Military history of Canada during World War II the Allied invasions of Sicily and mainland Italy, then fought through the long Italian Campaign. During the course of the Allied campaign in Italy, over 25,000 Canadian soldiers became casualties of war. The 1st Canadian Division and the 1st Canadian Armoured Brigade took part in the Allied invasion of Sicily in Operation "Husky", 10 July 1943 and also Operation "Baytown", part of the Allied invasion of Italy on 3 September 1943. Canadian participation in the Sicily and Italy campaigns were made possible after the government decided to break up the First Canadian Army, sitting idle in Britain. Public pressure for
European theatre of World War II commander-in-chief of all German forces in the country surrendered to Field Marshal Harold Alexander, the supreme commander of all Allied forces in the Mediterranean area. Fighting would, however, continue in Greece where a civil war had broke out and end on 1949 after Greek government troops aided by the US and Britain defeated the communist guerrillas supported by Marshall Tito and USSR. On 22 June 1941, Germany launched the invasion of the Soviet Union, code-named Operation Barbarossa. This invasion, the biggest in recorded history, started the bloodiest conflict in world history; the Axis–Soviet War, also known as the Eastern Front.