Sicily Study Guide

OPERATION HUSKY: The Invasion of Sicily

command - Gen Eisenhower 4-star rank

3 B assistants to control ground - Gen Sir Alexander

n - ADM of the Fleet Cunningham

air forces - Air Chief Marshal Sir Tedder

Western N T F - Vice ADM Hewitt - land LT Gen Patton’s US 7th Army

Eastern N T F - Vice ADM Sir Ramsay - “Desert Rats” - B 8th Army

While all-B covering f guarded against still-poss sortie by Italian fleet,

Tedder’s Mediter air forces - fighter cover, mostly from Malta’s airfields

landing sites

hard

ADM Cunningham - max fighter cover

limits the attk range to the combat radius of Spitfire fighters from Malta

ideal landing sites, beaches near Messina, out of bounds

only landing in close proximity to the Strait of Messina - trapping/caputring Axis forces in Sicily

logistics

reqs for multi-division assault

Gen Montgomery’s demand

single massed landing be thrown at Sicily’s southeast trip

talked recklessly

acted cautiously

wanted to ensure Patton’s Ams protect his left flank

not help Eisenhower’s supply officers

→ no way to supply multi-division atk on order of Husky, even fter early seizure of Syracuse and Augusta, shallow-water ports on Montgomery’s right flank

Ideal landing sites for logistics (beaches on N coast near Palermo - Sicily’s best port) satisf only to Gen Patton.. usu declared himself ready to land anywhere

technology

ended planning dilemma

seagoing beaching craft

carry men, tanks, trucks, artillery from shore to shore

available in sufficient #s to keep an atk rolling, even w/o maj port

LSTs - Landing Ships, Tank

LCTs - Landing Craft, Tank

LCIs - Landing Craft, Infantry

#s adequate to land troops and their supplies

army DUKWs - Ducks

amphib trucks haul supplies from ships