Editor's Research: Canadians in Combined Ops Return Home (2)

The Allies' Long, Slow Slog Continues on Both Sides of Italy

News From The Winnipeg Tribune, January 5 - 7, 1944

Photo Credit - As found online at The War Illustrated Magazine

The above caption reads as follows:

CANADIANS IN CALABRIA. Led by Pipe-Major A. Anderson of Toronto, Canadians of General Montgomery's 8th Army march through Straorina, near Reggio di Calabria. It was on the beaches around Reggio, at 4:40 a.m. on September 3, 1943, the fourth anniversary of our declaration of war on Germany, that our men landed to establish their major bridgehead for the invasion of Italy. Hands on hips, a young Italian girl watches and wonders whilst the Canadians pass. Photo Associated Press

Introduction:

The chances are quite good that the Canadian troops above, who would be serving alongside Monty's Eighth for several months in Italy (though Monty would bid adieu in early January - see previous post - to return to the U.K. to prepare for D-Day Normandy), were transported to beaches near Reggio by Canadian sailors (members of RCNVR and Combined Operations) in the Canadian 80th Flotilla of Landing Crafts (a 'first'). 

Most of the members of the 80th Flotilla toiled for 4 - 5 weeks, beginning Sept. 3, transporting men and materials of war across the Messina Strait as part of Operation Baytown, before returning to the United Kingdom (and shortly thereafter to Canada). 

During January 5 - 7 1943, while Canadian troops battled in Ortona Italy and area, some of the Canadian sailors who had kept supply lines running from Messina to Reggio - by use of their LCMs (landing craft, mechanized; and part of the 80th Flotilla) - were on a train from Toronto bound for HMCS Givenchy III on The Spit near Comox, British Columbia. (The sailors, including my father, had returned to Canada in December, 1943).

And as has been mentioned in the first post in this series, I am searching The Winnipeg Tribune for any stories related to their return and continued service in Combined Operations. Though pickings may be slim, many articles provide excellent details re the battles overseas as well as context for the next stage of my father's WWII experiences.

Items from The Winnipeg Tribune follow:

The RAF and RCAF are very active over Germany:

Canadian war correspondent Douglas Amaron reports progress of the Canadian 1st Division troops. And in a second piece following Amaron's account we read that Cassino is being fortified):

Dick Sanburn, another reliable Canadian writer, responds to criticism that the "long, slow slog" in Italy is too slug-like:

"Red Patch Devils" return to Halifax, Canada about one month after some members of RCNVR - Combined Operations, but circumstances differed. The sailors returned to Halifax aboard the Aquitania and were ready to serve in a new location once their home leave ended, and the "Devils" arrived aboard hospital ship Lady Nelson and needed time to recuperate from injuries. Some of their 'war stories' appear in the next day's edition, soon to follow. 

Just as sailors Lloyd Evans, Thomas Fawdry and Jean Kroon were interviewed by local papers after they returned to Canada (see previous post), so were members of the "Red Patch Devils":

Readers, what are the odds that Pte. Stan Fleet, mentioned above, has surviving family members in Kitchener or Killarney? Same goes for others mentioned? 

Note to self: Check White pages, check for obits, etc.

Many readers will know that it took quite some time for Allied troops to enter Rome. The Cassino roadblock was a significant slowdown;

Tough times in Italy continued for months for Canadian troops. Meanwhile, some members of RCNVR-Combined Operations were on their way to Comox, B.C., as mentioned earlier. The photo below was very likely taken while a few Canadians in Combined Ops were travelling by ferry from the City of Vancouver to Vancouver Island:

Back L - R: Art Warrick (Hamilton), Ed Chambers, Don Westbrook (Hamilton)

Front L - R: Joe Watson (Simcoe), Don Linder (Kitchener), Doug Harrison

(Norwich), Mystery Man (far right). Circa January 1944

Please note: "Inching" is the correct word:

Canadians Take Ortona! 

Photo quality in many newspapers was not the best, as we can see above.

When original photographs appear (sometimes years later), we benefit greatly.

Photo Credit - Ortona, 75 Years Later (link provided below)

I call the news clipping below a "two-fer", i.e., I get two for the price of one. We first read that there is a unique fighting unit at work in the Apennines, Italy, and also get some news about landing craft production in Canada.

The two clips don't seem to be particularly related, but those with an interest in Canadians in Combined Ops will know that landing crafts are at the heart of the matter.

I don't have a timeline re when construction began on landing crafts in Canada, but I do know that most of the landing crafts (in Canada) used for training purposes during WWII were on the west coast, i.e., likely on Vancouver Island, at such places as The Spit (HMCS Naden III, later to be called Givenchy III). Please note - that's where the sailors on the ferry (see their photo a few clips above) are heading!

As well, there are numerous photos re landing craft production, some from a book in my father's collection entitled Canada's War At Sea by Stephen Leacock and Leslie Roberts:

Photo Credit : In 'Publisher's Postscript' Canada's War At Sea, pg 93

Photo Credit: In 'Publisher's Postscript' Canada's War At Sea, pg 28

Photographs of look-alike Canadian-made landing crafts appear in a self-published book of memoirs produced by veterans of RCNVR and Combined Operations, also from my father's collection:

Did my father go from the Toronto train to the Vancouver ferry to The Spit's

LCM flotilla in quick succession? The scenario is very possible. 

Photo - St. Nazaire to Singapore: Canadian Amphibious War 1941 - 1945

Top photo - HMCS Givenchy III. Bottom photo - The Slough, Courtenay B.C.

More information concerning a few well-read Canadian columnists:

I believe that I was just handed the easiest segue one could get...

Canadian war correspondent Dick Sanburn (see last line above) does really good work (see next article below): 

More information - with excellent diagrams - about "house-to-house" and "room-to-room" infiltration (aka "mouse-holing") can be found at Ortona, 75 years later: The tragedy of Canada’s ‘Little Stalingrad’.

At the above online site readers will also find a lengthy, inspirational piece of prose entitled "At Ortona" (an oratorio, by George Elliot Clarke, Canada's former poet laureate), written "for the 75th anniversary of the battle."

It begins as follows: 

At Ortona

I

September’s Calabrese sun —

Plus passing of each assassin —

Those black-hearted, black-shirted few

Who told peasants to suck up dew

And chew dust. Well, basta! They’re done!

Before our troops, they stoop — or run!

Scarcely dare they point a gun.

But still we tramp and them pursue —

To Ortona.

On we progress! Press each bastion

(Fascists backed by Nazi faction),

Who top each peak and from these spew

Bullets, so ruddy blood plays dew,

Sprays grass…. But we Canucks forge on —

To Ortona.

II

Off Sicily, northward pressing

Through Calabria, undressing

To suit sirocco, cool the head,

We free the poor to store their bread.

Liberation’s our progressing!

But our foe’s dour and distressing!

Shelling, sniping, keep us guessing

Where land-mines lurk to quirk our tread —

To Ortona...

The Winnipeg Tribune printed the next map in the January 7 issue, and though it addresses action re Yugoslavia in the caption, one can see the bold line (next to Rome) that depicts the Allied front line, stretching south from Ortona on the Adriatic Sea to (near) Cancello on the opposite coast.

Another map re the Italian campaign reveals where Ortona is situated related to Cassino on the opposite coast (mentioned in an earlier article):

Online source for Map of Italy 

For more information about this series, please link to Canadians in Combined Ops Return Home (1)

Unattributed Photos GH 

Remembrance Day 2020

 Let Us Remember Them Together

"We Remember One, We Remember All"

Doug Harrison, from Norwich ONT, served in RCNVR and 

Combined Operations from June 1941 - September 1945. RIP

Introduction:

I remember my father often, and well. His hand-written navy memoirs are still an inspiration to me as this small online site slowly grows over the years.

Remembrance Day 2020 is a time to reflect on his personal sacrifices during World War II, and that his efforts were just those of one man among millions throughout the world at that time. Today I will attempt to remember the experiences of one man, as well as the millions, and reflect upon how world wars affect us to this very day.

I present below a few items - the first, from my mother - that will prompt many of my thoughts and recollections today. 

TOGETHER

They went to war together

so our country would be free.

They fought together

on land, in air, on sea.

They died together

in muddy fields

in blazing skies

in deep, cold seas.

Let us remember them,

together.

By Edith J. Harrison, Norwich Ontario

Doug Harrison remembered his mates in his memoirs:

One Officer Died at 0347 Hours, August 19th

For about fifty-five officers and ratings

the moment of truth drew near when they would be

put to the test, untried, but with a high esprit de corps

and ready to live or die by Canadian Navy traditions,

and die some did.

Seventy-one men of CO (Combined Operations),

RCNVR took part in the Dieppe raid, 19 August, 1942.

One officer died at 0347 hours, August 19th in the Channel,

killed in a fiery exchange with a small German convoy.

During the long, suffering day two Canadian seamen

were killed and one severely wounded.

He later died and was buried in Berlin in October 1942.

The commanding officer of the flotilla and a wounded stoker were captured.

The stoker was repatriated in an exchange of prisoners but

the officer remained captive for the duration.

At least two Canadian officers and the wounded stoker were awarded medals.

A Canadian seaman and officers were mentioned in Dispatches for the Dieppe raid.

"Dad, Well Done" page 73

1989 Reunion of two shipmates at Dieppe, i.e., Stoker R.W. Brown (“severely

wounded”, left) and Lt. McRae (“remained captive”, back right), with D. Harrison

(middle, with cap) and Art Bailey (right). Photo - St. Nazaire to Singapore, Vol. 1 

A poet from Sicily remembers the Canadian troops who past through her town:

Boys of freedom

Snow came suddenly

Covering fields in white in the twinkling of an eye,

it woke up the boys of freedom, those coming from afar,

who left their lives at twenty or little more,

who left their lives in a moment

staring at a sunset which was burning by that time.

Air is sparkling in silver.

Wind gathered crumbs of light,

thousands of snow butterflies smile remembering

the colour of a flower and the enchantment of a balcony.

Like shadows in the snow dance

the boys of freedom came back

to play on the white field,

to run, to snowball,

as they used to do at home

before the war came.

Air is darkening,

it's getting cold, wind is icy,

and the boys of freedom disappear among the white butterflies;

they go back to their underground sleep,

rocked by the memory of their country

far away, where they never went back.

By Rosalia Fantoni, Villanova, February 2012

As found at Canadians in the Italian campaign in World War II (online source).

Photo Credit - As posted by Mufasa Quinto on Facebook October 2020

A poem by Eric Curwain, a.k.a. Bill Simpson, written June 6 1979, "thirty-five years to the day after D-Day. Eric was the brains behind the recruitment of most of the Staff and the agents who would be trained at Camp-X (Oshawa-Whitby area) and go on to their most dangerous missions behind enemy lines." 

Canada on D-Day

The older sons of Canada

look down on Juno Beach:

They see the grieving men in prayer

and read the heart of each.

On Juno Beach they see the men

who landed at their side,

but were not called upon to sink

in sand or sullen tide.

And to the east there stands the stone

that marks the Vimy field,

where men had fought a thousand days

and never thought to yield.

Those Vimy heroes see their sons

in Normandy today

and all three bands - pere, fils et frere - 
have common cause to pray.

For they can sense a mood of change,

of purpose unfulfilled:

they wonder if the future holds

what they had fought to build.

The men and wives from many lands

did weave our Tapestry -

let none contrive to make of it

a faded travesty.

O Canada! O Canada!

Thy patriot sons are we,

enfants de la Patrie.

Poem as found in Inside Camp-X, page 259 by L. P. Hodgson

The Canadian flag is adorned with a red maple leaf. As a symbol it is directly linked to the efforts and sacrifices of a body of men and women who are remembered often, and deeply each year in November. 

A WWII navy hammock stored at ECFB Esquimalt Naval Military Museum.

My father's landing craft flotilla displayed green maple leaves prominently.

Photo Credit - Canada At War, Reader's Digest

Let Us Remember Them, Together

Please link to Remembrance Day 2016 for more tributes and photographs.

Unattributed Photos GH

Editor's Research: Canadians in Combined Ops Return Home (1)

 One News Item Leads to a Few Rewards. But I Want One More

(This Project is Not The Wildest of Wild Goose Chases... I Hope)

Thanks to a WWII Navy vet and Mr. Google, this news item led me on very

rewarding searches. Above article from the collection of Lloyd Evans 

Introduction:

I have thought several times over the years that some of the best WWII photos are still hiding in a shoe box under someone's Grandma's back stairs. And a few of the best WWII stories will not be told until somebody trips over that pile of old letters next to the shoe box. 

Those thoughts returned to my mind recently, shortly after I completed a project that included the above photo.

I'd read the above caption a couple of times (along with a different one under the same photo, attached to a second article in the collection of Lloyd Evans, now deceased) and once I put my pen down - i.e., leaned back from the keyboard - I wondered, "How many Fawdrys could there be in Harrow, Ont?" 

As it turns out, just one, a nephew of the Thomas Fawdry mentioned in the caption.

When I spoke to the nephew on the phone the other day he patiently read me a WWII news article re 'Uncle Tommy' (aka 'Smokey'). While I listened my mind turned to Grandma, her back stairs, a dusty shoe box. 

(FYI - The article will appear on "1,000 Men, 1,000 Stories" as soon as it arrives via Royal Mail!)

Apart from asking readers to go check under the stairs asap, I embark on this new research project because the bulk the second article (given me by the son of Lloyd Evans) was not attached.

Below is the first 'full' article I was given, linked to the top photograph:

Not only is it a well-written piece, it is particularly enlightening for those (like myself) who are interested in the experiences of Canadians in Combined Operations.

I met Lloyd Evans (first sailor on the left) several years ago and learned he volunteered for Combined Operations at about the same time as my father did, i.e., in the late fall of 1941. 

Back row L - R: Unknown, P. Bowers, Lloyd Evans, Don Westbrook

Front row L - R: Don Linder, Unknown, Doug Harrison. 1942 - 1943

Since information in the caption of the top photo lead me to rewards, I'd like to find the full second article for the same reason. I could add it to Lloyd's collection of material, pass it along to Thomas Fawdry's nephew, and perhaps follow other leads to other new information as well. 

The second 'partial' article, below, has a great headline, relates to my father's own experiences in Sicily (beginning July 10, 1943; "36 raids by the Luftwaffe in the first three days"), but it is cut off in the middle of a sentence by Thomas Fawdry.

Pretty good clue - there is another news article out there... somewhere

On the plus side, the first clipping has a date written atop it and we can see it is from The Ottawa Citizen. As well, I know where one can find microfilm of past issues of the Ottawa newspaper here in London ONT - i.e., at the University of Western Ontario (UWO). But - unfortunately - the cache of microfilm at UWO (1000s of reels) is not presently available for public use due to COVID - 19.

Q: So, what's a person to do?

A: I will check The Winnipeg Tribune, an online, digitized newspaper housed at the University of Manitoba.

My goals will be to look at newspapers from the beginning of January to the end of February, 1944, hoping to find the second article. At the same time I may be able to find news articles or interviews related to other Canadians in Combined Operations who also returned to Canada at the end of 1943, after two years of service overseas. Plus, one never knows what also might appear in The Trib, a very readable, 1944 newspaper.

And so, the search begins!

From The Winnipeg Tribune - January 1 - 4, 1944:

Canadian war correspondent Dick Sanburn interviewed Lloyd Evans and several other Canadians who manned landing crafts during Operation Baytown (the Allied invasion of the toe of Italy's boot at Reggio, beginning September 3, 1943). His lengthy stream of news articles could fill a book (and perhaps they do!?).

Four months later - still following the progress of Canadian troops - he writes about winter fashions:

                                               

Lloyd Evans (volunteer member of RCNVR and Combined Operations) and my father were part of the Canadian 80th Flotilla of Landing Crafts and toiled in Italy for 4 - 5 weeks during Operation Baytown. Once a regular schedule was established for "days on" and days off", Canadian sailors could do some sight-seeing, make memorable purchases and do a bit of souvenir scrounging.

Lloyd writes the following in memoirs:

Three of us decided to do a little sightseeing when the other crew were on duty on our craft. We visited Reggio di Calabria and called in on a police station with a letter requisitioning any guns we wanted. Under the occupation rules and regulations, locals had to turn in any weapons they held.

To make the letter look authentic, we stamped it with an official looking mark... the stamp having been made out of a potato. As we suspected, the local police couldn’t read English and they fell for it. Most of the weapons looked like antiques from the Boer war but I managed to get a lovely little Baretta (sic) ladies gun, that I later sold to an American sailor in Gibraltar.

My Navy Chronicles, page 33 - 34

Doug Harrison (RCNVR, Combined Ops) enjoyed similar experiences. He writes:

We had some days off and we travelled, did some sight seeing, e.g., visiting German graves. We met Sicilian prisoners walking home disconsolately, stopped them, and took sidearms from any officer. We saw oxen still being used as draft animals when we were there.

Sometimes we went to Italy and to Allied Military Government of Occupied Territory depots (AMGOT). (They later changed that name because in Italian it meant shi-!)

While a couple of ratings kept the man in charge of all the revolvers busy, we picked out a lot of dandies. If he caught us we were ready. We had chits made out, i.e., “Please supply this rating with sidearms,” signed Captain P.T. Gear or Captain B.M. Lever, after the Breech Mechanism Lever on a large gun. 

"Dad, Well Done", page 36

And now, back to the news:

A 'sea attack' at the beginning of 1944 was perhaps a precursor to a later, more significant, January attack at Anzio:

Canadian war correspondent Doug Amaron is also following the progress of Canadian troops, and we learn many interesting details about the stiff German resistance that turned any progress northward into a very "long, slow slog":

Though the war in the air was seemingly going in a positive direction for the Allies, the war on the ground in Italy was terribly slow - and very cold and wet:

"Couldn't be wetter," says Sanburn. And the photographer below agrees. Our troops are "Mopping Up!":

As we know, the "thunderbolt invasion" (mentioned below) was five months away:

The battle for Ortona is chronicled by writers and one photographer (formerly) associated with The Winnipeg Tribune:

Canadian war correspondent Ross Munro also contributes to our understanding of how the war is progressing at the beginning of the new year, 1944:

Three articles appear below - all in a row - by Canadian writers. I think there were war correspondents in Italy from other countries... yes, I'm pretty sure, but I am aware that readers may not get that impression sometimes : )

This last short piece "By The Canadian Press" will encourage me to check out my father's collection of medals to see if he received a particular star. He and his mates landed in the U.K. in January 1942 and returned home on leave in December 1943, so the 1939-43 Service Star should be a part of his WWII decorations: 

The 1939-1945 Service Star is first on the left. Photo GH

For more information about a few of the Canadian sailors in Combined Operations who returned home on leave in December, 1943 (and were subsequently interviewed by their local newspapers), please link to "Six Canadian Sailors Make Headlines, Parts 1 - 6".

Questions, comments and suggestions can be addressed to me at gordh7700@gmail.com

Unattributed Photos GH

Context: Operation Baytown (Italy WWII) - The Ottawa Citizen (September 1 - 10, 1943), Parts 1 - 5

 The Invasion of the Toe of Italy's Boot

Beginning September 3, 1943

The invasion took place at, and along the coast on both sides of, Reggio di

Calabria. Illustration from ECLIPSE  by Alan Moorehead, page 32

Introduction:

The material presented below is chiefly from The Ottawa Citizen, as found on rolls of microfilm at the University Of Western Ontario in London, Canada. Material includes news articles, photographs, editorial cartoons and more.

Accounts by Canadian war correspondents are well-represented and more information about some of these brave men can be found by linking to War Correspondents: Canadian Writers - Sicily 1943.

Specific passages from other newspapers or stories about Operation Baytown are also highlighted in a section of this online site called "passages from WWII books" (see under 'click on HEADINGS' in right hand margin). One example is provided here - Operation Baytown - Invasion of Italy, 1943 (1)

To view an assortment of news items from The Ottawa Citizen please follow the links provided below:

Links to Parts 1 - 5 

1. Canadian Sailors Prepare for Invasion of Italy

British and American troops would invade Salerno on Sept. 9. The city

and landing area lies between Naples and Pisciotta, above.

2. An Easy Landing on the Toe of the Boot

3. The Tide is Turning. Allies Step Into Italy Easily

Photo Credit - Operazione “Baytown”: le truppe Alleate sbarcano

a Reggio Calabria, as found at 'A Scenza Riggiu'. 

4. Baytown Unopposed; Italy Surrenders Unconditionally

5. Canadian Navy Boys Kept Busy on Messina Strait

For more information from another newspaper about Operation Baytown, please link to Editor's Research: Operation Baytown Series, Parts 1 - 11

Unattributed Photos GH