- Dec 29, 2008
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The landing in Sicily occurred during the battle of Kursk and Hitler immediately ordered the German army back to support Germany's allies in Italy.Hitler ordered the offensive halted after almost two weeks because it was stalled and he feared the WAllies would invade Italy proper or Southern France and wanted the remaining Kursk forces to be a mobile reserve in case of additional invasions. Sicily was no threat to Germany and the Germans only had two divisions stationed there, an under-strength panzer-grenadier division and the Herman Goering Luftwaffe armored division that had all of 90 tanks on its roster. Two thirds of the defensive troops were Italians, and the defense was commanded by an Italian. The Germans didn't need more troops there and decided to evacuate what they had by the beginning of August.