Articles: Italy, September 24-27, 1943 - Pt 9.

Canadian Troops Push North; Navy Boys Sight See.

Jack Trevor* (RCNVR, Combined Operations). In Sicily and Italy, 1943.

Photo Credit - From the collection of Joe Spencer, Brighton ONT.

Introduction:

Canadians in Combined Operations lived where possible in Messina, Sicily and delivered troops and their supplies (the materials of war) to the toe of Italy's boot for about 30 days in September and early October in 1943.

On days off they water-skied, did a bit of sight-seeing, purchased or acquired the odd souvenir and scrounged for food and clothing as best they could.

(*Jack Trevor, above photo) certainly appears to require meat on his bones and fresh clothes. Canadians in Combined Ops transported war supplies but were short on most goods for their own day-to-day needs).

As already mentioned, about one week after the initial landings in Italy (Sept. 3, 1943 - Operation Baytown) another Allied landing took place at Salerno (Operation Avalanche), farther north along the Italian coast. It was fiercely opposed by German forces. Success was eventually achieved in establishing a solid beachhead but only after great cost to Allied forces.

As many readers already know, the war in Italy, e.g., even to reach and gain control of Rome, went on for many more months, well into 1944. To my knowledge, Canadians in Combined Ops (members of the 80th Flotilla of Landing Crafts) left the scene in Messina during the first week of October 1943 and returned to England, but not one second before their important role was finished.

Some details concerning the second landings have already been provided in earlier posts, and more information is listed below as found in articles presented in The Winnipeg Tribune and other sources.

As well, along with actual veterans' stories and memoirs from that front, several other news clippings and ads are displayed from The Tribune that provide "a sense of the times" in 1943.

*   *   *   *   *

My father, a member of RCNVR and Combined Operations, was surely reminded of home between shifts on Landing Crafts, Mechanised (LCMs), when - somewhere near his Messina accommodations - he spotted some chickens. With the thought of chicken on the menu he recalls this tale from 1943:

We weren’t too busy and the officers (who ate separately but had the same food as us) were growing tired of the diet, the same as we were, even though they had a Sicilian cook and we didn’t. An officer by the name of Wedd asked me if I knew where there were some chickens or something. I said, “Chickens, yes.”

When he said, “How be we put on some sneakers and gaffle them,” I said right then, “Okay by me. Tonight at dark we’ll go, but I get a portion for my part of the deal.”

He agreed and later we got every chicken in the coop, rung their necks, and then took them to the house and had the Sicilian cook prepare them. I got a couple of drum sticks out the window.

Next morning, the Sicilian cook came in as mad as hell. Someone had stolen his chickens. Little did he know at the time he cooked them that they were his own because his wife looked after them. (Page 36, "DAD, WELL DONE")

Dad at home in Norwich. He loved his chickens. Circa 1990.

Al 'Addy' Adlington of London, Ontario (RCNVR, Combined Operations) met and married a lovely Scottish bride while overseas. Al was injured during Operation Husky (invasion of Sicily). Mary travelled to Canada aboard the Ile de France.

Chuck Rose (left) with Al and Mary Adlington (w Mary's sister), Glasgow.

Photo from the collection of the Adlingtons, London Ontario.

The photo below is significant in that Canadian troops are being transported by members of the Canadian Navy.

One reads about the process of rationing by citizens on many fronts, so that Allied troops could be as fully supplied as possible:

On days off the Canadians in Combined Ops only travelled short distances compared to the above adventure. For example, the trip from Messina in Sicily to Reggio in Italy is about 7 miles.

Doug Harrison recalls the following in memoirs:

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 depot (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. (Page 36, "DAD, WELL DONE")

Another member of Combined Ops recalls a similar if not the same incident re the guns:

Three of us decided to do a little sightseeing when the other crew were on duty on our craft. We visited Reggia 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 ladies gun that I later sold to an American sailor in Gibraltar. (Page 33, My Naval Chronicle by Lloyd Evans)

FYI - Lloyd's memoirs appear at a Combined Operations website created and maintained by a hale, hearty and tireless Scotsman, Geoff Slee. I say readers should visit the site regularly to be truly informed about the extend of operations associated with Comb. Ops.

Please link to Combined Operations Command.

Charles Sellick and Jim Ivison, two other Canadian in Combined Ops, bear proof in the next photo that they may have done a bit of travelling in Italy to collect a souvenir or two... or six, as in six-shooters:

Charley Sellick (left) and Jim Ivison, Sicily 1943

From the collection of Joe Spencer.

Jim Ivison soon left the Mediterranean theatre of war with other members of the 80th Flotilla and, after arriving back in Canada in December, re-volunteered for service with Combined Operations and was sent to Givenchy III (Comb. Ops training camp at Comox on Vancouver Island, B.C.) with several other sailors, including my father in January 1944.

Jim had a talent for baseball and played on the No. 1 Navy team at Comox and appears in the following photographs:

Jim sits on fender (front right). My father sits behind him (far right).

Photo from the collection of Doug Harrison.

Jim sits back left. Joe Spencer, front right.

A few hundred members of Combined Operations were not too far behind the veterans mentioned above, as far as returning to Canada was concerned.

More Combined Ops. veterans' tales and clippings from The Winnipeg Tribune will follow.

Please link to Articles: Italy, September 22-23, 1943 - Pt 8.

Unattributed Photos GH

The Comeback: Photos From Along The Way.

Is it Early Spring, Late Fall? Sunday?

[Photo: Walking north 'tween Blackfriars and Oxford. Bridge* has been stolen.]

Just kidding.

(*Blackfriars Bridge has been removed for polishing).

As I walked north yesterday toward Gibbons Park and Baldwin Flats I noticed that paths were lined with browned leaves, fallen branches and inklings of snow and ice. A stranger to our region and fickle seasons would rightfully be confused about the time of year.

"Is it late fall, early winter, possibly spring?"

And if the stranger was several-years-retired there could be other questions.

"Is it Tuesday or Sunday? Is there a decent pub on Oxford Street**?"

Photos from along the way:

 I can almost do 700 pushups in a row.... er, two months : )

 Yesterday. Or October 28th. Maybe Dec. 6th.

 January, no doubt!

 Two weeks ago in Port Bruce.

**Not to my knowledge.

Please link to Hold Steady 15.

Photos GH

Photographs: Training on Landing Crafts (10).

Various Crafts and Camps: Isle of Wight to Irvine.

Don Westbrook (of Hamilton, Ontario) out front of a Bell Tent at Camp

Auchengate, near Irvine, 1942. Photo - St. Nazaire to Singapore, Pg. 44 

Introduction:

The number of servicemen who received training on landing craft at Combined Operation Centres and the types of landing craft used grew rapidly as WW2 continued.

Thousands of men (hundreds from Canada) would well remember significant practise operations at various locations on U.K.'s coast. 

Canadians in Combined Operations have fortunately written a few stories about their adventures related to training before several real operations took place. In my father's stories I learn that his early training in 1942 took place first at HMS Northney near Portsmouth (southern England) before moving to north-west Scotland (HMS Quebec at Inveraray, then to Camp Auchengate south of Irvine) prior to the Dieppe raid and invasion of North Africa.

Canadians also trained on larger landing craft [LCI(L)s] near the Isle of Wight in 1944 in preparation for D-Day Normandy.

To read two entries that touch on training prior to Operation Neptune, and the event itself, please visit the following links:

Story: Normandy - Operation NEPTUNE Part 1

Story: Normandy - Operation NEPTUNE Part 2

[Editor's note: The online links to the University of Alberta (Edmonton), home of the texts St. Nazaire to Singapore (two volumes of Canadian veterans' stories re Combined Operations - mentioned in the above links) has been lost.]

Several photographs follow concerning landing crafts and training operations. A few related stories recalled by Canadian veterans in Combined Operations are also provided.

For more information about Landing Crafts and training exercises, please visit Search Our Collections at Imperial War Museum (IWM).

A23755. Landing Craft Mechanized (LCM's) in line ahead followed by two

Landing Craft Gun (Large) LCG(L). Photo Credit - Lt. E.E. Allen, IWM.

A23759. Quarter Bow view of a Landing Craft Flak (LCF), underway during

an invasion rehearsal off the Isle of Wight. Lt. E.E. Allen, RN Photographer.

A23760. Landing Craft Rockets (LCR). Lt. E.E. Allen, RN Photographer,

Imperial War Museum, U.K..

A23762. Landing Barge Vehicles (LBV's). Lt. E.E. Allen, IWM

A23763. Various types of Landing Craft alongside in Southampton Docks before

or after an invasion rehearsal off the Isle of Wight. Lt. E.E. Allen, IWMuseum.

The following three photos are used with the permission of Lloyd Evans, RCNVR and Combined Operations (1941 - 45):

 Landing Craft alongside in southern England docks, circa 1942.

Canadians Don Linder (left), Doug Harrison (centre, peeking out),

Don Westbrook (far right)

  Landing Craft alongside in southern England docks, circa 1942.

A23764. Various types of Landing Craft alongside in Southampton Docks. 

Lt. E.E. Allen, RN Official Photographer, IWM.

A23766. Mess deck scene on board a Landing Craft Gun (Large) (LCG(L)).

Spare guns crew while away time playing cards, reading and resting.

Lt. E.E. Allen, IWM.

A23771. Passing 4.7 inch projectiles through the hatch of a Landing Craft

Gun (Large) (LCG(L)) during an invasion rehearsal off the Isle of Wight.

Note the crew wearing anti-flash clothing. Lt. E.E. Allen, IWM.

Related to the above projectiles, my father recalls the following story while aboard the Dutch liner Volendam on his way to Scotland from Canada in January 1942, prior to any training aboard landing craft:

Late at night I was on watch at our stern and saw a red plume of an explosion on our starboard quarter. In the morning the four-stacker was not to be seen. The next evening I heard cries for help, presumably from a life-raft or life-boat. Although I informed the officer of the watch, we were unable to stop and place ourselves in jeopardy as we only had the Firedrake with ASDIC (sonar) to get us through safely.

Navy mates Doug Harrison and Buryl McIntyre

stand outside Wellington Barracks, Halifax, 1941

After some days we spotted a light on our port stern quarter one night. It was the light of the conning tower of a German submarine. How she failed to detect us, or the Firedrake detect it, I will never know. I was gun layer and nearly fell off the gun (4.7 gauge). I informed the Bridge and the Captain said, “Don’t shoot. Don’t shoot. It could be one of ours.” But as it quickly submerged we did fire one round to buck up our courage. Navy memoirs, Page 8

A28990. Landing craft in the harbour at APPLEDORE.

Lt. J.E. Russell, RN photographer, IWM.

Heading with above photograph: HMS Appledore, Combined Operations Training Base. June 1, 1945. North Devon. Headquarters for the Landing Craft Obstruction Clearance Unit (LCOCU) to which the Navy Frogmen belong.

A29872. The parade ground at HMS DUNDONALD, Troon.

Lt. E.A. Zimmerman, RN Photographer, IWM.

HMS Dundonald was located adjacent to the ocean 2 - 3 miles south of Irvine, Scotland. Navy boys were accommodated at Camp Auchengate farther south down the road or beach from Irvine, and north of Troon. I believe many ratings stayed in Bell Tents and officers stayed in Quonset huts.

Coxswain Joe Spencer (Toronto, Canada) at Irvine. 

Photo - St. Nazaire to Singapore, Pg. 44 

Map displays the RAF and navy camps, landing strips, bogs, etc.

As found at Combined Operations Command by Geoff Slee

A29875. General view of the beach at HMS DUNDONALD, Troon, where many

Tank Landing Craft tests were carried out. German prisoners are working in the

foreground. Lt. E.A. Zimmerman, Admiralty Official Collection, IWM.

The next three photographs were taken by Editor while in Irvine, 2014. Looking north from Irvine's beach toward Troon.

Doug Harrison, RCNVR and Combined Operations 1941-45, recalls staying at Camp Auchengate and carrying out significant training exercises there on landing crafts.

We were stationed at Auchengate camp outside Irvine at the time in bell tents and all washing facilities were outside. We never went ashore the regular way under inspection of an officer. O/D Art Bradfield, who was confined to barracks, inspected us, lifted the fence and said, “Be back on time you guys.” And we always were. Navy memoirs, Page 17

Len Birkenes returning On Board at Irvine through a makeshift gangway.

Photo - St. Nazaire to Singapore, Pg. 44 

Art Bradfield of Simcoe may have been confined to barracks as a result of an earlier incident in Inveraray. Doug Harrison writes:

Boy, but was it dark up there amongst the heather and the hills (in Inveraray).

As well, gambling in any form was not allowed in the navy for fear the losers might steal, but a friendly game of craps with pennies was going on one night when rounds were being made. O/S Bradfield of Simcoe, the winner, couldn’t sweep the pennies under his hat fast enough and was caught and severely punished. Navy memoirs, Page 12.

A29877. Seamanship class in progress at HMS DUNDONALD, Troon, with

(right background) REME units learning wire splicing from a naval instructor.

Lt. E.A. Zimmerman, RN Photographer, IWM.

A29880. The quarterdeck and main avenue at HMS DUNDONALD, Troon.

Lt. E.A. Zimmerman, IWM.

More photographs from Irvine and Inveraray, etc., will follow.

Please link to Photographs: Training on Landing Crafts (9).