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AUTHOR: Blackwell, I
FORMAT: 203pp 34 Bw 240x160 Hb
On the night of 9th-10th July 1943, an Allied armada launched the invasion
of Sicily, a larger operation than the Normandy landings the following year.
Over the next thirty-eight days, half a million Allied servicemen fought the
Germans and Italians for control of this rocky island, which was to become the
first part of Axis homeland to fall during World War II. Despite their success
in capturing the island, inter-Allied and inter-service divisions and rivalries
robbed them of the opportunity to inflict a crushing defeat on the Germans and
Italians, who were able to conduct a fighting withdrawal to the Italian mainland
and save sisable forces to continue the war. Regarded by some as a 'blind
alley', by others as the way into Europe via the 'soft underbelly', the decision
to invade Sicily was and remains controversial. Notwithstanding the campaign's
failure to achieve its potential, invaluable lessons were learned which
contributed to success in France later. Many of the leading generals who were to
take prominent roles in North-west Europe - amongst them Eisenhower, Montgomery,
Bradley and Patton - brought with them the experience of Sicily.
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