1° Istituto d’Istruzione Secondaria Superiore “Michelangelo Bartolo”

Elettronica e Telecomunicazioni, Meccanica, Liceo Tecnologico (ITIS), P.N.I., Socio-Psico-Pedagogico (Liceo) Viale A. Moro - tel. 0931592725 fax 093146320 96018 - Pachino (SR) www.istitutobartolo.it e-mail

sris01400g@istruzione.it

THE LANDING

The present project, thought in the light of the present international situation

and created considering the cultural and anthropological historical reality of

our school, has been inserted in the didactic-disciplinary programming

investing both the technical and humanistic disciplines. With it, we wanted

our students to direct their attention on the historical events, which had as a

focal point our territory, and we placed it in a perspective that does not

simply contemplate our local history but opens it to a perspective of

national and international analysis.

The centrality of our territory and the events happened in it, induced some

teachers to elaborate the present project trying to reconstruct the history and

historiographic-anthropological knowledge beginning from an event, near,

not only in space, but also in time, if not that of our fathers, surely that of

our grandfathers and of the many others that carry scars and memories of

their experiences of those days. The project aims to

create/consolidate/strengthen in the young generations the historical

Memories, to save the still alive collective Memories of the old generation

and the people who have made and make the history of this part of Sicily.

The objective was that of making the new generations understand that

without Memory there is no future, that History is always contemporary

because it teaches us the present and that only remembering it will be

possible not to repeat the same errors.

Coordinators of the project and editors of the issue:

Eng S. Giannitto email: s_giannitto@hotmail.it

Eng S. Minardi email: sebami@tin.it

Teachers of electronics at the I° Istituto Superiore “M.Bartolo” of Pachino

Prof.ssa Rosalba Savarino Teacher of Arts at the Ist. Compr. “La Ciura” of Portopalo

Prof. ssa Enza Scifo and Prof.ssa Rosalba Scifo

The days to remember

Nine months after the German invasion of Poland, on 1st september 1939,

Italy came into the war alongside Germany on 10th

June 1940.

Convinced that the war wouldn’t last long and that the Hitlerian Germany

would have won the war, the Duce thought that Italy could make the

thousands of dead soldiers weigh heavily during the peace conference. Until

the first half of 1942, the axis Rome-Berlin recorded numerous military

successes. Between the end of 1942 and the beginning of 1943, the course

of the second world war changed.

The Italian-German troops were defeated:

• 23 October 1942 in El-Alamein

• 20 November 1942 in Bengasi

• 23 January 1943 in Tripoli

• 2 February 1943 in Stalingrad

• 15 May 1943 in Tunisia

• 11 June 1943 the island of Pantelleria surrendered

• 12 June 1943 Lampedusa was occupied

The landing of the allies in Sicily was by now imminent!

On 24

th June 1943 Mussolini asserted in the presence of the Directorate of

the National Fascist Party:

Italian people must be convinced that it is a question of life and death . As

soon as these people try to land, they must be stopped on that which sailors

call shoreline. And if by chance they should penetrate, the reservoir forces-

, which there are – must attach these individuals, destroying them from the

first to the last man.

So that it can be said that they have occupied a piece of our native land, but

they have occupied it remaining for ever in horizontal position, not in

vertical position.

From the monthly report by the Service Attendance of the Commando of

16th Army Corps - District - of Piazza Armerina commanded by Gen. Carlo

Rossi, in defence of all of the East of Sicily:

In various areas of the sector of the Army Corps, the enemy launched

intimidatory and anti-fascist leaflets, of which I enclose copy. Dispositions

have been given for an effective action against propaganda.

The 140th coastal regiment points out newly presumed auscultations on

behalf of civilians, of the clandestine radio transmissions. 29th

June 1943

The invasion of Sicily was decided on 18th

January 1943, five days

before the victorious entry of the

British troops in Tripoli, during the

conference of Casablanca between

Roosevelt and Churchill.

The coded name of the landing in

Sicily was the Husky Operation.

D-day was established for 10th

July 1943 at H hour (at 02:45),

confiding in a favourable moon.

The moon, in fact, would set a little

after midnight, the sun would rise

at 04:45 AM.

7 divisions were used during

the invasion (after a year 5 in

Normandy), 3 English, 3 Americans and 1 Canadian. The plan foresaw

that:

• The 7th

American Army of Gen. George S. Patton would land in

the gulf of Gela, it would direct towards north and west, and would

conquer Palermo and then turn towards east along the northern

coast towards Messina.

• The British Army of Gen. Sir Bernard Montgomery, would land in

the extreme South-eastern part and from there would go back

towards north, it would occupy Syracuse and Catania, in order to

finally reunite itself with the Americans in Messina.

Gen. Eisenhower, who in 1953 would become president of the United

States, was nominated Commander in head of the allied forces for the entire

operation.

The Army Corps of Gen. B.L. Montgomery

The13rd

Army Corps

(5th

and 50th

Infantry Division)

Targets :

− landing in Cassibile and

Avola.

The 30th

Army Corps (Gen. Sir

Oliver Leese)

Targets :

− possession of the air-port

of Pachino;

− substitution of the 13rd

Army Corps in the control zone of Avola;

− maintenance of the Iblei Mounts on the Ragusa-Palazzolo Acreide

road;

− contact with the 7th

American Army in the Comiso area.

1) The 231st Brg Malta (Brg.R.E.Urquhart):

− The 1st Btl Dorset

− The 1st Btl Hampshire

− The 2nd

Btl Devon

Targets: landing in Marzamemi

2) The 2nd

Army Brg (Brig.R.Richards):

Targets: in support to the landing in Marzamemi

3) The 51st Div Highland (Magg. Gen. D.N. Wimberley):

Targets: to land on the isle of Capo Passero at Punta delle

Formiche in formation with the 154th, 152nd and 153rd

brg

4) The 1st Canadian Div (Magg.Gen.G.G.Simonds:

Targets : to land on the Costa dell’Ambra with 1°, 2° 3° brg of

infantry

5) The 1st Brg Special service (Brig. R.L. Laycock):

40th

/41st Commandos of English navy;

targets: before the other units, to land in the west further than

Punta Castellazzo.

The Italian defence

The Italian defence of the coast from Capo Ognina near Siracusa, to

Punta Braccetto, near S. Croce Camerina (132 Km), was entrusted to the

206th

Coastal Div under the command of Gen Achille d’Havet, badly

equipped and insufficiently trained.

Gen. Achille d’Havet

Italian soldiers in piazza V. Emanuele

THE INVASION

Of the 22 convoys

(with 1600 British ships

and 945 American ones),

that left from several ports

of North Africa and of the

Middle East, only 3 were

intercepted by 5 German

submarines with a loss of

6 ships.

The before night of

the landing, the weather

got worse: a strong wind

rouse and the sea became

rough until there was a

moment that they thought to postpone the landing.

In spite of the adversities it was decided to continue the operations and

at the first lights of dawn of July 10, the storm stopped.

The 9th

July 1943 - Anglo-

American gliders pilots and

parachutists were launched:

Before the hour X, a substantial

launch of parachutists and special

troops were sent to conquer airports,

bridges and points in the Gela area

and in the south of Syracuse.

− From Tunisia 226 cargo

planes took off with 3405

American parachutists from

the 82nd Airborne American Division on board.

− 128 cargo planes took off from North Africa with as many gliders

and 1600 men a board from the 1st English Airborne Brigade;

Due to the strong winds

and the errors of the routes

of the 354 airplane, 233

returned to the bases without

having completed their

mission.

In order not to remain

victims of the enemy

antiaircraft the American

parachutists were forced to

quickly jump down from the

planes.

Of the 226 airplanes employed by the Americans only 26 launched men

on the target, the others were dispersed on a large zone up to Vittoria,

Comiso and S. Pietro di Caltagirone.

Due to some errors made by the antiaircraft about 23 American aircrafts

were mistaken for the enemy so determining the loss of 500 men.

Also for the English this undertaking had tragic developments. Thrown

about by the strong winds, and having panicked by the heavy antiaircraft,

the pilots uncoupled the gliders and about half of them fell into the sea.

Of the 128 gliders with 1200 English parachutists launched: only 12

gliders and 160 men landed near the bridge on the river Anapo and were

able to seize it, the others landed disastrously far from the target.

The reaction of the Italian antiaircraft

caused the pilots to prematurely uncouple 69

gliders in the sea and so causing hundreds of

men to drown in front of the Sicilian

beaches.

Some gliders sank in the port of Siracusa,

four landed in the district area of Cavarra of

Portopalo, many gliders hit in the dark

against cliffs, buildings, trees and other

obstacles. In spite of the huge losses the

allied parachutists, dispersed behind the

Italian lines, however succeeded, acting in

small groups, to sabotage the

communication lines and to create sufficient

disorder, confusing the commandos on the

real intentions of the Anglo-Americans.

At 21.45: the state of alarm came into effect and the launch of

parachutists was signalled between the area called Cozzo Cugni and

Marzamemi, soon after in the Burgio area.

At 23,30 followed by the naval artillery fire, teams of volunteers on

canoes tested the consistency of the defences and signalled the beaches

chosen for the landing.

At 01,00 on the 10th

of July: lieutenant Finocchiaro from the Grotticelli

district sent this message to the headquarters: " the enemy carries out

launching of parachutists. It is impossible to patrol the area because of lack

of men ". He received the order to offer resistance; he lose his life.

At 03.15: the Third Company in the territory of Portopalo signalled

cannonades coming from the Pizzuta district, the gunshots stopped about

3-4 Km from the coast. In the meantime some ships, coming as by magic

from the sea, in the silence of the night, began to move towards the

Lighthouse of Portopalo.

Between 02,00 and 04,30 the British allies landed on the Sicilian beaches

of Costa dell’Ambra, Isola delle Correnti, Portopalo and Marzamemi.

Costa dell’Ambra

Marzamemi

Bark East, Green beach

At 11,35 p.m. on the

9th

of July: 3

British

battalions landed: the 1st

Dorset, the 1st

Hampshire, the 2nd

Devon of the 231st

Malta Brigade.

These, at about 04,00

launched themselves

against the 52nd

Btr,

which saw the fall, after

a courageous battle, of

Lieutenant Vincenzo

Barone, gold medal; at

7,30 some 3,7in.

cannons of the 165th

Field artillery Regiment

went into action. The landing vehicles of the 23rd

Armoured Brigade arrived

with a delay of 6 hours.

Portopalo

Bark South, Red beach

The 154th

Brigade of

the 51st Highland

Division landed on the

beaches near the

roadsides of Portopalo.

The ships, which arrived

with a delay of 15

minutes, succeeded in

lowering into the water

the landing vehicles

crammed with soldiers

in only 6 minutes.

The Scottish troops of the first wave completed the landing between 2.45

and 4.30 a.m. . In Portopalo, the 7th

Argylls landed at 02.45 a.m.

An artillery grenade hit a landing vehicle causing the wounding of 15 men

of D. At dawn a round of about 800 missiles weighing 200 pounds was

directed, with precision, against the remaining costal defences which

silenced a Btr.

All went well for C of

the 7th

Black Watch

(Lieutenant Colonnel

Oliver), while the landing

vehicles that carried the

other companies, did not

manage to find the

beaches which were

assigned to them and only

at 6.15 a.m. the entire

Battalion could move from

the coast to the advanced

positions without meeting

much resistance. An

officer perished and ten

men were injured due to

anti-personnel mines.

The 1st Gordon (Lieutenant

Col. Fausset-Farquhar) of the

153rd

Brigade landed without

problems even though with an

hour delay with the following

targets:

− Portopalo

− The “Tonnara”

− The Lighthouse

− The Island of Capo

Passero

− The small hill which

controlled the way to

Pachino.

At 07,00 a.m. B was the first to land, putting out of use the defenders of

the “Tonnara” and making contact on the right with the 231st Malta Brigade.

Company A conquered the Island of Capo Passero while D advanced

towards Portopalo.

At 09,00 a.m. C had occupied the small hill, near the Island of Capo

Passero, which overlooks the road to Pachino.

The 152nd

Scottish Brigade landed in a second rank at the two sides of the

promontory of “Isola delle Correnti” amongst which is Punta delle

Formiche.

The 3 battalions:

− The 2nd

Seaforth (Lieutenant Col. Horne);

− The 5th

Seaforth (Lieutenant Col.Walford);

− The 5th

Camerons (lieutenant Col. Sorel Cameron)

landed without any incidents, except for the injury to Cameron's legs, due

to a bomb.

Costa dell’ambra

Bark west. Sugar and Roger beaches

The 1st

Canadian Brigade, which landed on Costa dell'Ambra, had the

important task of:

� seizing the airport in Pachino

� neutralizing the Btr. of the Maucini

At 00,40 a.m. from the

Ship Hillary an aerial

bombardment against the

coastal defences and the

airport in Pachino lasted

until 02.10 a.m..

From 01:35 a.m. the two

assault battalions of the 2nd

Canadian Brigade, were

directed towards the beach at

Costa dell'Ambra, while the

gunboat Roberts with its 15

in. guns, along with the other ships heavily bombarded the airport in

Pachino and its defences.

The landing of the 2nd

Brigade was completed at 3.00 a.m..

During the stage of approach, the Italian Btr of Maucini opened fire on

the boats but it was sighted for the flares of the gunshots; it was reduced to

silence from the naval artillery.

The Canadian forces of the1st Brigade lost only 5 men, 2 died and 3 were

injured, reached by machine-gun fire.

At 06,45 a.m. the 1st Canadian Division had reached all its targets.

Punta Castellazzo

Bark-West

The Royal Marines of the 40th

and of the 41st Commandos landed at

02,45 a.m. on the10th July a bit farther on the left of Punta Castellazzo, in

order to avoid the sandbanks.

The resistance of the 4th Company of 375th

the Costal Btg (Major.

Pettinato), which occupied the beach of Ciriga, was useless.

The Allied Air Operations

At the same time of the landing operations, the allies carried out in the

Oriental Sicilian skies hundreds of devastating aerial incursions.

Already from the 9th

of July, the bomber fighters Mosquito and

Beaufighter, taken off from Malta, had attacked the Sicilian and the

southern Italian airports and had patrolled the landing areas.

Some nocturnal bombers Liberator and 5 squadrons of Spitfire (60

airplanes) patrolled and machine-gunned the zones of Avola, Pachino and

Scoglitti, while other 5 squadrons escorted the bombers assuring, therefore,

to the allies the aerial supremacy on all the war operation areas.

The Italian and German air forces, notwithstanding the heavy

bombarding, were able, during the night between the 9th

and the 10th

of

July, to make fly 370 German and 141 Italian airplanes; some attacked the

British zones of the landing but, in great numerical inferiority, they did not

succeed in opposing the landing and the aerial enemy.

Episodes of resistance and heroism

The Italians who fought in Sicily were fully aware of the prevailing

military strength of the Allied forces. This brought about an unsatisfactory

involvment in the defence of the island, moreover determined by the

inadequacy of the defensive equipment. In spite of this, in the same

conditions of inferiority, not a few Italians fought desperately to the finish.

Marzamemi

− Ten. Vincenzo Barone, gold metal, died after a

brave fight

− The 52nd

Btr opposed the landing of the 231st

Brg Malta, until it was shot probably by the

Dutch gunboats Soemba and Flores

− Corrado Rubbera, a soldier of the 243rd

coast

Btg, was killed between Marzamemi and

Portopalo

− The 230th

Btg led by Major. Elena, detached

from Noto, took part in the fight using machine

guns 47/32. Some of its men distinguished

themselves

− Cap. Palissoni,

− S.Ten. Benedetti,

− Ten. Pittigliani,

− Serg. Colella

Portopalo

− There were some Italian counterattacks but all of them were

repressed by the enemy.

− The 53rd

Btr managed to sink an enemy landing-craft, wounding

15 men belonging to the Unit D of the 7th

Scottish Argylls. It

was destroyed by rockets.

− An allied officer was shot and 10 men were wounded by mines.

− The German platoon assigned to radio-transmissions, after

having destroyed the installations, retired from Portopalo and

moved towards Rosolini. However, 5 German soldiers stayed at

their place.

Near Torre Xibini

− Twelve men were killed

Maucini-

− The 54th

Btr

resisted the

enemy but it

was 'silenced'

by the Allied

fleet, probably

by the gunboat

Roberts. The

ones who

survived joined

the 321st Btr in

Pachino to

support the defence of the airport-

Baroni − On the Pachino-Rosolini road,some bodies of Italian and

German soldiers were lying between some motor vehicles

burned by the grenades.

Punta Castellazzo

− Some machine-gun postings contrasted the advance of a group of

English marines

Portulisse

− Brig. Lorenzo Greco and Pietro Nuvoletta, Emanuele Giunta,

Raffaele Bianco, three 'finanzieri', fought to the last. Only the

intervention from the land of some paratroopers could defeat their

heroic resistance. They died in a man-to-man fighting; it was July 10

The 52nd

, the 53rd

and the 54th

Btr shot 2500 times before being definitely

overwhelmed by the enemy at about 9 a. m. of July 10. The 3rd Btr. of the

224th

Group from Bonivini-Modica and the 227th

Btr from Pozzallo gave

their contribute to the defence.

Brig. Lorenzo Greco Pietro Nuvoletta Emanuele Giunta Raffaele Bianca

THE OCCUPATION OF PACHINO

At 6.30 a.m. the 153rd

Brg landed at Portopalo. The landing force C of the

7th

Canadian Division managed to take 70 Italian prisoners and at 7.00 a.m.

the unit was joined by the 7th

Black Watch which had already captured the 5

German soldiers who were at the radio-station. During the landing Lieut.

Col. Hay died in an accident. After, the two battaillons made contact with

the 1st Canadian Division on the left.

At 7.00 a.m. the 1st Gordon (153

rd Brg Argylls) completely occupied the

'tonnara' and made contact with the 231st Brg Malta of Marzamemi on the

right.

At 9.00 a.m. the landing force C occupied the high ground facing Capo

Passero

A platoon of the 7th

Black Watch and some tanks moved towards

Pachino. On the south-west suburbs of Pachino they met the 'podestà' who

surrendered.

The 5th

and the 7th

Gordons advanced towards Pachino on the left, along

the carriage road, in the north, near the cross-roads for Rosolini and Noto

The 5th

Black Watch (Lieut. Col. Thomson) mopped up the whole area of

the beach; then, they moved towards the same way as the 5th

and the 7th

Gordons but on the right side.

The most important strategic objective was the conquest of the airport in

c.da Chiaramida.

The task was assigned to the 1st

Brg of the 1st Canadian Division. The

conquest of the airport meant immediate supplies of bombs and a rapid

refuelling for a couple of air squadrons stationed in Malta and North Africa.

The action was supported by a cover on the sides of Pachino and Burgio.

On the right the 154th

Infantry Brg coming from Portopalo pushed towards

Pachino, followed by the 5th

Black Watch and the 231st Malta.

The command of

the 122nd

Regg led

by Col. Apollonio,

which was 2 Km

north of Pachino

managed to drive

back the first attack

with the help of a

group of

'bersaglieri'.

However, at about

10.00 the command was surrounded by the Allied troops which by that time

had already reached the roads to Noto and Ispica; so, D'Apollonio decided

to retire and went towards the stronghold Bonivini-Modica, on the carriage

road to Rosolini.

He sent an officer with a detailed report of the events to the headquarters

of the 206th

Division. In the meantime, telephone connections had been cut.

On the left side, the 40th and the 41st Commandos had driven the left

force of the 375th

coast Btg (Magg. Pettinato) away from the area called

Ciriga towards the stronghold of Case Gradante. At 6.40 a.m. the

Commands made contact with the Canadians of the Seaforth Highlander

near the southern end of the quagmire Longarini.

While carrying on

the consolidation of

the bridge-head, the

Royal Canadian

Regiment reached and

occupied the

farmhouses of

Maucini taking a

dozen of prisoners.

Afterwards, the unit

advanced towards the

54th Btr and forced 38 artillerymen to surrender while others of them, after

the distruction of their guns, had left to give their support to the fellow-

soldiers of the 321st Btr at Km 17 of the road from Noto to Pachino. At

about 9.00 a.m. the Royal Canadian arrived at the airport. The Italians had

ploughed the

runways in

order to make

them unusable;

apparently, the

airport was

desert.

Actually, the

men of the

Fixed Defence

led by Major.

Motta had

barricaded

themselves in

the northern end of the airport, while the 321st Btr, still intact, was about 1

Km further.

Company C of the Royal Canadian crossed the north- eastern corner of

the airport and joined the armour of the 51st Scottish Division, which,

turning to the left, reached the suburbs of Pachino.

Company A of the Royal Canadian, supported by the Hasting Btg, turned

up from the left, managed to occupy the barricades and moved towards the

321st Btr which had opened fire against the Royal Canadian.

Once its coordinates were communicated, the Btr was silenced by naval

fire but 130 men led by S. Ten. Domenichelli went on fighting using their

machine-guns and individual arms before surrendering to the 5th Black

Watch of the 153rd Scottish Brg.

In the meantime, Company C had conquered the north -eastern high

ground dominating the battlefield, defeating the extreme resistance of the

Italian defence.

As soon as the airport was conquered the Sappers of the 5th

British Group

of the Airport Building section came into action.

They made an emergency landing strip by using bulldozers and road-

rollers.

Shortly after 12.00 a.m. the 15th

Infantry Btr had moved towards Pachino

and the patrols of the

1st Gordon had

already entered the

town, occupying it

definitely.

They were followed

by the 5th Black

Watch and the 231st

Brg Malta.

Some groups of

disbanded soldiers

wandered through the

fields before surrendering

to the British patrols.

Hundreds of them were

gathered on the beaches

and then shipped on the

cargo boats to Africa.

Gen. d´Havet, who was in

Modica and could not

communicate with his units,

deduced the coastal defence

had been broken and the

Allied forces were

penetrating into the

mainland towards Noto,

Ispica, Rosolini and Modica.

At midday of July 10th, 1943 only 9 hours after their landing, the Anglo-

Canadian forces had already conquered Marzamemi, Portopalo, Maucini,

Pachino and the airport; they controlled all the peninsula from S. Lorenzo in

the east to the Marza in the west, along a line passing through the north side

of Pachino, c.da Burgio and Case Gradante.

English soldiers in V.Emanuele square in Pachino

English officiers in Lincoln street

Pachino in the summer of 1943

Cassar Scalia street

Italian prisoners in Cavour street People welcome Scottish soldiers

Beach road in Marzamemi

Italian prisoners in Marzamemi

On Pachino Noto road

The numbers

During the Sicilian Military Operations, considering the reinforced joints

after the landing of the Allies, you could count amongst the dead, the

prisoners and the missing in action, approximately:

− 14,485 Germans, on 60,000,

o 4,369 dead,

o 5,523 prisoners,

o 4,593 missing;

− 157,628 Italians on 260,000

o 4,875 dead ,

o 116,681 prisoners,

o 36,072 missing);

− 31,000 Anglo-Americans on 478,000

o 3,205 British Fallen,

o 490 Canadian Fallen

o 2,899 Americans Fallen

for a total of 15,838 dead.

Almost all the Germans lay at “Motta S.Anastasia”, outside Catania. In

the Commonwealth cemetary authorized on the plain of Catania 2,142

English rest, while other 1,063 tombs are in Siracusa.

Agira guards the rests of 490 Canadian soldiers.

The dead Americans, after been buried in temporary fields, were brought

home or moved to Neptune (a Roman cemetry).

The fallen Italians rest in their areas of origin, or in the cemetry of

“Christo Re” in Messina.

1,140 airplanes of the Axis were lost in the battle:

o 740 of Luftwaffe

o 400 of Regia Airforce

against the 375 aircrafts and 18 airplanes of the Allies.

During the landing, in the territory of Pachino these people lost their lives

GIURDANELLA Raimondo, peasant

MESSINA Sebastiano, military

MAZZOLA Giuseppe, soldier

TELA Salvatore, civilian,

ORLANDO Carmela, civilian,

DISTEFANO Antonino, civilian

ROSE Domenica, civilian,

GIRMENIA Saint, civil,

IOZIA Giulia Carmela, civilian

SCHEMBARI Salvatore, civilian,

BARONE Vincenzo, ten. of fant. of 243° the Coastal Btg, IV Company,

VASILE Paolo, civilian,

SANTACROCE Corrado, civilian,

FORTE Francesco, civilian,

DIPIETRO Gaetano, civilian,

MAZZARA Corrado, civilian,

RICUPERO Francesco, civilian,

RICUPERO Giovanni, civilian,

MONACO Giacomo, civilian,

PAPA Benito, civilian,

GAMBUZZA Sebastiana, civilian

RUBBERA Corrado, military

We dedicate this 60th anniversary to these men and women, children, old

people who lost their lives in this cruel war; we consign to the future

generations the memory of their existence and their stories.

These people’s stories have been buried not only by bombs a long time

ago. The collective memories have lost all traces of their passage.

“History” will never talk about. These people no one will ever celebrate

anniversaries or dedicate memorials to them. They belong to the rank of

those who do not count, who leave no mark, and will never be part of

history.

Although it was obscured by the popularity and the historical

consequences of the landing in Normandia, the Husky operation was the

greatest amphibious operation of World War II in relation to the number of

divisions disembarked within the first day of the invasion. For 38 days half

a million soldiers, marines and airmen fought against their German and

Italian adversaries in order to conquer the southern outpost of the forces of

the Axis. From a strategic point of view, the operation obtained the aims

established in the conference of Casablanca:

• the Mediterranean routes were now sure for the Allies;

• Hitler suffered his first defeat owing to the invasion of the

Anglo-Americans in the Italian peninsula;

• Mussolini was kicked out of the government, arrested and replaced

by Marshal Badoglio, opening a way to the surrender of the country.

It was the 10th

of July of

1943 ! It was a hot and starry night.

Suddenly the silence was

broken, the sea was flamed.

It was the war that was

returning on our coasts after

almost 1000 years of peace

from the expulsion

of the Arabians from Noto

To the project have collaborated :

The students of the I.T.I.S. Section Telecommunication

The “centro Diurno Anziani”

Dr. Ottaviano Perricone

IWM of London

Istituto Luce of Rome

11aa Brigata Canadese:Brigata Canadese:- Hastings and Prince Edward

- Royal Canadian

- 48°Highlanders of Canada

22a a Brigata Canadese:Brigata Canadese:- Seaforth Highlander of Canada

- Princess Patricia’s canadian

Light Infantry

- Loyal Edmonton

33aa Brigata Canadese:Brigata Canadese:- Royal 22°

- Crleton and York

- West Nova Scotia

231a Brigata di Fanteria MaltaBattaglioni: - 1°Dorset

- 1°Hammps- 2°Devon

23a Brigata Corazzata:

154a Brigata:

Battaglioni: - 7°Black Watch

- 1°Black Watch

- 7°Argylls

- 1°Gordon

152a Brigata:

Battaglioni: - 5°Camerons

- 2°Seaforth

- 5°Seaforth

40°/41°Commandos Royal Marines

153a Brigata

Battaglioni: - 5°Black Watch

- 5°Gordon

- 7°Gordon

51a Divisione Highlander

5252aa

5353aa5454aa

11aa BrigataBrigata

CirigaCiriga

321321aa

33a a batteriabatteria

9 luglio ore 23.35

10 luglio ore 02.45Ore 07.00

10 luglio ore 06.30

10 luglio ore 11.00

10 luglio ore 07.00

10 luglio ore 08.35

10 luglio ore 02.3011aa Brigata Canadese:Brigata Canadese:

- Hastings and Prince Edward

- Royal Canadian

- 48°Highlanders of Canada

22a a Brigata Canadese:Brigata Canadese:- Seaforth Highlander of Canada

- Princess Patricia’s canadian

Light Infantry

- Loyal Edmonton

33aa Brigata Canadese:Brigata Canadese:- Royal 22°

- Crleton and York

- West Nova Scotia

231a Brigata di Fanteria MaltaBattaglioni: - 1°Dorset

- 1°Hammps- 2°Devon

23a Brigata Corazzata:

154a Brigata:

Battaglioni: - 7°Black Watch

- 1°Black Watch

- 7°Argylls

- 1°Gordon

152a Brigata:

Battaglioni: - 5°Camerons

- 2°Seaforth

- 5°Seaforth

40°/41°Commandos Royal Marines

153a Brigata

Battaglioni: - 5°Black Watch

- 5°Gordon

- 7°Gordon

51a Divisione Highlander

5252aa

5353aa5454aa

11aa BrigataBrigata

CirigaCiriga

321321aa

33a a batteriabatteria

9 luglio ore 23.35

10 luglio ore 02.45Ore 07.00

10 luglio ore 06.30

10 luglio ore 11.00

10 luglio ore 07.00

10 luglio ore 08.35

10 luglio ore 02.30