Operation Husky

The idea for the invasion of Sicily was born at the January 1943, Casablanca conference between President Franklin Roosevelt and English Prime Minister Winston Churchill. The overwhelming success of the North African Campaign allowed the Allies to consider pushing their plans forward to take the war onto the European continent. Therefore, the Allies commenced planning for an amphibious invasion to liberate Sicily, which was, code-named Operation Husky . To better understand this military operation it is necessary to research primary and secondary sources and assess their value. Primary source documents provide unique opportunities for the past to be explored. They provide a richer and more descriptive explanation of the past that cannot be reproduced in textbooks. However, the creator's point of view must be considered when skeptically and critically analyzing these documents. While examining the Records of the Joint Chiefs of Staff it was necessary to determine the documents value and analyze and evaluate the documents for bias or contradiction. The primary documents concerning Operation Husky were u

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The Records of the Joint Chiefs of Staff contain the thoughts and beliefs of numerous people who were planning the invasion of Sicily. These records were created thoughtfully and deliberately for documenting the planning that was necessary for Operation Husky. ” The Allies wanted to take careful steps when dealing with the Italian citizens because they wanted to avoid a hostile response by the population. The parachutists needed bright moonlight conditions but the thousands of ships lying off shore felt vulnerable to air attack in such conditions. The primary documents describe the gradient for numerous beaches on Sicily but they do not give insight into how they learned of these gradients or which gradient was the most suitable to land on. Another intelligence effort by the Allies that was not mentioned in the primary documents was how they learnt of how many enemy troops were on the island as well as their disposition. This is evident when the document describes “the two governments desire to use the protection of monuments by the Allies as counter propaganda to German looting. Upon invading Sicily, it was essential to the Allies that the soldiers assume the correct attitude when dealing with the Italian people, their institutions, and their property. This is a limitation to the researcher because

The primary documents portray the extensive pre-invasion allied planning when they describe what the job of the engineer entailed, civil relations, and the medical aspect of the assault. However, The Records of the Joint Chiefs of Staff leaves the researcher with many questions unanswered. Furthermore, General Eisenhower described in detail the procedures that were made during the invasion of Pantelleria.

The invasion of Sicily included the 1st Canadian Division, which was commanded by Major-General Guy Granville Simonds. Within the Records of the Joint Chiefs of Staff many of the documents purpose was to communicate between the different headquarters. Furthermore, the British only had to proceed north while the American division would be forced to sweep west. The documents in the Records of the Joint Chiefs of Staff illustrate intentions within the Allies of persuading one another.

Common topics in this essay:
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Approximate Word count = 3069
Approximate Pages = 12 (250 words per page double spaced)

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