was a rehearsal before the Battle of Normandy. The Allies in 1943 did not have sufficient strategic preparations, but the Soviet army suggested that the Allies open a second battlefield as early as 1942, and the Battle of Sicily was also an account of the British and American forces to the Soviet army.

What do you think?

Read on