July 1943

Sicily

During the night the British 50th, 5th and 51st Divisions launch a coordinated night attack against Brigade Schmalz and the 2nd Panzer Grenadier Regiment. Supported by three artillery regiments and a squadron of 46th Royal Tank Regiment, Lt-Col Mathieson's 7th Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders advance 2000 yards and capture the main airfield at Gergini where they are reinforced by the 1st Black Watch and part of the 7th Black Watch. On their right 5th Infantry Division passes around left flank of the exhausted 50th Infantry Division and attacks the town of Misterbianco, near the western suburb of Catania. They are stopped by Group Schmalz without making a dent in the German lines. On the German left flank, Col Erich Walter's paratroopers turn back another attempt by Gen Kirkman's 50th Division Northumbrians to expand their bridgehead while units of the Hermann Göring Panzer Division still hold the hills that dominate the airfields of Gerbini. At 10:30am the Germans use a combined infantry-panzer attack and push the British all the way back to the Dittaino River with heavy losses on both sides.

Nearing Leonforte Gen Simonds 1st Canadian Division begins advancing on two axes: Brig Christopher Vokes's 2nd Canadian Brigade on the left will attack Leonforte, while on the right Brig H. D. Graham's 2st Brigade will attack Assoro, a village about two miles east-southeast of Leonforte. Both sites are defended by Lt-Col Karl Ens's 104th Panzer Grenadier Regiment, with most of the unit at Leonforte.

Assoro is located on western slope of the Assoro Mountain across which ran the road connecting it to the valley. It is well-sited by Maj Karl Theodor Simon's 33rd Motorized Artillery Regiment as well as Capt Ahrens's 315th Flak Battalion. Lt-Col B. A. Sutcliffe, commanding the Hastings and Prince Edward Regiment will spearhead the attack on Assoro, but he is killed on a reconnaissance in the afternoon. Maj The Lord Tweedsmuir takes over. He assumes the Germans are not defending more rugged eastern slope, so he takes his regiment up single file and overruns a small German detachment about 1:00am on the 21st.

Gen Alexander orders the US 7th Army, upon reaching the coastal road (Highway 113) north of Petralia, to reconnoiter eastward along it and Highway 120 (Petralia-Nicosia-Cesaṛ), which parallels it to the south. They are then to drive on Palermo, which is to be a major supply base and to secure the left flank on the general line Giuseppe-Corleone-Sciacca.

In 7th Army's Provisional Corps area, the 82nd Airborne Division, continuing westward along the south coast, takes Sciacca and Menfi. Fighting is fierce at San Stefano Quisquina all morning but by 1:30pm the 3rd Division coordinates an attack on the town from three sides. The town falls about 5:00pm. The Italians lose 100 vehicles and 750 prisoners. The 3rd Division then clears San Stefano and the heights north of Mussomeli. The 2nd Armored Division, assembled in Ribera area, is attached to the Provisional Corps. Task Force X is formed to capture Castelvetrano and the airfield west of it and to protect the left and rear of the corps' drive on Palermo. Lt-Col William O. Darby heads the Task Force, which is composed of 1st and 4th Ranger Battalions, the 39th RCT of the 9th Div, and supporting units. In II Corps area, the 45th Division clashes with Italian delaying forces in Vallelunga area. The 1st Division, in conjunction with British units to its right, takes Enna, an important supply center, and drives on to Villapriola.