0718_01: Sicily Dry Feet Campaign_Alt - PzC 08 Sicily '43

Sicily, July 18th, 1943: With the beachheads secure, and supplies increasing daily, the Allies on Sicily were ready for the second phase of their efforts to conquer the island. After a great deal of agitation and friction, General George S. Patton's 7th Army received the task of clearing the western half of Sicily and taking the port of Palermo. General Bernard Law Montgomery's 8th Army, meanwhile, had the ostensibly more important, and certainly more glamorous, task of driving up the eastern side of the island towards Messina, the ultimate prize. Despite the fading away of the Italian Army, and the relatively modest number of German forces in Sicily, the "Race to Messina" was going to be no picnic. Sicily's rough terrain and pitiful road network, combined with the efficient work of Axis engineers, and the tenacity of German soldiers, would turn the rest of the campaign into a hot, bloody summer. [Size large]