[Note: Seaborne landings will be covered in this post. Airborne and Commando raids would be documented separately]
The seaborne landings were initially thrown off-course due to the strong winds, but the element of surprise was maintained because none of the defenders was expecting an attack in those conditions. The landings began in the early hours of 10 June along a 169-km long coastline, with the British and Canadians landing on the eastern tip, whereas Americans landed on the Western. Trouble experienced was from offshore sandbanks and weather conditions instead of the Axis armies. Some units landed on the wrong beaches altogether. But due to the poor quality of defensive operations, Allies were able to make up for lost time.
Once the Axis commanders took stock of the situation, the Allies began to meet resistance. The US 1st Infantry in Gela was attacked by an Italian mountain division. The Hermann Goring Panzer Div., which was due to advance along with them had failed to turn up at the place which was supposed to be the landing zone of the British 505th Para. During afternoon, artillery shelling from the USS Boise and the USS Shubrick slowed down the armored support due to reach the Gela beachhead. The infantry accompanying them was subsequently dispersed.
The seaborne landings were initially thrown off-course due to the strong winds, but the element of surprise was maintained because none of the defenders was expecting an attack in those conditions. The landings began in the early hours of 10 June along a 169-km long coastline, with the British and Canadians landing on the eastern tip, whereas Americans landed on the Western. Trouble experienced was from offshore sandbanks and weather conditions instead of the Axis armies. Some units landed on the wrong beaches altogether. But due to the poor quality of defensive operations, Allies were able to make up for lost time.
Once the Axis commanders took stock of the situation, the Allies began to meet resistance. The US 1st Infantry in Gela was attacked by an Italian mountain division. The Hermann Goring Panzer Div., which was due to advance along with them had failed to turn up at the place which was supposed to be the landing zone of the British 505th Para. During afternoon, artillery shelling from the USS Boise and the USS Shubrick slowed down the armored support due to reach the Gela beachhead. The infantry accompanying them was subsequently dispersed.
Canadian troops land at a Sicilian beachhead
By evening, 3 American, 3 British, and one Canadian infantry division was well established on the shor, and Syracuse port had been captured largely intact. Fear of an air onslaught by the Axis air forces was nullified. Allied aircraft operating from Malta and the surrounding regions kept attacks at bay. Unfortunately however, attacks on the day of invasion were successful. Italian and Luftwaffe bombers sank a minesweeper, a hospital ship and a destroyer. In the following days, many more such ships were sunk by Stukas and Italian planes.
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