Canadians in Combined Operations Move into 'The Savoy'
"Tremendous Bonfire in the East... HMHS Talamba was Gone"
HMHS Talamba (His Majesty's Hospital Ship) Sailing into harbour.
Location not known. © Imperial War Museum (IWM) E 240348
In looking for online photographs of HMHS Talamba I discovered a bit of controversy surrounding the number of hospital staff and wounded soldiers that were killed during the bombing of the ship when it was stationed off the east coast of Sicily on July 10th (or was it the 11th!?) near HOW and GEORGE sectors (or beaches) served by the Canadian 80th and 81st Flotillas of Landing Craft.
My father, Doug Harrison (RCNVR/Combined Operations) was among those sailors onshore the night it was hit by German bombers and he mentions a few details in the video that follows.
Wikipedia shares the following - During the amphibious invasion of Sicily, she was attacked twice by the Italian Regia Aeronautica and German Luftwaffe. A bomb fell into her engine room which caused an explosion that killed 5 of her crew but all 400 wounded were evacuated to safety. HMHS Talamba, sank off Syracuse on 10 July 1943.[2] Link - Wikipedia
That only 5 of her crew were killed is not supported by more than a few sources.
An article "written by Stan Fernando, a Junior Engineer from Sri Lanka (Ceylon as known then), who was serving on S.S. Talamba at the time when disaster struck" reveals that many more than 5 lost their lives and goes on to suggest why such a low number was given. Readers may find the comment thread under Stan Fernando's story interesting and informative as well.
The maps below provide details about the location of HMHS Talamba at the time of its arrival on July 10, 1943:
The above modern day map is modern day features the town of Fontane Bianche (upper right) approx. 5 - 6 km. south of Syracusa. The one kilometre long beach ('C' shaped) was designated as George Beach during Operation Husky and the Canadian 80th Flotilla of Landing Crafts (LCMs - landing craft, mechanised) transported all materials of war to three designated areas (Red, Amber, Green) on GEORGE. My father made a cave near the kilometer-long beach his home for 2 - 3 weeks, 80 years ago. He referred to it as "The Savoy."
Please note the city of Gallina in the lower left section of the above map. It was one of the three designated areas of HOW Sector (or beaches) to which the 81st Flotilla of Landing Crafts transported goods beginning July 10. More details below.
Map found in WWII Canadian veteran's story re the invasion of Sicily.
(Email Gord H. for a link to St. Nazaire to Singapore, Volume 1)
The Red and Amber sections of HOW Sector is where Gallina is today.
(The cities of Noto and Avola are misplaced, and are 5 - 6 km south).
My father made a short reference to the hospital ship in his story:
One night we saw what appeared to be a tremendous bonfire in the east, offshore a long way out. In the morning, the Alatambra was gone, nursing sisters, doctors, wounded and all. Seven hundred and ninety were killed or drowned. The Germans had either bombed or torpedoed her that night. So goes war. Page 33, "Dad, Well Done"
Admittedly, I have no idea where my father came up with the figure, "seven hundred and ninety were killed or drowned." There would have been lots of talk amongst the crews of the 80th and 81st Flotillas, because they were doing the transport of the 'sets of survivors', but unless somebody was keeping a list and checking it twice...
That being said, a higher number than five casualties is certainly suggested in a file of Lt. Cmdr J. E. Koyl (RCNVR/Combined Ops:
It was with great relief that the troopers who had landed the assault forces were sailed away. There was still a tempting assemblage of shipping off the beaches, perhaps fifty vessels, and the stores they carried were vital to the operation of the 8th Army now advancing towards Syracuse.
The exact scene Koyl describes above may be depicted in the photo below:
Liners right inshore, 4 miles south of Syracuse unloading troopsand landing craft. Photo - Roper, F G (Lt) © IWM A 18090
Koyl continues:
At 1530 the first serious air raid took place but a number of dive bombers and medium bombers achieved no success with attacks which were directed mainly against transports.
From then on the blitz continued throughout the night and at frequent intervals during the next 48 hours. Although the bombing attacks were so numerous, there were never many aircraft in any one attack - about thirty aircraft, mostly German, in the heaviest raids on "HOW" sector - and the raids were surprisingly unsuccessful. Not until the evening of the 11th was any ship sunk or severely damaged. Then, in a dusk attack, dive bombers selected a hospital ship lying lit up some distance to seaward of its transport anchorage and sunk her in twenty minutes. According to a record kept by a stoker of the 81st Flotilla, there were twenty-three raids on "HOW" and "GEORGE" sectors in the first three days.
The hospital ship sunk at dusk on the 11th was the "TALAMBA", to which Lieut. "Koyl" had taken casualties from the LST. It was a grim business for him and his Flotilla to search the wreckage for survivors during the night. Sub Lt. Barclay of the 80th took a prominent part in this work and describes the great difficulties of transferring wounded men from an LCM to the cruiser, H.M.S. "UGANDA", in the heavy swell that was running. Stretchers were improvised and the "UGANDA'S" aircraft derrick used for hoisting them inboard. Although a large number of the wounded were saved, most of the medical and nursing staff went down with their ship - a tribute to their heroism and devotion to duty.
Page 177 - 178, Combined Operations by Londoner Clayton Marks RCNVR/Comb.Ops
From then on the blitz continued throughout the night and at frequent intervals during the next 48 hours. Although the bombing attacks were so numerous, there were never many aircraft in any one attack - about thirty aircraft, mostly German, in the heaviest raids on "HOW" sector - and the raids were surprisingly unsuccessful. Not until the evening of the 11th was any ship sunk or severely damaged. Then, in a dusk attack, dive bombers selected a hospital ship lying lit up some distance to seaward of its transport anchorage and sunk her in twenty minutes. According to a record kept by a stoker of the 81st Flotilla, there were twenty-three raids on "HOW" and "GEORGE" sectors in the first three days.
The hospital ship sunk at dusk on the 11th was the "TALAMBA", to which Lieut. "Koyl" had taken casualties from the LST. It was a grim business for him and his Flotilla to search the wreckage for survivors during the night. Sub Lt. Barclay of the 80th took a prominent part in this work and describes the great difficulties of transferring wounded men from an LCM to the cruiser, H.M.S. "UGANDA", in the heavy swell that was running. Stretchers were improvised and the "UGANDA'S" aircraft derrick used for hoisting them inboard. Although a large number of the wounded were saved, most of the medical and nursing staff went down with their ship - a tribute to their heroism and devotion to duty.
Page 177 - 178, Combined Operations by Londoner Clayton Marks RCNVR/Comb.Ops
From the same book re the role of Canadians in Combined Operations, we read the following from a LCM Flotilla Engineer Officer, including casualty reports re Talamba:
In the twenty-eight days we spent there (Sicily) I only saw three ships sunk. This figure excludes a hospital ship which was deliberately lit up by flares and dive-bombed until it sunk with considerable loss of life.
It was in the second air attack on 'D' day (D-day Sicily, July 10, 1943) that our Flotilla Officer Jake Koyl and his crew narrowly escaped annihilation. Jake had just beached his boat and was engaged in off-loading the vehicle it carried when a dive-bomber attacked the beach. An LCT was unloading a few yards to port and an LST only a few yards to starboard. The bombs dropped so close to Jake's LCM that the blast carried right over their heads, but completely wiped the bridge of the LST and killed the entire personnel on the LCT, with the exception of one Officer, who was very badly shrapnelled and burned.
In a shorter time than it takes to tell, Jake and his boys had their craft off the beach and rushed to pick up injured from the two unfortunate large craft. This occupied them for the remainder of the afternoon and it was to the hospital ship I have already referred to that the wounded were taken.
That night she (i.e., Talamba) was sunk and the next morning Jake had the gruesome business of taking what few survivors that were still alive from the two instances (i.e., the sinking of the two troop ships and the later sinking of the Talamba) to another hospital ship. My one and only hope is the crews of the enemy planes that sank the hospital ship stink in the hubs of hell forever and ever! Or should I rather bring my curses onto the heads of those who are responsible for the training of human robots to do such damn brutal and down right cowardly deeds! But all the cursing (it will likely be censored) in the world won't bring back those lads who were twice battered in battle, nor the Sisters, nurses and doctors who lost their lives from such treachery.
Page 95, Combined Operations by Londoner Clayton Marks RCNVR/Comb.Ops
My trip to Sicily approaches but there will be a few more items to follow before readers are bombarded with a few 100 photos of GEORGE Beach, near which the sinking of HMHS Talamba took place 80 years ago.
Please click here to view Story Time: The Invasion of Sicily and Italy, 1943 (1)
Please click here to view Story Time: The Invasion of Sicily and Italy, 1943 (1)
Unattributed Photos GH
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