The Round Tablette
The Round Tablette
September 2007
Volume 16 Number 1
Published by WW II History Roundtable
Edited by Jim Gerber
mn-
Welcome to the September meeting of the Dr. Harold C Deutsch World War Two History Roundtable and the 21st year of the Roundtable. We have an exciting year of programs scheduled as well as two extra programs. Tonight we welcome back author and historian Flint Whitlock who will present a program on Operation Husky: The Invasion of Sicily. He will be joined by vets of the 82nd Airborne, Rangers, 2ns Armored and the 1st, 3rd and 45th Infantry Division.
The 2007 – 2008 Programs:
9/13/07 Operation Husky: The Invasion of
Sicily
10/11/07 Enigma and Signal Intelligence
10/20/07 The Day of Battle Book signing
and lecture by author Rick
Atikinson
11/8/07 Nuremberg Trials and the
Legacy of Robert Jackson
12/13/07 Pearl Harbor: “Was there no
Warning?”
1/10/08 Kursk: The Largest Tank Battle
1/24/08 The Greatest Generation in
Normandy
2/14/08 The Norwegian Resistance in
WW II
3/13/08 China-Burma-India Theater
4/10/08 Fortifications of the 3rd Reich
5/8/08 Omaha Beach: A Flawed Victory
Sicily
Operation Husky, the battle for Sicily (July – August 1943), was one of the major campaigns of World War Two. The invasion of Sicily by British and American forces seemed to be the next logical step following the Allies’ victory in North Africa on the road to an invasion of the European continent.
On many ways, Operation Husky was a dress rehearsal for the Normandy Invasion, a triphibious (air, land, and sea), multi-national coalition effort involving 180,000 troops, 3200 ships and over 4000 aircraft, with armies commanded by Montgomery and Patton (and Omar Bradley, as a corps commander), and the whole show orchestrated by General Dwight Eisenhower.
Sicily was where the Yanks gained confidence in their ability to defeat the best the enemy could throw at them, and where the GIs earned the grudging respect of their British counterparts. Sicily, also, helped Eisenhower earn his reputation as a leader able to keep a fractious coalition together and ensured that he would be named overall commander of the biggest amphibious invasion of them all, Operation Overlord, the Normandy Invasion, a year later.
Still, there were errors galore, beginning with American infantrymen and sailors shooting down American planes full of American paratroopers, and ending with both Patton and Montgomery so focused on beating each other to Messina that they allowed the bulk of enemy forces to slip across the Strait of Messina to the toe of the Italian “boot” and escape destruction, along
with plenty of mis-steps, errors and costly blunders in between. That the battle for Sicily ended as a qualified victory for the Allies is due to a large extent to the courage and resourcefulness of the individual soldier.
-Flint Whitlock
Tuskegee Airmen Over Sicily
The Tuskegee Airmen’s first ever enemy air victory took place over the skies of Sicily eight days before the invasion of Sicily. The Tuskegee Airman comprised one squadron, the 99th Pursuit Squadron. The 99th saw action in the aerial offensive which preceded the Allied landings in Sicily. The 99th moved to El Harouria on the Cape Bonn Peninsula in Tunisia operating with the 324th FG for 11 days escorting medium bombers to the western sectors of Sicily. It was on July 2, 1943 that the 99th entered the victory column. While escorting sixteen B-25 medium bombers to Castelvetrano Airfield, Lt. Charles B. Hall, one of six pilots of the 99th flying escort for the B-25’s shot down an attacking enemy FW-190.
While attached to the 324th FG the 99th earned its first Distinguished Unit Citation for its success in dive bombing and strafing during the landings on Sicily. The Sicilian campaign lasted 38 days. D-Day for the invasion of Sicily was July 10, 1943. For a period of eight days the 99th was assigned to General Montgomery and his Eighth Army providing air support over the northern sectors of Sicily. On July 19th the 99th again joined the 33rd FG and through the months of August and September they were stationed at Lacata, Sicily and remained with the 33rd FG.
Yearly Pass
This year the cost of the yearly pass has been increased to $35. This is because we have added two extra programs to the 2007 – 2008 season. For the price of seven programs you will get 11 programs at a savings of $20.
Book Sale
This year we will have another book sale at the November program. This will be your chance to get some great deals on books to be used for your own library or for gifts.
More Reading On Tonight’s Topic:
The Rock of Anzio
By Flint Whitlock
Westview Press
Boulder, Colo. 1998
Bitter Victory
By Carlo D’Este
E. P. Dutton Pub.
New York, New York 1988
Mussolini’s Island
By John Follain
Hodder and Stoughton, Ltd.
New York, New York 2007
Assault on Sicily: Monty and Patton at War
By Ken Ford
Sutton Pub.
2007
Sicily; Whose Victory
By Martin Blumenson
Ballantine Books
New York, New York 1968
See You Next Month.
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