Roles In Operation Husky

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The Allied invasion of Sicily was the largest amphibious assault ever conducted in history until the invasion of France. Operation Husky proved to be an important learning process for the Allies as it convinced General Eisenhower that confusing command relationships prevented total success in Sicily and persuaded him to take a more active role in the command and control of operations and the integration of all assets. Operations Husky is a perfect example to demonstrate how a lack of commander’s intent, mutual trust, and understanding allowed highly motivated subordinate commanders to focus on service or branch goals and lose sight of combining joint functions toward the total defeat of an enemy. This essay will evaluate command and control…show more content…
Joint Publication 1 describes integration as the collection of military forces to include land, sea and air, synchronizing their actions to engage the enemy as a whole. Integration sounds like an easily attainable goal, however; it is difficult at best for the services of one nation to work together and almost impossible when combining the different services of an international coalition as was the case in Operation Husky. The lethal combination of fires supporting land forces is the first Joint Function this essay will…show more content…
The proper use of fires facilitates land forces to seize and retain the initiative, deter conflict, defeat threats and allow success in unified direct action. Fires is the use of weapons systems including air, naval gunfire, field artillery, air defense artillery, missile, mortar, and unmanned aircraft systems to create lethal and nonlethal effects on enemy targets. General Patton utilizing naval gunfire to support his assault on Gela is one the few examples of successful integration of the Joint Fires Function during the Sicily Campaign. Gela also serves as a textbook case in how un-integrated fire support can cause disastrous effects as allied antiaircraft gunners nervously shot down 23 and damaged another 37 of the Allied planes used during a paratrooper operation. Operation Husky had several more misuses of the joint fires function as close air support was almost non-existent and Air Force bombings were uncoordinated with the land component commanders contributing to the ease of the Axis withdrawal from the Island. Uncoordinated fires slowed the Allied initiative, which allowed the Axis the ability to move and out maneuver the Allied

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