Operation Husky A Critical Analysis

The Allied invasion of Sicily was the largest amphibious operation conducted in World War II with over seven assault divisions landing across Italian beaches. The planning and conduct of HUSKY was fraught with indecision, fragmented planning, poor coordination, and a lack of unity of effort. Husky proves to be an interesting case study of the operational level of war and provides several relevant lessons for today’s commanders and joint staff officers. This paper analyzes the Allied planning effort from the operational level of war only. Specifically, this paper analyzes the planning and conduct of HUSKY in regard to following seven operational functions: operational intelligence, operational command and control, operational movement and maneuver, operational command and control warfare, operational fires, operational protection, and operational logistics. The Allied invasion of Sicily was the largest amphibious operation conducted in World War II, with over seven assault divisions landing across Italian beaches. From 10 July to 17 Aug. 1943, Allied forces fought a determined opponent that effectively traded space for time and successfully evacuated a large force to the mainland of Italy. Operation HUSKY culminated in an Allied victory and proved to be the catalyst for the decision to invade the Italian mainland...HUSKY proves to be an interesting case study of the operational level of war and provides several relevant lessons for today’s commanders and joint staff officers.

"An illuminating account, firmly grounded in archival research, showing the importance of logistics in a much neglected but hugely significant amphibious operation in World War Two." Sir Anthony Seldon Operation Husky, the amphibious invasion of Sicily in July 1943, was the largest and most complex logistical exercise attempted by the Allies up to that point in the war. An assault force of 176,000 soldiers embarked on 2,590 vessels from ports across the Middle East, North Africa, the UK and the US. Both the size of the initial Allied assault force and the frontage of the campaign would be larger than the Normandy invasion in June 1944. To further compound the monumental challenges facing the Allied logisticians, the preparatory period for Operation Husky was disjointed and chaotic. In April 1943, General Montgomery described the operational plan as a 'dog's breakfast'. Drawing extensively on new research, James Garvey tells the previously untold story of the British logisticians who triumphed against immense odds to deliver the task force to the beaches of Sicily and supply it successfully in the field. The lessons learned on the beaches of Sicily established the blueprint for Allied success at Normandy ten months later. Garvey further argues that the contribution of logisticians to in World War II has been consistently overlooked. What emerges is a dramatic re-evaluation of the role that they played in winning the war in Europe. Praise for Operation Husky: "A brilliant forensic examination of the key role that British logisticians played in the success of the Allied invasion of Sicily in 1943, preparing the ground for the D-Day landings a year later." Saul David James Garvey lives in London and studied the MA in Military History at the University of Buckingham. Operation Husky is his first book.

Now available in paperback, book seven of the Canadian Battle Series. On July 10, 1943, twenty thousand Canadian soldiers joined two great Allied armies on the beaches of southern Sicily for Operation Husky -- the first western Allied thrust to win a toehold inside HItler's Fortress Europe. Guarding the renowned Eighth Army's left flank, 1st Canadian Infantry division and 1st Canadian Army Tank Brigade struck out fro the sand into the island's rugged interior. In searing heat, these untried tropps clashed in ever-intensifying battle to wrest towering mountains and ancient hill towns away from the elite veterans of Germany's Hermann Goring and 1st Parachute divisions. When Eighth Army's main drive up Sicily's estern coast stalled, General Montgomery ordered the Canadians to save the day by turning the German left flank. The fighting reached a fever pitch as the Canadians struggle dto break thourhg a series of German defensive lines. Celebreated military historian Mark Zuehlke vividly recreates this little-known campaign, which became the Canadian Army's first triumph of World War II.

Offers an authoritative account of the lesser-known yet devastatingly brutal battle waged by the Italian campaign during World War II.

ÿTeddy Hudleston was a pilot of immense skill and talent whose wisdom and resourcefulness in both war and peace carried him up through the ranks of the RAF; a Squadron Leader at 28, he was promoted to Air Vice-Marshal at the age of only 35 and finally retired, after 40 years? service, as Air Chief Marshal. He won the Croix de Guerre for his role in the Suez campaign and at the height of the Cold War he was made Commander of Allied Air Forces Central Europe, serving in the front line of the defence against the Soviets. He was knighted in 1963. This very private Edwardian was dubbed by the newspaper obituaries ?the Quiet Australian? for his unassuming manner. His home life was more complicated, as author Eric Grounds knows well; for forty years Hudleston treated Grounds as his son. He has now paid tribute to him by writing this affectionate biography.

On the night of 9/10 July 1943, an Allied armada of 2,590 vessels launched one of the largest combined operations of the Second World War - the invasion of Sicily, Operation 'Husky'. Over the next thirty-eight days, half a million British, Canadian, American and French soldiers, sailors, and airmen grappled with their German and Italian counterparts for control of this rocky outcrop of Hitler's 'Fortress Europe'. The Allied assault on Sicily featured airborne and amphibious landings; mountain warfare; international rivalry; poorly performing troops; tenacious German resistance; and, improvements in tactical air support and the ultimate Allied victory on the island. Almost the whole of the progress of the Second World War is illustrated by this one campaign. It was the only action where the whole Allied war effort was brought to bear on a single objective, with one army commanded by Patton and one army commanded by Montgomery. Both men were insufferable egoists and insubordinate commanders; they always chose to do their own thing, regardless of others' sensibilities and always with one eye on how history would see them.The seeds of rivalry between these two key Allied commanders that were sown in the Sicily campaign eventually grew to fruition in the battles for Normandy and the Ardennes.

On July 10, 1943, two great Allied armadas of over 2,000 ships readied to invade Sicily. This was Operation Husky, the first step toward winning a toehold in fascist-occupied Europe. Among the invaders were 20,000 Canadian troops serving in the First Canadian Infantry Division and First Canadian Tank Brigade — in their first combat experience. Over the next 28 days, the Allied troops carved a path through the rugged land, despite fierce German opposition. Drawing on firsthand accounts of veterans and official military records, Operation Husky offers a gripping, meticulous account of this seminal operation and the young men who fought, died, and survived it.

By early August 1944 the Germans fighting in Normandy had been worn down by the battles around Caen, while to the west, the American breakout was finally gaining momentum. Now was the time to launch II Canadian Corps south towards Falaise. With much of the German armour having been stripped away for the Mortain Counter-Attack, hopes ran high that the Corps, reinforced with British tanks, the 51st Highland and the Polish Armoured Divisions, would repeat the success of their predecessors in the Battle of Amiens. An innovative change of tactics to a night armoured assault and the conversion of seventy-two self-propelled guns to armoured personnel carriers for the accompanying infantry was very successful, but up against their implacable foes, 12th Hitlerjugend SS Panzer Division, the pause for bombing allowed Kurt ‘Panzer’ Meyer to deploy his division. Consequently, when the 4th Canadian and Polish Armoured Divisions were launched into their first battle they made frustratingly little progress. As the Canadians advanced over the following days, the battle degenerated into a costly fight for ground as the Hitlerjugend struggled to contain the inexperienced Poles and Canadians. Operation Totalize is renowned for the death of SS panzer Ace Michael Wittmann at the hands of Trooper Joe Ekins and the destruction of Worthington Force, the result of a navigational error.