…revisiting the past
Acireale
16 km north of Catania lies the town of Acireale. It took the 50th Division 2 days to conquer the town and the roadblocks the Germans and Italians set up.
In 2006 this corner was still occopied with a butcher but nowdays it is empty.
After the fall of Catania’s 13th Corps continued its march north through the narrow strip between Mount Etna and the sea. The journey through this densely populated part of Sicily was costly and slow.
Punta dei Malati – 3 Commando Bridge. July 14th/15th 1943.
Underneath the story about the forgotten bridge at Lentini. This story comes from the BBC initiative to preserve WW2 stories written by the public. You can find this story and many others here.
Three kilometres north of Lentini near to the city of Syracuse on the island of Sicily, lies the Malati Bridge. Today it is now on a minor road, overshadowed by an autostrada on massive concrete piles. This was not so in 1943.
The Casablanca Conference in January 1943 attended by Churchill, Roosevelt and their military and civil advisers, decided that on victory in North Africa the next step in the war against the Axis forces would be the invasion and reduction of the island of Sicily. The “return to Europe”. Timed to take place in mid 1943 and code-named “Husky” the D-Day for this operation would be the 10th of July 43. The British and Commonwealth 8th Army and the US 7th Army, along with allied naval and air arms would make up the invading forces, landing by sea and air.
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