Allied invasion of Sicily
| Operation Husky | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of the Italian campaign of World War II | |||||||||
A map of the Allied army progress during Operation Husky from 11 July to 17 August 1943. | |||||||||
| |||||||||
| Belligerents | |||||||||
|
United States United Kingdom Canada Free France Australia | |||||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||||
| Strength | |||||||||
|
Initial strength:
Peak strength:
| |||||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||||
The Allied invasion of Sicily, also known as the Battle of Sicily and Operation Husky, was a major campaign of World War II in which the Allied forces invaded the island of Sicily in July 1943 and took it from the Axis forces (Kingdom of 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. These events led to the Fall of the Fascist regime in Italy with Italian dictator Benito Mussolini being ousted and the establishment of a new government, and to the Allied invasion of Italy on 3 September.
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.