Editor's Research: Canadians in Combined Ops Return Home (13)

The War Continues on Various Fronts, Allied vs Axis Forces

Canadians Who Served in The Med in 1943 are Now Settled

in with New Routines at HMCS Givenchy III, Vancouver Island

1944 would be a year of many Allied gains, but not total victory

Introduction:

The Winnipeg Tribune (digitized now, @ the University of Manitoba) is a good example of a Canadian newspaper that provided very good coverage of WWII on different war fronts, e.g., in Russia, Italy, the Pacific, etc., as well as keeping people up-to-date on hockey scores, who was flipping out at town council meetings, and the price of eggs and canned ham.

I scan its pages looking for snippets of information about members of Canadian forces that returned home in January and February 1943 with stories, details, photographs and more, about their adventures while overseas. I am particularly interested in Canadian sailors (RCNVR) who had volunteered as well for Combined Operations and manned landing crafts from Dieppe (Operation Rutter, then Jubilee) to Italy (e.g., Operation Baytown, at the toe of the boot). 

My father was such a sailor, and though I have his memoirs and a newspaper interview (that appeared in The London Free Press in February 1944), I want more information. There were 1,000 Canadians who volunteered for Combined Ops and I'd like 1,000 stories.

The search continues:

The following news items, ads, editorial cartoons, etc. are from the February 8 - 10, 1944 issues of The Trib:

Several Canadians in Combined Ops, including my father, helped Allied forces establish a significant beachhead at Reggio di Calabria, at the toe of Italy's boot, beginning on September 3, 1943. Many details about that operation can be found at Editor's Research: Operation Baytown Series, Parts 1 - 11.

Illustration from ECLIPSE by Alan Moorehead

TPR. J. W. Collins was featured in The Tribune at an earlier date here, and now another item appears, not as welcome:

News reels featuring many of the topics listed in the advert above can be found online, thanks to a few websites, one or two sponsored by universities, e.g., the University of South Carolina. 

A video re Beachhead Anzio can be found on YouTube.(link).

For those interested in the role of the Allied air forces during WWII, a couple of articles in this post provides details re the types of planes at work:

More details re the Anzio beachhead appear below:

Below are four photographs of a Lancaster (or 'Lanc') that was on display inside the Imperial War Museum (2014):

Pa seems pretty excited while Sonny Boy looks on: Ma ain't impressed

Somebody was keeping score! The Lanc was on the winning end, I think

More details are provided below about the types of aircraft involved in persistent bombing raids vs the Atlantic Wall:

Yes, in an odd way, the next two articles do belong together:

My father was very grateful to return home all in one piece. He lost his first mates at Dieppe and it affected him a good deal for the rest of his life:

While the war continued on in Europe, beyond Christmas 1944 (though many had hoped otherwise), Canadians who had returned to Canada earlier (e.g., some of the Canadians in Combined Ops - the chief subject(s) of this website - celebrated Christmas on Vancouver Island. I have not found many details related to the event at HMCS Givenchy III, but I have had a bit of a look at old newspapers from the Courtenay and Comox area. Ten posts were assembled several years ago re the news clippings; the link to the tenth entry is provided here, and the others are linked one to another; all ten will appear in the archives and directory.

Questions or comments about the above material can be addressed to Gord Harrison at gordh7700@gmail.com

Please link to Editor's Research: Canadians in Combined Ops Return Home (12) for more news items from The Winnipeg Tribune and a news article about two sailors from Norwich Ontario who returned home after their work during the invasion of Italy was over.

And please link to Photographs: The Imperial War Museum to view a few photos re to the landing craft Canadians in Combined Ops became quite familiar with during WWII. 

Unattributed Photos GH