Troina

While British forces were unable to break through in the east of Sicily, American forces swarmed across the west of the island. The pursuit of German forces halted at the Etna line. Here, German forces had dug in to cover …

1943-07-31

20072

While British forces were unable to break through in the east of Sicily, American forces swarmed across the west of the island. The pursuit of German forces halted at the Etna line. Here, German forces had dug in to cover their retreat to the Italian mainland. The mountainous terrain gave perfect view and cover. Here, Troina was located, the place where a breakthrough had to be forced. A direct attack on Troina was impossible. The American 60th, 26th, 16th and 18e infantry divisions got the task too surround Troina and attack it. German forces fought hard with mortar fire and counterattacks with armor. Eventually, the 26th division succeeded to break through German defenses, so German troops had to retreat towards Messina.

Troina, Sicily

The Allied invasion of Sicily, codenamed Operation Husky, was a major campaign of World War II, in which the Allies took the island of Sicily from the Axis powers (Fascist Italy and Nazi Germany). It began with a large amphibious and airborne operation, followed by a six-week land campaign, and initiated the Italian Campaign. To divert some of the Axis forces to other areas, the Allies engaged in several deception operations, the most famous and successful of which was Operation Mincemeat. Husky began on the night of 9–10 July 1943, and ended on 17 August. Strategically, Husky achieved the goals set out for it by Allied planners; the Allies drove Axis air, land and naval forces from the island and the Mediterranean sea lanes were opened for Allied merchant ships for the first time since 1941. The Italian leader, Benito Mussolini, was toppled from power in Italy and the way was opened for the Allied invasion of Italy. The German leader, Adolf Hitler, "canceled a major offensive at Kursk after only a week, in part to divert forces to Italy", resulting in a reduction of German strength on the Eastern Front. The collapse of Italy necessitated German troops replacing the Italians in Italy and to a lesser extent the Balkans, resulting in one fifth of the entire German army being diverted from the east to southern Europe, a proportion that would remain until near the end of the war.

Wikipedia: Allied invasion of Sicily

German

American

Game Type: Standard

Board Type: Countryside

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