The History of WWII Podcast · Ray Harris Jr

Episode 599-Mussolini Leaves the Stage, For now

·29 min·1 clip

Nine Canadian tanks drive into a minefield and crews sit under 45 minutes of artillery fire.

The Sicily campaign stays tight and immediate. Monti's drive north past the Primasol Bridge stalls, and the response is to order three separate left-flanking attacks that can push the Axis defensive line back to Cantania before the force is cut off. The map does not make that easy. The fighting settles into the practical work of holding ground, finding another angle of approach, and deciding which units can still be moved where the road net allows it. Canadian troops then absorb the pressure at Leon Forte. The Seaforth Highlanders of Canada try to approach Leon Forte but are stopped before getting too far, so at 9 p.m. the Edmonton Regiment takes over and manages to reach the town despite casualties. The village becomes house to house. The next morning, July 22, as Asuro starts to come under Canadian control and German forces at Leon Forte send reinforcements for two counterattacks, the Allies repair a bridge just south of Leon Forte. Soon after, it is repaired enough for four tanks of the Three Rivers Regiment to cross, along with a troop of anti-tank guns and a company of the PPCLI. The crossing matters because movement is still the whole problem. Without the bridge, the armor and support weapons stay stranded on the wrong side, and the infantry keeps paying for every yard on foot. The episode keeps circling back to that kind of logistical arithmetic. If the road is blocked, the timetable slips; if the bridge is broken, the attack waits; if the enemy counterattacks, the line has to be adjusted again. That rhythm gives the campaign a workmanlike, almost staff-room quality. The closing conversation shifts from the field back to the politics around Mussolini. The host suggests that politics, fame, and the desire to remain in the limelight all shape what happens next. In other words, military pressure and personal ambition are moving together. The episode leaves Sicily unfinished, but the direction is clear. It is a chapter about stalled offensives, improvised crossings, and the way politics hangs over the fighting.

As heard by us

A Sicily chapter where crossings, flanking attacks, and house-to-house fighting keep the pressure on.

Episode 599 stays with the Sicilian push as the advance slows and the Axis line gets forced back. Left-flanking attacks, crossings, and ground fighting carry most of the load, and the bridge south of Leon Forte matters because it lets the action move again.

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Why you'd press play

If you want the Allied push through Sicily broken down step by step.

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