At four o'clock in the morning on July 20, the 160,000 US-UK landing army commanded by Patton and Montgomery took 3,200 warships and transport ships, and under the cover of 1,000 aircraft, landed in the southwest and southeast of Sicily.

Because the head of state made serious mistakes in judging the Allied landing location, the counterattack of the German armored division was shattered by the Allied forces, and the low-morning Italian troops retreated in a hurry without resisting, and the coastal defense line was quickly destroyed.

By noon, Patton and Montgomery's troops successfully boarded their respective target beaches and maintained an attacking position.

Allied troops entered Messina one after another to occupy the entire island. All resistance on the island stopped that day, and the landing battle in Sicily was declared over.

The Battle of Sicily was an important battle carried out by the Allied forces on enemy territory since the outbreak of World War II.

During the landing battle in Sicily, the Allied forces suffered a total of 29,811 casualties, of which 5,532 were killed, 14,410 were injured, and 2,869 were missing.

Among them, 162 people from the Huben Airborne Division participated in the airborne battle were killed, 507 were injured, and 42 were missing.

The German and Italian army suffered 21,000 casualties and 132,000 were captured, mainly Italian soldiers, and many of them took the initiative to flee the front rather than being forced to surrender.

In addition, the German and Italian army also lost 260 tanks, 500 cannons and 1,700 aircraft.

It is also worth mentioning that although the Allies had huge sea and air advantages, the Axis powers eventually successfully withdrew more than 100,000 and tens of thousands of vehicles from Sicily, which was undoubtedly a very amazing success.

Through this battle, the Allies not only obtained a springboard for direct attack on Italy militarily, but also strongly shocked the already shaken Italian government politically, leading to the collapse of Mussolini and Italy's surrender.

The Allied forces occupied Sicily and from then on unblocked travels in the Mediterranean, opening the door to Europe from the south.

Although this battle failed to eliminate a large number of German forces, it achieved the political goal of forcing Italy to withdraw from the war.

On July 25, Mussolini stepped down, and after his successor Bardoglio came to power, he had secret contacts with the allies to test the possibility of surrender.

On the surface, he continued to resist the Allied forces because he was worried that the German army would capture Italy, but the head of state unceremoniously occupied Italy.

Almost at the same time, the Allies on the Pacific battlefield also made breakthrough progress.

After a six-year tug-of-war of consumption, the Allied forces finally fully obtained the sea and air rights of the Hawaiian Islands, and began a large-scale landing operation against the Hawaiian Islands on July 8.

This Hawaii landing war can be called a war of revenge for the US military. For this war, the United States used all the power that can be used on the Pacific battlefield.

A total of 42 aircraft carriers, 3 battleships, 8 heavy cruisers, 9 light cruisers, 125 destroyers, 46 submarines, and more than 300 transport ships, landing crafts and supply ships of various types were mobilized.

As the saying goes, "If you don't know the building is high until Shanghai, if you don't know the building is high, if you don't know the government is small until Beijing, if you don't know the money is small until Guangzhou."

When this huge naval fleet appeared in the Japanese defenders' vision and the radar monitoring screen showed its hideous fangs, the Japanese army was shocked from top to bottom.

Only then did the Japanese army truly see the foundation of the world's largest industrial power, and truly understand that they were always "a small country"!

However, the Japanese devils are still Japanese devils. Even if the Allies have absolute air and sea control and have suffocating attack power, the Japanese defenders, who have been isolated and helpless, did not collapse and surrender because of this, but instead resisted even more crazily.

After 24 days of fighting with the Japanese defenders on various islands, the Allied forces finally successfully recovered the Hawaiian Islands on August 2 and annihilated all the Japanese troops who were fighting stubbornly.

In this battle, the Allied Army suffered more than 42,000 casualties and killed more than 53,000 Japanese soldiers. Only hundreds of Japanese soldiers became prisoners of the Allied Army.

Since the main force of the Japanese joint fleet had withdrawn in advance, the Japanese Navy only lost 4 cruisers, 5 destroyers, and dozens of supply ships and transport ships in this battle.

At this point, the Allies obtained the most solid fulcrum of the Pacific battlefield advancement, sounded the clarion call for a comprehensive counterattack on the Pacific battlefield, and the situation was very good.

When time came to August 1943, an unprecedented battle of life and death occurred on the battlefield of the Eastern Front of Europe, which had been silent for a long time. This is the famous Battle of Kursk in history.

After the Battle of Stalingrad, the Soviet army pushed the front line westward for more than 600 kilometers, and the battlefield situation underwent changes that were conducive to the Soviet army, and the morale within the Axis Group was greatly affected.

In order to regain strategic initiative and change the increasingly unfavorable situation, the head of state decided to launch a large-scale attack in the Kursk region to thwart the Soviet offensive spirit.

Three months ago, Manstein once fought an extremely beautiful Jedi Counterattack - the third Battle of Kharkov.

In this battle, the German Southern Army Group fought back against the Soviet Red Army in the Kharkov area with unexpected mobile tactics, annihilated more than 100,000 Soviet troops at the cost of 20,000 casualties, and recaptured Kharkov and Belgorod.

Under such adversity, the German army defeated and severely damaged the three Soviet armies, captured Kharkov and Belgorod again, and achieved very shocking results.

This battle was the pinnacle of Marshal Manstein, who was then the commander of the Southern Army Group, and was also honored by the head of state to turn the situation around.

If the battlefield is a stage, then the Battle of Kharkov is a report performance of Manstein's unique skills and personal talents throughout his life, and it is his pinnacle work.?

The Battle of Kharkov postponed Germany's failure by two years. Advancing in victory is nothing, and catching victory in failure is the real master.

After the battle, Manstein proposed a plan to immediately take advantage of the victory and launch an attack on the Kursk protrusion.

The terrain was relatively beneficial to the German army. The roots of the protruding parts were Belgorod and Orel, both under German control and were easy to station troops and attack the Soviet army.

Unfortunately, Marshal Kruger of the Central Army Group said that his strength was not enough to immediately attack the Central Front of the Red Army, so the No. 5 combat plan was shelved.

After three months of quiet, in a situation where it was obvious that whoever attacked would die first, the head of state was ignorant and developed the "fortress plan".

Manstein firmly opposed the "fortress" plan. Manstein believed that the defensive should be adopted now and wait for an opportunity to counterattack.

In order to protect the left wing of the Southern Army Group, Manstein also suggested that part of the land on the right wing temporarily and wait until the counterattack was completed before occupying it again.

However, after repeated hesitation, the head of state of "sacrificing the land as if he were alive", he did not listen to his opinions in the end. Their stubborn decision, July 5, would be the launch day of the "fortress".
Chapter completed!