Wartime Coverage in The San Bernardino Sun
From The Sun, July 10, 1943. See California Digital Newspaper Collection
On July 9, the day before the invasion of Sicily, the two short pieces immediately below were written, but they both appeared in U.S. newspapers the day Operation HUSKY began. They provide a backdrop to the articles written later about the actual invasion.
Ships, in Constant Stream, Take Arms To Invasion Forces
A journey over the coast line in an American DC-3 transport plane made it plain why Axis radios are pouring out speculation on when and where the Allies will invade Europe. Months ago the stockpiles began increasing - landing craft of every description, tanks, vast stores of munitions, food and Red Cross supplies.
Bombs Blanket Battered Sicily
21 Enemy Fighters Swept From Skies
ALLIED HEADQUARTERS IN NORTH AFRICA, July 9 (AP) The crushing allied aerial assault on Sicily neared the end of a full week today without letup and spread from primary targets to secondary objectives deep in the interior of the island.
Allied planes of all types from the three bases in the Mediterranean theater - northwest Africa, middle east and Malta - roared out in the hundreds yesterday against Sicilian airdromes, ports, communications and war plants, shooting down 21 enemy fighters and destroying a considerable number on the ground. In all these operations 11 Allied planes were lost.
The Gerbinl network of airdromes was blasted from two directions; British and American heavy bombers in separate raids covered Catania with fire and steel. The long-bombed air centers of Comiso and Sciacca were hit again, as was a less familiar target - Cap Passero, lying within 65 miles of the R.A.F. Malta base.Catania was particularly hard hit. Liberators from the Cairo command threw 125 tons of bombs down on the city, going in over the fiery destruction left a few hours before by R.A.F. bombers, and knocked down eight enemy fighters for certain and probably five others.
Screen image from California Digital Newspaper Collection
ALLIES STORMING SICILY
The Italians already had engaged in a scorched earth program, destroying harbor installations at Tarpani, which is the closest important Sicilian port to Africa. The official announcement of the landings said American, Canadian and British forces were engaged in the attack, but did not disclose who were the field commanders. There was no immediate official report of the scale of the allied success.
A special communique from advance allied headquarters announced in terse terms that forces under General Eisenhower's seasoned command began a landing operation on Sicily early this morning, adding: "The landings were preceded by an air attack. Naval forces escorted the assault forces and bombarded the coast defenses during the assault." The action came on the heels of six days of almost constant slamming by allied air might over the island which rocked under the powerful blows by day and by night.
LAND ON WESTERN TIP OF SICILY
(The Algiers radio in a broadcast to North America, recorded by U. S. government monitors, said the allied forces had landed on the rock studded western tip of Sicily, 260 miles from Rome.)
The invasion, launched across the 90-mile wide Sicilian strait, came just eight months after the Allied forces first landed in North Africa and two months after they had crushed resistance by a quarter of a million Axis troops in Tunisia.
By published enemy accounts observers estimated that possibly two German divisions with tanks and at least that many Italian divisions were garrisoned on Sicily, with its 600-mile coastline.
The triangular-shaped island offered few accessible beaches to the invaders except along the 180-mile southwest side. The approaches were guarded by minefields, lurking submarines and strong coastal batteries, and the nearness of enemy bombers based on the mainland are among the greatest hazards confronting Eisenhower's smashing amphibious offensive.
AXIS DEFENSES INCREASED HEAVILY
Although the Messina straits, which are less than two miles across at the narrowest point, divide Sicily from the "toe of the boot," it is otherwise a geographical part of the Italian peninsula.
Successful allied invasion armies, observers believed, might have no more difficulty crossing the slight expanse of water to the mainland than the Japanese had in spanning the Johore straits to Singapore.
Densely populated with 4,000,000 inhabitants in peacetime, Sicily has been regarded by the enemy as the likeliest point of an Allied attack and defense measures were pushed desperately this year.
FRENCH WARNED NOT TO REBEL YET
WASHINGTON, July 10 (Saturday) (AP) General Dwight D. Eisenhower timed his bold thrust today into Sicily with an announcement to the people of Axis-dominated France that their turn was coming. He said this was the first stage in the "liberation of the European continent" but emphasized in a broadcast that the downtrodden French would be wise to lay low and not expose themselves to reprisals.
This jumpoff to the big Italian island went a long way toward cleaning up the Mediterranean. With Africa in the hands of the Allies, Sicily undergoing man-to-man attack, and Sardina so close it scarcely could escape a blow soon, a large area of the "soft underbelly" of Axis-held Europe was under direct fire.
Nevertheless, the possibility if not probability of spirited resistance by Sicily's defenders existed.
German-Italian forces had been reinforced in southern Italy and its outposts recently with an anti-invasion army of perhaps as high as 300,000 highly-trained men poised for the test.
Although Allied possession of Sicily would vastly improve the military situation in the Mediterranean, trouble spots still exist. One of them is the Axis-held island of Crete near the eastern end of the sea. Seized when the axis surged south through the Balkans and sent airborne troops out to play a major part in the seizure or the island, Crete has been heavily fortified by the Axis.
A British raiding force, however, landed on the island recently, destroying enemy aircraft and installations and then retiring. It is quite probable that in addition to the demolition work accomplished by this force, the British troops procured valuable information to be used when Crete comes within the scope of the advancing invasion line.
There was no immediate information concerning the areas selected by Eisenhower for the landing assaults on Sicily, but expert opinion has favored the south and west coasts, plus the great port of Palermo on the northwest, as offering the best chance of success. Landings on the south, both easily accessible from Tunisia, could lead to the great central plain of the island, where presumably the bulk of the Axis forces are concentrated.
A chain of mountains leaves only a narrow strip along the north coast, and the entire southeastern section is not only mountainous except in the neighborhood of Syracuse, but would bring the waves of assault troops under the threat of Axis air attack from bases in southern Italy.
The rock nature of the entire island, and the concentration of the population - estimated to total 4,000,000 - in towns which the Axis is reported to have fortified strongly indicate that the invasion forces may find their path bitterly contested.
A landing at Palermo could hardly be followed by an advance inland from that area because of the high and rugged mountains, but it would give the Allied forces the use of the island's finest harbor.
Marsala, the only port of any size on the west coast, is shallow - vessels of more than 18 feet draft cannot enter it. This, however, was the scene of the last invasion of the island, when the Italian liberator Garibaldi came ashore in 1860 with a small force.
This jumpoff to the big Italian island went a long way toward cleaning up the Mediterranean. With Africa in the hands of the Allies, Sicily undergoing man-to-man attack, and Sardina so close it scarcely could escape a blow soon, a large area of the "soft underbelly" of Axis-held Europe was under direct fire.
Nevertheless, the possibility if not probability of spirited resistance by Sicily's defenders existed.
German-Italian forces had been reinforced in southern Italy and its outposts recently with an anti-invasion army of perhaps as high as 300,000 highly-trained men poised for the test.
Although Allied possession of Sicily would vastly improve the military situation in the Mediterranean, trouble spots still exist. One of them is the Axis-held island of Crete near the eastern end of the sea. Seized when the axis surged south through the Balkans and sent airborne troops out to play a major part in the seizure or the island, Crete has been heavily fortified by the Axis.
A British raiding force, however, landed on the island recently, destroying enemy aircraft and installations and then retiring. It is quite probable that in addition to the demolition work accomplished by this force, the British troops procured valuable information to be used when Crete comes within the scope of the advancing invasion line.
There was no immediate information concerning the areas selected by Eisenhower for the landing assaults on Sicily, but expert opinion has favored the south and west coasts, plus the great port of Palermo on the northwest, as offering the best chance of success. Landings on the south, both easily accessible from Tunisia, could lead to the great central plain of the island, where presumably the bulk of the Axis forces are concentrated.
A chain of mountains leaves only a narrow strip along the north coast, and the entire southeastern section is not only mountainous except in the neighborhood of Syracuse, but would bring the waves of assault troops under the threat of Axis air attack from bases in southern Italy.
The rock nature of the entire island, and the concentration of the population - estimated to total 4,000,000 - in towns which the Axis is reported to have fortified strongly indicate that the invasion forces may find their path bitterly contested.
A landing at Palermo could hardly be followed by an advance inland from that area because of the high and rugged mountains, but it would give the Allied forces the use of the island's finest harbor.
Marsala, the only port of any size on the west coast, is shallow - vessels of more than 18 feet draft cannot enter it. This, however, was the scene of the last invasion of the island, when the Italian liberator Garibaldi came ashore in 1860 with a small force.
* * * * *
Screen image from California Digital Newspaper Collection (CDNC)
Caption above reads: This is the record of six blockbusting months for axis Europe - a half year in which allied air power reached a new crescendo of attack from bases in Britain and north Africa. Map spots principal targets of R.A.F. and U.S.A.A.F. bombers in the January - July period of 1943, and gives total number of raids on various areas.
London Observers Expect Tough Battle
LONDON, July 10 (Saturday) UP) The attack on Sicily early today came where the Axis had expected, and military observers here said it would be a tough struggle, The long-awaited assault came as Germany faced a terrific life and-death battle on the eastern front against Russia.
In the fiercely-blazing Russian battle the Germans appeared to be throwing everything they had, and it was the view of some quarters here that the new German offensive was a desperate attempt to get the Soviets to sign a separate peace.
The Moscow radio and even Stalin himself in recent weeks repeatedly warned against possible Nazi peace offensives, saying over and over they would fail.
WASHINGTON, July 10 (Saturday) (P) Prime Minister Mackenzie King of Canada, in a statement made in Ottawa early today and distributed here, declared that the "war for liberation of the conquered and enslaved countries of Europe has just entered upon a new and vital phase" with the allied invasion of Sicily.
"Armed forces of Britain, the United States and Canada are now in the forefront of an attack which has, as its objective, the unconditional surrender of Italy and Germany," he said.
"All Canada will be justifiably proud to know that units of the Canadian army are a part of the allied force engaged in this attack."
* * * * *
Initial Landings Completed With No Loss of Ships
AT AN ALLIED FORCE COMMAND PORT IN NORTH AFRICA, July 10. American-British assault forces completed their initial landings in Sicily without the loss of any ships, it was stated here tonight. The vessels completed their hazardous mission across the straits of Sicily to the beaches without encountering either submarine or air attacks.
* * * * *
Screen image from California Digital Newspaper Collection (CDNC)
Allies Capture 100 Miles Of Beaches
in Three-Hour Battle
ALLIED HEADQUARTERS IN NORTH AFRICA, July 10 (AP) The Allied forces invading Sicily landed along 100 miles of the big island's southeast coast, overcame enemy resistance in three hours, and 90 minutes later began advancing inland under a powerful aerial cover, General Eisenhower's headquarters announced triumphantly tonight.
An Allied communique officially pronounced the opening blow at Europe a success. Hitting the precipitous southeastern coast, the Allied troops appeared to be aiming northward along the coast to isolate the major ferry terminals linking Sicily with the Italian mainland.
"By 6 a.m. this morning," said the first detailed official account, "enemy opposition had been countered and the success of all landings was already assured."
The mighty invasion armada first struck the coast at 3 a.m. The warships of six united nations, stretching for miles over the Mediterranean, turned the muzzles of their guns shoreward and fired the first terrific blast against the Italian-German fortress.
By 7:30 a.m." the communique said, "our troops were advancing and our artillery was being put ashore."
"Fighting continues and more troops, with their guns, vehicles, stores and equipment, are being landed by the Royal and U. S. Navies."
Veteran military observers here were elated at the news but warned: "It's much too early for unlimited optimism." They said the crucial tests still were ahead when the enemy counterattacks. Enemy counterblows, although not reported up to late tonight, are expected at any moment.
An Allied communique officially pronounced the opening blow at Europe a success. Hitting the precipitous southeastern coast, the Allied troops appeared to be aiming northward along the coast to isolate the major ferry terminals linking Sicily with the Italian mainland.
"By 6 a.m. this morning," said the first detailed official account, "enemy opposition had been countered and the success of all landings was already assured."
The mighty invasion armada first struck the coast at 3 a.m. The warships of six united nations, stretching for miles over the Mediterranean, turned the muzzles of their guns shoreward and fired the first terrific blast against the Italian-German fortress.
By 7:30 a.m." the communique said, "our troops were advancing and our artillery was being put ashore."
"Fighting continues and more troops, with their guns, vehicles, stores and equipment, are being landed by the Royal and U. S. Navies."
Veteran military observers here were elated at the news but warned: "It's much too early for unlimited optimism." They said the crucial tests still were ahead when the enemy counterattacks. Enemy counterblows, although not reported up to late tonight, are expected at any moment.
PARATROOPS IN ACTION
(Many "splendidly equipped" American and British parachute troops were dropped behind Axis positions in Sicily, the Rome radio said tonight in a broadcast recorded by N.B.C. The Italian station declared that they landed in well-fortified areas and either were wiped out or captured. There has been no Allied statement on the use of parachute troops.)
One returning airman of the hundreds also aloft during the assault compared the naval salvoes to "a volcanic eruption" and said the entire ocean path to Sicily was clogged with allied shipping of all kinds, and declared that the enemy's air power appeared to be paralyzed.
NORTHWARD MOVEMENT
The direction of the allied land attack, and the quick landing of motor vehicles and artillery, suggested this strategy: A northward movement along the eastern coast of Sicily toward the big ports of Syracuse, Catania and finally Messina.
The latter is only a few miles from the Italian mainland across the Messina Strait. A good 90-mile-long road runs between Syracuse in the south and Messina in the north. A spearhead driven along this coast would seal off Sicily from Italian mainland arsenals and make it ripe for quicker conquest.
(A Vichy broadcast said the Allies had landed between Syracuse and Catania. These two cities, below Messina, are about 40 miles apart on the eastern Sicilian coast.)
AXIS BROADCASTS VAGUE
Axis broadcasts here indicated that both the Italian and German homelands were given only a vague and confused picture of the Allied operation. Rome radio urged Italians: "Above all no anxiety." But little news of the fighting was given except that "the enemy has attacked with considerable strength" and that fighting had become "very violent."
The Allied communique did not state how much resistance was met, but indicated that a considerable number of troops and much equipment already had been put ashore during the day.
One airman said that at one point the American troops who jumped ashore apparently did not encounter any enemy gunfire. He told of seeing the Americans deploy, ready for action. “After a brief pause they moved on ahead,” he said.
The landing was effected "without serious loss," said Edward Gilling, representing the combined British press, in an Algiers dispatch. This triumphant news came at the end of a day of official silence which had shrouded the outcome of this most delicate part of an operation which opens the battle of Europe.
Other offensives may be in the offing.
TERRIFIC BOMBARDMENT
Under cover of the big guns of the British and American navies, which laid down a terrific bombardment, the shock troops of three nations swarmed ashore to successfully pave the way for thousands of their comrades crouched in landing barges out to sea.
Tonight's communique said of the area of the assault: "The many beaches and landing places used for these first assaults extended over a distance of 100 miles.”
Royal Indian, Dutch, Polish and Greek naval units aided the 90-mile strike across the Mediterranean, herding the invasion barges into shore and shattering the enemy's first line of defenses with a concentrated fire.
Hundreds or Allied planes patrolled over the beachheads and attacked "the few airdromes still being used by the enemy." Roads and communications throughout Sicily also were battered by the American and British airmen.
'BEAUTIFUL SIGHT’
It was stated officially that both infantry and aerial operations were "proceeding according to plan."
Describing the actual landings, one pilot, Roscoe Johnson, of Chicago, said: "It looked like a million flies crawling up the beaches. It was a beautiful sight."
Second Lieut. Donald Justier, of St. Albans, N. Y., another airman, said: "The ships came rolling up in waves and our boys were simply pouring over the beaches. It's hard to see how the Italians could do much fighting with so many planes pounding them from above."
This brilliant first day of invasion, going off like clockwork, promised a chance for ever greater successes for the khaki spearhead driving into the European fortress.
VETERANS LEAD ASSAULT
The American, British and Canadian assault forces are veterans of the fighting in Tunisia and Libya. They successfully scaled some of the precipitous and rocky coastal shoulders back from the beaches to fan out and secure their beach heads.
Overhead screamed the shells of the naval guns, tearing up road ways along which the Italians and Germans must bring up their counterforces.
Seamen of the united nations aided in the debarkment of artillery and other heavy weapons for this unique operation, and also landed the waves of reinforcements.
(Many "splendidly equipped" American and British parachute troops were dropped behind Axis positions in Sicily, the Rome radio said tonight in a broadcast recorded by N.B.C. The Italian station declared that they landed in well-fortified areas and either were wiped out or captured. There has been no Allied statement on the use of parachute troops.)
One returning airman of the hundreds also aloft during the assault compared the naval salvoes to "a volcanic eruption" and said the entire ocean path to Sicily was clogged with allied shipping of all kinds, and declared that the enemy's air power appeared to be paralyzed.
NORTHWARD MOVEMENT
The direction of the allied land attack, and the quick landing of motor vehicles and artillery, suggested this strategy: A northward movement along the eastern coast of Sicily toward the big ports of Syracuse, Catania and finally Messina.
The latter is only a few miles from the Italian mainland across the Messina Strait. A good 90-mile-long road runs between Syracuse in the south and Messina in the north. A spearhead driven along this coast would seal off Sicily from Italian mainland arsenals and make it ripe for quicker conquest.
(A Vichy broadcast said the Allies had landed between Syracuse and Catania. These two cities, below Messina, are about 40 miles apart on the eastern Sicilian coast.)
AXIS BROADCASTS VAGUE
Axis broadcasts here indicated that both the Italian and German homelands were given only a vague and confused picture of the Allied operation. Rome radio urged Italians: "Above all no anxiety." But little news of the fighting was given except that "the enemy has attacked with considerable strength" and that fighting had become "very violent."
The Allied communique did not state how much resistance was met, but indicated that a considerable number of troops and much equipment already had been put ashore during the day.
One airman said that at one point the American troops who jumped ashore apparently did not encounter any enemy gunfire. He told of seeing the Americans deploy, ready for action. “After a brief pause they moved on ahead,” he said.
The landing was effected "without serious loss," said Edward Gilling, representing the combined British press, in an Algiers dispatch. This triumphant news came at the end of a day of official silence which had shrouded the outcome of this most delicate part of an operation which opens the battle of Europe.
Other offensives may be in the offing.
TERRIFIC BOMBARDMENT
Under cover of the big guns of the British and American navies, which laid down a terrific bombardment, the shock troops of three nations swarmed ashore to successfully pave the way for thousands of their comrades crouched in landing barges out to sea.
Tonight's communique said of the area of the assault: "The many beaches and landing places used for these first assaults extended over a distance of 100 miles.”
Royal Indian, Dutch, Polish and Greek naval units aided the 90-mile strike across the Mediterranean, herding the invasion barges into shore and shattering the enemy's first line of defenses with a concentrated fire.
Hundreds or Allied planes patrolled over the beachheads and attacked "the few airdromes still being used by the enemy." Roads and communications throughout Sicily also were battered by the American and British airmen.
'BEAUTIFUL SIGHT’
It was stated officially that both infantry and aerial operations were "proceeding according to plan."
Describing the actual landings, one pilot, Roscoe Johnson, of Chicago, said: "It looked like a million flies crawling up the beaches. It was a beautiful sight."
Second Lieut. Donald Justier, of St. Albans, N. Y., another airman, said: "The ships came rolling up in waves and our boys were simply pouring over the beaches. It's hard to see how the Italians could do much fighting with so many planes pounding them from above."
This brilliant first day of invasion, going off like clockwork, promised a chance for ever greater successes for the khaki spearhead driving into the European fortress.
VETERANS LEAD ASSAULT
The American, British and Canadian assault forces are veterans of the fighting in Tunisia and Libya. They successfully scaled some of the precipitous and rocky coastal shoulders back from the beaches to fan out and secure their beach heads.
Overhead screamed the shells of the naval guns, tearing up road ways along which the Italians and Germans must bring up their counterforces.
Seamen of the united nations aided in the debarkment of artillery and other heavy weapons for this unique operation, and also landed the waves of reinforcements.
All was coordinated, all worked together in the stupendous enterprise. As the naval job was divided, the British carrying the main burden of transporting troops and holding the supply lines but American men of war taking their assigned part, so Eisenhower was believed to have called upon both British and American veterans or the Tunisian victory to share in the invading force.
SURPRISE TO AXIS
The presence of Canadians in that force presumably surprised the Axis, for they had been in England.
(The American participants in Tunisia were the 1st, 9th and 34th infantry divisions and the 1st armored division; the British were the First and Eighth armies. The supposition in London was that the British Eighth was not now engaged nor was the bulk of the U.S. Fifth army.)
This was "D" day, the day that Eisenhower had promised privately as early as the middle of June when, in one of the greatest confidences ever entrusted to reporters, he declared calmly that he was going after Sicily even though he might be "riding for a bloody nose."
SURPRISE TO AXIS
The presence of Canadians in that force presumably surprised the Axis, for they had been in England.
(The American participants in Tunisia were the 1st, 9th and 34th infantry divisions and the 1st armored division; the British were the First and Eighth armies. The supposition in London was that the British Eighth was not now engaged nor was the bulk of the U.S. Fifth army.)
This was "D" day, the day that Eisenhower had promised privately as early as the middle of June when, in one of the greatest confidences ever entrusted to reporters, he declared calmly that he was going after Sicily even though he might be "riding for a bloody nose."
* * * * *
"Nazi Blight and Blitz Go Hand in Hand", July 10, 1943
Screen Image from CDNC
Caption above reads: Through a neutral country, and thence by radio to America, have come these pictures of gloomy Paris today. Above is the broad, famed Champs Elysees, once gay with crowds and noisy with lines of honking taxicabs. Now the only cars belong to the German military; there are a few horse-drawn carriages and bicycle taxis, and the sole passengers are German. In the background at right is the humbled Arc de Triomphe, erected to past glories of French arms and sheltering the Unknown Soldier's grave.
* * * * *
Canadians Get Opportunity to Avenge Dieppe
Strong Force Put In Invasion Army Against Italians
LONDON, July 10 (UP) The greatest assault force Canada ever has assembled as such went into action today on the shores of Sicily with American and British troops.
There was no immediate announcement of the exact size of this section of the allied battering ram. Russ Munro, Canadian press correspondent, said, however, in a delayed dispatch written in England as the fighters embarked that "thousands and thousands of Canadian and British troops rolled to the docksides."
Transmission of the dispatch was forbidden until today by censorship. It was the first time the Canadians had been in battle formation since the attack on Dieppe last August, and it gave them an opportunity to avenge the losses suffered there.
* * * * *
From the Sunday edition of The San Bernardino Sun, July 11, 1943:
ALLIES, AXIS FORCES MASS BETWEEN
CATANIA, SYRACUSE
French Reports Say There Have Been No Major
Battles Yet; Close Contact Kept
MADRID, July 10 (UP) Reports from France said tonight that the Allies had overrun light coastal defenses in Sicily and were in close contact with Axis troops on the inland edge of the plain between Catania and Syracuse.
It was said that there had not yet been any massed battles, but that forces on both sides were deployed along a 31-mile front. According to frontier reports, the Allied strategy apparently was to force a passage across lower Sicily, southwest of Etna, to the northeastern coast, thereby cutting off the island from the mainland.
The first official Axis announcement of the attack was made by the Berlin radio at 11:45 a. m. It told of three distinct landings backed by tremendous Allied air and naval superiority enabling the troops to break through shore obstacles and advance inland without great difficulty.
MAINLAND BOMBED
Shortly thereafter, Radio Rome acknowledged the invasion, reporting that the Axis troops were containing the Allied attacks but not stating the positions involved and the strength of the forces engaged. Rome reports said that while many dog fights were taking place over the invasion points, allied bombers were maintaining attacks on Messina and Reggio on the Italian mainland in an effort to isolate Sicily.
The Italian radio also broadcast a rumor that Sardinia was invaded, but there was no confirmation. Great excitement prevailed in Rome as thousands crowded into the streets outside newspaper offices watching for bulletins while others hugged their radio sets.
* * * * *
Screen images of ads from The San Bernardino Sun, CDNC
Please link to Articles: D-Day Sicily, July 10, 1943 - Part 2
Unattributed Photos GH
No comments:
Post a Comment