rdfs:comment
| - Operation Ladbroke was a glider landing of British airborne forces near Syracuse, Sicily, that began on 9 July 1943 as part of the Allied invasion of the island. The first Allied mission using large numbers of the aircraft, the operation was carried out from Tunisia by the 1st Airlanding Brigade, with a force of 144 Wacos and six Horsas. The objective was to establish a large invasion force on the ground near the town of Syracuse, secure the Ponte Grande Bridge and ultimately take control of the city itself with its strategically vital docks, as a prelude to the full-scale invasion of Sicily.
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abstract
| - Operation Ladbroke was a glider landing of British airborne forces near Syracuse, Sicily, that began on 9 July 1943 as part of the Allied invasion of the island. The first Allied mission using large numbers of the aircraft, the operation was carried out from Tunisia by the 1st Airlanding Brigade, with a force of 144 Wacos and six Horsas. The objective was to establish a large invasion force on the ground near the town of Syracuse, secure the Ponte Grande Bridge and ultimately take control of the city itself with its strategically vital docks, as a prelude to the full-scale invasion of Sicily. En route to Sicily, sixty-five gliders released too early by the American and British towing aircraft crashed into the sea, drowning approximately 252 men. Of the remainder, only eighty-seven men arrived at the Pont Grande Bridge, although they successfully captured the bridge and held it beyond the time they were to be relieved. Finally, with their ammunition expended and only fifteen soldiers remaining unwounded, the Allied troops surrendered to Italian forces. The Italians, having gained control of the bridge, sought to destroy the structure, but were frustrated by soldiers of 1st Brigade who had removed the previously attached explosive charges. Other troops from the airlanding brigade, who had landed elsewhere in Sicily aided further by destroying communications links and capturing gun batteries.
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