The Cold, Hard Slog in Italy Continues
and Sholto Watt is Very Productive
News clippings, Photos and Ads from The Montreal Star
Various war fronts continue to be active as winter approaches in the European and Asian continents. The news is generally positive because of slow, aggressive Allied advances, but we know that Rome did not fall until the following year in Italy, just a day or two before D-Day Normandy.
That being said, I continue to search for articles by Sholto Watt, war correspondent for The Star. Several appear in this entry and they add quite a bit of detail to the action that takes place in various corners of Italy.
Some readers know that Mr. Watt is of high interest to me because "a reporter for The Montreal Star" was mentioned by a Canadian Navy officer (in Combined Ops memoirs) as a passenger at one particular time on a Canadian landing craft as it travelled between Messina, Sicily, and Reggio, Italy. This happens when my father was serving aboard those same landing craft (and I'm assuming the reporter mentioned is Sholto W.).
Some readers also know that Mr. Watt's articles stopped appearing in The Star for a few weeks - after the invasion of Italy at Reggio - and only picked up again when he began reporting from aboard destroyers in the Adriatic Sea, far from the toe of the boot where my father was active. Why the gap? Did he get lost in Messina. Was he assigned to another front the day before an invasion that would have occurred in front of his eyes? I do not know.
But I will continue to collect clippings from microfilm (to the end of December, 1943) with the knowledge that the odds of finding more about Canadian landing crafts is very slim. Maybe I will find news about their exit from The Med. Maybe about the Canadians returning home on extended leave (as was reported about the other Canadian flotillas).
I feel there is still more news out there related to the Canadians in Combined Operations and when I find it, readers here* will be the first to know.
On November 18 we learn of a Commando raid. Canadians in Combined Ops trained with commando units on the lochs in north-west Scotland, so articles about this elite group are always of some interest... at least to me : )
Here is another fine article by Sholto Watt, still miles from where I think he should be!
Canadians in Combined Ops had to deal with ingenious anti-personnel mines while they unloaded all necessary supplies on the beaches in Sicily a few months earlier (i.e., beginning on July 10, 1943; Operation Husky). My father reported that he and his mates exploded several of the mines by throwing tomatoes at them. When in Rome...
Monty and his 8th Army are still hard at work as they move up the Italian peninsula:
More details from Sholto Watt, out of Allied Headquarters (exact location?):
If I come across a "Ross Munro article", I always clip it out. I really should put them all together in one place... he is Canadian, a very fine writer, and uses the word 'slog' like I do... liberally : ) :
The Montreal Star is one big newspaper!
Ross Munro strikes again, this time passing on news from another important Canadian war correspondent:
American submarines are at work in the Pacific:
Does Germany still have potential to hit hard with U-Boats?
Lord Louis Mountbatten, formerly the Commander of Combined Operations, is now at work as Supreme Allied Commander in the far east:
Bad weather was one of the reasons that Allied forward progress was a tough slog in Italy:
More Canadian forces, with a connection to Montreal, hit the battle front in Italy:
I have included the full article about the new Canadian forces because so many names of officers and soldiers (and their hometowns) are listed. Ernie Pyle, a U.S. war correspondent, did the same thing and folks at home loved him for it:
Troops who had already served in Sicily and Italy found "the new men pale, but admired the smartness of their appearance."
"Almost tore the decks off!" I think that phrase is a beaut. It describes how Canadians felt about finally getting into a real battle after months of training. I tip my hat to our forces, then and now. And look at the names and towns - they're from everywhere!
A feature-length movie about Lt.-General George Patton (called 'Patton' and starring George C. Scott) dominated movie screens 50 years ago, as much as the actual officer wanted to dominate the war whenever possible. Controversy dogged the man, and to my knowledge, it began in Sicily, 1943:
Movie Poster - Photo credit (linked to Google)
I did not know there was a week in November that was celebrated as 'Navy Week'. And now I do:
As I finish this entry, I present not one but two more articles by Sholto Watt... still about Italy, just not the region that includes the 80th Flotilla of Canadian landing crafts. (But I still hold out hope to find his earlier work, from Sept. 3, 1943, and onward). Also presented, details about a significant ship that still sits in a Canadian harbour in Hamilton, Ontario:
HMCS Haida still survives. I say, "Happy hunting in Hamilton!"
*'readers here': On February 27, 2020, I walked to the University of Western Ontario (UWO) to continue exploring and collecting news clippings from December issues of The Montreal Star (stored on reels of microfilm at Weldon Library). Because I was nearing the end of my research re The Star, I took a peek at September, 1943 issues of another newspaper, hoping to pick up the trail of the 80th Flotilla of Canadian landing crafts as they prepared for the invasion of Italy, at Reggio di Calabria, on September 3rd (aka Operation Baytown). Yes, the other newspaper had good articles about the initial bombardment by naval forces (Sept. 2) and the successful landing of Allied troops (Sept. 3). And... in the Sept. 4th issue I found a story by Sholto Watt, ('delayed from Sept. 3'). Will more - by my prime suspect(!) - follow? You'll be the first to know!
Please link to Editor's Research: Invasion of Italy (27) - Montreal Star (Nov. 13-17, '43)
Unattributed Photos GH
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