Operation Husky Essay

victories.In July 1943 Patton led the invasion of Sicily.His Army along with the British Eighth army captured the island within 39 days.One major event almost destroyed Patton's career.He slapped two soldiers who were suffering from battle fatigue while he was inspecting army hospitals.Patton said that he thought that the soldiers were pretending and General Eisenhower forced him to apologize. The congress held up Patton’s promotion to Major General.

The main forces for the invasion of Sicily were the U.S. 7th Army under Patton and the British Eighth Army under Montgomery. The invasion began on July 10, 1943, with combined air and sea landings involving 150,000 troops, 3,000 ships and 4,000 aircraft, all aimed at the southern shores of the island.

The military tactics used and created during the Italian Campaign lead to the rest of the victories in Europe. Thomas Tandy Lewis’ article “Operation Mincemeat” explains, “...Hitler was persuaded that the … planned attack will be directed mainly against Sardinia and the Peloponnesus….On July 10, the Germans were unprepared. Of the 300,000 defending troops on the island, more than two-thirds were poorly armed and ill trained Italian soldiers.” Operation Mincemeat was an ingenious military plan created by the Allies

The development of the allied military strategy in World War II (WWII) presented challenges for the U.S. and Great Britain as they worked together to defeat the Axis powers. First, this paper will review the environment at the time of WWII when Admiral Stark penned the “Plan Dog” memorandum and MAJ Wedemeyer’s War Defense Team put together the “Victory Plan”. Next, it will look at the advantages and disadvantages of coalition operations with supporting examples. Then, a review of two major meetings between U.S. and Great Britain will identify what strategic decisions were made and the effects they have on the war. Finally, this paper will explore the foundations of strategy (Clausewitz and Sun Tzu) by which the allied forces used and

During Casablanca Conference in January 1943, the Allies decided that, after they had gained all North Africa, the next move would be in the Mediterranean. The idea was to kick Italy out of the war. By the summer of 1943 the Canadian soldiers who had not been involved in the Dieppe raid had been in the Britain for almost three and a half years, waiting for a chance to fight. On June 26, the word came at last; they were told to pack up their bedrolls and get ready to move out. The Canadians were headed for Sicily, The Island just off the toe of the Italian “boot”. There they would join the Britain Eighth army under the hero of El Alamein, General Montgomery. The battle plan was to invade Sicily and trap Germany and Italy soldiers between the

Enemy combatants, in familiar terrain, chose to stand and fight from fortified positions; forcing commanders to improvise and adapt quickly to unforeseen circumstances. Support elements received the operational order within just one week of the expected execution date. Staff elements created analysis and plans on poor intelligence estimates and recent experience. Strategic planners also failed to establish command and control of the assault force. Lack of forethought for an integrated joint operation, although ultimately successful, led to the death of U.S. service members. Joint planning for Operation Anaconda, with its complex variables requiring integrated skills, failed to account for enemy variables, withheld information from support elements, and failed to establish effective command and control.

In order to prepare the U.S. 7th Army for its invasion of Sicily Patton turned over his command in North Africa. During this time Patton’s reputation suffered greatly after slapping a soldier, who was suffering from shell shock, accusing him of cowardice. This incident landed Patton a reprimanding from President Eisenhower and he was forced to make a public apology. Despite this fact, the invasion of Sicily was a major

The invasion into Italy was when he Allies decided to target Italy, which lay to the north, across the Mediterranean sea. On July 10, 1943, the Allies began their invasion of Axis-controlled Europe with landings on the island of Sicily, off mainland Italy. Encountering little resistance from demoralized Sicilian troops, Montgomery’s 8th Army came ashore on the southeast part of the island, while the U.S. 7th Army, under General George S. Patton, landed on Sicily’s south coast. Within three days, 150,000 Allied troops were ashore. On August 17, Patton arrived in Messina before Montgomery, completing the Allied conquest of Sicily and winning the so-called Race to Messina.

On many occasions, President Roosevelt and Prime Minister Churchill personally intervened to settle disagreements between American and British planners in the CSS. The Soviet Union pressured the Western Allies to execute an operation to provide some relief from the onslaught of German forces. Prime Minister Churchill and the British generals favored an amphibious landing in Northern Africa to help the British 8th Army who had been fighting against the Italian and German Forces since June 1940. (Hart,

After the Axis’s power defeat in the North African Campaign the Allies decide to attack Italy hoping that it would stop some of the fascist regime from the war.1 The purpose of the attack was to stop air and sea potential from the Axis’s hold on the island and gain access to Mediterranean sea as well as defeat the Italian

Unless you’ve served in a unit that took part in or read one of the few books detailing Operation Anaconda, you more than likely have never heard of it. Rightfully so, many of the people involved in the operation aren’t the type to openly brag or even acknowledge their involvement in anything. But, it is because of this why we must learn about this operation; to gain an understanding and respect of what these men went through – for both sides.

Allied land component integration struggles hindered operational progression throughout the Sicilian Campaign. Initial planning and operations for Sicily revealed, General Alexander’s lack of experience and effective leadership resulting in granting General’s Montgomery and Patton too much latitude in operational decision-making. [Swanson, p. 58] In essence, General Alexander’s lack of command guidance and restructuring Allied land force boundaries allowed the General Patton to divert forces toward Western Sicily and away from operational objectives of meeting the German Army. [Swanson, p. 58] Among other things, poor weather, lack of experience and absence of inter-service joint training encumbered integrated Allied airborne operations, subjecting

The overall goal of the Allied forces (United States and Great Britain) was to ultimately push the Axis forces (Germany and Italy) out of Northern Africa. The Axis’s plan was to break through the American-defended pass, force through the passes of the Western Dorsal, and then overrun Allied airfields and supply depots on the coast. Gaining and maintaining the northern coast of Africa would help either side control the Mediterranean Sea, which was a major throughway for supplies to enter both the European theatre as well as the African theatre.

This paper provides an evaluation of the command and control and integration of joint functions associated with the invasion of Sicily, known as Operation HUSKY. The Allies achieved a positive outcome despite the fact that key leaders demonstrated ineffective command and control capabilities and poor integration. The paper will first evaluate the joint function of command and control, using the three attributes of mission command from joint doctrine: commander’s intent, mutual trust, and understanding. An evaluation of the integration of intelligence and fires joint functions at the Operational level will follow.

“In actuality, there was no logic or rationale in attacking Sicily and the planning did not fall within any context of leading to an overarching strategic objective. The British preferred peripheral attacks on the soft underbelly of the Axis Forces moreover, were the foundation in establishing limited objectives for Operation HUSKY. Secure lines of communications, divert German aggression to the west, and force Italy to drop out of the war. However, the Americans felt the invasion of Sicily, was a waste of valuable time, assets, and only delayed the cross channel invasion of Germany. The Americans wanted an immediate cross channel crossing in Northwest France to, “hit the Axis powers head on.” This division among the Allies led to disagreement and tension, which compromised the concepts of mission command