Rare and important: this substantial, annotated group of maps provide a vital record of a key turning point of the War in Europe.
Classified as “Secret” or “Not to Be Published” the maps were issued in only a very limited print run for the exclusive use of the most senior commanders of Operation Husky. These maps were evidently heavily used during the mission itself, as 6 of the works feature manuscript additions, generally in indigo pen, with most marking the locations of British troop landings and positions, being top secret real-time information that could only have been added in situ by British commanders. Moreover, the maps feature the type of wear and staining consistent with military field use.
After the success of the North African Campaign, Churchill and Roosevelt turned their attention to Europe. Sicily appeared the obvious gateway, with the added advantages of destabilising Mussolini and diverting Axis resources from the Balkans and the Eastern Front. As such, Operation Husky, the Allied invasion of Sicily, launched from bases in Malta and North Africa. Under the ultimate command of General Dwight David Eisenhower, the plan called for two massive separate but coordinated amphibious landings on Sicily. The Allied armies during Operation Husky had a combined strength of 467,000 men, while the Axis powers in Sicily could muster only 300,000 troops (250,000 Italians and 50,000 Germans).
Operation Husky was launched on July 9, 1943, with a series of attacks along the Sicilian coast. American and British corps were assigned targets to seize, notably key cities and airfields, etc., while severing Italo-German communication and transport lines.
In preparation, the 512 Field Survey Company of the Royal Engineers of the British Army, based in Cairo, published a series of interconnecting maps of southeastern Sicily. The maps were largely predicated upon high-quality aerial photography undertaken by numerous Royal Air Force and U.S. Air Force low-altitude reconnaissance missions. Most of the required intelligence was gathered through these, especially Axis defenses and infrastructure, as well as southeastern Sicily’s natural topography, and vegetation, so troops were guided reliably. While the original complete set was comprised of 29 maps, forming a complete view of South and Eastern Sicily, the maps would’ve been distributed to officers as partial sets on a need-to-know basis.
Using a standard but accurate brown-scale topographic template, with major roads overlayed in red, elevations are expressed as contour lines at 10 metre-intervals. The symbols note details such as different types or roads/paths and railways/cable ways, as well as electricity infrastructure, canals, factories, wells, etc. The maps have varying levels of coloured overprinting of information of “life or death” importance. All have green overprinting, including of their “SECRET” classification, and descriptive terms (Jagged Hill Country, Walls / Rocky, etc.) and the locations of ravines, manmade obstacles (ex. canals, walls) and rough terrain that might affect the movement of tanks and armoured vehicles. Also noted, in green, is the vegetation/agrarian land use (“Cultivation and Orchards”, “Scattered Trees”).
Furthermore, the maps feature overprinting in blue, as marked, in the upper margin, as “Defenses Overprint dated 17.6.43,” conveying vital recent intelligence on the locations of Axis military infrastructure: pill boxes, anti-personal and anti-tank barricades, artillery positions, camouflaged facilities, oil tanks and the like. Two of the maps (Maps #5B. Lentini, Edition IV and #7. Catania [South]) have an additional layer of information - “Black Overlay dated 27.6.43” which was late-breaking intelligence acquired within the final two weeks’ prior to the mission launch. These correct erroneous intelligence as well as make additions.
These maps were evidently heavily used during Operation Husky itself, as six of them [maps #1, 2, 3, 5B, 7 and 8] feature manuscript additions, with most marking the locations of British troop landings and positions, being top secret real-time information that could only have been added in theatre by British commanders.
The 512 Field Survey Company maps are as follows:
1. 512 FIELD SURVEY COMPANY, ROYAL ENGINEERS. 16 17 Avola / Naval Collation Map / Sheet 10 / Edition III / SECRET / “Defenses Overprint dated 17.6.43” / [Cairo, Middle East Drawing and Reproduction], June 1943.
The most important of the set, it depicts the sites of the initial British amphibious troop landings on the night of July 9-10, 1943, on the coastline near the towns of Avola and Fontana Bianche, just south of Syracuse. Upon landing, the troops moved to seize preplanned targets slightly inland and up the coast, while paratroopers and troops on gliders (although many of these craft did not successfully reach their destinations) landed to secure various points, the most important of which was the Ponte Grande, a bridge over the Anape River, near Syracuse.
Ms. annotations sugggest it was used as a guide during the British landings and associated operations. These note landing sites and many named rendezvous points (marked as circles) in the near interior, around the town of Avola, for the troops once they successfully landed, code-named after various trees and plants, ex. “Cherry”, “Date”, “Cypress”, “Deodar”, etc., while “Mistletoe” marks an offensive target site, being the location of Axis howitzers.
2. 512 FIELD SURVEY COMPANY, ROYAL ENGINEERS. Noto / Naval Collation Map / Sheet 9 / Edition III / SECRET / “Defenses Overprint dated 17-6-43.” [Cairo, Middle East Drawing and Reproduction], June 1943.
The vicinity of the town of Noto, just inland to the west of the Avola area, where British troops fanned out on July 11, following their landings. The map features various Axis military locations, overprinted in blue, with one place, identified as “a suspect defended locality,” is circled and labelled in manuscript and code-named “Coral.”
3. 512 FIELD SURVEY COMPANY, ROYAL ENGINEERS. Floridia / Naval Collation Map / Sheet 7 / Edition III / SECRET / “Defenses Overprint dated 17.6.43.” [Cairo, Middle East Drawing and Reproduction], June 1943.
Just inland of Syracuse is the Floridia sector. The British advance northwards from the Avola-Noto sectors was briefly hindered, as an Italian tank battalion under under Lieutenant-Colonel Massimo D’Andretta broke the British lines on July 10. This caused a great deal of chaos, as the British were only able to regain their form upon successfully deployed anti-tank guns against D’Andretta’s force at the towns of Floridia and Priolo. The British were then able to go on to liberate Syracuse. Interestingly, the present example of the map shows, in manuscript indigo pen, what seems to be the locations of British detachments around the towns of Floridia and, just a few kilometers to the northwest, Solarino. One of these detachments seems to be the ‘Green Howards’ (the 1st Battalion of the 15th Infantry Brigade), who conducted extensive operations in the area during this time.
4. 512 FIELD SURVEY COMPANY, ROYAL ENGINEERS. Augusta / Naval Collation Map / Sheet 6 / Edition III / SECRET / “Defenses Overprint dated 17.6.43.” [Cairo, Middle East Drawing and Reproduction], June 1943.
The old port town of Augusta, located on a peninsula, between Syracuse and Catania. The map’s blue overprinting provides a stellar record of the great network of Axis shore defenses in the vicinity, as copious notes describe possible Allied landing sites, while extensive industrial facilities are located on the western shore of the harbour. As events transpired, on the night of July 11-12, a Royal Navy taskforce, backed by three destroyers, attempted to take Augusta, but were repelled by its strong artillery defenses. However, on July 13, the British captured Augusta, after having been briefly delayed by the actions of the Kampfgruppe Schmalz.
5A. 512 FIELD SURVEY COMPANY, ROYAL ENGINEERS. Lentini / Naval Collation Map / Sheet 5 / Edition III / SECRET / “Defenses Overprint dated 17.6.43.” [Cairo, Middle East Drawing and Reproduction], June 1943.
[Plus:]
5B. 512 FIELD SURVEY COMPANY, ROYAL ENGINEERS. Lentini / Naval Collation Map / Sheet 5 / Edition IV / SECRET / “Defenses Overprint dated 17.6.43” / “Black Overlay dated 27.6.43.” [Cairo, Middle East Drawing and Reproduction], June 1943.
The Lentini sector was located just the west of Augusta. It was of vital strategic importance, as its capture would open to route to Catania. Interestingly, present here are two states of the map depicting the Lentini sector. The first, being Edition III, has only the blue overlay, while the other, Edition IV, has a supplemental black overlay which adds important information on Axis gun placements near the coast, as well as roadblocks it the interior. A comparison of the two states is exemplary of how the 512 Field Survey Company updated its Naval Collation Maps. In this sector, the British 50th Division encountered serious resistance from the Italian Napoli Division, but eventually managed to prevail, entering the Catania Plain. Notably, Map 5B features some manuscript notes in blue pen, in the lefthand blank margin, on personnel (ex. “casualties”) and troop movements (ex. “making for Augusta”), in the lefthand blank margin.
6. 512 FIELD SURVEY COMPANY, ROYAL ENGINEERS. Gerbini / Naval Collation Map / Sheet 3 / Edition III / SECRET / “Defenses Overprint dated 17.6.43.” [Cairo, Middle East Drawing and Reproduction], June 1943.
The Gerbini sector guarded the western inland approaches to Catania and was notably home to the strategically crucial Gerbini Airfield. The blue overprinting, in the top right, shows the ‘Illuminated Aerodrome’ of the airbase, surrounded by a great network of Axis military facilities and defensive works. The British 51st Division moved to attack the Gerbini Airfield, crossing the Dittaino River to the south. During what was known as the Battle of Gerbini (July 18-21, 1943), the British 154th Brigade overpowered the defenders, seizing the airbase, a precondition to taking Catania.
7. 512 FIELD SURVEY COMPANY, ROYAL ENGINEERS. Catania [South] / Naval Collation Map / Sheet 4 / Edition IV / SECRET / “Defenses Overprint dated 17.6.43” / “Black Overlay dated 27.6.43.” [Cairo, Middle East Drawing and Reproduction], June 1943.
This highly important map depicts the central-southern parts of the city of Catania (upper right corner), with its large port and rail yards. The south fans out into the flat, fertile Catania Plain, which afforded the only means by which the British-Canadians could attack the city with their tanks and heavy armoured vehicles. Blue overprinting, to the south of Catania, at the head of the plain, depicts extensive Axis defensive works. The great sandy beach that to the south (long considered to be an ideal potential Allied landing site) is shown to be heavily defended by shore batteries.
8. 512 FIELD SURVEY COMPANY, ROYAL ENGINEERS. Catania (North) / Naval Collation Map / Sheet 2 / Edition III / SECRET / “Defenses Overprint dated 17.6.43.” [Cairo, Middle East Drawing and Reproduction], June 1943.
The northern part of the city of Catania (far lower right corner), while beyond, the land gradually rises towards Mount Etna. On August 3, the local Axis forces made some tactical errors that allowed the XIII Corps to strike towards Catania with comparatively little opposition. A detachment of Canadian troops who were the first to enter Catania, liberating the city on August 5. Significantly, the map appears to depict Catania as divided, by manuscript green crayon, into districts occupied by different detachments of British-Canadian troops. Upon taking Catania, the British-Canadians masterfully succeeded in their goal of liberating the east coast of Sicily up the piedmont of Mouth Etna, while their British and American comrades had conquered much of the island to the west, so placing the Axis forces on the backfoot.
These nine maps are augmented by the inclusion of the six maps the were published by the 3 (Corps) Field Survey Company specially for Operation Husky in Cairo in May, 1943. (The first editions were issued in London in 1941) These sheets were all classified, labelled as ‘Not to be Published’. Based upon the best available sources, the maps were of scale ideal for general strategic planning (1:100,000), whereas the Naval Collation Maps (done to a scale of 1:125,000) were for operational planning. The sheets depict Noto, Siracusa, Catania, Messina-Reggio Calabria, Ragusa and Caltragirone. They were apparently employed for active field use, for the Siracusa map features wartime additions, in indigo pen, of what are likely British troop positions, or rendezvous points, just south of Lentini, as well as noting a key bridge crossing the Lentini River.
The condition of the maps is generally very good, most being clean with just some light wear along old folds, although the Catania and Siracusa maps have some stains, wear and creasing (as they were the sheets that would have had most extensive field use).
Operation Husky was a great success. The major Allied victory at Troina (31 July - 6 August, 1943) prompted the subsequent German withdrawal from the island which came under complete Allied control by 18 August. Just weeks later, the invasion of Mainland Italy was launched. As predicted, Mussolini was deposed and German troops from both Yugoslavia and the Soviet Union were re-routed to fight in Italy.
Exceedingly rare: of the 512 Field Survey Group, we know of only a single complete set (29 maps) held by the British Library. The UK National Archives holds 2 or 3 sheets from the series, while it seems that the Imperial War Museum, as well as few local British regimental museums, holds the odd individual sheet or small gatherings of sheets. Of the other six Geographical Section maps, we cannot trace another example of this issue.
