Exercise SICILIAN SCHOLAR By Lieutenant Katie Ireland
On 28th March 2022, Educational and Training Services (North) travelled to Sicily to enhance our knowledge of Operation HUSKY, its strategic significance to the Second World War, and to improve our cultural understanding of Italy.
W
e examined Operation Husky and Operation Mincemeat in great detail; understanding the requirement for each operation, the role airborne forces and special forces played, and the successes and failures of coalition operations. Our analysis of this historic event drew us to evaluate modern-day warfare and reconsider our approach to wars using the similarities, differences and lessons learnt on Operation Husky.
Shaping Operations
Once we arrived and settled in, Lieutenant Katherine Robbie and Lieutenant Jason McLaughlin set the scene by delivering a stand on Operation Mincemeat. They explained the event and encouraged us to examine the importance it had on the allied invasion of Europe. This was an incredible and audacious operation that really set the scene for what was to come. The first stand certainly did its job in introducing us to the deception plan that preceded the main event and provided excellent context.
Under sunshine and blue skies, our first full day saw us visit Syracuse Commonwealth Cemetery where we were introduced to our excellent tour guide, Roberto Piccione, and had time to reflect on the scale of the operation. We then moved to a site full of Second World War bunkers where we explored the ruins and participated in discussions
surrounding the future role of the Special Forces, led by Lieutenant William Faye and Captain Daniel Robinson. We spent the afternoon in Avola and Siracusa where we examined genuine Second World War artefacts, explored a church crypt-turned-bomb shelter for the war, and listened to a talk from Lieutenant Kier Zhou and Captain Beth Rolt on competing with adversaries in the information space. Before we finished in Siracuse, officers of Educational and Training Services (North) were given a much-appreciated opportunity to look around and sample the finest gelato in Italy.
Everyone has a museum! We spent the following day in Gela where Major Dan Bell and Lieutenant Dan Evans led a discussion on the future of British Airborne forces in a small museum full of ancient Second World War pieces. It seemed to be tradition for local farmers to collect up old helmets, grenades, entrenching tools and the like to convert their barns into museums! We then moved onto a winery located in the Italian foothills where we were given a tour of the local vineyard, which also included a museum containing more Second World War artefacts belonging to the owners. This included a jeep that was gifted to the family by General Patton after he commandeered their very expensive car, which is now held in a museum in America. We also ensured there was ample time for us to sample the local wine produced at the vineyard. We finished
Educational and Training Services (North) gather in Catania for the start of Exercise SICILIAN SCHOLAR.
88 AGC JOURNAL 2022
Roberto Piccione discusses the importance of the Second World War artifacts that locals have collected over the years.
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100 |
Page 101 |
Page 102 |
Page 103 |
Page 104 |
Page 105 |
Page 106 |
Page 107 |
Page 108 |
Page 109 |
Page 110 |
Page 111 |
Page 112 |
Page 113 |
Page 114 |
Page 115 |
Page 116 |
Page 117 |
Page 118 |
Page 119 |
Page 120 |
Page 121 |
Page 122 |
Page 123 |
Page 124 |
Page 125 |
Page 126 |
Page 127 |
Page 128 |
Page 129 |
Page 130 |
Page 131 |
Page 132 |
Page 133 |
Page 134 |
Page 135 |
Page 136 |
Page 137 |
Page 138 |
Page 139 |
Page 140 |
Page 141 |
Page 142 |
Page 143 |
Page 144 |
Page 145 |
Page 146 |
Page 147 |
Page 148 |
Page 149 |
Page 150 |
Page 151 |
Page 152 |
Page 153 |
Page 154 |
Page 155 |
Page 156
