Links to Resources: A Focus on Sicily and Italy, 1943 (1)

The 80th Anniversary of Operations HUSKY and BAYTOWN, 1943

Ten Links Provide Context, News of the Day, Memorable Memoirs...

This is very likely GEORGE or HOW Beach, where Canadians in Combined

Operations transported 'the material of war' for 4 weeks, July - Aug., 1943

Photo from They Left the Back Door Open by Lionel S.B. Shapiro, 1944

Introduction:

In my recent entries I have drawn attention to books, stories, news clippings, maps and more related to the Allied invasions of Sicily and Italy in 1943, 80 years ago this summer. With a trip already planned to visit GEORGE Beach (now modern day Fontane Bianche, a few miles south of Syracusa), where the 80th Flotilla of Canadian Landing Craft - including my father Doug Harrison (Sept. 1920 - Feb. 2003) -  transported all materials of war during the month of July and early August, my mind has been on little else. 

Below I have listed a few items that will shine the light on three months in the Mediterranean, as experienced by members of RCNVR/Combined Operations aboard landing craft assault, landing craft mechanised and landing craft infantry (large), aka LCAs, LCMs and LCI(L)s.

Liners right inshore, 4 miles south of Syracuse unloading troops

and landing craft. Photo - Roper, F G (Lt) © IWM A 18090

1. A Blue Water Navy (Chapter 14, Combined Operations in European Waters May 1942 to the Eve of Neptune) by W.A.B. Douglas, R. Sarty, M. Whitby, with R. Caldwell, W. Johnston and W. Rawling.

Excerpt from beginning of text re Sicily, page 126:

2. Combined Operations by Clayton Marks (RCNVR/Combined Ops), from London, Ontario. 200-plus pages, Canadian WWII Combined Ops veterans' stories from initial training to Normandy, 1941 - 1945. Can be purchased by contacting GH at gordh7700@gmail.com

Click here to view Short Story re Invasions of Sicily and Italy, July 10, 1943 and September 3, 1943.

Map as found in Combined Operations, page 76

3. Two volumes of stories by Canadian WWII veterans of RCNVR and Combined Operations.

St. Nazaire to Singapore Volume 1 (re early training, Dieppe, North Africa, Sicily, Italy and more)

St. Nazaire to Singapore Volume 2 (re Normandy, individual reports and more)

Lengthy stories about Operation HUSKY (Sicily) begin in Volume 1, page 142.

The following excerpt is from the diary of Lt. (Engineer) Keith Beecher, RCNVR, a member of the 55th Flotilla of Landing Craft Assault (LCA):

As found on page 149, St. Nazaire to Singapore, Volume 1

Details re another Canadian Flotilla of LCAs (the 61st) can also be

found in St. Nazaire to Singapore, Volume 1, pages 156 - 157

The following excerpt is from the diary of AB (able bodied seaman) Billy Lindsay, RCNVR/Combined Operations, Victoria, B. C., a member of the 81st Flotilla of Landing Craft, Mechanised (LCM):

As found on page 186, St. Nazaire to Singapore, Volume 1

Details about the July 11 sinking of HMHS Talamba is found here 

4. The Navy memoirs of LS/Coxs'n Doug Harrison from "Dad, Well Done".

Please click here to read memoirs related to the invasion of Sicily and Italy.

Chapter SEVEN. Sicily

Chapter SEVEN. Italy

Canadians in RCNVR/ Combined Ops ready for Toronto train to Combined

Ops School at HMCS Givenchy III, Vancouver Island. January 1944. GH

L - R: D. Linder (Kitchener), Doug Harrison (Norwich), Joe Watson

(Simcoe), Buryl McIntyre (Norwich), Chuck Rose (Chippawa)

Below is an excerpt from Harrison's memoirs re Sicily not found in Chapter 7:

In late spring of 1943 about two hundred officers and ratings of Combined Operations (CO) left Britain from various ports to man LCMs in the invasion of Sicily on July 10th. Some of these men suffered terribly from dysentery while camped in the desert waiting for slower ships to arrive with their boats and many were still in a weakened condition when they hit the beaches south of Syracuse near a town named Avola and in the Pachino-Marzamemi Beaches further south. These Canadian sailors, with no change of clothing, subsisted on what they could scrounge for themselves for over a month at Sicily. Some slept on the beaches and on landing craft and one group found safety from bombs in an abandoned limestone cave near the beach. Very damp and lizardly, it was a welcome haven at night.

The men under a new commanding officer did yeoman work, although working long hours, under fed and pestered severely by Stukas and JU88s. The stokers kept the landing craft running, if not on two engines, then on one (no down time) and the Canadian Flotillas were highly praised by the British Admiralty and General Montgomery himself. Their monkey mascot went bomb crazy and was buried at sea in a sandbag. It was a sad occasion when it was chucked overboard for our safety. (Harrison is speaking of his own flotilla).

Late in the Sicilian campaign, because of poor conditions, some of these now-seasoned veterans came down with dysentery and were shipped off to Malta to recuperate. The favourite Navy cure for dysentery seemed to some to be a six or seven day starvation period; some of the boys certainly had nice looking rib cages while convalescing in Malta. All the flotillas soon appeared at Valetta, Malta with only a few days to make things shipshape for the Italian landing early in September. After a few weeks of ferrying supplies from near Messina to Reggio, they returned to Africa and again to England in October; some were well-laden with side arms picked up at AMGOT stores (Allied Military Government of Occupied Territory). This group returned to Canada, landing at Halifax on December 6, 1943 after two years of overseas service. Their destination - Givenchy III in January. "Dad, Well Done," pages 74 - 75

5. A detailed book about THE CANADIANS IN SICILY and ITALY 1943-1945 (Parts 1 - 3).

Canadians in Comb. Ops at HMS Saunders, on their way to Sicily, July 1943

Found in St. Nazaire to Singapore by D. Lewis., C. Lewis, L. Birkenes

6. Lionel Shapiro's book, They Left the Back Door Open, is one I highly recommend. Search AbeBooks.com to see if you can find one. One day in the future I will put several of his columns from The Montreal Gazette on this site, so stay tuned : ) But for now, enjoy several excerpts from the book.

Click here to view Passages from They Left the Back Door Open, Parts 1 - 3.

An L.C.I. (L) (L for Large) (left) and L.C.T. (C for Craft) (right) land off the beach

during Operation Husky, invasion of Sicily. Photo - Imperial War Museum (IWM)

7. Photographs: Invasion of Sicily. July 1943 (5 Parts). Operation Husky - Canadian Forces Pull Their Weight.

NA4186. Operation Husky: The Sicily Landings 9 - 10 July 1943: British

troops manhandle vehicles and equipment on the beaches as they are unloaded

from landing craft. Photo - Sergeant Frederick Wackett, Imperial War Museum

8. Articles by Canadian war correspondent Richard Sanburn.

Operazione "Baytown"; le truppe Alleate sbarcano a Reggio Calabria

[Operation Baytown; Allied troops disembark at Reggio Calabria, and

that might be Gord's Dad chatting it up with local men, centre ; )]

Photo Credit - Italian website

9. Articles from various newspapers and more, about Sicily, July - Aug. 1943 (18 Parts). Canada is Heavily Involved in Operation HUSKY. In the Air, on Land, and on the Sea.

Operation Husky: The Sicily Landings 9-10 July 1943: Landing craft (a Landing

Craft Mechanised - a Mark 3) going ashore in the early morning during the start

of the invasion of Sicily. Photo Credit - A17955. Lt. H.A. Mason,

RN Photographer, Imperial War Museum

10. Videos related to Operations HUSKY (invasion of Sicily, July 1943) and BAYTOWN (Italy, September 1943).

Operation HUSKY, Sicily, July 1943 (Part 1)

Operation HUSKY, Sicily, July 1943 (Part 2)

Operation HUSKY, Sicily, July 1943 (Part 3)

Operations Baytown and Avalanche, Sept. 1943 (Part 1)

Operations Baytown and Avalanche, Sept. 1943 (Part 2)

U.S. Landing Ship, Tanks (LST) with its own rhino (tough hided) ferry (or dock)

Photo Credit - @ histomil.com

Please go to the 'click on Headings' box in the right hand margin and click on the first entry, i.e., A - Z DIRECTORY. Start Here. Readers will find many more items re Sicily and Italy listed under various headings, e.g., Articles, Editor's Research, etc. 

Happy hunting, I say. Email GH @ gordh7700@gmail.com with questions, comments, etc. 

Please click here to view more links to more resources concerning Canadians in Combined Operations: Resources: YouTube, Films, Photographers, and More.

Unattributed Photos GH

Books: A Blue Water Navy, 1943 - 45 (1)

Very Good Book re Canadians in Combined Operations

It's Online, Downloadable - a Full Chapter of "Latest News"

"I could have bought this in hard cover a few years ago, but..."

Introduction:

When I first saw a hard cover copy at Attic Books in London, Ontario (a couple of years ago), I said to myself, "Ive already got a couple of good (used) books under my arm, so I'll get it another time." I regretted my decision a few times since, because, while reading or posting about the Dieppe Raid, I would recall a line about Canada's first casualty at approx. 0345hrs on August 19, 1942, in A Blue Water Navy and wanted the direct quote.

Well, now I have it, in an online, free, downloadable PDF version. [On the Government's home page, just click on "Continue to Publication." Then thank the Government of Canada, not me.] Published in 2007 in St. Catherines, Ontario, the book is of great length about the Canadian Navy - 665 pages - and is the second of two related texts. 

[Click here for a look at the first volume of the series: No Higher Purpose, (click on the line 'Electronic document') by the same group of authors, i.e., Douglas, Sarty, Whitby, Caldwell, Johnston, and Rawling.]

Besides being "free, (and easily) downloadable," I was delighted to find a full chapter about the Canadians in Combined Operations (including my father) who served in Europe for two years from 1942 - 1943, including 'three months in the Mediterranean' related to Operations Husky (Sicily) and Baytown (Italy), 80 years ago this summer. 

Dozens of recognizable names and references to seminal

Canadian books are a pleasure to see!! 

Chapter 14 begins on page 107 of the text (or 111 when scrolling the left-hand margin thumbprints) and it didn't take long for me to feel at home. Familiar history is mentioned alongside new material that will expand the knowledge of any reader familiar already with some information about the role of Canadians in RCNVR and Combined Operations. A few excerpts are provided below 'for interest's sake':

As found on 'inside book cover, front'

Photo as found on page 106; from the collection of Library

and Archives Canada (LAC), Ottawa

Above, page 107. Below, the first Canadian draft volunteered in December, 1941,

most from Effingham Division, HMCS Stadacona, Halifax, Nova Scotia. (They were

shipped to HMCS NIOBE, near Greenock, Scotland, then to their first Comb. Ops

training camp at HMS Northney, Hayling Island, southern coast of England

Effingham Division, 1941. From the collection of Doug Harrison (X), front row

Email GH at gordh7700@gmail.com for complete list of names, row by row

"Almost to the man" the Effingham Division volunteered for Combined Operations, knowing it was re "dangerous duties overseas, on small craft, but with 9 days leave thrown in," says my father. 

He adds the following re Northney in his Navy memoirs:

We spent little time at Niobe but entrained for Havant in southern England, to H.M.S. Northney 1, a barracks (formerly a summer resort) with a large building for eating and then cabins with four bedrooms. This was December, 1941 or January, 1942 and there was no heat at all in the brick cabins. The toilets all froze and split. But we made out. Our eating quarters were heated.

I had the misfortune to break the toe next to my big toe on my left foot. I went to sick bay and someone applied mercurochrome, told me to carry out my usual duties and sent me away. Running, guard duty, anything, I toughed it out and was told many months later by a Scottish doctor it had healed perfectly - and so it had.

Doug on guard duty outside a brick cabin at Northney, 

early 1942, with “a rifle with no ammunition”

We were issued brooms for guard duty in some cases at Northney, sometimes a rifle with no ammunition, and they were expecting a German invasion. Rounds were made every night outside by officers to see if we were alert and we would holler like Hell, “Who goes there? Advance and be recognized.” When you hollered loud enough you woke everyone in camp, so sentry duty was not so lonesome for a few minutes.

There was no training here (i.e., aboard landing crafts at Northney), so, as the navy goes, we went back to Niobe on March 21, 1942. I recall just now we were welcomed to Niobe by Lord Hee Haw (a turncoat) from Germany via the wireless radio. ("Dad, Well Done, pages 11 - 12)

Though he later trained aboard landing crafts at HMS Quebec (Inveraray, Scotland) with his mates for their first operation - the Dieppe raid - he was on leave the day his landing craft and oppos set sail for the french coast from Newhaven, destination unknown to the ratings. He lost his first mates that day, including Robert Cavanaugh, sitting almost directly behind him in the above photo re Effingham Division. [Cavanaugh is second row from front, 2nd from left].

An excerpt from A Blue Water Navy goes on to say:

Above, page 111. Though Dad missed the raid, he did not escape particular

consequences. He suffered from depression and 'survivor guilt' later in life

Above, page 111. Authors of A Blue Water Navy were able to locate

excellent resources, e.g.,  Combined Operations, a compilation of Navy

veterans' stories by Clayton Marks, of London, Ontario. 

Two sailors of the four mentioned (above) in Sub. Lt. Ramsay's letter, i.e., OS Owen, AB Spencer, AB Smart, Stoker Birkenes, can be spotted in the photo below, also taken at HMCS Stadacona, 1941.

Outside Wellington Barracks, aka Nelson's Barracks, 1941. Joe Spencer is 

in back row, first on left. Vern Smart is in middle row, 4th from the left.

Photo from collection of Doug Harrison, not in photo.

Email GH at gordh7700@gmail.com for more information

Another excerpt from A Blue Water Navy mentions the name of Canada's first casualties related to the Dieppe raid:

The creators of A Blue Water Navy did well to locate the two-volume set of Canadian WWII veterans' stories compiled by Sub. Lt. David Lewis, put together well after the war, after Lewis had been inspired to do so by reading Combined Operations by Londoner Clayton Marks. Many of Mr. Marks' entries are now entries on this website, with the permission of his surviving family members. (E.g., please link to an excellent 25-page account, broken into several sections, written by Al Kirby (RCNVR/Comb.Ops, Woodstock, Ontario) of his experiences re the Dieppe Raid).

Nicely, the authors of A Blue Water Navy give Kirby his due : )

David Lewis' two-volume set, with assists to Catherine (Kit) Lewis and Len Birkenes (RCNVR/ Combined Ops), is entitled St. Nazaire to Singapore, The Canadian Amphibious War 1941 - 1945 and can be found online courtesy of the University of Alberta. Please click on the links below:

St. Nazaire to Singapore Volume 1 (re early training, Dieppe, North Africa, Sicily, Italy and more) 

St. Nazaire to Singapore Volume 2 (re Normandy, individual reports and more)

Photo as found on page113, A Blue Water Navy, LAC Ottawa

Another early excerpt from A Blue Water Navy mentions (partially) the inevitable 'Butcher's Bill':

'Prisoners of War' are tallied as well, with significant mention of one of the most-gifted writers among them, Sub. Lt. Robert McRae. (Please see pages 115 - 116, A Blue Water Navy). His prose has been oft-shared on "1,000 Men, 1,000 Stories," along with a lovely pencil sketch of McRae at the piano, while POW:

Photo of the sketch, as found on page 64, St. Nazaire to Singapore Vol. 1

I was certainly delighted to catch wind of A Blue Water Navy with the help of my younger son who did a bit of research re Canadians in Combined Ops prior to out trip to Sicily, re the 80th anniversary of the invasions of Sicily and Italy. More about the book as it relates to 'three months in the Mediterranean' will soon follow.

I will certainly try to connect to one or more of the authors, and try to provide them with a copy of the latest edition of Combined Operations by Londoner C. Marks. And I'll point out that Clayton's last name is not 'Markers' (!) as it appears in footnotes and bibliography.

Photo as found in Combined Operations by LS C. Marks

Please click here to learn more about another book related to WWII, and/or Combined Operations (directly or indirectly) - Books: The Miracle of Dunkirk by Walter Lord

Unattributed Photos GH

Story Time: The Invasion of Sicily and Italy, 1943 (2)

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

Introduction:

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.

Please link to Story Time, WWII (2) as found on YouTube.

About the sinking of HMHS Talamba: 

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 a few sources in my possession, stories by Canadian WWII veterans of RCNVR and Combined Operations (British organization).

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 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 his home near the kilometer-long beach 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:

We had a hospital ship with us named the Alatambra (sic: Talamba) with many nurses and doctors aboard. She came in to about three miles in daytime and went out to seven miles and lighted up like a city at night. No one was to bomb a hospital ship and for days on end we took the wounded out to her, many being glider pilots with purple berets. Never a sound out of them, no matter how badly they were hurt. Mostly Scotch soldiers.

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 troops
and 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 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 (1)

Unattributed Photos GH