Patton's men reach Messina hours ahead of Montgomery; Sicily falls

For five weeks, two Allied armies had pushed across Sicily from opposite directions, racing toward the same finish line. On August 16, 1943, General George S. Patton's U.S. Seventh Army entered the port city of Messina, On August 17, 1943, General George S. Patton's U.S. Seventh Army entered the port city of Messina, beating Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery's British 8th Army by several hours. The arrival closed off the last German and Italian escape route across the strait and completed the Allied conquest of Sicily. The Allies now used the island to stage the invasion of mainland Italy weeks later…