230. From Husky to Overlord, Sicily to the D-Day beaches

230. From Husky to Overlord, Sicily to the D-Day beaches

In 1943, Britain didn’t feel the Western Allies were ready yet for an invasion of France, and with its influence at the highest point it ever reached, it was able to persuade the Americans reluctantly to postpone it for the moment. Instead, they went for an invasion of Sicily, which went well overall, though with significant casualties. Bertram Ramsay, who’d handled the Dunkirk Evacuation so well, commanded the naval forces and learned some invaluable lessons about this kind of combined operation.

The Allies moved onto the Italian mainland next, and after overthrowing Mussolini, the government there surrendered. Mussolini, rescued by the Germans from captivity, was set up ruling a rump and unpleasant republic in the north of Italy, and the fighting continued.

The Americans, though, now finally decided that enough was enough and that preparations had to be made for the French invasion. Stalin couldn’t agree more, when the USA, Britain and the Soviet Union met in Tehran. Oddly, the Americans accepted Stalin’s invitation to accommodation, which meant that every word they said was heard by the Soviets.

The agreement was for an invasion in May 1944. There were a few obstacles on the way, but in the end it went ahead only slightly delayed, on the 6th of June.

D-day! We’ve finally got there. And Allied troops were once more back on French soil.


Illustration: 1944 Royal Navy official photo of Admiral Bertram Ramsay, Naval Commander during both Operation Husky and Operation Overlord. Public Domain

Music: Bach Partita #2c by J Bu licensed under an Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivatives (aka Music Sharing) 3.0 International License


Jaksot(275)

18. First Civil War: the fight gets going

18. First Civil War: the fight gets going

Oh dear, oh dear. Charles I pushed and pushed. Eventually, the other side pushed back. First it was the Scots, who turned out to be a lot better at fighting than Charles had imagined, and gave him a c...

12 Helmi 202113min

17. Things fall apart

17. Things fall apart

Charles I, like his father, proved extremely good at not being at all good at getting on with people he really needed to be really good at getting on side. Just like with his Dad, that mainly meant Pa...

7 Helmi 202110min

16. Slippery Slope

16. Slippery Slope

Charles I started his reign in just the way he'd go on with it, and in just the way his father James I/VI had ended his: by getting right up the noses of most of his subjects in Scotland as well as En...

2 Helmi 20218min

15. Bad to Worse

15. Bad to Worse

The end of James Stuart's reign over Scotland and England was no more impressive than the earlier part. One of the wonderful, crazy and ultimately futile episodes was the 'Spanish Match', involving th...

28 Tammi 20218min

14. Reckless Romanticism, a Touch of Gayness, and Bonfires

14. Reckless Romanticism, a Touch of Gayness, and Bonfires

The marriage of James VI of Scotland, later James I of England, to Anne of Denmark started off with some romanticism, including a dangerous sea crossing to fetch her home, and it certainly produced a ...

23 Tammi 20219min

13. Wise Fool

13. Wise Fool

James I of England (VI of Scotland) had clear ideas of what kingship meant. It meant he'd been chosen by God to run the show and Parliament wasn't going to get in his way. The trouble was, Parliament ...

18 Tammi 20219min

12. Hunting and Hanging

12. Hunting and Hanging

Boy, did it take a long time for James VI of Scotland to get from his proclamation as King of England, down to London to take the throne as James I. Partly that was because he had other things to do o...

13 Tammi 20217min

11. Transition

11. Transition

With no children of her own, what had Elizabeth I done to guarantee a smooth succession after her death? The answer is precious little. Which meant there had to be some clever footwork by her Chief Mi...

8 Tammi 20218min

Suosittua kategoriassa Historia

olipa-kerran-otsikko
gogin-ja-janin-maailmanhistoria
mayday-fi
huijarit
mystista
rss-ikiuni
konginkangas
tsunami
totuus-vai-salaliitto
rouva-diktaattori
sotaa-ja-historiaa-podi
rss-subjektiivinen-todistaja
rss-kirkon-ihmeellisimmat-tarinat
rss-i-dont-like-mondays-2
rss-peter-peter
rss-sattuu-sita-suomessakin
historiaa-suomeksi
apinan-vuosi
maailmanpuu
tiedetta-ja-sirkushuveja-vanhojen-aikojen-podcast