Daniel Dickel: PART V: THE MEDITERRANEAN AND FRANCE, VICTORY IN EUROPE

A map of the Allied army amphibious landing in Sicily,
10 July 1943, as part of Operation Husky.

IN JANUARY 1943, TWO MONTHS AFTER THE NORTH African landings and six months before the successful conclusion of the Tunisian campaign, a preliminary plan was drafted for Operation “Husky”––the invasion of Sicily. Predicated on the assumption that such an assault would extend Allied influence in the Mediterranean to the point where Italy would be forced to withdraw from the war, while Germany would undoubtedly have to divert a number of troops from the Russian front, the plan for “Husky” (ultimately set for July 10, 1944 [1943]) envisioned an American force assembled in North Africa and a British force assembled in the Near East, converging on the mountainous, triangular-shaped island a few statute miles from the Italian mainland.

Admiral H. Kent Hewitt c. 1945

American naval might was under Admiral H. Kent Hewitt, now three-stars, who established headquarters in Algiers on March 17 and shared a suite of offices with Commander in Chief Mediterranean, Fleet Admiral Cunningham, RN. While the two worked together on rough plans “like brothers”, it was not until May 13 that Supreme Command reached a final decision as to how the ambitious assault was to be effectuated, by eight divisions over a hundred-mile front. On that day Hewitt learned that his Western Naval Task Force was to attack the south coast between Licata and Scoglitti, while the Eastern Force [British, under Vice Admiral Sir Bertram C. Ramsey] was to attack in the Gulf of Noto and along the Pachino Pennisula. Other measures were calculated to provide complete air supremacy, containment of the Italian fleet, and the seizure of Pantelleria in order to provide a base for fighter planes. After establishment of a beachhead, American and British troops were to capture Augusta, Catania and Gerbini Airfields, and thence move across the island and seize Messina, a primary objective of the invasion.

Cunningham, John, Admiral, RN (centre)
with Rear Admiral John Mansfield (left)
and King George VI (right).

Charged with landing Patton’s Seventh Army, the Western Naval Task Force was divided into three Attack groups:

Task Force 81 (DIME Force) was commanded by Rear Admiral John F. [L.] Hall, with the 1st Infantry Division embarked (Major General Terry Allen), one combat team of the 2nd Armored Division, and a Ranger batallion. This force was supported by thirteen destroyers and the light cruisers Savannah and Boise, and was responsible for landings at Gela.

USS Savannah (October 1944)

Task Force 85 (CENT Force) under Rear Admiral Alan Kirk, with the 45th Infantry Division embarked (Major General Troy Middleton) was scheduled for landing at Scoglitti. In support were sixteen destroyers and the light cruiser Philadelphia.

Hall, John L., RADM, USN (Left)

Admiral Alan Goodrich Kirk

Task Force 86 (JOSS Force) under Rear Admiral Richard L. Connolly, transported the 3rd Infantry Division (Major General Lucian K. Truscott––“You are about to meet the Boche. Carve your name in his face.”), and two Ranger Battalions. Eight destroyers and light cruisers Birmingham and Brooklyn offered support for the Licata landings.

Admiral Conolly, Richard L., in London, England,
circa February 1950

USS Boise (July 1938)

The British (Eastern Naval Task Force) were positioned on the right flank of Task Force 85, lifting five divisions of Montgomery’s Eighth Army for landings between Pozallo and Cape Murro di Porco.

Middleton, Troy H., Major Gen., US Army

Thus was convened the greatest armada in history––greater even than at Normandy. Excluding landing craft lifted to the invasion aboard ship, there were more than 4000 British and American combat ships and beaching craft.

Allen, Terry de la Mesa, Sr., Major General

Practically speaking, Sicily’s defense was in the hands of four Italian divisions, two Panzer divisions, and an undetermined number of German E-boats and Italian motor torpedo boats. So far as Mussolini’s “fleet-on-paper” was concerned, it fortunately remained committed to the defense of the mainland.

USS Philadelphia (April 1943)

Aboard Conolly’s flagship Biscayne was the beloved correspondent Ernie Pyle. Esteemed by GI Joe for his warm human-interest stories filed for United Features Syndicate, thin, balding, forty-three-year-old Pyle was famed as a newspaperman who not only told the GI’s story but also shared his unhappy lot in foxholes and shell craters. From his war memoirs, written a year before his life was snuffed out by a sniper’s bullet on Ie Shima during the Okinawa invasion, we have a rare glimpse of Pyle aboard ship. He recounts the events from D-5, prior to the time that JOSS Force set sail from Bizerte, when that harbor was subjected to a particularly severe German air raid.