United States Army in World War II: Mediterranean Theater of Operations
Sicily and the Surrender of Italy
by Albert N. Garland and Howard McGaw Smyth, assisted by Martin Blumenson
... to Those Who Served
Table of Contents
The Authors
Part 1: Background and Plans
Chapter 1: Allied Strategy in the Mediterranean
Casablanca: The Decision for Sicily—TRIDENT: Beyond Sicily—Algiers—And Italy?—The Surrender Problem
Chapter 2: The Axis on the Defensive
The Italo-German Alliance—The Disintegration of Fascism—The Allied Threat
Chapter 3: Preparations and Preliminaries
The Beginnings—The Plan—Other Factors
Pantelleria—Growing German Strength—The Defenses of Sicily
Chapter 5: Final Allied Preparations
Missions and Forces—Seventh Army Plans—Naval and Air Plans—The Final Days
Part 2: Operations and Negotiations
The Airborne Operations—The Seaborne Operations
The Axis Reaction—The Battle—The Beaches
Chapter 9: Airborne Reinforcement
Chapter 10: The Beachhead Secure
Straightening Out the Sag—On to the YELLOW Line
Chapter 11: Continuing the Campaign: The Decisions
Sixth Army and OB SUED—The Allied Problem: How to Continue—Comando Supremo and OKW
Chapter 12: Seventh Army Changes Directions
The Eighth Army Attempt To Break Through—The II Corps Front—Agrigento—Army Directive of 15 July 1943—Discord and Harmony
Chapter 13: The Drive to the Climax
The Feltre Conference—Planning the Western Sweep—The Pounce on Palermo—Denouement
Sardinia Versus the Mainland—The Overthrow of Mussolini—Allied Reaction—Rome: Open City
Chapter 15: Dissolution of the Rome-Berlin Axis
Badoglio’s First Moves—Friction Along the Alps—The Italian Course is Changed
Chapter 16: The Drive to the East
Developing an East Front—Axis Reactions—Nicosia—Along the North Coast
Chapter 17: The Battle of Troina
Chapter 18: Breaking the San Fratello Line
The Tarvis Conference—The Italian Dilemma—The Decision to Evacuate Sicily—Allied Reaction—The Evacuation Begins
Chapter 21: The End of the Campaign
The Race to Messina—Conclusions—Patton
Part 3: The Surrender
Chapter 22: The QUADRANT Conference and the Quebec Memorandum
Strategic Issues at Quebec—The Mission of General Castellano—The Quebec Memorandum—Approval of the Long Terms
Chapter 23: The Surrender Preliminaries
The Zanussi Mission—Castellano at Lisbon—Zanussi’s Negotiations in Lisbon and Algiers—Thoughts in Rome
Chapter 24: The Italian Decision
ACHSE—The Parleys at Cassibile—The Decision at Rome
The Signature—Planning GIANT II—Second Thoughts in Rome
“Innocuous”—The Announcement
Badoglio’s Announcement—Flight of the King and High Command—Interpretations
German Reaction—The Battle for Rome—Dissolution of the Italian Armed Forces—Mussolini
Chapter 29: The Second Capitulation
Mission to Brindisi—The Long Terms—Malta—Epilogue
Appendices
Appendix A: Composition of American Forces
Appendix B: The Quebec Memorandum
Appendix C: Short (Military) Terms in General Eisenhower’s Possession on 6 August 1943
Appendix D: Additional Conditions (Long Terms) Signed on 29 September 1943
I. Central Europe and the Mediterranean (National Geographic Society Map)
II. The Battleground and the Enemy, 10 July 1943
III. The Final Landing Plan
IV. The Seventh Army Assault, 10 July 1943
V. Counterattack at Gela, 11 July 1943
VI. Seventh Army Advance, 11–12 July 1943
VII. The Seventh Army Changes Direction, 13–18 July 1943
VIII. The Seventh Army Clears Western Sicily, 19–23 July 1943
IX. The Race to Messina, 13–17 August 1943
Inline Maps
1. British Eighth Army Operations, 10 July 1943
2. The Seizure of Agrigento, 3rd Infantry Division, 14–17 July 1943
3. 15th Army Group Front, 23 July 1943
4. II Corps Advance, 24–31 July 1943
5. The Capture of Troina, 1st Infantry Division, 1–6 August 1943
6. The Fight for San Fratello, 3rd Infantry Division, 8 August 1943
7. 15th Army Group Gains, 24 July–10 August 1943
8. Brolo and the Naso Ridge, 3rd Infantry Division, 11–12 August 1943
Illustrations
President Franklin D. Roosevelt and Prime Minister Winston S. Churchill—Allied Leaders in the Sicilian Campaign—Churchill Addressing the U.S. Congress, May 1943—Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini—King Victor Emmanuel III—Generale d’Armata Ugo Cavallero—Feldmarschall Albert Kesselring and General der Infanterie Enno von Rintelen with Prince Umberto Di Savoia—Generale d’Armata Vittorio Ambrosio—Generale di Corpo d’Armata Giacomo Carboni—Count Dino Grandi—Count Galeazzo Ciano—General Sir Bernard L. Montgomery and Lt. Gen. George S. Patton, Jr., in Sicily—Lt. Gen. Sir Miles C. Dempsey—Lt. Gen. Sir Oliver Leese—Pantelleria Under Attack—Generale di Corpo d’Armata Comandante Designato D’Armata Mario Roatta—Generale d’Armata Alfredo Guzzoni—Generalleutnant Eberhard Rodt—Feldmarschall Wolfram Freiherr von Richthofen—Generalmajor Paul Conrath—Generalleutnant Fridolin von Senger und Etterlin—Col. Ernst Guenther Baade—General der Panzertruppen Hans Valentin Hube—Looking South From the Heights of Enna—Gela Beach—Lt. Gen. Omar N. Bradley and Maj. Gen. Terry de la Mesa Allen—Maj. Gen. Troy H. Middleton—Maj. Gen. Matthew B. Ridgway—Maj. Gen. Lucian K. Truscott, Jr—Maj. Gen. Manton S. Eddy—Maj. Gen. Hugh J. Gaffey—Lt. Col. William O. Darby, Leader of Force X—Ponton Causeway From an LST to Shore—Landing Craft Massed in Bizerte Harbor for the Invasion of Sicily—Paratroopers Preparing to Emplane for Sicily—Glider Casualty—Ponte Dirillo Crossing Site—USS Boise Bombarding Coastal Defenses in Gela Landing Area—Licata and Beach Areas to the East—The Right Flank Beach at Licata—Highway 115—A Shore-to-Shore LCT at Licata Beach—Army Donkeys Wading Ashore at Licata—Bringing Up Supplies by Cart at Licata Beach—Knocked-Out Italian Railway Battery on Licata Mole—Enemy Defense Positions Along Coast Road East of Licata—Road Junction Y—Italian Prisoners Taken at Gela on D-day—The Coast Line West of Scoglitti—Landing Heavy Equipment at Scoglitti—Looking Down the Niscemi Road to Piano Lupo—American Troops in Gela on D Plus 1—Paratroopers Moving in on the Ridge at Abbio Priolo—American Ships Under Air Attack—Col. James M. Gavin in Biazzo Ridge Area—Wrecked German Tanks Dot Gela Plain—The Robert Rowan Exploding Off the Coast at Gela—Airborne Reinforcements in a C-47 Heading for Sicily—Paratroop Reinforcements Moving Through Vittoria—Ponte Olivo Airfield—Tank-Mounted Troops Rolling Through Palma—Canicatti Under Artillery Fire—Butera—Agrigento and the Surrounding High Ground—A DUKW Hauling Supplies in Porto Empedocle—Signal Corps Troops in Caltanissetta—Caltanissetta, Southwest Corner of the Enna Loop—General Ridgway and Staff Near Ribera—Mortar Squad Preparing To Attack Santo Stefano—The 2nd Armored Division Rolls Into Palermo—Maj. Gen. Geoffrey Keyes and Italian Generale di Brigata Giuseppe Molinero After Surrender of Palermo—Maresciallo d’Italia Pietro Badoglio—Southern Approach to Enna—Leonforte—Caronia Valley—Gangi, With Mount Etna in Distance—Coast Road Patrol Passing the Bombed-Out Castelbuono Railroad Station, 24 July 1943—Demolished Bridge Along Highway 117—Troina Ridge From the High Ground Near Cerami—Looking West From the Town of Troina—Goumiers Moving Toward Capizzi—Forward Observation Post Directing Fire on Troina—Artillery in Position Near Cerami—Half-Track Squeezing Through a Narrow Street in Cerami—Maj. Gen. Clarence R. Huebner and General Allen, 8 August 1943—Provisional Pack Train and Mounted Troops—Enemy Field of Fire Over Furiano River Crossing Site From San Fratello Ridge—Looking South Over the Furiano River Valley—Looking North Over the San Fratello—Cesaró Road—Highway 113—San Fratello Ridge—Sant’Agata From the Seaward Side of San Fratello Ridge—Treating a Wounded Soldier—San Marco D’Alunzio—Axis Second Echelon Leaders at Tarvis—Smoke Pall Covers Parts of Messina After Bombing Attack—Randazzo From the Southern Approach—Destroyed Bridge Along Highway 116—Americans and British Meet at Randazzo—Pillbox Overlooking Highway 113—Cape Orlando—Brolo Beach From the East—Enemy View of Landing Area at Brolo—Setting a Machine Gun Position on Monte Cipolla—Lt. Col. Lyle A. Bernard and His Radioman in Command Post Atop Monte Cipolla—The Objective, Messina—Troops Moving Around Blown-Out Section of Cliffside Road—The Bridge That Was “Hung in the Sky”—General Dwight D . Eisenhower and General Montgomery Observing the Effect of Artillery Fire on the Italian Mainland—Secret Emissaries to Lisbon—The Tiber River at Fumicino—The “Rescue” of Mussolini—Signing Surrender Document Aboard HMS Nelson.
Center of Military History, United States Army
Washington, D.C., 1963
United States Army In World War II
Stetson Conn, General Editor
Advisory Committee (As of 15 June 1963)
Fred C. Cole, Washington and Lee University
Maj. Gen. Hugh M. Exton, U.S. Continental Army Command
William R. Emerson, Yale University
Maj. Gen. Tom R. Stoughton, Industrial College of the Armed Forces
Earl Pomeroy, University of Oregon
Brig. Gen. Ward S. Ryan, U.S. Army War College
Theodore Ropp, Duke University
Col. Elias C. Townsend, U.S. Army Command and General Staff College
Bell I. Wiley, Emory University
Col. Vincent J. Esposito, United States Military Academy
C. Vann Woodward, Yale University
Office of the Chief of Military History
Brig. Gen. Hal C. Pattison, Chief of Military History
Stetson Conn, Chief Historian
Lt. Col. Paul W. Phillips, Acting Chief, Histories Division
Lt. Col. James R. Hillard, Chief, Editorial and Graphics Division
Joseph R. Friedman, Editor in Chief.