Syracuse, Sicily, May 11th, 1943
Lieutenant colonel
Demetrios Kaslas, became the first senior officer on the shore. All around him the men of his 34th Infantry regiment, for the most part recruited from Athens and Pireaus were storming out of the landing boats ashore, as did the men of the 3rd US Infantry division to which the Greeks had been attached. Italian resistance so far was limited, the 206th Coastal Division covering the beaches was thinly spread, badly equipped and consisting of mostly older reservists. After twenty four centuries the Athenians were back.
Andravida, Western Peloponnese, May 11th, 1943
Mustang III of HAF's 30th Squadron "Drakon", start taking off from the airstrips. They would meet over Zakynthos, the B-25s and Martin Baltimore's of the 17th Bomber Wing and head west to attack targets in Sicily. The Mustang III was something of a happy coincidence back from the dark days of 1941 when the French having bought the new Mustang I fighter were facing a shortage of Allison engines in Syria and had converted several airframes to use Merlins instead, which being built in Athens were more readily available. Even the makeshift French conversions had proven superior enough, for the British to start converting their own Mustangs to use the Merlin engine dubbing the conversions Mustang X. By early 1942 with the Americans now in the war the news were across the Atlantic and North American fast at work for a properly made Merlin Mustang instead of conversions.
Gela, Sicily, May 11th, 1943
The men of the British 50th Infantry Division stormed ashore. To their west 44th Infantry Division was landing at Licata. To their east 51st Infantry Division was landing at Scoglitti. Richard O'Connor's 8th Army had been tasked with the southern landing zones. Further to the east Patton's 7th Army, with the 3rd and 36th US Infantry divisions, the the Greek 34th Infantry regiment and 7th Regiment Tirailleus Algeriens were landing from Noto to Syracuse. If one added the 1st and 82nd Airborne divisions making the largest airborne assault the world had ever seen, the soldiers of Giovanni Messe's 6th Army that was responsible for the defence of Sicily had their work cut out for them.
Palazzo Venezia, Rome, May 12th, 1943
"I promised you we would break Negus ribs! As we did. Now I promise you we won't just break the ribs of the people that dared violate the sacred soil of Italy. We will break every single bone in their bodies and drown them to the sea for daring to do so!"
Italo Balbo, inside the room suppressed a sigh. Mussolini, talking to the crowd in Piazza Venezia below them, was attacking his subject with gusto, none had ever accused the man for not being a good orator. But the crowd beneath, party stalwarts and guys carried off the streets was notably subdued, compared to other times. The average Italian was willing to follow the duce as long as he was mostly left alone in his personal life and he brought victories outside Italy. But what had the war now in its third year and the alliance with the damn Tudros had brought Italy beyond some early victories bound to be reversed now that the Anglo-Americans had finally gotten their pace? A string of defeats, loads of casualties, now invasion of the motherland and subservience to the Germans, just as he had predicted. Mussolini could claim the Anglos would be thrown to the sea as much as he liked. But Messe was screaming for reinforcements, his own beloved air force was dying under the weight of enemy material and admiral Bergamini the new commander of the fleet wasn't exactly optimistic over the prospect of challenging the landings. Something had to be done but what?
Lemnos, May 13th, 1943
The last Turkish and German soldiers defending the island were marched to the transport ship waiting for them to moe them to the Makronisos prisoner of war camp. Lemnos was free once more. And Greek and American engineers were already at work repairing the airstrips and port facilities...
Brenner pass, May 13th, 1943
One more train carrying soldiers and tanks of the 15th Panzergrenadier division crossed the pass heading south. The OKW had been caught with its pants down by the Allied landings in Sicily, while 16 German divisions were in the Balkans not a single division was in Italy. The XIV Panzer Corps with 15th PanzerGrenadier and the Herpan Goring Panzer divisions was being hurried south but it would take a week till the first German division made it to Sicily. Till the Messe's men were on their own. And even now the OKW was still stringent with its reinforcements to Italy. The Allies were still attacking in the Balkans. Several divisions were tied down fighting in the Olympus and neither Hitler nor the OKW were convinced the landings in Gallipoli were a ruse and Sicily the real thing...
Syracuse, May 15th, 1943
The dishevelled group of Italian prisoners of war looked at the man before them with some consternation. The Americans who had captured them, had treated them well, feeding them much better than their own army had, many of the soldiers were even talking Italian after a fashion and were friendly. But this man was in Italian uniform. Not the one the army today used, an older one with a red shirt.
"My grandfather had told your forefathers that he offered neither pay, nor quarters, nor food; he offered only hunger, thirst, forced marches, battles and death. I offer you the same. Italy is enslaved, to the Germans and their fascist puppet and must be liberated. Let him who loves his country with his heart, and not merely with his lips, follow me."
A couple men looked at each other and took a step forward. More followed them. Most did not. They were content with the war being over for them. And the possibility of having to take one fellow Italians, fascist or otherwise was not one to be taken lightly.
Sante Garibaldi, had left Italy back in 1925 when he and his brothers had failed to stop Mussolini. In 1940 he had hopped on the last ship bringing the free Poles to Britain to fight on. Following that he had worked with the SOE in France, the Near East and Spain but could not bring himself to fighting fellow Italians. But this madness and the destruction of Italy had to end, and the honour of the country restored, his Polish contacts had given him information of what was going on in Poland, Italy could not be on the same side with this Germany, which seemed to be even more brutal than its own forefathers in 1871 and 1914. He had been allowed to recruit in the Greek POW camps right before the invasion of Sicily, the Greeks did have their misgivings but would not forget the Garibaldini, himself included, had come to fight for Greece in 1866, 1897 and 1912-13, they did own his family and knew it. And thus the Camicie Rosse were back...
