This is event is hosted by the National Army Museum on behalf of the Chelsea History Festival

Historian James Holland will be sharing his extensive new research into the Allied campaign for Sicily which signalled the beginning of the end of the Second World War in Europe.

Codenamed Operation Husky, the Allied assault on Sicily on 20 July 1943 remains the largest amphibious invasion ever mounted. That day, over 160,000 British, American and Canadian troops were dropped from the sky or came ashore.

The subsequent Battle for Sicily lasted for 38 days and involved deals with the mafia, daring raids by special forces, assaults up sheer faces of rock, and attacks across mosquito-infested plains. It was a brutal campaign that spelled the end of the road for Italy’s participation in the Second World War.

James Holland is an award-winning and internationally acclaimed historian, writer and broadcaster. Sicily ’43 is the latest in a line of bestselling histories including Burma ’44, Normandy ’44 and Dam Buster.  James co-founded the Chalke Valley History Festival and WarGen.org, an online Second World War resource site. He presents the Chalke Valley History Hit Podcast and We Have Ways of Making You Talk, a weekly podcast with Al Murray.

Sicily 43: The First Assault on Fortress Europe