It was during the Sicilian Campaign that news of Mussolini’s demise on July 25, 1943, reached Malta. The Maltese paraded with an effigy of Mussolini along Kingsway, Valletta, during celebrations marking the end of his rule in Italy.

After the Allies captured the first Italian territories of Pantelleria and the nearby islands, they turned their attention towards Sicily. The impeding assault brought to Malta more British and American warships besides a large number of landing craft. Many infantry battalions arrived in Malta and were billeted in barracks, under canvas along the countryside and on troopships anchored off the coast.

Allied commanders came to Malta too, to discuss and make preparations for the invasion of Sicily. Bernard Law Montgomery moved his headquarters to Malta at the end of June 1943. On July 4, Admiral Sir Andrew Cunningham took up personal command at the Naval Headquarters.

On July 7, the Supreme Commander General Dwight Eisenhower arrived in Malta. He was joined by Lord Louis Mountbatten, Chief of Combined Operations. On July 8, the Deputy Supreme Commander, General Harold Alexander, opened a Tactical Headquarters for 15th Army Group. Air Marshal Arthur Coningham moved to Malta as well to supervise tactical air operations.

Air Chief Marshal Sir Arthur Tedder, the Allied Air Commander, retained his Mediterranean Air Command Headquarters in Tunisia but he shuttled between North Africa and Malta and appointed Air Vice Marshal H.E.P. Wigglesworth for better liaison with General Eisenhower.

At the same time, in Malta and Gozo there were assembled in readiness for the impending invasion of Sicily no fewer than 23 Spitfire fighter squadrons plus one Spitfire PR Squadron and one Spitfire TACR Squadron, comprising about 400 Mk Vs, Mk VIIIs, Mk IXs and a few Mk PR IVs and Mk PR XIs. These Spitfires were based at Luqa, Ta’ Qali, Ħal Far airfields, Safi and Qrendi airstrips and the Gozo airfield.

Spitfires from Malta were flown in protection of the invasion armada, which consisted of approximately 2,000 ships and craft of all sizes

RAF Spitfires were stationed in the first three airfields and two airstrips, while US Spitfires were stationed in the Gozo airfield.

The Allied invasion force for Operation Husky, the invasion of Sicily, consisted of British, American and Canadian armies. Troops included the British Eighth Army under General Montgomery, and the US Seventh Army under General George Patton. They were bolstered by the addition of the First Canadian Infantry Division.

General Eisenhower was in overall command, with General Alexander as commander of the land forces, designated the Fifteenth Army Group.

Meanwhile, Sicily was defended by the Italian Sixth Army under General Alfredo Guzzoni, and the German XIV Panzer Corps. The total Axis force was about 190,000 Italian and 40,000 German troops.

Spitfires from Malta were flown in protection of the invasion armada, which consisted of approximately 2,000 ships and craft of all sizes. The general plan was to employ two-thirds of all available fighter effort on close escort of the convoys when they came within 50 miles west of the south of Malta.

None of the invasion convoys was attacked from the air during the daylight hours of July 10, 1943. However, an Italian pilot of a Macchi MC205V of 4 Stormo flew a reconnaissance sortie to Malta but failed to make a sighting, although German records show that a convoy had been sighted south of Pantelleria as early as 3.20am, the crew of another reconnaissance aircraft reported sighting five convoys south of Malta at about 1.30pm and another 30 miles northwest of Gozo at 6.40pm, but their ultimate destination was unknown.

Until the eleventh hour the German High Command still had doubts about the actual location of the intended landings. The German Naval War staff thought it would be Greece, specifically the Corfu-Arta-Pyrgos region on the east coast, even as late as May 20, 1943.

Undoubtedly Operation Mincemeat played its part in the Allied plan of deception. This was the code name of a British secret operation in which a body dressed in the uniform of the Royal Marine officer was put in the sea off the coast of Spain via a submarine.

Attached to the body was a briefcase in which were documents purporting to confirm that the Allied landings were indeed to take place on the Greek west coast. The body was recovered by the Spanish and the documents were handed over to the German authorities as intended.

As a result of this phase of operations, the Axis air force on Sicily was mainly confined to the use of Trapani/Milo and Sciacca airfields in the west and the Gerbini complex in the east. According to Italian records, Fliegerkorps II (Sud) had 932 aircraft in its inventory, but Feldmarschall Albert Kesselring, Commander-in-Chief of all German forces in Italy and Sicily was clearly not confident that any sustained Allied attack could be halted.

The Aeronautica della Sicilia started receiving reinforcements, with some units flying to the few serviceable airfields on the island and others taking up station on the mainland in Calabria and Puglia. Despite these reinforcements, there remained under 200 combat aircraft on the strength of Aeronautica della Sicilia, of which just 79 were considered operational.

Operation Husky began on the night of July 9, where paratroops were to be dropped to take key positions. However, of the 137 gliders that had crossed the Mediterranean, 68 US Wacos and one Horsa ditched in the sea with the loss of 252 highly-trained troops.

The Western Naval Task Force carrying the US Seventh Army was to make landings at three designated areas, codenamed CENT, which was from Marpina eastwards up the coast for some 20 miles; while DIME was a short stretch of coast on either side of Gela; and JOS was a longer stretch on either side of Licata. The first waves landed on the beaches at 2.45am of July 10, 1943, and encountered machine-gun and light artillery fire.

The Eastern Naval Task Force carrying the British Eighth Army was to make landing at five designated points, codenamed ACID North, which was from Cape Murro di Porco; ACID South, which was from a point south of Avola to a point halfway between Calaberando and Marzamemi; BARK East, which was a short stretch of coast north of Marzamemi; BARK Middle, which was from Cape Passero to Cape Correnti; and BARK West, which was from Pozzallo eastwards to a point on the coast south of Pachino.

The Eighth Army also included the 231st Infantry Brigade, which was created on April 1, 1943, by the redesignation of 1st (Malta) Infantry Brigade. It consisted of 1st Battalion of the Dorsetshire Regiment, the 1st Battalion of the Hampshire Regiment and the 2nd Battalion of the Devonshire Regiment. The first landings began at about 5am of July 10, where opposition was confined to elements of an Italian division which was soon overcome.

With bridgeheads firmly established, Allied land forces made further advances in the coastal area on July 11. Among the arrivals to come ashore near Pachino were General Montgomery and Vice-Admiral Lord Mountbatten, who arrived from Malta aboard the destroyer HMS Antwerp.

The early main effort from Malta was directed to the provision of fighter cover for the landing beaches and shipping in the occupied harbours. During the latter stages of the campaign, Allied troops were continually supported by Kittyhawks and US fighter-bombers with little interference from Axis fighters.

By late July, every German aircraft that could be flown had left Sicily, while the Italians retained just 28 fighters, mainly Macchi MC202s, of which four were serviceable.

Strategically, Husky achieved the goals set out for it by Allied planners. Once ashore, the armies linked up and secured a large beachhead area. Then the Eighth Army drove north, along the east coast of Sicily, to Messina. The Seventh Army covered the Eighth Army’s left flank and cleared the rest of the island.

Meanwhile, as a result of a meeting of the Fascist Grand Council on the evening of July 24, 1943, a motion of no confidence was passed on Il Duce, Benito Mussolini. King Victor Emmanuel formally dismissed him the next day, after which he was arrested and taken off to Podgora Barracks to await his fate.

Marshal Pietro Badoglio was appointed to form a new government, without one Fascist member, and contact was immediately secretly made with the Allies with the aim of surrender. The Italians basically wanted to change sides. However, it was only on September 3 that the Italians finally agreed to unconditional surrender.

Although Feldmarschall Kesselring had already decided to evacuate, the Axis forces continued their delaying tactics, assisted by the favourable defensive terrain of the Messina peninsula. Kittyhawks and US Warhawks continued fighter-bomber attacks on ships in the Messina Straits.

Despite the relentless assault, the vast majority of Axis ground forces were able to evacuate safely to the Italian mainland. The Germans transferred over 12,000 men, 4,500 vehicles and 5,000 tons of equipment between August 1 and 10 to the Italian mainland. Full-scale withdrawal began on August 11 and continued till August 17.

Despite the relentless assault, the vast majority of Axis ground forces were able to evacuate safely to the Italian mainland

The German and Italian evacuation schemes proved highly successful.The Allies were not able to prevent the orderly withdrawal or effectively interfere with transport across the Strait of Messina. The narrow straits were protected by 120 heavy and 112 light anti-aircraft guns.

The Germans evacuated in total some 52,000 of their troops (including 4,444 wounded), 14,105 vehicles, 47 tanks, 94 guns, 1,100 tons of ammunition, and about 20,700 tons of gear and stores.

The Italians evacuated 62,182 men, 41 guns and 227 vehicles from Sicily, with the loss of only one motor raft and the train ferry Carridi, which failed to escape and had to be scuttled when Allied troops entered Messina.

At the same time, from August 14, the campaign developed into a race, with many obstacles between the British and Americans for Messina. The Americans won and General Patton entered Messina on August 17, 1943.

The Sicily campaign had cost the Allies nearly 25,000 casualties. The US Seventh Army lost 8,781 men (2,237 killed or missing, 5,946 wounded and 598 captured), while the British Eighth Army suffered 11,843 casualties (2,062 killed or missing, 7,137 wounded and 2,644 captured). Canadian forces had suffered 2,310 casualties, including 562 killed, 1,664 wounded, and 84 captured.

According to several sources, German units lost about 20,000 (killed, wounded or captured), but another source says the German forces lost 4,678 men, while 5,532 were captured and 13,500 wounded, making up a total of 23,710 German casualties.

Italian military losses are reported to amount to 4,325, 32,500 wounded and 116,681 captured, although another source maintains that 118,700 Italians were captured.

Relevant artefacts and information can be seen in the National War Museum in Valletta.

Charles Debono is curator of the National War Museum.