Videos, Films: Allied Landings in Sicily, July, 1943

Canadians in Combined Ops Transport Troops and Supplies

 in Sicily, 1943. At HOW Beach and GEORGE Beach

The 81st Flotilla of Canadian Landing Crafts (LCMs), at HOW Beach, 

near Gallina (eastern Sicily) in July 1943. Photo property of Roy Burt

Unloading Allied supplies at HOW Beach, in July '43. Photo - Roy Burt

Unloading supplies at HOW Beach, in July '43. Photo - Roy Burt (center)

July 10 map shows the position of several liberty ships, e.g., Mayo

Brothers at B3. HMHS Talamba sunk by German planes. Map found in

St. Nazaire to Singapore, the Canadian Amphibious War, Vol. I

Readers who would like to learn more about the book St. Nazaire to Singapore, the Canadian Amphibious War, Vol. I can email Editor - gordh7700@gmail.com

Introduction:

HOW Beach on the map above is pretty easy to find, the green ink and arrows are bright enough for all to see. The RED and AMBER sectors of HOW Beach are located at modern day Gallina, seen more clearly on the map below.

GEORGE Beach just peeks at us on the top edge of the map above, the bit of black outline for the curved, mile-long beach is just a start. It was the beach where my father served, unloading landing crafts (LCMs) for about one month, beginning July 10 until about the end of the first week in August. GEORGE Beach is located at modern day Fontane Bianche, and at the south end of the beach are located two cattle caves in which the Canadian sailors sought shelter for about 3 weeks. The caves were damp, "lizardly" (said my father) but had thick limestone overhead so were safe from bombings.

Map (screenshot) of Gallina di Avola as found at beachoo.com

1. Film One - PREPARATION FOR THE INVASION OF SICILY [IWM AYY 493/3]

Descriptions below are found at the Imperial War Museum -

Object description; Transport, vehicles and equipment being loaded onto landing craft at Tripoli for the invasion of Sicily.

Full description: Close up of a ramp being lowered. Men moving onto the ramp. A lorry backing onto the landing craft. Close up of wheels of the lorry moving onto the landing craft. A petrol lorry backing onto the landing craft. Men on the landing craft waving as the ramp is raised. Men moving onto the landing craft LST. The lorry backing up. Men moving onto the ship LST. Close up of men moving along the gangway. Men unloading bombs from the lorry. Unloading bombs on the crane. Loading bombs onto the ship LST. Bombs swinging on the crane. Tanks moving on to the landing craft.

Please click here to view Film One

The 80th and 81st flotillas unloaded "heavy shells off into LCMs".

Photo Credit - David J. Lewis, as found in St. Nazaire to Singapore,

The Canadian Amphibious War 1941 - 1945, Vol. 1, page 180

2. Film Two - GOC 50TH DIVISION ADDRESSING TROOPS; CONVOY APPROACHES SICILY; LANDING OF THE INVASION FORCE IN SICILY [IWM AYY 502/7/1]

Descriptions below are found at the Imperial War Museum -

Object description: The 50th Division landing in Sicily.

Content description: Major-General S. C. Kirkman briefs the troops prior to invasion and explains the plan of attack. A convoy approaches the beach near Avola. The navy shelling the coast. A Bofors gun is set up to cover the rest of the troops against air attack as they land at Avola. Panning shot of landing craft in the background. Landing craft running onto the shore. A long file of Italian prisoners being brought in. Infantrymen landing. Lorries on the beach. Infantry landing. A tractor tows lorries off a craft and through the water and onto the beach. Prisoners of war. A tractor tows a jeep out of the sand. Infantry advancing to forward positions.

Please click here to view Film Two

55th and 61st flotillas of LCAs (blue oval) transported British troops to shores

near the coastal town of Avola. (Avola is also a region along the east coast). The

80th and 81st flotillas (red oval, middle) transported supplies for Monty's Eighth

Army in the Avola region south of Syracusa once the 55th and 61st were done.

The 80th also served in Italy beginning Sept. 3, 1943 - Operation BAYTOWN

Map found on page 76, Combined Operations by Londoner Clayton Marks

British landing craft (LCM foreground) at Pachino.

Credit - Imperial War Museum (IWM)

3. Film Three - INVASION OF SICILY [IWM AYY 502/1/6]

Descriptions below are found at the Imperial War Museum -

Object description: The 17th Infantry Brigade in Sicily.

Content description: Burning Allied equipment after being hit by enemy mortar fire. Tanks, Priest guns, carriers etc coming through a gap in the wall after a detour around the burning equipment. A military policeman directs the operation.

Internet: The British 17th Infantry Brigade landed in Sicily on July 10, 1943, as part of Operation Husky, contributing to the Allied assault on the island's southeastern coast near Pachino and the Gulf of Noto. Working alongside the 51st Highland Division and Canadian forces, they faced moderate resistance, successfully securing coastal areas to support the rapid Allied advance inland. Key details regarding the 17th Infantry Brigade and the broader landing: Part of the 5th Infantry Division: The 17th Infantry Brigade was a component of the British 5th Infantry Division, which landed between Avola and Syracuse on Acid South and North beaches.

Please click here to view Film Three

Editor: JIG Sector (south of Gallina) was reportedly not active. No map in

my records reveals 'Acid Centre'. Map at Commando Veterans Archive

Editor: If these are Canadian landing craft then they are likely to be at

HOW Beach. GEORGE was not heavily treed along the shoreline.

Photo - Combined Operations by C. Marks, RCNVR/C. Ops

Film Four - INVASION OF SICILY [IWM AYY 502/1/1]

Descriptions below are found at the Imperial War Museum -

Object description: The 17th Infantry Brigade on its way to Sicily.

Content description: A sailor signalling to another ship with a lamp and flags. Troops disembarking from the ship onto an LCT. The landing craft on the move. Troops practising disembarking into assault boats. Troops lying on deck during the voyage. The convoy.

Please click here to view Film Four

Film Five - PREPARATIONS FOR ASSAULT LANDINGS; INVASION OF SICILY [AYY 496/3 - 1]

Descriptions below are found at the Imperial War Museum -

Object description: Preparations at Sfax harbour for the invasion of Sicily.

Content description: 6 July. Various shots of troops bathing from landing craft in Sfax harbour. Troops marching onto quayside. Landing craft coming alongside quay. Troops going aboard. Close up of troops going aboard. Shots taken from the LCI as it leaves the quay. Shots taken from the LCI of Sfax harbour. Long shot coming alongside the Landing Ship, Tank. Troops transferring from LCI to LST.

Content description: 10 July. Various shots of landing craft lying off the shore of Sicily. View of the shore from the LST. An amphibian truck leaves the ship and goes ashore under its own power. Craft unloading in the water.

Content description: 11 July. Various shots of pontoon and LST unloading a tank transporter. Another LST comes onto the pontoon, the doors open and ramps come down. Vehicles leaving the craft and going ashore.

Please click here to view Film Five

Film Six - Combined Operations - Beach Organisation (Two Parts) [IWM ADM 1163]

Descriptions below, found at the Imperial War Museum, are but three paragraphs of many - 

Object description: A British Army instructional film made prior to the Allied invasion of Sicily in July 1943 describes with animated maps, graphics and live action sequences the role, structure and organisation of a Beach Maintenance Area during the initial stages of an amphibious landing on an enemy coast.

Full description: START 00:00:00.Opening titles and credits that inform its intended audience that this military training film has been supervised by the officers of Combined Operations Headquarters appointed by the General Staff. A roller caption "The purpose of this film is to show part of the organisation required to land and maintain a force over enemy beaches until a port can be captured and used. The earlier sequences would normally take place in the hours of darkness but for photographic purposes have been filmed in daylight".

Full description: 00:00:49 The film shows how the planning a combined operation on an enemy coast begins with the gathering of intelligence on beaches where an amphibious force can land, firstly by aerial reconnaissance. This idea is illustrated with shots of an Royal Air Force Vickers Supermarine Spitfire Mk V in flight, a section of shoreline as seen from the air and an Army Captain at Combined Operations Headquarters examining an aerial reconnaissance photograph under a view-finder. Once a suitable section of coastline has been chosen, it is divided for operational planning purposes into sectors each three thousand yards long. Sectors considered suitable for amphibious operations are divided into anything up to three beaches, each of which carries a code-name, for example 'Amber', 'Red', 'Green' etc. The film proposes to examine the planning and operation of the establishment of a Beach Maintenance Area (BMA) in just one of these beach sectors, starting with the First Key Plan, the planning template for the oganisation of the BMA by the Beach Group, the unit responsible for the movement of troops, personnel and supplies onto the enemy coast in the first phase of the invasion. Animated graphics over an aerial reconnaissance photograph of a section of coastline are used to illustrate the multitude of specialist units - mechanical and combat engineers, medical services, supply corps, signals and military police - that will be crammed into this small area.

Please click here to view Film Six (links to Part 1 and 2 are provided at IWM)

Please click here to view more film related to Allied landings in Sicily.

Unattributed Photos GH 

Memoirs: Roy Burt Collection, RCNVR and Combined Operations (5)

Looking Back 50 Years to 1944. Women Signed Up for 'War Work'

News Article from the 1994 Toronto Star

Standard issue gas mask makes quite the fashion statement!

Introduction:

If you were looking for work to support the war effort in the 1940s I think you wouldn't have too much trouble finding a job that suited your skill set, as long as you, for example, knew one end of a Sten gun from the other. But if you're looking for the reason why Roy Burt (a member of RCNVR and Combined Operations during WWII) included this article from 1994 in his vast collection of memorabilia I think the answer might not be exact, or immediately apparent.

However, I know Roy got married (like my father) while in uniform, and his new wife may have wanted to break out of the mold (re women staying in the home) and get a job making Sten guns, or the ammunition, or one of hundreds of other jobs that had been in the sole domain of men for many years.

Roy also played a role in D-Day Normandy in 1944, and in remembrance activities in France in 1994, so any related news articles would have been recommended reading when they came off the press.

A Lucille Ball look-a-like spotted Roy's flashy ring!

Or his brawny bicep, built by bacon!

Is she the inspiration for Edward Scissorhands??

More material from the Roy Burt Collection will follow in the near future.

Please click here to view Memoirs: The Roy Burt Collection, RCNVR and Combined Operations (4)

Unattributed Photos GH 

Editor's Research: Three Months in the Mediterranean, 1943 (31)

Canadian War Correspondents Lead with News:

Canadian Site is Home to a Big Meeting

Canadians Earn Monty's High Praise: Canadian Ads For

Smokes Have the Best Artwork (says a Canadian)!!

"A Canadian patrol plane swoops over an Allied Convoy and 

Canadian escort vessel" Sketched at sea by "Topside" 1943

Introduction:

The Canadians in Combined Operations who were members of the 80th Flotilla of Landing Craft and who had served during Operation HUSKY (invasion of Sicily beginning July 10, 1943) were recuperating from illness, or relaxing with O'Henry chocolate bars while reading newspapers and mail from home, or busy repairing their landing crafts on the island of Malta in preparation for Operation Baytown, the invasion of Italy at the toe of the boot, to begin September 3. ("So hurry, hurry, hurry!")

LCMs (landing craft mechanised) 'under repair in... Malta 1943'. More 

arrived from Sicily in early August from 80th and 81st Flotilla of LCMs

Richard Bouchard, my dad's friend and workmate, relaxing in Malta, 

Aug. '43. Note the tea cup. Photo - Imperial War Museum 

Note the tea cup. Gord's favourite. A gift from

younger son Paul. Photo by GH

In a book re my father's Navy memoirs he recalls in a short story ("Food, Sustenance and Mail Were Found on Malta") being sent to Malta a few days ahead of his mates because of dysentery. The first two paragraphs follow:

At the end of the Sicilian campaign several Canadian sailors and officers became ill. Fatigue brought on by long hours of work and poor nourishment for over a month had now taken its toll and showed up in various ways. Salt water sores, rashes, sunburn, dysentery, things we hadn’t time to bother with before now began to manifest themselves.

Fear was now gone and the inaction caused many to have letdowns. Many had not relaxed for weeks and now that it was over they had difficulty handling it. Mail from home would have helped at a time like this; most of us hadn’t had mail since April and it was now the middle of August. I would have given my right arm for a cool drink of Norwich water and Sweet Caporal cigarettes from the Women’s War league. Parcels and letters were awaiting us in Malta and we were heading that way by landing craft and ship. "Dad, Well Done" page 111

Please click here to read the full story re his time in Malta.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch - while the sailors were relaxing, resting, recuperating, recovering, reading, and repairing LCMs in Malta for the Italian campaign the Montreal Gazette was informing readers about what was going on elsewhere... for only five cents on a weekday(!):

Canadian writer Ross Munro, with Canadian Press, sent many a fine article in a very timely fashion back to Canada via CP Cable:

Ross Munro, hard at work, smoking his pipe, in photo 22816 by Photogr.

Royal, dated August 7, 1943 in Album 62, CAFU (Canadian Army

Film Unit). It has been checked for approval by censors.

Ross Munro's article and the one that follows from Associated Press seem to follow the same theme, i.e, the once mighty German forces are in hasty retreat, i.e., they're getting pasted!

Do you want jam for the holidays? Not the kind involving trains? Then STAY HOME!!

"And you thought your holiday commute was bad!" 

Photo credit - www.smithsonianmag

"GERMANY HAS HAD HARD KNOCKS RECENTLY!!" (REALLY?)

"If the Canadian ground forces are resting, Canadian airmen are not." Read all about it!

A bombing raid on Messina, Sicily, seen from a ship moored in the harbour.

Spring/summer of 1943. Photo credit - Reddit.com/History

Private Harry McDowell, 48th Highlanders of Canada, at Caltagirone,

Italy, ca 2 - 3 August, 1943. Photo 22785, Album 62, CAFU

Mules are being used to transport food and equipment to troops fighting

in the mountains. Here is seen a mule pack convoy of the Royal 22e Regmt

going through Leonforte. Photo 22820, Album 62, CAFU, dated August 7, 

1943, Photo by Royal, with an 'approved for use' checkmark So I used it!

Sherman tank of the 12th Armoured Regiment (Three Rivers

Regiment) refueling with petrol before the battle for Etna. Photo

22791, Album 62, dated August 7, 1943, Photo by Royal.

News from another front, on the north coast, in Sicily:

Lionel B. Shapiro, getting his feet wet and typing up a report (perhaps 

the one featured below?) in Sicily. Photo 22817, Album 62, CAFU,

dated August 7, 1943. Photographer - Royal

More information about Canadian writers (including Lionel B. Shapiro ) can be found here: War Correspondents: Canadian Writers - Sicily 1943 (3c)

A clear example below... "crime does not pay."

Thanks in part to good advertising - and that they were sometimes free - there were more than a few smokers in the Canadian members of Combined Operations:

Canadians in Combined Ops ended up with a lot of free smokes

at times. My father (front row, right side) 'rolled his own' for many

years after the war as I recall, from tins of Players' loose tobacco.

Photo, property of Lloyd Evans, second from right, back row.

Something from under the heading of "waste not, want not":

Lionel B. Shapiro is keeping busy!

A related photo from another Canadian newspaper is shared below:

Photo from a Bowmanville paper (August 26, 1943) as found in
Canadians in the Italian Campaign in World War II  (a Facebook group)

And for those who love a dash of optimism with their daily news...

On another war front, a goodly distance from Europe:

A better quality photo re the above as found at Canadians in the Italian Campaign in World War II  (a FaceBook group:

Caption - From the War Diary of the 1st Battalion, Seaforth Highlanders of Canada

for 30 July 1943: "During the evening of the 30 Jul 43 the PIPE BAND played for

the first time in SICILY, at AGIRA. RETREAT was played and was attended by

BRIG. C. VOKES and the C.O. LT.COL. B.M. HOFFMEISTER. It was heard in

LONDON & broadcast over the B.B.C."

More details about the German Henschel 129 (mentioned below)

can be found here. And Photo Credit here. "Not great, but cheap!"

I did not know this until now, but my father (Doug Harrison, RCNVR/Combined Operations 1941 - 1945) had some thing in common with U.S. President Roosevelt! When they needed to relax or had a wee bit of time off they went fishing.

In Navy memoirs related to the invasion of Sicily my father writes:

July 10, 1943. We arrived off Sicily in the middle of the night and stopped about four miles out. Other ships and new LCIs (landing craft infan-try), fairly large barges, were landing troops. Soldiers went off each side of the foc’sle, down steps into the water and then ashore, during which time we saw much tracer fire. This was to be our worst invasion yet. Those left aboard had to wait until daylight so we went fishing for an hour or more, but there were no fish. "Dad, Well Done"  Page 30

President Roosevelt had better luck: "He caught five black bass on his first day out." Maybe not as noisy??

Three more quick news clips in closing...

And here we are ending on a high note:

“Mossie” was the nickname for one of the most remarkable combat aircraft of

the Second World War: the de Haviland Mosquito. The original all-wood design

was intended as a light bomber but quickly proved highly versatile with reconn-

aissance, fighter-bomber, night fighter, and intruder variants being developed.

Photo and caption and more details are found here

Another entry related to Canadians in Combined Operations and their role and service with the Canadian Navy in Sicily and Italy (from July 10 - about October 5, 1943) will soon follow.

Questions or comments can be addressed to Gord H. at gordh7700@gmail.com

Please click here to view Editor's Research: Three Months in the Mediterranean, 1943 (30)

Unattributed Photos GH