Tuesday, January 30, 2024

Links to Resources: A Focus on Sicily and Italy, 1943 (3)

 The Canadian War Museum, Ottawa Canada

A Multitude of News Articles, e.g. Operation HUSKY

Getting started, tracking down news re "landing craft Sicily"

Introduction:

I don't think I'll be finished mining for more materials for quite some time, especially related to the Canadians in Combined Operations who served in the Mediterranean Theatre for three months during WWII (July 10 - early October). The assortment of resources is getting wider not thinner.

One resource I am just starting to acquaint myself with is the selection of news articles from a variety of newspapers (Canadian and American) as found at the Canadian War Museum in Ottawa. By entering the words "landing craft Sicily" in the search engine (upper left in above photo) I was introduced to 351 different links. The examples listed in just the first two pages (#1 - 40) will give me good reading for today and tomorrow, and even longer if (as per usual) an article or two or three provide links to other related actions, names and addresses of participants in a battle or landing craft, etc.

Below are a few of the articles I've already downloaded, along with a photo or two when opportunity presented itself. Like, right now!

The lovely city of Ottawa

The museum rests beside the Ottawa River, shows off a healthy grass roof
Photo as found at worldconstructionnetwork.com

The view atop the museum, looking toward Parliament Hill. GH

I typed in "landing craft Sicily," and several relevant news articles appeared. The first features Sub. Lt. Jack Dean of Toronto and provides details of his two years of service overseas. Though the name of the newspaper is not provided I believe it was published on February 28, 1944 about the time Dean would have been back in Britain preparing for D-Day Normandy:



More articles and books about the Dieppe Raid can be found here: Articles: Dieppe Raid 1942 - Rutter/Jubilee (1 - 9).

The article featuring Jack Dean continues:


More information concerning the story of Lt. R. J. McRae mentioned above can be found here: Passages: From 'Combined Operations'

Lt. McRae became a POW at Dieppe, 1942. Above is
"the drawing of my experiences as a POW pianist."

'Table of Contents' of St. Nazaire to Singapore: Canadian Amphibious War
reveals entries provided by Robert McRae, Jack Dean and more, incl.
D. Harrison, my father. The book is online at the University of Alberta.
Highly recommended!

The article/interview featuring Jack Dean continues:


My father mentions crossing paths with Jack Dean during Operation TORCH, i.e., the invasion of North Africa, and my father's take on the episode can be found here.

Jack Dean continues:


.   .   .   .   .




Another news article about  "500 Men Take Part" can be found here.

"Careful Planning Ensures Success" continues":



A drawing showing British troops inside a Landing Craft, Assault (LCA) at
6.30am on D-Day, about an hour before they are due to land in Normandy.
Photo Credit - The D-Day Story


For more information concerning the Sicily and Italian Campaigns and associated news articles, please click here and make use of the "Search the Newspaper Archives" feature provided.

Please click here to view Links to Resources: A Focus on Sicily and Italy, 1943 (2)

Unattributed Photos GH

No comments: