Editor's Research: Three Months in the Mediterranean, 1943 (24)

In August, 1943, Allied Forces Continue the March to Messina

Reports From the GAZETTE Inform Canadian Readers

"A weary sailor searches for a fine pub in Messina" Photo by GH

Paul and I found two (w Belgian ales) very near our AirBnB!

Introduction:

While my son and I walked and walked to and from some specific sites in Messina (e.g., from train station to our accommodations, Sept., 2023, 80 years after my father did similar walk-abouts) we spotted magnificent art pieces and sculptures and restaurants and... the list goes on. Sicily is a beautiful country, full of very hospitable people and Messina is but one place my son and I felt full of energy and excitement as we walked in my father's faint footsteps, creating memories that will never really fade away completely.

And The Montreal Gazette is one of several Canadian newspapers that is full of significant details about the work and roles of Canadians in Armed Forces at the time the WWII Machine was in full stride in the Med. News clippings from Monday, August 2, 1943 are shared below, as we gradually take footsteps toward the Allied capture and control of Messina and its Strait.

Lt.-Gen. Patton, the Canadians - under Gen. Symonds - and Gen. Montgomery's Eighth Army are "tightening the arc of steel on the last Axis bridgehead in Sicily":

General Bernard Law Montgomery with Lieutenant-General George S.

Patton, Jr., at the Palermo, Sicily airport, 28 July 1943. (US Army Photo)

"The assault on Sicily was to be the prelude to the invasion of mainland Europe. The invasion was assigned to the Seventh U.S. Army under Lieutenant-General George S. Patton, and the Eighth British Army under General Sir Bernard L. Montgomery. The Canadians were to be part of the British Army." (As found at Canadians in the Italian Campaign by Harold A. Skaarup)

Allied advice from the desk of General Dwight Eisenhower affects "millions of Italians":

"Hot up the fire" and let the Italians "stew in their own juice,"

says Winston Churchill. Photo Credit - Wikipedia

Operation Husky was the Allied landings on Sicily in July 1943. Allied troops

landed on July 9, 1943, and officially secured the island on August 17, 1943.

Click here for details re Lt.-General Patton. Photo Credit - ThoughtCo.

(above: "bombers from the Middle East raid-)

The "WAR NEWS DIGEST" also highlights Patton's Seventh, and Canadians at Regalbuto:

(above: "Germans are engaged in abandon-")

Below we see why some folks in Montreal went without cream and sugar for their coffee:

"Well over 2,000 troops of the Reserve Army entrained for Farnham Summer Camp", i.e., after a solid march to nearby train stations:

How does Mussolini's downfall affect the Japanese forces? "Not one single iota!"

Have you ever heard about THE EXOTIC ZELDA? There's always a first time for everything!

Could this be the star of Cafe St. Michel?? Photo Credit - zelda boden, exotic circus performer 

Proof positive that the United States out-produced every other country that participated in WWII:

Speaking of out-producing others. Did any other war correspondent hold a match to Ross Munro?

Canadian Press war correspondent Ross Munro typing a story in the

battle area between Valguarnera and Leonforte, Italy, August 1943.

Photo Credit - w more details @ Wikipedia

Photo Credit - Library and Archives, Ottawa Canada

Mail is on its way to London, Ontario, the city in Canada I now call home:

Drew Middleton, introduced with a few details in the previous post, continues to inform readers from his post in Allied HQ in North Africa:

A rootin'-tootin'-cowboy has got the Axis dancin':

And now a word - with some interpretation - from the AP wire:

Ever heard of "torpedoing de luxe?" Again, there's a first time for everything during WWII:

Reinforcements from across Canada hit a British port: 

Canadians cross the Atlantic on their way to Europe, July 1943

Album 61, Canadian Army Film Unit (CAFU). Photo - Stirton

Canada's flying ace is well-known to soldiers from Verdun:

“There’s a lot of room there for a lot more,” quipped Beurling as he painted

crosses on the fuselage of his Supermarine Spitfire fighter on October 15, 1943

Photo Credit and more details at Warfare History Network 

"Tense crowds" in Harlem, New York!

And now a word from our sponsor. "Drink Royal Stewart if you can find it!"

Major-General G.G. Simonds in a Jeep in Italy. Library and Archives Photo,

MIKAN No. 4234029, as found at Canadians in the Italian Campaign

A patrol in Sicily, 1943. Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN

No. 4485870. Found at Canadians in the Italian Campaign

Canadians in Sicily. Photos 22034 and 22222 from Album 61,

Canadian Army Film Unit. Photos by Smith

The CWACs are coming to a town near you. Sign up, at $1.05 per day!!

Things don't look good for Germany, now or in the future:

"The boyish-looking Irish-Canadian" (not yet 20) is one tough cookie!

"Mail Call!! You've got mail. Come and get it!! (Nobody had to be asked twice):

An enticing recruitment ad follows. Don't be surprised if you want to sign up today!

Interesting story from an even more interesting point of view, i.e., a Canadian sailor who had spent two years in a POW camp:

(JM22) Imperial Oil Tanker Candolite - Glenbow Archives IP-2d-73b

Photo - For Posterity's Sake

John Howard Murphy mentions a friend (Bink!) in his memoirs who was

captured aboard the tanker Candolite too. Click here to read John's story

And in conclusion...

More news clippings from August, 1943 as found in The (Montreal) Gazette will be shared shortly.

More photos from my trip to Sicily in September, 2023, might also pop up here and there as well:

Please click here to view Research: Three Months in the Mediterranean, 1943 (23)

Unattributed Photos GH