Featured battle : Sicily. Allied Landings

Part of Second World War

Date : 10 July 1943 - 13 July 1943

The capture of Sicily was essential to the Allied effort to invade Italy. A two pronged assault was planned. a] British 8th Army landing south of Syracruse on a 30 mile front including the Pachino Peninsular. b] US 7th Army landing on a 50 mile front on the south west coast. A 30 mile gap was left between the British left and the American right. There was little serious opposition due in part to the bad weather making 'it unfit for a landing'. The bad weather contributed to the airborne troops [glider and parachutists] suffering very badly, only 12 of 140 British gliders landed in or near their designated targets, many falling short into the sea.In spite of increasing opposition by the 13th the beachhead was firmly established and included the ports of Syracruse and Augusta.

Waterloo Archive Volume III: British Sources

Gareth Glover [Ed]
Just like the first two volumes another fascinating read. There are many many books which give one the strategy, and an over view of the action in the battle, some excellent in their way. But these volumes tell us, or more correctly the men themselves tell us, about real lives of real individuals who were involved in that momentous event. If you want to know who fought Quatre-Bras and Waterloo then these volumes tell you of some of the men. We can guess that most of the others, whose voices are not recorded, had similar varied lives. Also in the three British sourced volumes there are eight superb illustrations reproduced from William Mudford's history of Waterloo published in 1817. If you want to know the men read these books.
Frontline Books, Pen & Sword Books Ltd., 2011