How Did Patton's Plan To Conquer Sicily

On the 17th of July 1943, the allied coalition had secured the southern beaches of Sicily during Operation HUSKY and began movement to Messina. During the campaign, Lieutenant General George S. Patton commanded the 7th Army was tasked to protect General Bernard Montgomery’s 8th Army assault up to Messina. The decision to have the US forces as the supporting effort was displeasing to Patton. The result of which was Patton’s decision to advance to the Sicilian Capital, Palermo. What would have resulted if Patton had followed the original plan to support Montgomery’s advance to Messina rather than advance west to Palermo? Given the Italian and German resistance the allies had faced in Sicily, Patton’s control of Palermo was irrelevant to the campaign’s plan to conquer Sicily. This made clearer by examining the initial allied plan for Sicily, what the German plan was in Sicily and if their only intent was to evacuate the island, and looking at the actual outcomes of Patton’s decision.

Originally, Patton’s 7th army was to capture the beach heads Licata and Gela and set up ports until further guidance by General Alexander. He had then decided to push out by two phase lines (Yellow then Blue) in order to have control of the plateau to help conduct further operations. At this time the island was split by a single boundary between the

What the Axis mission was and if their goals were must be made aware of in order to understand the capture of Palermo. According to the personal memoirs of German General Frido Von Senger Und Etterlin and Field Marshall Albert Kesselring, we can see the Axis situation before the allied landing and the options they faced before the eventual Axis withdrawal from the Island. It seemed that the Axis had already been defeateded by the lack of preparation and willingness to fight before the allies had