Closing the Ring by Winston S. Churchill Read Free Book Online Page A

maintained domination throughout, and their tactical air forces have in consequence concentrated a record proportion of their efforts on support of our armies in the field. Over one thousand enemy aircraft have been taken on airfields. The Royal Navy have kept our sea-lanes open and supplied us with everything we needed.
    And later:
    General Alexander to Prime Minister
    17 Aug. 43
    By 10 A.M. this morning, August 17, 1943, the last German soldier was flung out of Sicily and the whole island is now in our hands.
    *  *  * *  *
     
    So ended a successful and skilful campaign of thirty-eight days. The enemy, once they had recovered from the initial surprise, had fought stubbornly. The difficulties of the ground were great. The roads were narrow, and cross-country movement was often impossible except for men on foot. On the Eighth Army front the towering mass of Mount Etna blockedthe way, and enabled the enemy to watch our moves. As they lay on the low ground of the Catania plain, malaria ran riot among our men. Nevertheless, once we were safely ashore and our air forces were operating from captured airfields, the issue was never in doubt. The enemy, according to General Marshall’s report, lost 167,000 men, of whom 37,000 were Germans. The Allies lost 31,158 killed, wounded, and missing.
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    1 Crusade in Europe , chapter IX, page 159.
    2 See map, “Conquest of Sicily,” page 25.
    3 Order of battle:
    E IGHTH A RMY , Headquarters XIIIth and XXXth Corps.
    In the first assault: 1st Canadian 5th, 50th, 51st, Divisions; part of 1st Airborne Division, 231st Infantry Brigade, 4th and 23d Armoured Brigades, and three Commandos.
    In reserve in North Africa: 78th, 46th Divisions: remainder of 1st Airborne Division.
    U.S. S EVENTH A RMY , Headquarters IId Corps.
    In the first assault: 1st, 3d, 45th Divisions, 2d Armoured Division; part of 82d Airborne Division, 1st Battalion Rangers (Commando).
    In reserve in North Africa: 9th Division, remainder of 82d Airborne Division

3
The Fall of Mussolini
     
Mussolini in the Toils___My Agreement with Roosevelt About Our Joint Proclamation___Mussolini Confers with Hitler Near Rimini___The Fascist Grand Council Meets, July 24___ Grandi’s Motion Carried___The Arrest of Mussolini, July 25___ The End of Twenty-One Years’ Dictatorship___Hitler’s Unwise Dispersion of Forces___He Receives the News from Italy, Jul y 26___ My Forecast of November 25, 1942___ Correspondence with Roosevelt on Impending Italian Peace Proposals___My Thoughts on the Fall of Mussolini, July 26___ Our Anxiety About British Prisoners in Italy___Anglo-American Discussion of Armistice Terms___An Emergency Draft___Correspondence with President Roosevelt About Dealing with the House of Savoy, or Badoglio.
     
    M USSOLINI now had to bear the brunt of the military disasters into which he had, after so many years of rule, led his country. He had exercised almost absolute control and could not cast the burden on the Monarchy, Parliamentary institutions, the Fascist Party, or the General Staff. All fell on him. Now that the feeling that the war was lost spread throughout well-informed circles in Italy, the blame fell upon the man who had so imperiously thrust the nation onto the wrong and the losing side. These convictions formed and spread widely during the early months of 1943. The lonely Dictator sat at the summit of power, while military defeat and Italian slaughter in Russia, Tunis, and Sicily were the evident prelude to direct invasion.
    In vain he made changes among the politicians and generals. In February, General Ambrosio had succeeded Cavallero as Chief of the Italian General Staff. Ambrosio, together with the Duke of Acquarone, the Minister of Court, were personal advisers of the King and had the confidence of the Royal circle. For months they had been hoping to overthrow the Duce and put an end to the Fascist régime. But Mussolini still dwelt in the European scene as if he were a principal factor. He was