Eighth Army

The destruction of Panzer Armee Afrika left the United Kingdom Eighth Army and the American Seventh Army without a mission.

The invasion of Sicily was the preliminary step in the invasion of the Italian mainland. The Allies hoped to knock Italy out of the war.

British General Claude Auchinleck, hampered by the siphoning of his men and equipment to support the abortive Greek campaign, had lost all the British gains of 1941 to the fast-driving German General Erwin Rommel.