Operation HUSKY, The Sicily Landings and More, July 1943
Photo: NA4193 Operation Husky. Men of the Highland Division wade
ashore from landing craft during the landings in Sicily, 10 July 1943.
Photo Credit - Sergeant Frederick Wackett, No. 2 Army Film
and Photographic Unit, and Imperial War Museum (IWM)
Introduction:
A deep collection of WW2 newsreels can be found on many sites. A number of them can inform viewers of the role played by Canadians in Combined Operations during WW2, as they manned landing crafts and transported troops and materials of war to beaches in North Africa, Sicily, Italy and France.
One can link to several producers of newsreels by visiting the following: The Newsroom Blog.
One can also view (and purchase if desired) excellent short films and still photographs at the Imperial War Museum, U.K., by visiting the following link: Search Our Collections
Below are links to five newsreels related to Operation HUSKY found in the extensive Imperial War Museum (IWM) archives. Explanatory notes from IWM are included:
1. The 17th Infantry Brigade on its way to Sicily.
Link - IWM Film Collection
Notes - The 17th Infantry Brigade on its way to Sicily. 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. Credit - R.H. Morris, War Office Film Unit
2. Arrival of supplies in Sicily.
Link - IWM Film Collection
Notes - Arrival of supplies in Sicily. Tank Landing Craft unloading supplies at Syracuse, the harbour is full of shipping. Italian prisoners unloading petrol from a Tank Landing Craft. Prisoners loading petrol onto a lorry.
Credit - Sgt. Jordan, War Office Film Unit
3. Troops landing south of Syracuse for the invasion of Sicily.
Link - IWM Film Collection
Notes - Troops landing south of Syracuse for the invasion of Sicily. Troopships and motor transport ships at anchor with Assault Landing Craft passing, on "George" Beach. Men of the 2nd Battalion, Cameronians preparing to disembark from HMT Dunera. Men climbing down the ladder on the side of the ship into landing craft. Close up of men preparing to leave the deck and climb down the ladder. Men getting into a boat already half-filled with soldiers. The Assault Landing Craft moving off for the shore. View of the beach from an ALC. Men disembarking from ALCs and others already on the beach. View of the beach showing landing craft in the foreground and bigger transport in the background. Close up of men disembarking from ALCs panning to another beach scene. Italian prisoners removing their own barbed wire defences. Two Italian prisoners removing a stake, panning up to the crowd of shipping in the bay. A Priest gun and Bofor guns in the foreground and a large ship in the background at a Vehicle Assembly Park. Men of the 2nd Battalion Cameronians marching away from the beach. Men of the 13th Brigade, 2nd Inniskillings marching through the village of Cassibile. Close up of the men’s faces as they pass through in single file. Sherman tanks passing men who are marching up to the front, raising up dust. A group of 125 Italian prisoners being led in by men of the Cameronians in the early hours of 11 July when taking the small town of Floridia.
Credit - J.A. West, War Office Film Unit
4. Troops landing in Sicily and Italian prisoners.
Link - IWM Film Collection
Notes - Troops landing in Sicily and Italian prisoners. Landing craft approaching the beach at Marzamemi and discharging troops. A vehicle and Bren gun disembarking from a landing craft. A track coming ashore from a Landing Craft Tank (LCT) with a bulldozer in the background. The first Italian prisoners brought in by the Hampshire Regiment are lined up for interrogation. Close up of the prisoners. Military police searching the prisoners. Shipping lying out from the shore. A Landing Craft Assault. The LCA going ashore. A Landing Craft Infantry nosing onto the beach. Troops leaving the LCI down a sliding ladder. Italian prisoners being brought in. View of the beach, showing dumps of stores and the roadway system built by the Royal Engineers. A truck moving up the road towards the camera. An amphibious truck moves past the camera and proceeds down the road in a swell of dust. Sign reading Marzamemi. Troops on the road. Men form a chain then pass cans of oil from an LCT to the shore. Close up of stacked oil cans, panning up to men passing and stacking them. Chain of men with the LCT at the end. More Italian prisoners being brought in.
Credit - Reginald Ernest Day, War Office Film Unit
5. Men and equipment go ashore near Cape Passero.
Link - IWM Film Collection
Notes - Reel One. The beaches. LCTs lie in the shallows. Carriers tow 6-pounder AT and 3.7-inch pack howitzers up the beach. A jeep wades ashore. A carrier wades ashore - the shallows are rocky and the vehicle has a very uneven ride. Italian POWs go into a LCT to give assistance to British troops who are unloading ammunition. A sergeant frisks the Italian prisoners, some of whom carry a few personal belongings. LCA 625 lands troops who climb up the steep shore. More LCTs run ashore. CUs of Italians helping to bring stores ashore - some of the POWs smoke, one lighting up his cigarette from another held by a British soldier. An Italian receives first aid, his face being swabbed free of blood. Another group of prisoners is brought in. A Bren gun carrier moves inland, and British troops ride on a commandeered Fiat cargo truck. CUs of Italian wall slogans, CREDERE - OBBEDIRE - COMBATTERE E VINCEREMO and W IL RE - W IL DUCE. LCT disembarks Sherman tanks and a cut-down Matador tractor. HA sequence from onboard a LSI as heavily laden troops transfer into a LCA to go ashore - one carries a 2-inch mortar, another a canvas-wrapped Thompson SMG. MS from shore to a LCI(L) in the shallows, men disembarking down the starboard brow ramp. The troops wade ashore along a guide-line - in the background is LCT 397, a drowned vehicle near its lowered ramp. CU of a member of a RN beach party sitting on a dune signalling to sea with Aldis lamp. An LST runs inshore, bow doors open - in the foreground is a HDML. LSTs are grouped along the beach - offshore are a hospital ship and the auxiliary AA ship Ulster Queen with the usual LSIs, LSTs and LCTs. Sequence shot from a LST steaming in line ahead with others. CU of RN Commando radio operator in signals section of a beach party. LST 304 disembarks Bedford OY trucks.
Credit - Admiralty, Production Sponsor
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