More WWII Photographs from the Mediterranean Front
By Charles J. Dawson and Leonard Chetwyn, Summer 1943
Anthony Bouchard, a Canadian in RCNVR/Combined Ops and member of
the 80th Flotilla of Landing Craft, enjoying a cup of tea while in Malta,
Aug., 1943. Landing crafts need repair work, post Operation HUSKY,
before Operation BAYTOWN begins on Sept. 3, 1943 at the toe of the
boot in Italy. Photo: The collection of Roy Burt, RCNVR/Comb. Ops
My youngest son Paul found the same tea cup (and saucer) on eBay.
Merry Christmas to me! Made by Shenango China, New Castle, USA
I am continuing to find very good photos related to Operation HUSKY, the invasion of Sicily, and in so doing finding families of pictures related to events in June, July and August, 1943, and much more. In Parts 3 and 4 in this series several photographs found in the Imperial War Museum in the U.K. were shared from the collections of Charles Lames Dawson and Leonard Chetwyn both members of the No. 2 Army Film and Photo Section, Army Film and Photographic Unit.
Below are several more shots by both WWII photographers from the Mediterranean front, first 15 by Dawson, followed by Chetwyn's. Click on the headings to locate the photos at IWM, and search the actual page for links to more related materials:
Joe and Doug: Canadians in RCNVR and Combined Operations, 1941-45
NA 3941 Bofors guns going aboard landing craft. 1943.06.29
Above - The open maw of the Landing Ship, Tank (LST315 or 322?) swallows a lot of important equipment. When Canadian sailors - including my father, Doug Harrison, Norwich, Ontario - in the 80th Flotilla of LCMs (landing craft, mechanised) began to transport materials of war onto beaches in the GEORGE Beach beginning July 10 (11 days after the above photo was taken), they were luckily assisted by the well-timed arrival of a landing craft carrying Bofors guns:
"Once, with our LCM loaded with high octane gas and a Lorrie (truck), we were heading for the beach when we saw machine gun bullets stitching the water right towards us. Fortunately, an LST loaded with bofors opened up and scared off the planes, or we were gone if the bullets had hit the gas cans. I was hiding behind a truck tire, so was Joe Watson of Simcoe. What good would that have done." ("DAD, WELL DONE", pages 31-32, Navy memoirs by Doug Harrison)
Please click here to read a news article (interview) featuring the WWII experiences of Joe Watson of Simcoe, 20 miles south east of Norwich, Ontario.
Joe and Doug: Canadians in RCNVR and Combined Operations, 1941-45Back L - R: Don Westbrook (Hamilton), Chuck Rose (Chippawa), Joe Spencer
(Toronto) Front L - R: Joe Watson (Simcoe), Doug Harrison (Norwich), Art
Warrick (Hamilton) Photo - D. Harrison, circa 1945. Comox, B.C.
A photo of a Bofors gun aboard an LST, taken by Charles Dawson, appears in this small collection... shortly.
NA 3947 Planning and Preparations January - July 1943: A DUKW amphibious
vehicle is loaded onto a landing craft at Sousse Harbour. The Sicilian Campaign
was the first to use the American DUKW and it proved vital in maintaining the
supply link between the sea and land based forces. 1943.06.29
NA 5893 The Drive for Messina 10 July - 17 August 1943: American
troops advance through a damaged street in Randazzo. 1943.08.12
NA 3959 Bofors guns which are carried on the upper deck
of L.S.T.s are manned throughout the journey. 1943.07.01
("Good thing, too!" my father would say if here)
NA 3960 General view of mass of transport on
the decks of L.S.Ts. 1943.07.01
NA 4210 They met on the beaches of Sicily; two stepbrothers who
had not met for two years. Left to right: - Spr. David McKean and
Dvr. Richard Gallacher, both of Glasgow. 1943.07.21
NA 4478 After the capture of Syracuse we landed hundreds of men at the
port. In this picture African Basuto troops are seen marching past damaged
buildings as they leave the docks. 1943.07.12
NA 4763 Germans captured by Canadians and now in the care of the Royal
Canadian Mounted Police. They are shown being loaded into trucks at Piazza,
Armerina for Transportation to a Southern port. 1943.07.17
NA 4740 Yugoslav Pioneer Troops are clearing away bomb debris from civilian
buildings in the town of Caltagirone. These Yugoslav men were captured in the
Balkans and sent to Sicily as forced labour on fortifications. When they refused
to work for the Italians they were placed into a concentration camp from which
they were liberated by the Canadians. They are now applying to the British
authorities to be taken into the Allied forces. 1943.07.19
NA 5659 Anti-tank vehicles of the 64th Anti-Tank Regiment
pass through the town. 1943.08.07
NA 5661 British ambulance makes its way through the debris
in one of the streets in Adrano. 1943.08.07
NA 5886 A scout car of the 56th Recce Regiment makes a diversion
from the road, which has been heavily mined by the enemy. 1943.08.12
NA 5898 At the road junction outside Randazzo where the
American and British troops met. 1943.08.12
NA 5900 Effective night shots of British Medium guns of the 212 Coy 64th
Regiment, R.A. of 78th Division in action against the retreating enemy -
the target being the outskirts of Maletto, N. of Bronte, Sicily. 1943.08.11
Please find below 15 photos (from a much larger collection) by Leonard Chetwyn, No. 2 Army Film and Photo Section, Army Film and Photographic Unit:
NA 4254 Tommy hangs out his 'smalls'. 1943.07.10
NA 4370 An amphibian 3-ton truck moving inland. No. 2 Army Film
and Photo Section, Army Film and Photographic Unit (Photographer)
Chetwyn, Leonard. Production date1943.07.11
NA 4375 The first prisoners taken by our assault troops
marching back to the beach. 1943.07.11
More photos pertaining to GEORGE Beach appear in photographer Leonard Chetwyn's collection as found at the Imperial War Museum (IWM). Other WWII photographers may also have filed a few shots of the same location in the 11,000,000 that reportedly exist in the IWM. I will conduct a more thorough search soon and share the results in a post in the near future.
That being said, more details about George Beach can be found now at an earlier post, i.e., Sicily: An Italian Blog re Allied Invasion
Modern day view of GEORGE Beach at Fontane Bianche, Sicily
Photo - G. Harrison, September, 2023 (80 years after invasion)
Map as found at "Allied Landings in Sicily Museum" in Catania, Sicily
INVASION OF SICILY
NA 4417 General Sir Bernard Montgomery conferring with his
Commanders in a Sicilian orchard, in the foreground the General's
afternoon tea is being brewed. 1943.07.13
NA 4862 The baker serving children from the crowd
under military supervision. 1943.07.16
NA 4864 A British Tommy is mobbed by children
for his army biscuits. 1943.07.16
NA 5107(1/2) Posed photograph of infantry attacking
along a railway cutting, 1943.07.25
NA 5114 ...The Allied soldiers are shown advancing from a disused rail
cutting taking advantage of cover offered by a water tower and railway
trucks. After prolonged resistance Infantry fire silenced the enemy, and
the railway station was rushed and taken. 1943.07.25
NA 6018 One of Sicily's former Fascist leaders, Advocat Santagarti, Vice-
Secretarii Federale of Catania, has finally been caught, having fled from
Catania before the Allied advance. He was arrested in the town of
Trecastagni, and here is seen boarding a truck crowded with other
Fascists on their way to the internment camp.1943.08.15
NA 6021 "Shadows of Fate" these pictures show Desario Birancati, Vice-
Prefect of Catania under armed guard while he undergoes interrogation in the
courtyard of a former Fascist HQ...
Birancati one of the worst types of Fascist was inscribed into the Party in 1922 as a Squadrista to further his own ambitions. He pushed his way into the hierarchy of Politics at Catania with his spies and proteges installed as clerks in all the provincial towns, he was thus able to denounce various officials to the Prefect in his official position of Inspector. He was then sent to investigate his own denunciations ... an admirable opportunity to make his own fortune through a nest of graft and corruption, and so became one of the most hated men in Sicily. 1943.08.15
NA 6162 First casualties from the Italian mainland arrive by Invasion
craft at Messina. A stretcher case being carried ashore. Date Unknown
NA 6196 General Montgomery chatting with Lady Brocklehurst reputed
to be the only English women on the Island of Sicily, she is responsible
for the organisation of Y.M.C.A. canteens. 1943.09.02
NA 6939 Digging weapon pits. The inseparables pause in their work when
their C.O. Lieut. Col. D. H. Lylle-Grant comes to visit the battery. 1943.09.18
More photographs related to the invasion of Sicily (Operation HUSKY) beginning July 10, 1943 will follow. The Imperial War Museum (IWM) boasts of having 11,000,000 in their wee archive... so we will likely return with more pictures of interest related to Canadians in Combined Operations!
Please click here to view Photographs: Invasion of Sicily, July and August, 1943 (4)
Unattributed Photos GH
Please click here to view Photographs: Invasion of Sicily, July and August, 1943 (4)
Unattributed Photos GH
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