1000 Men, 1000 Stories : Photographs: Armada to Sicily, July 1943 (3)

Three Months in 'The Med' Means Many Photographs Were

Taken in Sicily. Royal Navy Official Photographers Kept Busy!

Every raid or invasion was preceded by training exercises, sometimes with new

equipment. "Valentine tanks storming the beach!" Photo - Lt. E. E. Allen, Royal

Navy Official Photographer. Imperial War Museum © IWM A 23098

Introduction:

It's likely true that a picture is often worth a thousand words. As I share news clippings from The Montreal Gazette, issues published between July 1 - September 30, 1943, in order to build a series of posts/entries related to the time that many Canadian sailors manned landing crafts during two significant Allied invasions in the Mediterranean Sea (i.e., at Sicily and Italy).

The 80th anniversaries of Operations Husky (Sicily; beginning July 10, 1943) and Baytown (at the toe of the boot of Italy; beginning September 3) and Avalanche (at the shin of the boot; beginning Sept. 9) are approaching and I hope to take part in some way. So, the news clippings and photographs will grow over the next few weeks.

Click here to view the most recent post re newspaper stories from 'the Med'.

Click here to view the first collection of photographs re the Armada to Sicily.

(A link to the second collection of photographs is provided at the bottom of this entry)

Please find below a small collection of photos re the armada to Sicily as found at the Imperial War Museum, home to (so they say) 11,000,000 very good quality images. The first six photographs are found in the Lt. E. E. Allen collection, Imperial War Museum (IWM)

Armada to Sicily: Allied invasion ships set out July 3 - 10, 1943. On board the

sloop HMS Alynbank, in convoy. An American freighter on her way to Sicily

with troops, landing craft and other equipment. © IWM A 17902

Readers are encouraged to use the IWM search engine for subjects (e.g., armada to sicily) and photographs (e.g., A 17902, above). Once a photo is located, one can change the number up or down by one digit to (possibly) find other photos taken at the same time by the same photographer. Extensive searches are indeed possible.

Armada to Sicily: Part of the huge Allied convoy on their way to Sicily.

Armada to Sicily: A view from the bridge of HMS Alynbank of the huge

Allied convoy on their way to Sicily. © IWM A 17904

Lt. E. E. Allen took many photographs of pre-invasion exercises in preparation for D-Day Normandy, and I include some here to show the extent of the IWM collections, and because these exercises would have been similar in many ways to preparations for the invasions of Sicily and Italy

The Royal Navy during the Second World War: General view of troops and

Valentine tanks storming the beach during pre invasion fleet exercises in the

English Channel in the Portsmouth and Isle of Wight area. © IWM A 23098

The Royal Navy during the Second World War: Troops landing on the beach from

from an assault craft during pre invasion fleet exercises in the English Channel in the

Portsmouth and Isle of Wight area. A Duplex Drive Valentine tank is driving up the

beach whilst in the foreground troops leave a landing craft assault. © IWM A 23097

Pre-invasion fleet exercises in the English Channel, May 3 - 4, 1944. On board

LSI (landing ship, infantry) Empire Mace, EMPIRE MACE, Portsmouth and Isle

of Wight area: Tanks on the beach with troops disembarking from an Assault craft.

Credit to Lt. E. E. Allen, RN Official Photographer © IWM A 23099

More information about the Duplex Drive Valentine tank (aka 'Ducky') at a dedicated Facebook site.

The next seven photos are from the collection of Lt. P. G. James, Royal Navy (RN) Official Photographer:

Big British ships in the Ionian Sea as invasion of Sicily began. July 10 - 16, 1943.

On board HMS Formidable. Big ships of Force "H" were in the Ionian Sea at the

start of the Sicily invasion. Above, the destroyer HMS Tumult. © IWM A 18316

Study in British Sea power, March and April, 1943, at sea in the Mediterranean.

Grumman Martlets on the flight deck of the British aircraft carrier HMS Formidable

frame a new study of the 39,000 ton British Battleship HMS Rodney. © IWM A 15837

Big British ships in the Ionian Sea as invasion of Sicily began. Left to

right: HMS Rodney, Warspite, a Cruiser, HMS Nelson and destroyers.

Big British ships in the Ionian Sea as invasion of Sicily began. Left to right:

HM Battleships Valiant, Nelson, Rodney and Warspite. © IWM A 18313

Big British ships in the Ionian Sea as invasion of Sicily began.

Depth charge exploding near HMS Valiant. © IWM A 18322

Big British ships in the Ionian Sea as invasion of Sicily began.

The next three items are paintings by Edward J. I. Ardizzone (others were shared in an earlier post and a link to his collection is here). Not all deal with Sicily and Italy, of course, but several do: