Landing Barges and Invasion Craft Make the News
"This is IT! Montgomery" from The Montreal Star, Sept. 3, 1943
re the invasion of Italy as reported in The Montreal Star:
I know already that Canadian sailors (members of the 80th Flotilla of Landing Crafts) assembled near Messina, Sicily before the invasion date of Italy, September 3rd, 1943. They transported troops and all the materials of war in Assault Landing Craft (ALCs), Landing Craft, Mechanised (LCMs), and other crafts, across the seven-mile-wide Strait of Messina to Reggio di Calabria, on the toe of Italy's boot, for the duration of Operation Baytown, i.e., for 30 or more days. And once their 'days on, days off schedule' was more stable, some Canadians toured a bit of Southern Italy... and on one such trip they carried with them a reporter from The Montreal Star.
I know already that Canadian sailors (members of the 80th Flotilla of Landing Crafts) assembled near Messina, Sicily before the invasion date of Italy, September 3rd, 1943. They transported troops and all the materials of war in Assault Landing Craft (ALCs), Landing Craft, Mechanised (LCMs), and other crafts, across the seven-mile-wide Strait of Messina to Reggio di Calabria, on the toe of Italy's boot, for the duration of Operation Baytown, i.e., for 30 or more days. And once their 'days on, days off schedule' was more stable, some Canadians toured a bit of Southern Italy... and on one such trip they carried with them a reporter from The Montreal Star.
Operation Baytown began on September 3rd and many Canadian newspapers and newsmen recored stories from that day. The Star was one and in it we read some details that point to steady action from landing craft crews (Doug Harrison, my father, was on LCMs at this time).
Headlines and associated stories follow:
"Monty's Men," incl. Canadian troops, were transported by
Canadians in Combined Operations.
In the following article from Page 1 we read a few items connected to landing crafts and invasion barges:
I have shared other articles by Reynolds Packard while he was stationed at Allied Headquarters in North Africa:
In the second paragraph above we read, "Hundreds of invasion craft carried the war-tempered veterans of Africa and Sicily across the water gap to open the second fighting front on the Continent of Europe."
R. Packard is likely referring to British troops, Monty's Eighth Army, but other 'war-tempered veterans of Africa and Sicily,' as well as the army or infantry, were the Canadian Navy men who had operated many of the landing crafts in November, 1942 in N. Africa (Operation Torch) and July, 1943 in Sicily (Operation Husky). On September 3, there would have been one significant difference from the point of view of the Canadian landing craft operators: Prior to the invasion of Italy they had not had the honour or pleasure of transporting Canadian troops in their own flotilla of ALCs or LCMs.
If video exists of what the airmen saw during the initial stages of the invasion (i.e., airmen "saw an endless stream on invasion barges flowing swiftly from Sicily to Italy under the protection of manned warships") I would be very pleased to see it and add it to this website. <gordh7700@gmail.com>
Packard's article continues:
Above we read of the "tremendous land, sea, and air bombardment" that took place prior to the invasion. Canadians in their small landing crafts would likely recall something of such action.
From Malta, late, August or early September, 1943: "We took a Landing Ship Tank (LST) back to Mili Marina, Sicily, and if memory serves me correctly, attacked Italy at Reggio di Calabria across Messina Straits on my birthday, September 6, 1943.
(Editor: The attack began on September 3).
There was no resistance. The air force had done a complete job and there wasn’t a whole building standing and the railroad yards were ripped to shreds. How long we worked across the straits I cannot really recall, but perhaps into October. (Page 31 - "DAD, WELL DONE")
Also from the memoirs of Doug Harrison:
At midnight on September 3, 1943 our Canadian landing craft flotilla, loaded once again with war machinery, left the beaches near Messina, Sicily and crossed the Messina Strait to Reggio Calabria in Italy. The invasion of Italy was underway...
It was no different touching down on the Italian beach at Reggio di Calabria at around midnight, September 3, 1943 than on previous invasions. Naturally we felt our way slowly to our landing place. Everything was strangely quiet and we Canadian sailors were quite tense, expecting to be fired upon, but we touched down safely, discharged our cargo and left as orderly and quietly as possible.
In the morning light on our second trip to Italy across seven miles of the Messina Straits we saw how the Allied artillery barrage across the straits had levelled every conceivable thing; not a thing moved, the devastation was unbelievable and from day one we had no problems; it was easy come, easy go from Sicily to Italy.
We operated our landing craft under these conditions with skeleton crews and we enjoyed time off. Some of us went to Italy, hitched rides on army trucks, went as far as we were allowed to go and had a good look at some of Italy. We lived on the edge, because not far from the shoulder of the asphalt road were high cliffs and we could look down on the Adriatic sea, its beautiful beaches and menacing rocks.
There was no resistance. The air force had done a complete job and there wasn’t a whole building standing and the railroad yards were ripped to shreds. How long we worked across the straits I cannot really recall, but perhaps into October. (Page 31 - "DAD, WELL DONE")
Also from the memoirs of Doug Harrison:
At midnight on September 3, 1943 our Canadian landing craft flotilla, loaded once again with war machinery, left the beaches near Messina, Sicily and crossed the Messina Strait to Reggio Calabria in Italy. The invasion of Italy was underway...
It was no different touching down on the Italian beach at Reggio di Calabria at around midnight, September 3, 1943 than on previous invasions. Naturally we felt our way slowly to our landing place. Everything was strangely quiet and we Canadian sailors were quite tense, expecting to be fired upon, but we touched down safely, discharged our cargo and left as orderly and quietly as possible.
In the morning light on our second trip to Italy across seven miles of the Messina Straits we saw how the Allied artillery barrage across the straits had levelled every conceivable thing; not a thing moved, the devastation was unbelievable and from day one we had no problems; it was easy come, easy go from Sicily to Italy.
Invasion of Italy, Operation Baytown, Sept. 3rd, 1943
Photo credit - W. S. MacLeod, RAF Beach Units
We operated our landing craft under these conditions with skeleton crews and we enjoyed time off. Some of us went to Italy, hitched rides on army trucks, went as far as we were allowed to go and had a good look at some of Italy. We lived on the edge, because not far from the shoulder of the asphalt road were high cliffs and we could look down on the Adriatic sea, its beautiful beaches and menacing rocks.
I remember one of the many refugees of war, a barefoot lady dressed in a black sleeveless dress, carrying a huge black trunk on her head. I suppose it contained all her earthly belongings or it was very dear to her, and she walked along the coastal road back toward Reggio, to what, I’ll never know. I couldn’t have carried that load.
Our living quarters was a huge Sicilian home (in Messina) and some nights I slept on my hammock on a beautifully patterned marble floor. However, since that was a hard bunk I sometimes slung my hammock, covered with mosquito netting, between two orange trees in the immense yard. Canned food was quite plentiful now and several young Sicilian boys, quite under-nourished, came begging for handouts, especially chocolota, as they called our chocolate bars. (Page 113 - 114 - "DAD, WELL DONE")
Packard's article continues:
The last section of the story, under the heading Allied Leaders Hinted Invasion follows:
A few other articles describing Allied actions on the first day of the invasion appear below, all from microfiche (UWO) of The Montreal Star:
An interesting phrase describing the flotillas of landing craft appears again below, i.e., "invasion barges, that same mosquito fleet that made the landings in Sicily..." I shared an article related to Sicily that said the Canadian navy boys did not want people to call their landing craft 'barges.' I wonder how they felt about mosquito fleet. My father made one comment about the size of landing crafts, with a positive tone: "Small landing crafts make a small target."
Colourful scenes from matchbook covers:
More news reports from The Montreal Star will follow.
Please link to Editor's Research: Invasion of Italy (2) - Montreal Star (Sept. 2, '43).
Unattributed Photos GH
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