Operation Husky, the Anglo-American amphibious landings on Sicily in
July 1943 were the proving ground for all subsequent Allied amphibious
operations including Salerno, Anzio, and D-Day in Normandy. Husky's
strategic objective was to knock Italy out of the war, a mission that
ultimately proved successful. But it also demonstrated the growing
ability of Britain and the United States to conduct extremely complex
combined-arms attacks involving not only amphibious landings, but also
airborne assaults. It was in many ways the precursor of all modern joint
operations through the recent wars in Iraq and Afghanistan as two
different armies and navies with their own methods of command and
control adjusted their practices to conduct a harmonious operation. This
stood in stark contrast to the increasingly dysfunctional German-Italian
alliance which finally broke down on Sicily.
Not only did the Sicily operation represent a watershed in tactical
development of combined arms tactics, it was also an important test for
future Allied joint operations. Senior British commanders left the North
African theater with a jaundiced and dismissive view of the combat
capabilities of the inexperienced US Army after the debacle at Kasserine
Pass in Tunisia in February 1943. Sicily was a demonstration that the US
Army had rapidly learned its lessons and was now capable of fighting as
a co-equal of the British Army.
The Sicily campaign contained a measure of high drama as Patton took the
reins of the Seventh US Army and bent the rules of the theater commander
in a bold race to take Palermo on the northern Sicilian coast. Patton
was determined to prove the ability of the US Army after Kasserine in
the hands of a skilled tactical commander. When stiff German resistance
halted Montgomery's main assault to Messina through the mountains,
Patton was posed to be the first to reach the key Sicilian port and end
the campaign.
The Sicily campaign contains a fair amount of controversy as well
including the disastrous problems with early airborne assaults and the
Allied failure to seal the straits of Messina, allowing the Germans to
withdraw many of their best forces.
