Lt. Cyril R. Murphy Jr Biography-2
Operation Husky: The Invasion of Sicily July 9/10 - Aug 17 1943
"On the night of 9-10 July 1943, an Allied armada of 2,590 vessels launched one of the largest combined operations of World War II— the invasion of Sicily. Over the next thirty-eight days, half a million Allied soldiers, sailors, and airmen grappled with their German and Italian counterparts for control of this rocky outwork of Hitler's Fortress Europe". When the struggle was over, Sicily became the first piece of the Axis homeland to fall to Allied forces during World War II. More important, it served as both a base for the invasion of Italy & as a training ground for the Normandy Invasion.
Lt. Cyril Murphy was a Company K commander, 180th Infantry Regiment, 45th "Thunderbird" Infantry Division. They landed on the southern shores of Sicily on night of July 10, 1943, and battled their way against stiff German and Italian resistance for six weeks. The heroic exploits of Murphy and his Thunderbirds are documented in "The Story of the 180th Regiment": (https://www.google.com/books/edition/The_Story_of_the_180th_Infantry_Regiment/6aTWAAAAMAAJ?hl=en)
An overview of the famed 45th Infantry "Thunderbird" Division - a heroic, integrated fighting team... Click -->
The map below illustrates the 13 Sicilian towns inscribed on Lt. Murphy's watch. The towns (#1-13) do not exactly match the chronological order of battle, however.
