Operation Corkscrew

British soldiers during Operation Corkscrew at Pantelleria

During World War II, Operation Corkscrew was the Allied invasion of the Italian island of Pantelleria (between Sicily and Tunisia) on 10 June 1943. There had been an early plan to occupy the island in late 1940 (Operation Workshop), but this was aborted when the Luftwaffe strengthened the Axis air threat in the region.

The Allied focus returned to Pantelleria in early 1943. The radar installations and airfield on the island were seen as a real threat to the planned invasion of Sicily. In addition, there was an opportunity to assess the impact of preparatory bombardment upon heavily fortified defences. The Italian garrison on the island was 12,000 strong in well-entrenched pillboxes and 21 gun batteries of a variety of calibres.

In the June of 1943 14,203 bombs amounting to 4,119 tons were dropped on 16 Italian batteries. The intense ten-day air bombardment substantially reduced the defences. Out of 80 guns bombed 43 were damaged (10 beyond repair). All control communications were destroyed together with many gun emplacements, ammunition stores, air-raid shelters. About an hour before the landing craft reached the beaches the ships opened fire. When the first of the British Commandos landed the Italians surrendered. Winston Churchill was to record later in his memoirs that the only British casualty was a man bitten by a mule.

An assessment by British analyst Professor Sir Solly Zuckerman reported that the defences had been reduced to 47% effectiveness. The ease of the operation led to an optimistic assessment of the effectiveness of bombing, which was not always borne out in practice.

The Italian garrisons on other nearby islands (Linosa and Lampedusa) quickly fell. This cleared the way for the invasion of Sicily a month later.

External links

• Detailed American description, 320th Bomb Group
• British Combined Operations description