1000 Men, 1000 Stories : Photographs: Operation Baytown, Invasion of Italy, 1943 (1)

Invasion of Mainland Italy, September 3, 1943 and Landings

at Charlie Beach, by Canadian 80th Flotilla Landing Crafts

NA 6149 - Original wartime caption: A picture which shows the complete

accord with which Allied soldiers have been received by the people of Sicily.

This Sgt. Major of the Highland Division held no terrors for this charming

Sicilian who greeted him with grapes, and a ready welcome to Messina.

Credit - Photographer Chetwyn, Leonard Production date - 1943-08-30

No. 2 Army Film and Photo Section, Army Film and Photographic Unit

Imperial War Museum (IWM)

Introduction:

According to news reports of the time the Canadian Navy was represented in the Mediterranean in 1943 (serving in Operation HUSKY, the invasion of Sicily beginning July 10, and Operation BAYTOWN and AVALANCHE, the invasion of Italy beginning September 3 at the toe of the boot and September 9 at Salerno on the shin) by 400 Canadian sailors, many in RCNVR and Combined Operations. The Imperial War Museum (IWM), London, England, claims to possess over 11,000,000 WWII photographs and I was very happy to locate a good handful related to Operation BAYTOWN taken by productive photographers, a few of whom will already be familiar to readers who have found good collections of pictures shared on this site re Operation TORCH and HUSKY already.

Lt. L. Chetwyn (link to his collection - Chetwyn, Leonard) provides the first and last two photographs in the series in this post and Sgt. Palmer, also a member of No. 2 Army Film and Photo Section, Army Film and Photographic Unit, provides the rest. More photographs will be shared from this series in a second post.

Based on the first two photographs the series looks like 'all sweets and goodness' but that's before the bombardment of the toe of the boot began in the early morning of September 3rd.

"(We) attacked Italy at Reggio di Calabria across Messina Straits... there was no resistance. The air force had done a complete job and there wasn’t a whole building standing and the railroad yards were ripped to shreds. How long we worked across the straits I cannot really recall, but perhaps into October." (From "Dad, Well Done" Navy memoirs by Doug Harrison, RCNVR/Combined Operations, page 35)

And now for one last look at the "sweets" before the bombardment. All photographs are found at the Imperial War Museum (IWM):

Heading - SICILY : "SWEETS" FOR THE SERGEANT MAJOR

NA 6150 - A picture which shows the complete accord with which the

Allied soldiers have been received by the people of Sicily. This Sgt. Major

of the Highland Division held no terrors for this charming Sicilian who

greeted him with grapes, and a ready welcome to Messina.

Photo - L. Chetwyn, No. 2 AFPU (IWM)

Heading - FIRST PICTURES OF THE INVASION OF THE ITALIAN MAINLAND

NA 6151 - From Messina, Sicily, medium guns of the Scottish Horse

bombard the Italian mainland prior to the initial landings. Photographer -

Sgt. Palmer Production - 1943-09-03 No. 2 Army Film and Photo Section,

Imperial War Museum (IWM)

About 'the Scottish Horse' as mentioned above on side B of photo NA 6151. At Wikipedia we can glean some details re so-named artillery regiment:

"The Scottish Horse was a Yeomanry regiment of the British Army's Territorial Army raised in 1900 for service in the Second Boer War. It saw heavy fighting in both the First World War, as the 13th Battalion, Black Watch, and in the Second World War, as part of the Royal Artillery." (More details @ Wikipedia)

Howitzers of the 79th (The Scottish Horse) Medium Regiment during a

training exercise, Banffshire, Scotland (May 1941) Credit - Wikipedia

Please click here to read more from the Regimental Scottish Horse Archives.

Heading - THE ALLIED LANDINGS IN ITALY, SEPTEMBER 1943: REGGIO, TARANTO AND SALERNO

NA 6152 - Reggio, 3 September 1943 (Operation Baytown): British

artillery bombards the Italian mainland from Messina in Sicily prior to

the initial landings at Reggio. Photo - Sgt. Palmer No. 2 AFPU. IWM

Heading - FIRST PICTURES OF THE INVASION OF THE ITALIAN MAINLAND

NA 6153 - From Messina, Sicily, medium guns of the Scottish Horse

bombard the Italian mainland prior to the initial landings.

Photo - Sgt. Palmer No. 2 AFPU. IWM

NA 6154 - Seated on a wall overlooking the harbour (at Messina)

troops watch the Invasion craft leaving for Italy.

Photo - Sgt. Palmer No. 2 AFPU. IWM

About the invasion craft leaving for Italy, one sailor manning a landing craft mechanised (LCM) as a member of the 80th Flotilla of Canadian LCMs writes:

It was no different touching down on the Italian beach at Reggio di Calabria at around midnight, September 3, 1943 than on previous invasions.

Naturally we felt our way slowly to our landing place. Everything was strangely quiet and we Canadian sailors were quite tense, expecting to be fired upon, but we touched down safely, discharged our cargo and left as orderly and quietly as possible.

In the morning light on our second trip to Italy across seven miles of the Messina Straits (7 miles equals a round trip? GH Editor) we saw how the Allied artillery barrage across the straits had levelled every conceivable thing; not a thing moved, the devastation was unbelievable and from day one we had no problems; it was easy come, easy go from Sicily to Italy. (From "Dad, Well Done" by Doug Harrison, page 114)

NA 6155 - The scene as amphibious "Ducks" enter the water at Messina,

loaded with men and equipment. Photo - Sgt. Palmer No. 2 AFPU. IWM

NA 6156 - The scene as amphibious "Ducks" enter the water at Messina,

loaded with men and equipment. Photo - Sgt. Palmer No. 2 AFPU. IWM

Please note the large stone or cement blocks at the lower left corner of the above photo. There were such blocks in a photo re WWII and landing crafts in the Allied Invasion of Sicily WWII Museum in Catania when my son and I visited Sicily in 2023:

The landing craft above seem to be going in the same direction as those

in Sgt. Palmer's photos. Same day (Sept. 3, 1943)? More details needed.

Below are my own photographs taken from the beach at Mili Marina, south of the city of Messina, Sept. 2023, 80 years later:

Was this spot in Mili Marina used by Allied forces to embark to Italy's

mainland on Sept. 3, 1943? It's very possible. (Or a spot close by).

Compare the coastline and background hills of Italy at Reggio di Calabria (straight across the strait) in the following photos and that of the children with the best (stone) seats in town: