The Allied invasion of the island of Sicily on 10 July, 1943. In the first day of the landing over 160,000 troops and six hundred tanks arrived and seized Syracuse.
The invasion was launched from newly-liberated North Africa as a precursor to the invasion of Italy. During the campaign an intense rivalry developed between the British and American commanders on the ground: Generals Bernard Montgomery and George Patton respectively.
The entire island was in Allied hands after thirty-nine days of fighting. This new blow against the Axis was conducted at the same time as the German attack that launched the huge Battle of Kursk (Citadel). The Germans found themselves faced with a sudden and unexpected diversion of their resources from the fight in Russia.
Units involved in the initial landings included the 45th Infantry Division, and the U.S. 82nd Airborne Division, which conducted its first combat drops there.
See Operation Barclay, Operation Chestnut, Operation Corkscrew, Operation Fustian, Operation Ladbroke, Operation Pomegranate, and Operation Narcissus.