Research: About a Trip to Sicily (2)

I Certainly Have Lots to Learn About GEORGE Beach

"It's Linked to Maj. Peter Young, Commando 3? Really?"

From Jubilee of Death, Collected Poems of R. Souster, 

as found in St. Nazaire to Singapore, Vol. 1, pg. 196

Introduction:

As I prepare for an upcoming summer trip to Sicily to commemorate the 80th anniversary of the Allied invasions of Sicily and Italy (beginning July 10 and September 3, 1943 respectively), I am collecting information about the places my father served in 'The Med' as a member of RCNVR and Combined Operations. He manned landing crafts at GEORGE Sector or Beach and I shared details about its exact location in "About a Trip to Sicily" (1).

Since sharing that post I have collected a bit more information about George Beach and surrounding area and I am sharing it here. Some of the new details have to do with the various types of ships stationed offshore (I was helped along by a particular map, shared in Part 1), including LSTs and Liberty ships. I also recently discovered that Maj. Peter Young and Commando 3 had a hard time finding George, the Beach that is, and my father's sharp eye helped me add one more item to my travel itinerary. 

As readers may recall, I shared the following map re the 81st Flotilla of Canadian landing crafts in the previous post. Yes, it definitely tells us how deep the water was offshore, from Fontane Bianche to Gallina in July 1943, but it tells us a good deal more too.

From St. Nazaire to Singapore: The Canadian Amphibious War, pg 179

Earlier I identified Big Foot Wallace (at C2) and Mayo Brothers (at B3) as U.S. Liberty ships. They were not alone as some may have already guessed.

Other Liberty ships have been identified on the above map of Sicily's eastern shore as of July 10, 1943 Appendix A: O Henry (at D2), George Rogers (G.R.) Clark (at B2), George H. (G.H.) Dern (at C3), Leslie M. Shaw (at D1). Dilwala (at A1), J.C. Cannon (at A2) and Tederberg (sp?) (at B1) have not been identified. Lists of Liberty ships can be found here.

It is also possible to learn more about some of the LSTs (Landing Ship, Tanks) that are listed on the map, i.e., LST 409 (LST 409, also at another site), LST 413 (LST 413, also at another site, see photo below) and LST 368 (see photos following LST 413). 

LST 413, second from left, as found here

Photo as found at NavSource Online

Imperial War Museum photo as found at NavSource Online

Below, how the ships may have looked while stationed offshore the east coast of Sicily in July 1943:

Liners right inshore, 4 miles south of Syracuse unloading troops

and landing craft. Photo - Roper, F G (Lt) © IWM A 18090

How the Canadian sailors in four flotillas of landing craft served in their roles (transporting troops and all the materials of war to the right beach at the right time) is described in this news article (August 17, 1943) from The Montreal Gazette after several weeks on the job:

The general locations where the four flotillas served can be seen on the map below:

As found in Combined Operations by Londoner Clayton Marks

More information re the sinking of the hospital ship, HMHS Talamba has been found:

While all this bombing was hard on the nerves (i.e., about every two hours for the first three days during the initial landings), it didn’t accomplish very much. However, about noon one day, three Stuka dive bombers came screaming from behind the mountain and out of the sun. They dropped three bombs, hitting two ships directly and damaging another from a near miss. For a few hours, the black smoke from the exploding ships turned day into night.

On another occasion, during a heavy bombing attack, a hospital ship lying off our beach was sunk. Hundreds of bombs were dropped at this time on the numerous ships around the beach, so the incident might have been accidental. After a Canadian Spitfire squadron became operational from a nearby grass runway there was a big reduction in enemy air activity.

From "my naval chronicle" by Lloyd Evans, RCNVR, Combined Operations

Duties and details related to SS Empire Charmian, in its station just south of HMHS Talamba (see below), have also been located:

From St. Nazaire to Singapore: The Canadian Amphibious War,

Volume 1, page 175

From the diary of Bill Lindsay (who shared the map of Sicily's coastline and position of many ships), including references to Emoire Charmian::

From St. Nazaire to Singapore: The Canadian Amphibious War,

Volume 1, pages 186 -187

 

Bill Lindsay, a member of the 81st flotilla of Canadian landing crafts, served at HOW Beach or Sector, a mile or two away from GEORGE Sector to the north. He mentioned the transport of 1,000 tons of gear per day, that many sailors were getting sick, though he was eating pretty good... "had chicken last night," and much more. But he makes no mention of the members of the 80th flotilla who lived in limestone caves for a few weeks. Nor did he see any Commando units. Lucky for him. They would have been in a bad mood!

In an article sent to me by S. Fagone of Sicily, in answer to a question about airfields in the area (see Lindsay's entry from July 20 above), we read the following:

Major Peter Young had a disappointing start to Operation Husky, the Allied invasion of Sicily on 10 July 1943. He was the commanding officer of half of 3 Commando, and he had been ordered to neutralise Italian defences on the shoulder of George Beach, prior to the main seaborne forces arriving. However he and his men spent the night in their landing craft shuttling from one wrong position to another. They finally arrived off George Beach after the assault waves had gone in and the beach had been captured. Already annoyed at missing the action, he was even more frustrated when his men were then given what was in effect a lowly garrisoning role, well behind the front lines. (Click here to read the full article - 3 Commando - The Storming of Torre Cuba)

 Details are provided about the location of a significant airfield in or near Cassibile, and it was visited by Canadian sailors, including my father, who spotted Allied planes in the air over their heads and wanted to go see what was going on just out of curiosity. In two separate instances, sailors met Canadian friends from their hometowns. Details will be shared in a future post.

I was curious about the position of the airfield because it might have helped me decide which way to travel in my search for the caves in which many sailors of the 80th flotilla spent their days and nights, safe from German planes and bombings. As I learned, however, Cassibile is directly behind or west of GEORGE Sector, by about 2 kilometres. So, it will be close, but offers no hint re "should I travel north, or south?" (At least I'll be in the right neighbourhood if I start on the beach at Fontane Bianche).

One excerpt from a story about the 80th and 81st flotillas sounds like it is providing a brilliant clue, but I have my reservations:

From St. Nazaire to Singapore: The Canadian Amphibious War,

Volume 1, pages 182

Please note that the author of the above excerpt states the members of the 80th "found a cave on one of their beaches...".

Come on. I don't think that's possible!

More to soon follow about my search for 'The Savoy.'

Please click here to read another item re - Research: About a Trip to Sicily (1)

Unattributed Photos GH