The 78th Battleaxe Division, of the British Eighth Army, was engaged in fierce fighting around the town of Centuripe in the central portion of Sicily in the hill country between the Rivers Dittaìno and Salso.

[6][7] The 78th Battleaxe Infantry Division, under the command of Major-General Vyvyan Evelegh, assembled for a drive towards Catenanuova and to capture Centuripe as part of Operation Hardgate.

[8] The country between the two villages was wild and rough with great rocky crags, similar to those among which the 78th had fought in the campaign in Tunisia, and this terrain covered the one mountain road between them.

[9] Evelegh ordered Brigadier Nelson Russell, commander of the 38th (Irish) Infantry Brigade, to take Centuripe, and the plan was for a night advance to be made with heavy artillery fire available at call.

On the start-line they had some casualties as they had to face machine-guns from the hill and from the sides; G Company helped in silencing the enfilade fire, and when darkness came the London Irish consolidated on the ground gained.

[2] The latter course was taken; the Royal Irish Fusiliers put in their assault towards the north and rear of Centuripe, and the Inniskillings, who throughout had been in close contact with the Germans on the frontal sector, obtained a foothold on the southern edge of the village after a heavy barrage, which included scaling a 100-foot cliff.

[9] The Royal Irish Fusiliers pushed through the northern end of the town, fighting was stubborn and hard; two German Panzer MKIII's created the most problems; there were no British tanks up in support and these were knocked out eventually by PIAT weapons.

[10] The transport had difficulty in getting down the winding road from Centuripe because of a large crater which took the sappers twelve hours to fill in and also because the Germans in their retreat scattered mortar bombs and shells in the area.