It Strikes Me Funny by G. Harrison: War Correspondents: Canadian Writers

A Lot of Canadians Were Busy During Operation Husky:

The 1st Division, Sailors on Landing Crafts, Writers

This rare group photo of dedicated Canadian press representatives in Sicily

during Operation Husky has inspired a few posts re war correspondents

Introduction:

I discovered the above photo from the Library and Archives, Ottawa that includes such well-known names as Ross Munro and Peter Stursberg, and it has encouraged me to go back to The Winnipeg Tribune to cut and paste some of the many significant news stories that were posted on the date recorded on the photograph, and during the next two days as well. A few stories re Operation Husky, beginning July 10 1943, were delayed until the 14th or 15th issues of The Tribune, and there are many mentions of the progress of Canada's 1st Division.

Though most eyes were on the advances made by the Canadian Army, our Navy (including the RCNVR and its many members of Combined Operations) and Air Force were very busy in many capacities and are mentioned here as well.

Today The Winnipeg Tribune is digitized, easy to explore

Ross Munro seems to have filed valuable stories whenever an opportunity presented itself, and several others followed suit and blazed their own important trails. I think that our understanding and studies about the roles of Canadians during WWII are very much the better because of their efforts.

All articles and photos (and occasional ad; do you like salmon?) that you see below have been downloaded from high resolution PDF copies of clean images of The Winnipeg Tribune (unless indicated otherwise). Please visit the site at your leisure that has been created at the University of Manitoba. It is a tremendous resource, in my opinion.

From the front page, July 14th:

The photo was likely taken near Gela on Sicily's southern shore, and to

the west of where Canadian troops landed (map to follow)

Details re invasion barges are hard to make out; they are likely LCMs

(i.e., landing craft, mechanised). A.P. Wirephoto

Canadian writers Ralph Allen and Ross Munro also made the front page:

The very top photo, w Ross Munro seated in a jeep, reportedly was taken in Modica on the 13th, and in the article below, delayed from July 12 (from Ispica), we read that "Modica, 10 miles northwest of here, surrendered" to Canadians earlier that morning. Things are happening fast, and Canadians - army, navy, airforce, writers with burdensome typewriters - are in the vanguard!

Canadian Army troops heard encouraging words - below, in two small reports - about their service from three high-ranking commanding officers (McNaughton, Cunningham and Montgomery) before setting foot upon Sicily's shores.

[Sometime after the invasion began, members of RCNVR who had volunteered as well to join the Combined Operations organization ("on loan to the Royal Navy" some would describe it), distinguished themselves in the service of Monty's 8th Army by manning four flotillas of landing crafts on the eastern task force, south of Syracuse. Monty's words of praise for those hundreds of Canadian sailors comes later].

The next writer is not Canadian but he is writing about "Ross Munro's eye-witness dispatches":

[Editor's Note: It is interesting that something is said above about the significant service of Canadians at Dieppe, overlooked as it was at the time. How could the large numbers of Canadians be so easily overlooked (i.e., the highest number of all troops at Dieppe, nearly 5,000 of the 6,100 there; the US contributed the fewest, approx. 50)? A variety of reasons, I suppose, but whatever the reasons, they will have to be dragged out again soon. The Canadians in Combined Operations (400-500 sailors from RCNVR) manned four flotillas of landing craft during Operation Husky and I think they have been solidly overlooked to this point in time].

So, I wasn't kidding about the salmon : )

Mr. Young may have been the first Canadian writer who rubbed shoulders with a member of RCNVR and Combined Ops, i.e., a nattered stoker:

William Stewart's articles are familiar to me, and he gets a word in as well on July 14 1943:

Louis V. Hunter may have been the second Canadian writer to rub shoulders with Canadians in Combined Ops, but he is a highly distinguished second because he spent some time with members of two Canadian flotillas once they returned to North Africa after their part was played in Sicily (the 55th and 61st flotillas of assault landing craft, which took 8th Army troops ashore beginning in the early hours of July 10 1943). He mentions "other flotillas have not yet returned", and is referring to the 80th and 81st Canadian flotillas:

To Mr. Hunter I tip my hat!

I am making a break here, in the middle of an incorrect sentence. It should read, "The first picture... was brought back by Press Relations Officer Lt. Cmdr. E. H. Bartlett, R.C.N., of Toronto, who was ashore briefly on Sicily."

I like the following story because it refers to the resourcefulness of Canadian war correspondents, particularly Ross Munro during the early stages of the invasion of Sicily. How he beat the crowds of other writers, we may never know.