At our October meeting Lentune Probus Club listened to a deeply researched and gripping talk on the invasion of Sicily deliverd by David Bickerton.

It soon became clear how important the use of deception was in ensuring the success of the operation carried out jointly by British, American and Canadian forces in 1943. In particular the now well known story of how the body of the Glyndwr Michael was re-invented as that of fictional Royal Marine officer William Martin and placed in the sea off Spain complete with convincing letters and documents and most importantly, a briefcase containing details of a proposed invasion of Greece and Sardinia. It was of course found and the German High Command was successfully duped.

Although there were considerable Italian and German forces on the Island, Sicily was not properly defended and despite some strong mainly German resistance, (and a number of disagreements between British and American commanders), the campaign was successfully completed by 17th August, after seven weeks of intensive fighting. Thus clearing the path for the much longer and harder battle through the Italian mainland.