The smoke had barely cleared from the battlefields of North Africa when the victorious Allies turned their attention northward to Europe. American planners were eager for the decisive battle against Nazi Germany in Western Europe, which could only happen after a successful invasion across the English Channel.
The British high command felt otherwise, unconvinced their combined forces were yet ready to face the Wehrmacht. Instead, they advocated more action in the Mediterranean Theater, where the Germans were weaker but still able to interdict the necessary shipping traffic Britain needed for its war effort. Attacking this “soft underbelly” in either Italy or the Balkans would relieve pressure on the British Empire as well as further blood the Allied troops for the eventual showdown against Germany. It would also draw enemy forces from the Eastern Front, where at great cost the Soviets had the bulk of the German ground forces occupied.
Additionally, Italian resolve was wavering; if they could be taken out of the war it would ease Allied efforts considerably.
After much debate the decision was made to invade the Italian island of Sicily, only 90 miles north of the African coast. Seizure of the island would provide a steppingstone toward the Italian mainland. There were about 250,000 Axis troops defending Sicily, most of them Italians with a stiffening of German troops and a large number of Luftwaffe personnel. Roughly half the Italians were organized into infantry divisions while the rest formed either coastal defense or rear-echelon support units.
