Books re Combined Operations: The Far Distant Ships (2)

"The Newly Arriving Canadians..." Landed at Greenock, Scotland

"They entered upon their first training at H.M.S. Tormentor"

Original caption: "Chuck Rose, Grenock central station, Glasgow 1942"

Photo used with permission from Joe Spencer's family, Ontario

From Greenock to HMCS Niobe, then to Hayling Island

Doug Harrison, on guard for thee, "at Northney, east of Southampton" 1942

Introduction:

For me, the book entitled The Far Distant Ships by Joseph Schull is a fine Canadian Navy history book as well as a powerful flashlight. Related to the Royal Canadian Navy (RCN) and Royal Canadian Navy Volunteer Reserve (RCNVR) and their significant role during WWII, this book is a prime source of information published in 1950, five years after the war's end. Also, it shines a light on many important details and activities that involved approximately 1,000 members of the RCNVR who started volunteering for a British organization called Combined Operations beginning in December, 1941, including my father, a 21-year-old sailor from the wee village of Norwich, Ontario.

He signed up for duty in Hamilton (at Hamilton Division 1, later renamed HMCS Star) and later, in June of 1941 along with most members of the Effingham Division (out of HMCS Stadacona, Halifax NS) volunteered for Combined Operations.

They were the first draft or division of Canadian sailors to do so, and were soon shipped off to the UK for initial training about - and later aboard - landing crafts.

The Effingham Division at HMCS Stadacona, 1941. Property of

Doug Harrison (bottom 3rd left; died February 6, 2003, age 83)

and son Gord H. age 76 in London, Ontario, Canada

Joseph Schull writes:

From Chapter 7 "Operation Torch", page 145

That there were "some already in England" (see above) may be interpreted to mean 'very few' and even that is very hard to verify. There is a book of Canadian Navy veterans' stories entitled St. Nazaire to Singapore: The Canadian Amphibious War 1941 - 1945 (edited by David Lewis, Len Birkenes, Kit Lewis, mid-1990s) that shares some (3 pages) about the early entrants to Combined Operations and I found 4 verifiable names mentioned.

On page iii of the Forward of Volume 1 above I read the following:

     Another end (i.e., re collecting and sharing veterans' stories concerning Combined Operations, WWII) was to gain an historical perspective, a task which we tried to set ourselves but which was not or incompletely accomplished. We would like to have followed up all those of the ranks and ratings who left Canada for training in the RN, many to earn commissions. Could we have learned about the Canadians in the series of pin-prick raids of ''Winston's Murder Gangs" as they were termed by (renowned author) Evelyn Waugh who was for some while tolerated by the Commandos as one of their members? 

Several Canadians (meaning four up to that date), particularly John O'Rourke and perhaps others, were active in the dangerous but remarkably effective attack on Saint Nazaire which occurred in early 1942, an historical achievement in itself. These brave men are mentioned further on.

'Further on' must mean pages 37 - 39 in the books (Volumes 1 and 2) that David Lewis helped compile and publish. John O'Rourke and 3 others - Surgeon-Lieut. W. J. Winthrop of Saskatoon (posthumous Mention in Despatches), Lt. G. McN. Baker, RCNVR from Toronto (posthumous Mention in Despaptches), and Lt. D.L Davies of Montreal (casualty and Prisoner of War) - are mentioned in an account re the St. Nazaire raid and an excerpt from a volume of Salty Dips (4).

The first paragraph of the account follows:

Please click here to link to Volume 1 of St. Nazaire to Singapore Vol. 1

and go to pages 37 - 39.

St. Nazaire is listed on a stone memorial found on the original site of HMS Quebec (Combined Operations Number 1 Training Camp) just south of Inveraray, Scotland:

Photo by G. Harrison while visiting HMS Quebec, 2012, with Geoff Slee

and Jim Jepson and their wives during a trip overseas from Canada

(Questions or comments about the above can be sent to gordh7700@gmail.com)

Though there are precious few details about the four early, Canadian entrants to Combined Operations, information is readily available, however, from a few sources about "their first training at HMS Tormentor, the combined operations which was now established at Northney east of Southampton." From details I have collected the sailors called the base HMS Northney (I - IV), located south of Havant (aka Hants?) on Hayling Island.

HMS Tormentor (no. 31) and HMS Northney (I - IV) (no. 29) are seen in

separate locations on the map above. Map - found in Combined Operations

by Londoner Clayton Marks (See details about Clayton's text here)

Another map of the location of training camps can be found here, and Tormentor and Northney appear almost side by side.

By way of reading memoirs of two young Canadian sailors, members of the first and second drafts to Combined Operations, we can learn a wee bit about their first lessons re landing crafts:

Please click here to view some of the details that I have compiled about training on Hayling Island. And, please click here to view Arts of War: Drawings of Landing Crafts, and D-Day 1944 which depicts the first landing crafts Canadians saw - in drawings - at HMS Northney (I - V) in early 1942.

About Northney I my father writes the following in 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, is also again today) with a large building for eating and then cabins with four bedrooms. This was 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 at Northney 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 (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.

Thence to H.M.S. Quebec barracks in Ayrshire, Scotland on Loch Fyne. ("Dad, Well Done", pages 11 - 12)

About H.M.S. Northney another Canadian sailor writes:

After a few days at the Greenock base, we were posted to HMS Northney III on Hayling Island near Portsmouth on the south coast of England. The purpose was training and it was there that we discovered we had 'volunteered' to operate Landing Craft for future raids and landings under the auspices of Combined Operations. While there, Portsmouth and Southampton came under heavy bombing raids, courtesy of the Luftwaffe. What an unforgettable sight it was with ack ack fire arcing upwards and bombs dropping. Large piles of timber, located in uninhabited places around the cities, were set alight during bombing raids. This was to confuse German bombers into thinking that the fires were part of the cities marked by their Pathfinders and to have them release their bombs where they would do little or no damage.

Some nights I stood guard duty at the end of a long pier, as lookout for German raiding parties. In the lonely darkness of the night, this inexperienced 18 year old discovered the power of the imagination! It seemed that the end of the watch would never come.... I was gaining a sense of the terrible nature of modern warfare, as I realised in my imaginings how easily they could be turned into brutal and bloody reality.

At the end of the training period, around February or March 1942, we returned to HMCS Niobe for a few weeks until our next training base was ready for us. In peacetime the building was an old insane asylum and a hospital. While there, I worked in the pantry, so I was able to 'procure' the odd half-pound of butter for my friends in Renfrew. Glasgow was a popular hangout for the Canadian Navy. It was then a big dirty seaport but we always felt quite welcome. The Lacarno Dance Hall was a favourite haunt, where we were sure to find out what Canadian ships were in port. Surprisingly, the Lacarno was a 'dry' dance hall but one of the best for dancing, the main part of the floor being built on springs. The 'no alcohol' rule was enforced at the door too. A hostess, in a fancy tux, stood guard with a cane, which she used to tap pockets for concealed bottles. One night she tapped my jacket as usual and thought she had found a bottle. When she discovered it was a .45 Smith & Wesson, she immediately checked it for me until I left.

Lloyd Evans at home in Ottawa (before or after 1942?)

Atop their landing craft (in England?), Canadians in Combined Ops

Lloyd Evans (back row, 2nd from right), Doug Harrison (front right)

Lloyd auditions for the house band at Lacarno Dance Hall?

Photos from the Lloyd Evan's Collection, with permission

In April '42, we returned to the familiar surroundings of Hayling Island, only this time to HMS Northney I a few miles from the first base we'd used. This one had previously been a summer holiday camp of chalets with two bedrooms, a small sink in each room and no heating. In the winter months, there was usually an icicle hanging from the tap when we arose in the mornings! I used my navy mattress at night in an often vain attempt to keep warm. Meals were served in a large central dining room, which was a welcome relief from the cold. The RN types couldn’t imagine why we complained about the cold, since we came from the land of ice and snow - not appreciating that our Canadian homes were, out of absolute necessity, well insulated and properly heated.

Like the proverbial yo-yo, we returned to Scotland but this time to HMS Quebec situated on the shores of Loch Fyne near Inveraray. (My Naval Chronicle by Lloyd Evans, page 9, with a big assist from Geoff Slee, Scotland)

My father does not write about holding over as did Lloyd at HMCS Niobe, a Canadian land establishment (likely a transit depot) in Scotland, or the return trip to Northney for a second round of training. Later, when in Scotland, my father writes extensively about training aboard landing crafts in Irvine - and Lloyd does not. Where they assigned to different flotillas with a different schedule at times? I can only guess. Questions or comments are welcome here - gordh7700@gmail.com 

Schull writes that the small first draft of Canadian officers and ratings next went on to HMS Quebec for more advanced training "at Inveraray in Scotland." Many accounts have been written and many photographs have been taken to inform us about the Number 1 Training Camp for Combined Operations.

 

SS Ettrick, used for Combined Ops. training, at Inveraray, Scotland

Link to Geoff Slee's website about Combined Ops training there.

After his time at HMS Northney and HMS Tormentor (both on England's south coast) my father moved north to at least 5 camps related to Combined Operations in north-west Scotland. (He recalls time at HMS Quebec (near Inveraray), Camp Auchengate (near Irvine), Chamois (just south of HMS Quebec), Roseneath and another camp on Loch Long, possibly related to training with commandos.

He was moved about so often he had trouble with setting clear timelines for where he was and when. I do know that he  did not complain about the hard work related to the training he went through aboard landing crafts. 

He writes about leaving HMS Northney (south) to go north:

Thence to H.M.S. Quebec barracks in Ayrshire, Scotland on Loch Fyne. We were all in good shape and this was to be one of the more memorable camps, with our first actual work and introduction to landing barges. We trained on ALCs (assault landing crafts) which carried approximately 37 soldiers and a crew of four, i.e., Coxswain, two seamen and stoker. Some carried an officer.

Troops train on landing craft at Loch Fyne, south of Inveraray

Scotland, 1942. Photo credit - Imperial War Museum (IWM)

Boy, but was it dark up there amongst the heather and the hills. 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.

We did much running up on beaches so soldiers could disembark and re-embark, always watching the tide if it was flowing in or going out. You could be easily left high and dry, or broach too, if you weren’t constantly alert. We took long trips at night in close single formation, like ducks closed up close, because all you could see was the florescent waters churned up by propellors of an ALC or LCM (landing craft mechanized) ahead.

ALCs carried soldiers and LCMs carried soldiers or a truck, a Bren gun carrier, supplies, land mines, gasoline, etc. ALCs were made of 3/16th inch plating, thick enough to stop a .303. LCMs wouldn’t stop a bullet. ALCs sat three rows of soldiers including two outside rows under 3/16th inch cowling, but the center row was completely exposed.

We clambered up scrambling nets and Jacob’s ladders and became very proficient because we learned to just use our hands. We did this training on a liner called the Ettrick, which we will hear more about later on. Her free board was high, i.e., the distance between the water line and hand rails, and we got so it took about three seconds to drop 25 - 30 feet on scrambling nets. ("Dad, Well Done", pages 12 - 13)

Please click on the following links to read more details concerning Doug Harrison's training (and other activities, e.g., while on leave) connected to Inveraray, Irvine, etc.

 
Memoirs re Combined Operations "DAD, WELL DONE" Navy Memoirs (3)

Memoirs re Combined Operations "DAD, WELL DONE" Navy Memoirs (4)

Memoirs re Combined Operations: "DAD, WELL DONE" Navy Memoirs (6)

While on leave Doug Harrison would travel to 'Dragon' (his spelling) with the son of the Cricksmere family (see above links) for "last call." In my opinion, after checking with a friendly gent at my favourite pub in Irvine (when on my trip to Scotland in 2012) - about the Scottish pronunciation of the village near Irvine seen in the postcard below - my father did not travel to 'Dragon' at all!

"So, how do you pronounce the name of this village down the road?" I asked

"Drraaygun!" he says

More information and WWII Combined Ops History will follow from The Far Distant Ships by J. Schull, as time permits : )

Please click here to view Books re Combined Operations: The Far Distant Ships (1)

Unattributed Photos GH

Photographs: Allied Landings at GEORGE and HOW Beaches, Sicily, 1943 (1)

Turn Right for Ammunition and Petrol at GEORGE Beach!

RCNVR in Combined Ops are at HOW Beach Too, Close By!

Map of Avola region, from an Italian collection*, notes added in blue

ink after a COPP's survey**, then used by Allied forces in Sicily, 1943.

Photo Credit: From 'The Allied Landings in Sicily, WW2 Museum'

in Catania (on the east coast of Sicily) 

*British war planners agreed or offered to make maps for the invasion of Sicily. They had maps of Sicily already in their possession, perhaps from many years earlier than 1943. The age of the map is  not known but upon closer inspection, e.g., at the 'Allied Landings Museum' in Catania, the date may be found.

**COPPs - a Combined Operations Pilotage Party completed a survey of the area (for map building and to scope out the physical features re landing zones), using collapsable canoes transported by British submarine(s) to offshore Sicily in the dead of night a few weeks before the invasion took place. At the top of the map one can read (in blue ink) Defences Overprint dated 17.6.43 (i.e., June 17, 1943). 

More about COPP's surveys and other activities can be found at a website with the same name. Please check it out. It is little known, likely because it carried out secret - but not insignificant - activities using just a small number of men compared to, say, the British Army, Navy or Airforce... at night when most people were sleeping. 

(Reminds me of Canadians in Combined Operations, a small group of sailors, about 1% of all those in Canada who joined the Navy during WWII... even though they did most of their work in the daytime because it's very hard to know where to park a landing craft full of troops or the materials of war when it's dark out).

Questions or comments about this entry can be addressed to GH at gordh7700@gmail.com

Introduction:

In the area circled in yellow on the map above one will find GEORGE Beach, a designated landing area for British troops beginning on July 10, 1943 as part of Operation HUSKY. In blue ink one can read the following:

"Tracks inland from beach" (including arrows to certain spots)

"Low Cliff" and "Rocky Coast" (including lines to designate each area)

"Fairly soft sandy beach 1100 x 30. Water offshore suitable for L.C.A, L.C.S. etc. and ? L.C.T. No false beach, Exits good. Note: - There is a low cliff point at the north which divides the beach into two: 870 and 230 approx." (I assume that the measurements are in metres).

In Fontane Bianche "a low cliff point at the north... divides the beach

into two." I was unable to walk from right to left through the water with-

out losing or soaking my camera. The cliff is not used for jumping into

the water. Lovely beachside settings! Photo GH from atop "Low Cliff"

In the lighter original ink on the map the words Fontane Bianche are written near the beach, as well as 'grottazze' which means 'cattle caves'. My father, as a member of the 80th Canadian Flotilla of Landing Craft and about 60 other sailors/mates, found accommodation in the cattles caves after the troop ships (that they themselves had arrived in) were unloaded of all men and supplies and had departed. Two caves became their home for approximately 3 weeks in July, 1943.

Small squares with a dot inside show where pillboxes are located. The pill-

box with a 2, above the word 'grottazze' (left) (2 guns perhaps, one in each

direction, i.e., one toward the beach and one toward the road behind it)

still stands next to a gravel lane (shown as a dotted line on the map)

Behind this pillbox the gravel road continues uphill toward the grottazze,

the lovely beach area and the welcoming Mediterranean Sea. Photo GH

And a special note: On the map one can clearly see a road going from the beach to Cassibile! If the truck below turned to its right in about 10 metres it could make a delivery to Cassibile in minutes!

'Road to Cassibile near the beachhead', Sicily, July 1943

Photo Credit: Major Wilfred Herbert James Sale

About the photo: A signpost directs Allied troops to an ammunition and fuel depot near 'George Beach'. National Army Museum, UK

GEORGE Beach was a significant Allied landing zone for British soldiers, i.e. Monty's Eighth, and all the material of war needed to support them. The location was served by the Canadian 80th Flotilla of Landing Crafts, Mechanised (LCMs) to bring men and materials (e.g., ammunition, fuel, food, water, lorries, guns, etc.) to shore. The beach is now a focal point for a town or small city called Fontane Bianche (White Fountain) likely because of the importance of a small but clean and refreshing river that is nearby. Cassibile is a town about 2 or 3 km inland, west of GEORGE Beach.

HOW Beach was another Allied landing zone used by the British Army and was situated south of GEORGE, close to or at the town of Gallina and a few other suitable landing areas. Noto and Avola were farther south but not too far away. Some sailors were known to have visited Avola while on leave. 

For example, Lloyd Evans, a member of RCNVR and Combined Operations, recalls the following in his memoirs:

Our departure (August 5th or 6th) from the Sicilian beach was both sudden and unexpected. After about a month there, three of us decided to visit the nearby city of Avola and to trade a few cans of bully beef for wine. It wasn't entirely risk free, however. As we walked through the ammunition supply fields off the beach, we heard the sound of a sniper's bullet passing very close by.

When we arrived at Avola, we dipped our tin mugs into a barrel of vino, which was conveniently located in the centre of the square. We wandered through some empty houses vacated by the owners when they fled to the hills. That evening, we fell asleep outside an air-raid shelter favoured by the local inhabitants who spread their mattresses there every night. 

Lloyd Evans (back row, second from right) and my father (front

row, right side with 'a smoke' he rolled with one hand) and mates (all

with the 80th Flotilla?), perhaps in Sicily before they were put off - after

all British troops and supplies had been unloaded. Photo - Lloyd Evans

Unfortunately an army Provost group spotted us and removed us by truck to their HQ. Not for the first time, we discovered that a city was out of bounds. We had consumed a fair amount of vino and were not too happy about this and called them several uncomplimentary Limey names. The sergeant in charge, a Scotsman, thought all this was pretty funny. He promised to send as back to the beach, by jeep, in the morning if we behaved ourselves.

However, the officer in charge had other ideas but when the sergeant explained our fondness (?!) for the Limeys, he relented and we were delivered safely to the beach. When we arrived back, the flotilla was loading our gear onto our landing craft and, with an escort of Motor Launches and a Destroyer, we set off later in the day for Malta, about 75 miles to the west. (From 'My Naval Chronicles' by Lloyd Evans, page 30)

Caution - Major League Link ahead! Please click here to read more of Lloyd Evans' Navy memoirs at combinedops.org, created by Geoff Slee, Scotland. Be prepared. Have food and drink handy... you might be reading for a few days!

More details follow from the National War Museum:

Transported on American-built 'Landing Ships, Tank', or 'LSTs', sailing from North Africa, the 3rd County of London Yeomanry (Sharpshooters) landed in Sicily on 10 July 1943 as part of 4th Armoured Brigade.

According to the unit war diary 41 of 50 tanks were landed on 10 July 1943 primarily on beaches codenamed 'George' and 'How'. Resistance on the ground and from the air was limited. Cassibile and the high ground to the west of the village were among the initial objectives of the Sharpshooters following their successful amphibious landing.

A Sherman tank of 3rd County of London Yeomanry commanded by Allan

W. Grant (1911-1997) disembarks from a Landing Ship, Tank (LST) at

GEORGE Beach, July 10, 1943. Photo by Maj. W. H. J. Sale, MC

Source: National Army Museum

Details from the National War Museum continue:

The war diary for 10 July 1943 mentions an ammunition dump, near 'How Beach', exploding, resulting in the wounding of Sergeant Longstaff of 'A' Squadron.

(Photo by) Major Wilfred Herbert James Sale, MC, 3rd/4th County of London Yeomanry (Sharpshooters), World War Two, Italy, 1943. The photograph is from an album containing 246 photographs compiled by Major Sale.

One can gain access to some of Major Sale's photographs by visiting here: National Army Museum

Or, one can also just drive over to the National Army Museum, Royal Hospital Road, London (SW3 4HT) if one lives in the area.

More to come from the collection of Major Sale.

Please click here to view more about GEORGE Beach: Photographs: Invasion of Sicily, July and August, 1943 (6)

Unattributed Photos GH

Editor's Research: Three Months in the Mediterranean, 1943 (30)

A Big Batch of News Clips from The Gazette, Aug. 9 1943

Monty Heaps High Praise Upon Canadian Troops

"From original caption: "Canada launched its first Lancaster on Friday

and sent it overseas..." Photo found in The Gazette, details below

Introduction:

British, American and Canadian armies have not yet reached Messina or swept remaining (retreating) German forces off the island of Sicily. It won't be too long before stories and photographs appear in The (Montreal) Gazette that depict the end of Operation HUSKY, begun July 10, one month earlier. 

Two weeks ago, January 19, 2026, Cyclone Harry battered parts of the eastern shoreline in Sicily, including an area I visited with my son Paul in September, 2023 (80 years after the invasion of Sicily). Santa Teresa di Riva was central to our visit and the damage done to the shoreline will take many months, perhaps a year or more. Scars related to the upheaval, psychological and physical, will last much longer. "Do you remember when Cyclone Harry....?" will surely last for decades. 

Areas affected by bad weather are seen along the seafront in Santa Teresa

di Riva, Sicily, Italy, 21 January 2026. (Feb. 3, 2026, EPA)

Looking north, then south from the beach at Santa Teresa di Riva in September 2023:

Photos GH

The same is true about damage done to the island of Sicily during WWII. While exploring the inside of a cave in Sept. 2023 a few miles north of Fontane Bianche (home to the 80th Flotilla of Canadian Landing Crafts (LCMs) in 1943), a 70-year-old doctor (we met him and his grandson during a hike along the coast) recalled family memories related to WWII.

"My grandmother lost her house during the Allied invasion. And an uncle was killed," he said solemnly. 

No joy lived in those words. But the scars related to WWII live 'just below the surface' of many, many Sicilians to this day I am certain. And next time Paul and I visit Sicily we will be wise to remember that short conversation.

 And now, on with the show:

Monty heaps praise upon the Canadian Army in Sicily: 

I think that praise from a commanding officer really meant something to the men who received it. At least it did to my father (RCNVR/Combined Operations). In his WWII memoirs - written in the early 1970s - about his month in Sicily he writes:

(We) 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. "Dad, Well Done" page 75  

Please click here to read more about 'their monkey mascot' (re the 80th Canadian Flotilla of LCMs).

A lengthy article to bring us up to date re where Allied armies are at this point:

Photo Credit: World War II, Operation Husky, 1943

In 1943, the 1st Canadian Infantry Division and 1st Canadian Army Tank Brigade followed an inland route up the centre of Sicily, acting as the left flank of the British Eighth Army during Operation Husky. Over 27 days, they fought through 240 kilometres of mountainous, tough terrain, advancing from the southern coast to the vicinity of Mount Etna before being withdrawn on August 6, 1943. AI Overview

Montgomery’s plan of attack was to drive northward along the east coast

of Sicily, with Patton’s U.S. Seventh Army protecting his left flank.

A U.S. map. No mention of Canadian Army attached to Monty's 8th.

Source: Warfare History Network

Three 44 Squadron Avro Lancaster B.Is in 1942. Source - Wikipedia

GH googled 'Normandie liner refloated in New York 1943' and AI offered the following:

The SS Normandie (renamed USS Lafayette), the luxurious French ocean liner that caught fire and capsized at Pier 88 in New York City on February 9, 1942, was successfully righted on August 7, 1943. The salvage operation to upright and refloat the ship was one of the largest and most expensive of its time, costing approximately $5 million.

As with the Avro Lancaster bomber, mentioned in an earlier news clip, images abound (including videos on YouTube; click here to view "Why SS Normandie Capsized in New York Harbour"):

The S.S. Normandie, a 1,029-foot-long ship, burned in a spectacular

blaze at a Manhattan pier in February 1942, and had to be removed over

17 months in the Hudson. Credit: The New York Times

From The New York Times we'll switch to an article out of London, England by Associated Press and cabled across the Atlantic Ocean to The (Montreal) Gazette. Brought to you by GH from London, Ontario, Canada via his iMac, built in the USA. It's about a new-found optimism:

The attack of Germany "across the Channel or the North Sea" is

still several months away. First came the long, tough slog for every

mile of the peninsula of Italy, beginning on September 3, 1943. 

Wishful thinking? Mystery and intrigue? All this, even before AI was invented!

Lionel S. B. Shapiro, author of "They Left the Backdoor Open" ("Who is 'They'?" I won't tell you what it's all about, it would spoil the surprise!), is one of my favourite war correspondents, along with Ross Munro, especially as their stories relate to Sicily. Shapiro's lengthy columns under a specific heading are upcoming, as found on microfiche at the University of Western Ontario. Here he shares his account of "British and Canadian troops of the Eighth Army "swarming over the hills..." and earlier, "Monty's left hook":

Photo from Lionel Shapiro's aforementioned book, very close to GEORGE

Beach, home of the 80th Flotilla. This is likely HOW Beach, 2 - 3 miles to

the south, home of the 81st Canadian LCMs. Click here for more details.*

*If you don't like surprises.

"Canadian and British units captured Aderno" and more from other war fronts:

The following article takes us many miles from Sicily:

re Kolombangara: The cruisers USS St. Louis and HMNZS Leander firing

Click here for more about the 'Battle of Kolombangara' at Wikipedia.

Please click here for even more (a video) about the Battle of Kolombangara as found on YouTube.

And now a word from our sponsor, the people from Tic Toc!!

Juanita Rios, mentioned as "star of the broadway show, Star and Garter" in the above caption was actually listed as 'first girl' (a long way from 'star of the show) in the only list of characters I could find for Mike Todd's Broadway hit from 1942 - 43. I think Gypsy Rose Lee, featured on the Ed Sullivan show when I was a kid, was the real star.

Speaking of 'star of the show', the Lancaster was another one (one of many):

Please click here to view an excellent website re the Lancaster, how it came to be made in Canada (and many other features re WWII history).

Avro Lancaster B Mk. I (Serial No. R5727), built in the UK and

flown to Victory Aircraft in Malton, Canada in August 1942 to serve

as a pattern for the other Lancasters to be built in Canada.

CFJIC-DND Photo, PL-1173 via Don Smith)

405 (B) Squadron RCAF Avro Lancaster “Ruhr Express” being bombed up

for a mission over Berlin. Ground crews are steering two “cookies” (block-

buster bombs) into position under the bomb-bay. This aircraft was the first

Canadian built Lancaster. (Library and Archives

Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 4542805)

I think this cartoon is depicting Hitler's dilemma, i.e., the destruction of his once-powerful submarine fleet is out-pacing the German industry's ability to build new ones, replacements:

Another episode of "The Great Escape":

Like your mustard?

The Dieppe Raid occurred on August 19, 1942 and about two years later (two weeks shy since the following article was delayed from August 5th) members of the Canadian 1st Division exacted some revenge, balancing the scales to some immeasurable degree:

Private D.B. MacDonald of The Royal Canadian Regiment, who carries a Bren

light machine gun, near Campobasso, Italy, October 1943. Photo: Jack H. Smith.

From the Faces of War collection at Library and Archives Canada.

As found at The Regimental Rogue

"We just spit back at them." I think that many readers would say, "That's a pretty good response. I'd maybe do the same in the same circumstances."

My response is, "Hey, the guy was from London, Ontario, i.e., where I make my current home. I wonder if I can find any living relatives of Harvey Bonner in this fair city of mine and pass along the WWII article?" 

I found 6 phone numbers for 'Bonner' in London (and I think I taught a Bonner back when I was a young teacher! Wouldn't that be a major league coincidence?!

So, I will call the 6 numbers to see if I can find a relative. If I do I will report back here.

On to Mr. Clapper's column. I wonder if he's in the phonebook?

Pause. I'll come to Clapper's Column in a few minutes. First, wouldn't this be a good time to remember a perfectly decent citizen of London, Ontario, who volunteered for the RCNVR in and around the same time as my father did in 1941 (their volunteer numbers are really not too far apart; Dad - V8801; Allan 'Addy' Adlington - V8786). He participated in Operation HUSKY, was injured while manning a gun turret during the landing of troops beginning July 10, 1943, and sent to hospital in one country then another. And he showed me the scar when I met him and his wife Mary about 15 years ago. I was writing for a local newspaper, mentioned my father's link to the RCNVR and he called me. "I trained and served with your dad during WWII," he said. My gosh, I've even got their wedding photo (given to me by Mary) and my Dad's best friend during WWII (Chuck Rose) stood up with Addy.

And it just so happens that when I was searching for one thing online I found another with Addy's picture on it. "I know this fella!" I said and then fell off my chair. I still carry the bruise. I'll show it to you sometime.

The following memorial page (and several pages re veterans I did not share here) was printed in honour of veterans from Dutton Township, and of the two Adlingtons listed on one page 'Addy' is the one with no link to Dutton mentioned, though all the others on subsequent pages had a defined link to that Township. I had the thought that maybe 'Addy' got included  because he was listed on the same page with another Adlington, with described link to Dutton Township, though he did have a scar to prove he'd paid a heavy price for volunteering.

Being hospitalized in Scotland was fortuitous! 'Addy' had met a wee Scottish girl at a dance club in Glasgow (while on leave from a training camp in Irvine, Scotland in mid-1942). They were married in Glasgow (date?) and Mary later came to Canada via the SS Île de France, and fortunately not SS Normandie! Though she recalled to me that she did land in New York. Source - written memorial page and photograph (?)

 

Of course I have the wedding photo!

L-R: Chuck Rose (looking as if he has not done this before), 'Addy',

Mary, and Mary's sister, just a bit more 'wee' than Mary

And then there's the 'Addy' Adlington and 'Cactus' (and 'Dogo') Harrison connection:

Eight of the first 50 Canadian ratings to volunteer for Combined Ops.

L- R: Al Adlington, Joe Spencer, Chuck Rose, Doug Harrison*, Art Brad-

field, Don Linder, Joe Watson (with a large bee on his face?) At HMS

Northney (one of 4 camps, (I - IV), Hayling Island, Jan.- March, 1942

*Doug's nicknames, i.e., 'Dogo' or 'Do-Go' and 'Cactus') may be related to (a) his poor guitar playing (the guitar was purchased in S. Africa on his way to Sicily) as in "Do go somewhere else with your fumbling around off-key", and (b) his quick, sharp and prickly reactions to impertinent questions or being criticized. 'Like father, like son' rings true with me... but only occasionally. "I said, only occasionally!!"

Back to Clapper's Column:

Please click here to read a fine tribute to Fred Painton (mentioned in the second to last paragraph above) by U.S. war correspondent Ernie Pyle, seen in the photograph below: 

Fred Painton: A Tribute, Saturday, April 28, 1945

In his last published column, which was issued posthumously, Pyle honors

the memory of a fellow war correspondent. Indiana University Archives

Another informative article by Lionel Shapiro (maybe he knew that Ross Munro was taking a day off):

Ross Munro and Bill Stewart of the Canadian Press with Lionel Shapiro

(right) in France, August 1944 (Library and Archives Canada)

Found with an excellent article at World War II on Deadline

Map of Canadian Operations in Sicily, 10 July to 17 August 1943.

Map drawn by C.C.J. Bond, in C.P. Stacey, The Canadian Army 1939-

1945: An Official Historical Summary (1948), Dept. of National Def.

Found at Military History by Harold A. Skaarup

RAF air raids reduce the German industrial war effort by... well, do the math!

More of, do the math!

HMCS Grou K518. Photo and more navy history can be found here 

The battle for Troina, "a well-earned, hard-fought victory":

Finishing on a positive note - send books and Christie's biscuits - it's a wartime duty!

More news clippings from The Montreal Gazette will follow shortly.

Please click here to view Editor's Research: Three Months in the Mediterranean, 1943 (29)

Unattributed Photos GH