Cautiously, under a butter-colored moon, U.S. 3rd Division patrols reconnoitered the last eight miles to Messina. The stony Sicilian landscape flashed now & then with snipers' fire. The road was edged with the menace of mines, booby traps and demolition chasms. But clearly the stubborn, skillful, beaten enemy had pulled out. At 5:30 a.m., Aug. 17, Lieutenants Jeff McNeely and Ralph Yates led patrols into Messina. The Battle of Sicily, 38 days after it had begun, was over.
By midmorning the U.S. Seventh and the British Eighth Armies had entered Messina in...
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