Eighty years ago this week the Allies invade Sicily in imperfect harmony and the Duke of Windsor dabbles in detective work

 

The Allies launched operation Husky, the invasion of Sicily. It was the largest amphibious operation of the war so far and featured a large airborne component as well. It was split into a British landing in the East commanded by General Montgomery and an American landing in the West under General Patton. Both were under the command of the British General Alexander, but he did not use a tight rein and his two notional subordinates conducted largely separate campaigns. The attack made Hitler cancel another effort against the Kursk salient on the Eastern Front, ample proof of Germany's massive strategic overeach. Misled by Allied deception operations, the Germans reinforced Greece and not Italy.

The Canadian mining millionaire Sir Harry Oakes was murdered on the Bahamas. His French son-in-law was swiftly charged with the crime but there were doubts over his guilt. Ill-advisedly, the governor of the territory, the Duke of Windsor, took personal charge of the investigation and imported his own detectives from Florida for the work. Oakes was not conspicuously corrupt or dishonest by the standards of his industry and the era, but the Duke's reputation was compromised by the interest that he took.

The defendants in the second trial of members of the White Rose anti-Nazi  resistance group in Munich had a lucky escape. The judge in the first trial, the murderous Roland Freisler, was unable to preside and his replacment took a far more tolerant attitude. The defendants escaped with mild sentences or acquittals.