The Montreal Gazette, August. 7, 1943: Stories by Two of 'The Best'
HMHS Talamba* Bombed: My Father Saw it Happen in July 1943**
HMHS Talamba: 10/07/1943 - Bombed & sunk off Syracuse during the landings
in Sicily. Attacked even though fully illuminated and showing red cross markings.
Photo Credit - TyneBuiltShips
*HMHS (His Majesty's Hospital Ship) Talamba
**Canadians serving in Combined Operations, my father Doug Harrison included, record accounts in their memoirs. Please click here to read accounts from men who were there - Story re Combined Ops, "Revenge for HMHS Talamba"
Introduction:
The battle in and for Sicily is near its end. "Allies Push Ahead to Block Nazi Escape from Sicily" declares the headline below from The (Montreal) Gazette. Will Monty or Patton get to the Messina area in time to cut off the German Army as it flees its former territory?
The answer you may already know, of course, since about 83 years of human history have unfolded - and thousands and thousands of stories about WWII have been written - since Operation HUSKY came to an end. And eventually, I will come upon and share what The Gazette has in store for us here.
News clippings from August 7, 1943 follow (questions and comments can be addressed to Gord H. at gordh7700@gmail.com):
Photo Credit: World War II, Operation Husky, 1943
("the battle for Sicily was
nearing its climax" GH)
Please click here to view a video (4min:32sec) re Operation Husky
Messina is a city, a strait, and a region, as well as a back door through
which German troops can escape to fight again on the Italian peninsula
Lionel Shapiro is becoming one of the busiest Canadian war correspondents:
Rebuilding: A photo of an unknown street in Germany shows what was once
shopfronts, but by then just used as storage of the rocks that have been
cleared off the road. Photo Credit - The Daily Mail, UK
Devastation: Two women are walking through the rubble of what was once
their home town in Germany in 1946. Photo Credit - The Daily Mail, UK
The use of saturation or area bombing of German cities by the British RAF was very controversial at the time. Click here to read more about Commander in Chief of Bomber Command ("Bomber Harris").
Follow the money!!
Want a bit of comedy? Recognize this pair of famous movie stars?
Okay, okay, yes, there was profanity in George Beurling's book about his "experiences in the R.A.F." but let's get a-hold of ourselves, shall we?
Here is the story re Beurling's book (that raised all the ruckus!) from the Wednesday morning issue (Aug. 4, 1943) mentioned above:
Please click here to read more stories from the August 4, 1943 issue
of The (Montreal) Gazette. Three Months in the Med (26)
You mean we're not talking about the musical group that I was so keen on back in the 1960s??
Canadians in Combined Operations who were stationed at HMCS Givenchy III (situated on The Spit at Comox, Vancouver Island, B.C. after their two years of service overseas re Dieppe (Operation JUBILEE), North Africa (TORCH), Sicily (HUSKY), and Italy (BAYTOWN) came to an end) had some contact with Zombies, "our famous stay at home army".
For example, in my father's Navy memoirs, written in the mid-1970s, he writes:
"Then I went to Givenchy III, known as Coward's Cove, at Comox on Vancouver Island. It was absolute heaven there. Just regular routine; I trained a few zombies on cutters, and played ball five or six times a week under a good coach." (No other mention was given by him re Zombies). "Dad, Well Done" Page 40
However, the Zombies were occasional featured in stories found in local newspapers published in Comox and nearby Courtenay. Two articles appear below from The Comox Argus, dated January, 1944:
Questions and comments? Connect via gordh7700@gmail.com
Help Wanted! I like a good clear photo as much as the next person but it seems The Gazette photos are very dark when converted to microfilm. If you can find clearer photos please contact me. See above email address. GH
Information about another Canadian artist with a link to Sicily and Italy can be found here.
Timely! Plate 28: The Hitler Line (Oil, 40" x 48"). Charles F. Comfort
The Canadian Army in Sicily, Mount Etna in background?
I think I nailed it with the painting above. Now on to a timely article below:
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More art work to grab our attention:
Whether he took courses or not, or special training, one Canadian in Combined Operations gets a special nod from my father in his memoirs after mentioning a close call he endured on his way to Cowe, Isle of Wight just prior to the Dieppe raid:
"We arrived at Cowe the next day with everyone happy to be alive and still shaking... Incidentally, two German 88s were shot down. Norm Mitchinson of Niagara Falls was credited with two planes shot down during the course of the war; one at Dieppe and one at Sicily. Both were low flying bombers. His weapon was a strip Lewis 303." "Dad, Well Done" page 20
Photo below of about half of the Effingham Division (approx. Dec. 1942, HMCS Stadacona), belonging in part to Norm Mitchinson:
other duties at the time of the photo taken out front of the Wellington
(aka Nelson) Barracks. GH
The Not-so-Great Escape!
Operation HUSKY featured the largest armada in history up to its time, July 10, 1943. It included the HMHS Talamba, "deliberately bombed with considerable loss of life":
More research needed, but I have found CAFU (Canadian Army Film Unit)
photos of athletic events with few captions! Photo 23607, by Photogr. Smith,
Album 62, Canadians in Sicily, 26 Aug. 1943
It doesn't always happen here but here are a few words (not about Canadians in Combined Operations!) about the RCAF and an aircraft flying out of Malton Airport... mainly because I'm old enough to remember Malton Airport!
Photo Credits - The Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum
USS Pennsylvania as found at American Battleships
And in closing... gotta hand it to the bootleggers for finding a loophole in the fine print!
It wasn't exactly a loophole (more like quick thinking, or when the opportunity knocks, be first to answer) but my father may have won the "Who Can Find the Cheapest Rum and Beat the Bootleggers Contest?" while in Sicily!
Again, from his Navy memoirs:
"One day when we were unloading a ship's cargo into our landing craft in Sicily, several large wooden crates of navy rum came over the side to my craft. Stencilled on each crate were the following words - "Consigned to the Officers' Mess."
Question: Did the rum reach the Officers' Mess?
P.S. I certainly did not help drink the Officers' rum and I never will again. "Dad, Well Done" page 70.
My father went on to mention that in a short time he had more new friends than he could handle and after finding a lovely, private beach not too far away (north of GEORGE Beach by about 3 miles in my opinion) his rum and new pals "had soon parted."
My father went on to mention that in a short time he had more new friends than he could handle and after finding a lovely, private beach not too far away (north of GEORGE Beach by about 3 miles in my opinion) his rum and new pals "had soon parted."
Souvenir 'Navy Rum' bottles likely buried in the sand : ) Photo GH
More news clippings from the Montreal Gazette (found on microfiche at the University of Western Ontario, London) will soon follow.Please click here to view August 6 issue, 1943: the news - and related research items - from the previous issue of the Gazette.
Unattributed Photos GH
