The purpose of this guide is to provide resources to help the user start research on the topic of Operation Husky (Operation Joss), the Allied invasion of Sicily during World War II.
One way to begin research on a topic is to build background knowledge or understanding of the context. Seek materials that provide an overview of the topic such as books (notice the headings in the table of contents and chapter titles), timelines, lists of major campaigns, etc. Then, narrow your topic and seek sources that are more specific.
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Image source: U.S. National Archives: https://catalog.archives.gov/id/531335
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Bibliographies are lists of books and other materials on a topic. In addition to providing titles of sources, reading through a bibliography can be useful for generating search terms and subtopics.
U.S. Army Heritage and Education Center: Bibliographies
Bitter Victory by
This is an even-handed, meticulously documented, and absorbing examination of the conquest of Sicily in 1943. For the first time the major military commanders who would lead the Allied victory in Europe were together.
The Day of Battle by
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER In the second volume of his epic trilogy about the liberation of Europe in World War II, Pulitzer Prize winner Rick Atkinson tells the harrowing story of the campaigns in Sicily and Italy In An Army at Dawn--winner of the Pulitzer Prize--Rick Atkinson provided an authoritative history of the Allied triumph in North Africa during World War II. Now, in The Day of Battle, he follows the strengthening American and British armies as they invade Sicily in July 1943 and then, mile by bloody mile, fight their way north toward Rome. The decision to invade the so-called soft underbelly of Europe was controversial, but once under way, the commitment to liberate Italy from the Nazis never wavered. The battles at Salerno, Anzio, the Rapido River, and Monte Cassino were particularly lethal, yet as the months passed, the Allied forces continued to drive the Germans up the Italian peninsula. And with the liberation of Rome in June 1944, ultimate victory at last began to seem inevitable. Drawing on a wide array of primary source material, written with great drama and flair, The Day of Battle is a masterly account of one of history's most compelling military campaigns.
Operation Husky by
On July 10, 1943, twenty thousand Canadian soldiers joined two great Allied armies on the beaches of southern Sicily for Operation Husky -- the first western Allied thrust to win a toehold inside HItler's Fortress Europe. Guarding the renowned Eighth Army's left flank, 1st Canadian Infantry division and 1st Canadian Army Tank Brigade struck out from the sand into the island's rugged interior. In searing heat, these untried troops clashed in ever-intensifying battle to wrest towering mountains and ancient hill towns away from the elite veterans of Germany's Hermann Goring and 1st Parachute divisions. When Eighth Army's main drive up Sicily's eastern coast stalled, General Montgomery ordered the Canadians to save the day by turning the German left flank. The fighting reached a fever pitch as the Canadians struggled to break through a series of German defensive lines. Celebrated military historian Mark Zuehlke vividly recreates this little-known campaign, which became the Canadian Army's first triumph of World War II.
Sicily '43 by
A major new history of one of World War II's most crucial campaigns--the first Allied attack on European soil--by the acclaimed author of Normandy '44 and a rising star in military history On July 10, 1943, the largest amphibious invasion ever mounted took place, larger even than the Normandy invasion eleven months later: 160,000 American, British, and Canadian troops came ashore or were parachuted onto Sicily, signaling the start of the campaign to defeat Nazi Germany on European soil. Operation HUSKY, as it was known, was enormously complex, involving dramatic battles on land, in the air, and at sea. Yet, despite its paramount importance to ultimate Allied victory, and its drama, very little has been written about the 38-day Battle for Sicily. Based on his own battlefield studies in Sicily and on much new research, James Holland's Sicily '43 offers a vital new perspective on a major turning point in World War II and a chronicle of a multi-pronged campaign in a uniquely diverse and contained geographical location. The characters involved--Generals George Patton and Bernard Montgomery among many--were as colorful as the air and naval battles and the fighting on the ground across the scorching plains and mountaintop of Sicily were brutal. But among Holland's great skills is incorporating the experience of on-the-ground participants on all sides--from American privates Tom and Dee Bowles and Tuskegee fighter pilot Charlie Dryden to British major Hedley Verity and Canadian lieutenant Farley Mowat (later a celebrated author), to German and Italian participants such as Wilhelm Schmalz, brigade commander in the Hermann Göring Division, or Luftwaffe fighter pilot major Johannes "Macky" Steinhoff and to Italian combatants, civilians and mafiosi alike--which gives readers an intimate sense of what occurred in July and August 1943. Emphasizing the significance of Allied air superiority, Holland overturns conventional narratives that have criticized the Sicily campaign for the vacillations over the plan, the slowness of the Allied advance and that so many German and Italian soldiers escaped to the mainland; rather, he shows that clearing the island in 38 days against geographical challenges and fierce resistance was an impressive achievement. A powerful and dramatic account by a master military historian, Sicily '43 fills a major gap in the narrative history of World War II.