1000 Men, 1000 Stories : Editor's Research: Invasion of Italy (2)

In Search of One Particular Article About

Canadians in Combined Operations

I located one article pretty easily, though its author remains elusive

In a nutshell, I want to find more articles about Canadians in Combined Operations who served during the invasion of Italy in September, 1943 and display them here on this website/blog.

I have the article from which the above excerpt is taken and it is indeed a fine one, ten pages long, written by a Canadian navy officer. It provides rare details re the invasion of Sicily and Italy and the period of time between the two invasions during which the Canadians in C. Ops. rested on the island of Malta. It directly refers to the 80th Canadian Flotilla of Landing Crafts (of which my father was a member) and tells us on the last page that a reporter for The Montreal Star went to Italy aboard one of their landing crafts.

Wouldn't it be great if the reporter interviewed or mentioned my father or some of his mates? (I have shared other articles that mentioned some of the sailors my Dad was very good friends with, during and after the war). In order to see if any such article or story exists in the Montreal Star I will explore 4 - 6 weeks' worth of microfiche available for viewing at the University of Western Ontario.

In Part 1 of this wee series about my research I revealed a few related news reports from September 1, 1943, just two days away from the invasion of Italy, Operation Baytown. I shared photos as well that put a Canadian face to some of the action. I will continue to do so in Part 2.

In the Sept. 2 issue of The Star we continue to read about the "softening up" of the toe of Italy's boot by heavy bombardment:

A story by Reynolds Packard gives us a few details of action on that day:

Packard writes the following:

(From Allied Headquarters, North Africa, Sept. 2) British and Canadian Wellington bombers devastated the railway yards at Aversa, 10 miles north f naples, last night with two-ton block busters to round out another day of attacks designed to soften italy for a possible invasion, it was reported today.

Tracks were torn up and railway installations blasted into ruins by the heavy night assault, which followed by only 24 hours an attack by British heavy bombers from the Middle East Command on the Grottaglio Airdromes guarding the Taranto naval base in Southeastern Italy.

Planes from both the Northwest African and Middle East air forces returned safely from the latest series of raids and crews reported little if any opposition.

American Boston bombers damaged an Axis radio station on Cape Spartivento at the southwestern tip of italy yesterday, while British Bostons and Baltimores and American Mitchells bombed and strafed railway and highway targets at Sinopali, Cape Spartivento, Oliveti, La Gambarie and Bonmarino, all in Southern Italy...

. . . . .

In order for readers to know more about the role of Canadians in Combined Operations during their tenure in the Mediterranean, I will share portions of the reminiscences written by the Canadian Navy Officer (unnamed, unfortunately) who reported the presence of The Montreal Star correspondent on one of their landing crafts later in the operation.

NB. The story touches on the time period between March and October, 1943 and places the Canadian volunteers (in the Comb. Ops. organization) aboard ships bound for Cairo and Alexandria (Egypt), then Sicily, Malta and Italy.

Excerpt from Combined Operations by Clayton Marks, London, Ontario:

COMBINED OPERATIONS IN SICILY AND ITALY

(Reminiscences of a Canadian LCM Flotilla Engineer Officer)

"Hey boys, here's the best buzz that I've sprouted in weeks!," called 'Eppus' Murphy to the boys in the mess at a certain base in Scotland, Roseneath, early in the month of March, 1943. These same boys, Canadian Sailors who had been in Combined Operations for well over a year, were not impressed with this sudden announcement. Buzzes become just another form of relaxation and conversation. But then there is always the chance that some one of the multitudinous buzzes might be the 'goods.'

And thus did the first inklings of movements that couldn't be even guessed at by the best 'buzzers' get through the 'grape-vine' to the boys of the 80th Canadian LCM Flotilla. It was exactly two weeks after this occurrence that the last of the ships carrying our Flotilla left the rain-soaked, mist enshrouded hills of Scotland for what was to prove the most exciting trip of our Naval experience. There were some ships in convoy, and others steamed out at a good speed and so did their voyage 'solo.'

How perfectly easy this all sounds now, but well do we all remember the frantic scurrying about in those last days of preparation; picking up stores of one kind here, of another kind in another place miles away and checking to see that all the Ratings were properly outfitted for the tropics, etc. Any casual reader who is not acquainted with the heterogeneous accounting system of the Navy would think such storing a simple job. Whew, how wrong!

Naval stores loom large in the list of nightmare subjects of all Officers sooner or later. But I suppose that since articles are often 'lost' in spite of this red tape, it is fully justified. But far more difficult still is the task of 'desk' Officers to compute the quantities of such stores required for operations which are to take place months in the future. To them must go high praise, for though mistakes in kind and quantity were made, yet the bulk of the material was found to be highly essential.

I shall long remember the happy and boisterous reunion of the Officers and men from the four ships on which we had taken passage. The Flotilla Officer, one other Officer and the major portion of the Flotilla were first to arrive in the Suez Canal area. Only a few days later our ship cast anchor in that great harbour. We had been separated for six weeks during which time each party had experienced anxious moments in submarine-infested waters in the Atlantic and around the Cape. Also several South African ports had been visited for a few days, days that were well spent 'doing the town.'

Our first land base in the Middle East presented a grim exterior. Tents, tents, sand, tents, sand and more sand met the eye beyond an unimposing but sturdy 'HMS Saunders' sign-board. Imagine the extreme change of environment from a ship's decks to a barren waste of sand!

And though it was only the beginning of May, the heat was most oppressing. So with sadly dejected spirits the boys dumped their micks and kit bags off the trucks at the Quartermaster's tent.

Page 90, Combined Operations

Photographs from the time period under examination:

My father is kneeling in background beside officer in peaked cap

The Silver Walnut was one of several ships carrying Canadians around Africa on their way to Sicily.

Eppus or Ephus Murphy was known to have purchased a monkey in S. Africa. It is not known if this is Mr. Murphy, below. Photo from memoirs of Lloyd Evans, RCNVR, Combined Ops.