British troops in Sicily, part of a major Allied invasion during World War II. For more detail click this link.
By: Phil Kohn. Dedicated to the memory of his father, GM3 Walter Kohn, U.S. Navy Armed Guard, USNR, and all men and women who have answered the country’s call in time of need. Phil can be contacted at ww2remembered@yahoo.com.
In Sicily, Canadian forces on July 16, 1943, take Caltagirone, 43 miles southwest of Catania. About 50 miles to the west, the Americans take Agrigento, then begin a drive northwestward toward Palermo. At Algiers, Algeria, the Norwegian freighter D/M Bjørkhaug, being loaded with some 1,800 Italian mines that had been “deactivated” by minesweepers, explodes suddenly, killing over 1,000 people.
In Sicily, the British Eighth Army on July 17 strikes northward toward the Axis stronghold at Catania but meets determined resistance from the Hermann Göring Division on the plain beneath Mount Etna. The British therefore decide to go around Catania toward Mount Etna, while the U.S. Seventh Army moves along the west coast toward Palermo. In Russia, the Battle of Kursk grinds on, but Hitler orders German panzer commanders to withdraw from the field, ending “Operation Citadel.” The decision is strongly protested by Gen. Erich von Manstein and other German commanders, who argue that the Soviets can be defeated. Der Führer is not swayed, however, and begins shifting troops to the West. In Germany, the RAF bombs the German rocket base at Peenemünde, on Usedom Island in the Baltic Sea.
German radio on July 18 reports that the city of Köln (Cologne) is in a state of chaos following Allied air raids. Off southeastern Florida, the war’s only battle between a lighter-than-air airship and a submarine takes place. The U.S. Navy blimp K-74 sights the surfaced German sub U-134 stalking a pair of merchant vessels and attacks. Firing its .50-caliber machine gun and dropping depth charges, the blimp is brought down by shells fired by the sub’s 20-mm deck cannon. Nine of the K-74’s ten crew members survive and are rescued; the U-134 suffers depth-charge damage below its waterline and withdraws.
On July 19, the Allies bomb Rome for the first time. Although the targets are airfields and railroad yards, the façade of the Papal Basilica of San Lorenzo Outside the Walls is wrecked. The raid damages many other buildings, kills 166 civilians and injures another 1,600. Pope Pius XII protests to President Roosevelt but receives no reply. Adolf Hitler summons Benito Mussolini to a meeting at Feltre in northern Italy, about 60 miles north of Venice, to discuss strategy for defending Italy from the Allies. Mussolini endorses a proposal for Germany to assume military control of Italy’s defense, and both leaders agree to mount a fighting retreat while the Gustav Line — a defensive position across Italy roughly midway between Rome and Naples — is built. Mussolini, however, fails to inform Hitler of an important bit of information: his country is about to cease fighting.
The Australian light cruiser HMAS Hobart is damaged off the New Hebrides Islands on July 20 by a torpedo launched from a Japanese submarine. Seven officers and six sailors are killed. After repairs, the vessel returns to action in 1945. In the U.S., the Joint Chiefs of Staff decide that they will fight Japan by invading the Gilbert Islands and Nauru, followed by an invasion of the Marshall Islands.
German occupation authorities in Yugoslavia announce on July 21 that they will pay a bounty of 100,000 Reichsmarks for the capture of anti-Nazi Partisan leader Josip Broz Tito.
The U.S. Seventh Army enters Palermo, Sicily, on July 22, cutting off 22,000 Italian defenders.
