Operation Husky: The Allied Invasion of Sicily

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• Platform: Zoom
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Following the qualified success of the November 1942 invasion of North Africa, American and British planners turned their attention to the next step in their war against Germany. Under pressure from Stalin to open a second front in Europe but lacking sufficient materiel and experience to invade northwest France directly, they instead turned to a stepping-stone: the island of Sicily off the Italian peninsula.

The 1943 campaign in Sicily was even more successful than the operation in North Africa. Too small to turn the tide of the war on its own, it nevertheless provided American and British forces with an opportunity to gain experience and to learn some hard lessons about the challenges of coalition warfare and joint operations—lessons that they would put to good use ten months later on the beaches at Normandy. Join historian Christopher Hamner as he examines the battle for Sicily, using primary sources to explore its place in the context of World War II Europe.

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