Editor's Research: Invasion of Italy (7) - Montreal Star (Sept. 8, '43)

Italy Surrenders. Canadians Toil Upon Fairly Peaceful Waters

September 8, 1943 - Headlines as found in The Montreal Star

(From microfiche - University of Western Ontario (UWO)

On any given day in 1943, most of the articles and photographs in The Montreal Star (which I collect and display here) only indirectly relate to the Canadians in Combined Operations who make their way aboard landing crafts from supply depots in Messina, Sicily to beach heads in Italy.

That being said, I think the available resources do help fill in our collective understanding of what strategic actions were taking place, and what conditions were like (e.g., the level of personal danger faced by individual members of the armed forces) to some degree and thereby give us a better understanding of what wartime veterans were experiencing in various theatres of war.

Rome did not fall under Allied control until very early June, 1944, i.e., just a few days before D-Day,  Normandy (France), June 6, 1944. The battle for Italy was one, long, really tough clog.

Admittedly, as far as I know, most of the men I am most interested in, i.e., the Canadians in Comb. Ops - who may soon get honorary mention in a few stories in The Star... if I can find them! - will be gone from The Med by the end of the first week on October, if not sooner. So, we still have some of our own slogging to do. Bear with me : )

On a clear day the Canadians in Combined Operations (many of whom lived north side of Messina in bombed out houses) could see the Italian shore line. But I am told they had a seven-mile trip as they delivered men and materiel of war to the Reggio Calabria beaches. See map below.

More details about the action in Italy from The Montreal Star:

Meanwhile, on another war front:

The German armies retreated north through Italy but played a stubborn, defensive rearguard game. Allied troops made up ground slowly and at some heavy cost. One interesting highlight of this story by William A. Wilson - a British patrol stumbles across part of a commando unit that had been among the first to land in Italy:

 

The commando leader is embarrassed about the scruffy look of his beard - 

I wrote in an earlier post - re the Sept. 6 issue of The Montreal Star - that my father turned 23 on that day. I have found one mention of it in his memoirs and set it down here:

In order to heat water and cook a bit, our fellows cut large metal hardtack biscuit tins in half, filled them with sand, poured on gasoline and cooked to their heart’s content. The hardtack biscuits are a story in themselves, hard as a rock even after soaking in compost tea. I think some tins were marked 1917.

Some of the Sicilian homes were but hovels, with dirt floors, complete with goats, donkeys, and chickens in the kitchen. The population drank wine at meals as we would tea. I saw wagons being pulled by oxen. Wine (vino) in wooden barrels was everywhere and our flotilla tapped the odd barrel.

In the navy we just acquired things. A tent was set up on the beach after we acquired some salves, soap and gauze to treat the locals who had rashes and cuts, etc. The word spread about the Canadian Marina Hospital and one morning a few days after we opened, two very pregnant ladies appeared. The work of mercy ended, and very quickly I might add, amidst our embarrassment.

One evening an officer and I went on a short foray and acquired a few chickens. The officer had a cook, and I thought of home as I enjoyed a couple of drumsticks in payment for my part in the acquisition. (Oh! We left some chickens for the owner.)

About half of the Canadian sailors went back to England after the Sicilian campaign. That left about 125 to work about a month across the straits. During that time we received mail and parcels. We worked alongside captured Italian and Sicilian soldiers who were loading our landing craft, egged on by Sweet Caporal cigarettes and some canned food. There were no P.O.W. camps and prisoners wandered freely. The Germans had made good their well-planned escape ahead of the invasion. On occasion during the action along the beaches at Sicily and the quieter time at Italy, we often saw big green turtles swimming about. They didn’t know there was a war on.

Some buddies and I spent my 23rd birthday singing our lungs out in a cottage-style house near the beach, complete with a piano but incomplete with no roof. I had my guitar along and we all had some vino. About midnight with the hilarity in full swing, thunder rolled, the skies opened and the first rain in months came pouring in. Soaked inside and out we headed to where we belonged, singing “Show Me the Way to Go Home” as big as life and twice as natural.

One night shortly after that event I was all snug in my hammock, mosquito netting all tucked in (it took a while). I was ready to drop off to sleep when all hell broke loose on the beach. Machine gun fire, tracer bullets drawing colourful arcs in the dark sky. Someone shook my hammock and asked if I was coming to the beach party - Italy had thrown in the sponge. I said, “No, I’m not coming, and would you please keep it down to a dull roar because I want to log some sleep.” (Page 115 - 116 “DAD, WELL DONE” Naval Memoirs of G.D. Harrison) 

More will follow from The Montreal Star.

Please link to Invasion of Italy (6) - Montreal Star (Sept. 7, '43)

Unattributed Photos GH