Passages: They Left the Back Door Open (2).

Lionel Shapiro: "It Was All Too Dull!"
 He Was at the Wrong Sector

The writer for The Montreal Gazette travels by troopship toward Sicily

Introduction:

There were many Canadian war correspondents (among many more from the UK and USA, etc.) scattered aboard troopships heading toward Sicily in July, 1943. They would have to land on Sicilian shores in the same manner as the Allied troops about which they wrote, i.e., aboard a landing craft of some sort. As the war had progressed the small Assault Landing Crafts (ALCs) were joined by larger Landing Craft Mechanised (LCMs), and during Operation Husky (Sicily) the larger still Landing Craft Infantry (Large), also known as LCI(L)s, became more popular.

30 - 40 'average Joes' hit the beach in N. Africa in an ALC, aka LCA

Photo Credit - The Imperial War Museum (IWM), Nov. 1942

Shapiro likely got to see landing crafts of all sizes, along with crew members of all ages. What he did not see was the German resistance to Allied landings in various sectors. His proclamation that the landings were dull can only mean one thing. He did not travel with the Canadians in Combined Ops who landed near Avola, south of Syracuse.

Lionel Lands at George Beach with His Motley Crew

     It was in the darkness of early morning
     that our troopship made contact with an L.C.I.
     somewhere in the waters between Malta and Sicily.
     The transfer from the bulky liner to the bobbing L.C.I.
     was a tricky business in the dark and we almost lost
     the brigadier and my typewriter...

     The skipper of our L.C.I. was a middle-aged Ayrshire farmer
     who dabbled with yachts before the war. The chief engineer
     was a stripling of 19; the coxswain was a beardless boy of 17,
     and the first officer a wizened old sailor of 55 recalled from
     retirement by the war after serving 41 years with the Royal Navy.
     This, I thought, was a small example of Britain
     rising to a supreme occasion. Just such motley crews
     saved an army at Dunkerque.

Shapiro spotted Pachino beach first, then sailed north to land

at an inlet "some six miles south of Syracuse" (read below)

Map - As found in Combined Operations by C. Marks

     At first light there was a shout from the bridge.
     The skipper pointed above the prow of the craft - and we saw
     the mountain peaks of Sicily bathed in morning purple.
     Our landfall came at Pachino beach and we moved up
     the east coast of Sicily. We put in at Syracuse, listened for
     a few minutes to the artillery barrage raging for Augusta,
     eleven miles north, then bobbed along the shoreline
     to the brigade's designated off-loading point at an inlet
     dubbed George Beach, some six miles south of Syracuse.

     Passages from page 35 - 36

"Every strip of usable beach was organized as a miniature port."

A view of supply and infantry landing craft on a beach near Syracuse.

Photo - Facing page 15 in They Left the Back Door Open 

*  *  *  *  *

Two triangular signs, perhaps marking suitable landing areas, are seen on the beach.

Between the two triangles another sign appears. Is it marking Beach II? Perhaps.

The photograph above, from Shapiro's book, has been enlarged here in order to review some of the details in it. It appears that the beach has been organized in a substantial manner, i.e., rubble has been moved by bulldozer or tractor, and a floating pier has been built to make the process of transporting troops and materials of war much easier.

An LCP (landing craft, personnel) or DUKW* is seen approaching the floating pier on the right of the photo, and already tied up along the left side of the pier are two other landing craft, an LCM closest to the beach and an ALC behind it, i.e., closest to the viewer. I suspect that many of the workers are Italian infantry who surrendered soon after the Allies landed in various places along the eastern coast.

Photo Credit - David J. Lewis, as found in St. Nazaire to Singapore:

 The Canadian Amphibious War, Volume 1

The reference to the 55th and 61st LCA flotillas, as seen in the map shown earlier, points to the landings at Noto, which lies north of Pachino Beach and south of Avola.

Also to be noted, writer Lionel Shapiro mentions that he landed "at an inlet dubbed George Beach, some six miles south of Syracuse".

It is recorded in memoirs by Canadian Lt. Cmdr. Jake Koyl that Canada's 80th Flotilla of Landing Crafts were active at 'GEORGE' beaches, and my father was a member of the 80th Flotilla.

Koyl writes:

     Sectors and Beaches - Sicily

     The beaches worked by the Canadian Flotillas

     were in what was known as the "ACID" area controlled by

     Rear Admiral Troubridge and comprising all the beaches

     on the eastern side of Sicily north of Avola.

     These beaches were divided into three sectors,

     from south to north "JIG", "HOW" and "GEORGE".

     The majority of the 81st Flotilla worked "HOW" beaches,

     while the 80th worked "GEORGE" beaches.

     In each of these sectors there were three L.C.M. Flotillas

     and three LCT's, while LCI(L)'s and LST's worked whatever beaches

     were available at the time of their arrival from Malta or North Africa.

     Combined Operations by Clayton Marks, London, Ontario. Pages 175 - 176

So, I have to ask myself if correspondent Lionel Shapiro and Combined Ops member Doug Harrison appear - as small specks - in the same photo of the floating dock?

I'm going to say, "Not very likely," based on elements of the paragraph above, other stories and research I have found.

*DUKW - see next entry below

*  *  *  *  *

Shapiro had been expecting "blood and thunder" when he landed in Sicily. What he surveyed on July 10, 1943, was quite different. There was but one murder... maybe two.

"It Was All Too Dull!"

     The scene was less exciting
     than many landing exercises I had witnessed in England.
     Although the invasion was only hours old, two pontoon quays
     were already in operation, and hundreds of Italian troops who
     had rushed down to the beaches in frantic anxiety to surrender
     were hard at work unloading ships and laying down wire netting
     to give added traction to supply trucks moving from the beachheads
     to the coastal road some 200 yards inland.

     The coast from Pachino to Syracuse was alive
     with our shipping. Dozens of freighters lay offshore and supplies
     were being transferred to landing craft and "ducks."*
     Every strip of usable beach was organized as a miniature port,
     so widely dispersing our supply system that the Luftwaffe was
     thrice confounded. An occasional bombing attack could no more
     damage this supply organization than a hastily thrown brick
     could harm Ford's Willow Run plant.

*"ducks"; a term used in reference to a DUKW, a military, amphibious vehicle, i.e., 2.5-ton six-wheel amphibious truck used in World War II... Its primary purpose was to ferry ammunition, supplies, and equipment from supply ships in transport areas offshore to supply dumps and fighting units at the beach.

DUKW - amphibious truck . Photo credit - National Archives, Washington, D.C.

DUKW is a manufacturer’s code based on D indicating the model year, 1942; U referring to the body style, utility (amphibious); K for all-wheel drive; and W for dual rear axles. Called a “duck,” the vehicle was shaped like a boat. It had a hollow airtight body for buoyancy and used a single propeller for forward momentum. It was designed according to Army criteria and was based on the Army’s 2.5-ton truck. Source - The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica; See Article History

Troops disembark on D-Day Normandy from L.C.I. (L) 299, ramps down.

Photo Credit - RCN Photographer, Gilbert A. Milne 

Shapiro continues:

     Our L.C.I. (Landing Craft Infantry)
     lowered its ramp on the seaward side of a pontoon quay
     and I walked ashore like a summer tourist.
     Two Italian prisoners rushed forward to carry my baggage
     and I might have flipped them a coin for their trouble
     if a burst of ack-ack hadn't reminded me
     this was war and not a conducted excursion.
     A German reconnaissance plane whistled in from the sea,
     climbed high and made off,
     probably with a picture of the beach.

     That incident and the stench of a dozen still unburied
     bodies lying among the weeds high on the beach
     were the only evidences of conflict.
     I who had steeled myself
     for a blood and thunder assault
     at the gate of Fortress Europe!
     It was all too dull.

     The sun was overpowering.
     I reclined on the beach beside a British Marine commando
     who wore nothing but shorts and a steel helmet.

     "Anything exciting in the landing?" I asked.
     "Nothing except a murder," he said.

     "One son of a bitch of an Eyetie grabbed
     our padre and locked him up in that little hut.
     You can see it up there - at least what's left of it.
     When we go for the hut, the Eyetie bastard
     opens the door and throws a live grenade in.
     He was a good chap, the padre.
     Well, we got the Eyetie.
     He'll never pull that trick again."

     Passages from page 36.

Lionel Shapiro said about his landing, "It was all too dull."

I think he missed some pretty hot action on GEORGE Beach, and there's a reason for that. He was on the wrong GEORGE Beach.

The "ACID" zone was quite extensive, it covered several miles, and we have learned earlier that it included three sectors designated for Allied landings, i.e., JIG, HOW and GEORGE. And it is very likely that each sector was subdivided into several landing zones (e.g., GEORGE 1, GEORGE 2, etc.), and those zones might have been far apart.

I have not found a map or diagram that reveals how the sectors were subdivided but in an earlier invasion (North Africa, Nov. 1942) Canadians in Combined Ops landed at Arzew (east of Oran) on Z Beach, and it was really quite wide and subdivided into numerous smaller landing zones, with guidance given by reconnaissance teams re where the best spots were.

 Z Beach is upper right. A flotilla of landing crafts 10 - 15 vessels, would not all

aim for the same landing beach. Landing spots would be widely dispersed.

Beach Z, east of Arzew, is seen to be quite wide (above right)

Photo credits - Combined Operations, by Clayton Marks

Caption: Troops and ammunition for light guns being brought ashore from a

landing craft assault (ramped) (LCA 428) on Arzeu beach, Algeria, N. Africa,

while another LCA (287) approaches the beach. during Operation 'Torch',

November 1942. Photo - RN Photographer F. A. Hudson

Imperial War Museum (IWM)

The above photo from a North African beach depicts a smooth landing in calm waters for American troops disembarking from a British landing craft manned by Canadians (the sailor welcoming Yanks off the ramp is my father, Doug Harrison).

My father, a member of the 80th Canadian Flotilla of Landing crafts did not have a peaceful landing in Sicily. Though designated to transport supplies to one of the GEORGE beaches, where he may have had the opportunity to cross paths with war correspondent Lionel Shapiro, he was not sent in at the Shapiro's location. Items from Dad's memoirs makes it sound like his first 3 days in Sicily were the worst part of his war.

We read earlier, in memoirs by Canadian Lt. Cmdr. Jake Koyl that Canada's 80th Flotilla of Landing Crafts were active at 'GEORGE' beaches (plural), so I am lead to believe there was more than one GEORGE, maybe around a point of land, or much farther south from Syracuse, away from Shapiro's peaceful corner.

Though my father's 80th Flotilla was assigned to GEORGE beaches, Jake Koyl also writes the following:

     This theoretical arrangement was not adhered to during

     the stresses of the operation and LCM Flotillas soon found

     that it was not practicable to operate as a Flotilla.

     Such constant adjustments were necessary to meet changing

     requirements and breakdowns in craft that LCM's were in fact

     used as individual craft almost regardless of their Flotilla.

     Combined Operations by Clayton Marks, London, Ontario. Pages 176

After reflecting on Koyl's report and Shapiro's statements that "it was all too dull" and that he had prepared for "blood and thunder," I have come to the conclusion that Shapiro was at the wrong GEORGE beach and should have tagged along with my father on his LCM. Because Dad experienced "chaos and carnage," and it was either on another GEORGE Beach farther south from Shapiro or during a detour to one of the the JIG or HOW Beaches:

He writes:

     We started unloading supplies with our LCMs about a half mile

     off the beach and then the worst began - German bombers.

     We were bombed 36 times in the first 72 hours -

     at dusk, at night, at dawn and all day long, and they said

     we had complete command of the air.

     Stukas blew up working parties on the beach once

     when I was only about one hundred feet out.

     Utter death and carnage.

     Our American gun crews had nothing but coffee for three

     or four days and stayed close to their guns all the time.

     Once, with our LCM loaded with high octane gas

     and a Lorrie, we were heading for the beach when we saw

     machine gun bullets stitching the water right towards us.

     Fortunately, an LST loaded with bofors (guns) 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 (Simcoe).

     What good would that have done?

     "Dad, Well Done", pages 31 - 32

We will have to use our imaginations as we think about how Lionel Shapiro would have handled that trip into shore behind a truck tire.

More about the above episode can be explored in Joe Watson's newspaper interview, given after his return to Canada in December, 1943.

More passages or excerpts from Lionel Shapiro's excellent book will follow.

To read earlier passages listed on this site, please link to Passages: They Left the Back Door Open (1).

Unattributed Photos GH 

Book: One Day in August by David O'Keefe.

The Untold Story Behind Canada's Tragedy At Dieppe

Very factual book, with many new facts to ponder.

Introduction:

There are many books about the Dieppe raid that review - often in great detail - the actions of various regiments and Commando units that were involved on August 19, 1942, on the beaches in front of the French town or at locations to the west and east. There is no one that can read any of those books without forming questions about why it was such a tragedy? Could it not have been planned better? Could not the numbers of those killed or taken prisoner have been reduced?

Some are satisfied with the answer that more lives were saved during future invasions because of those that sacrificed their own on that one day. Some are not.

My father was one who thought the raid was a complete waste of Canadian blood. And for him, for those who hold the same opinion, for those who have questions about the purpose of the raid, I highly recommend this book (or, in my father's case, wish he was still alive to read it).

David O'Keefe has dug into new information and documents that are available in this modern generation. He reveals the contents of the page, for example, that lead him on a very lengthy pursuit , to see if in fact the raid had a very high and significant purpose. I believe he makes his case.

Below are excerpts from the fly leaf and a few very important pages:

Those who have heard about the German Enigma machine and its uncanny, sophisticated ability to create messages (e.g., from commanders on land to U-Boats in the Atlantic) that were very difficult for Allied 'listeners' to decipher, and the work done by the Allies to decode those messages (e.g., at Bletchley Park, UK), will know of the importance of the "Ultra Secret" story.

Private Ron Beal, once he learned of O'Keefe's research and findings, felt relieved... he knew his mates had not died in vain.

 The inner harbour at Dieppe. We learn about significant targets

the Dieppe planners had in mind.

 The German interrogator would understand the answer... if told

The Signals Intelligence organization wanted to read German message traffic. How could they accomplish that?

 O'Keefe uncovers deep meaning to documents that he was able to find

 4. "at Dieppe" objectives were not reached. However, the next operation met

with some success, i.e., during Operation Torch, invasion of N. Africa. 

The importance of the work done at Bletchley Park cannot be understated:

I am now on the lookout for The Girl from Station X

 New technology was created to read German "four-rotor (wheel)" technology

An iconic photo taken after the Dieppe raid is now better understood:

At 0347 on August 19, 1942, a small part of the Dieppe armada came in contact with a small but significant German convoy in the English Channel. A fire-fight was the result and "the crucial element of surprise" was lost.

More information about the contact, the fire-fight and its ultimate result is presented in David O'Keefe's book.

Recently, I as well touched on the incident in a presentation about Joe McKenna, one of the Canadian sailors (and a member of Combined Operations) who was killed during the approach to the beach on that fateful day. Link - Dieppe: In Memory of Joseph McKenna, RCNVR. Parts 1-3

Again, I highly recommend this book and encourage you to ask a book store near you to order a copy, or - if you are like me - root around your local 'used book store' (e.g., Attic Books in London, Ontario). You might get lucky!!

For more books re Dieppe Raid, please link to Book: The Dieppe Raid by R. Neillands

Unattributed Photos GH

Passages: They Left the Back Door Open (1).

A Chronicle of the Allied Campaign in Sicily and Italy

By Lionel S. B. Shapiro, of The Montreal Gazette

The Foreword is dated 'London, 23rd February, 1944'

Lionel Shapiro, as a writer for The Montreal Gazette, accompanied Allied troops as they sailed into the Mediterranean Sea for the invasion of Sicily. He remained in 'the Med' for the invasion and major battles in Sicily (July, 1943) as well as the invasion of Italy (September, 1943). They Left the Back Door Open was written while Shapiro was a guest at The Savoy, London, in early 1944 and an employee of MacLean's Magazine. 

I read on the front fly leaf that "the highlight of the book is the dramatic account of the Salerno landings." Though I have read only 33 of the book's 107 pages, I have encountered other highlights as well, related to scenes and events that would be familiar to Canadians who served in Combined Operations, i.e., aboard landing crafts in Sicily and Italy in 1943.

A few excerpts are provided below:

Leaving England Behind

     The next morning I detrained at a little town

     and was driven to the concentration area of a

     Canadian Army Tank Brigade...

     The Brigade had been concentrated in the area

     for a month. Some of its units with tanks had already

     gone forward to be loaded on L.S.T.'s (landing ship tank).

     This is the flat-bottomed type designed by Andrew Higgins

     of New Orleans for amphibious operations. 

     It is capable of long sea voyages,

     and when it runs up on a beach,

     its square prow opens like a drawbridge

     so that the tanks can roll off on land.

     "You'll see regiments out there, young man,"

     the brigadier said to me at breakfast.

     "I'm proud of them. They're keen as mustard.

     They've been here two years waiting to go into action,

     but we in the tanks have had no morale problem.

     We've had our equipment headaches - but that's

     another story. Our morale has always been first class."

     We were off to the wars.

     In the bay a flotilla of troop transports floated at anchor.

     Handsome ships they were, some easily recognizable

     despite their drab colouring. Not far away were ships

     of the Royal Navy, destroyers, cruisers, and aircraft-carriers.

     Through the protective boom our convoy of ocean liners

     moved in single file. These were all fast ships.

     The slower L.S.T.'s carrying our tanks sailed before us.

"... I knew at once the supreme purpose of sea power in a world war ..."

Photo Credit. They Left the Back Door Open As found on Page 14

     The next morning we were in open sea.

     The vista from the boat deck was both proud and terrifying.

     Etched across the horizon in every direction

     steamed British and American destroyers, the legs,
     eyes and arms of this solid body of great ships.
     Closer in were bigger warships of the Royal Navy,
     their glinting guns making communion with the morning sky.
     And overhead aircraft of Coastal Command circled around
     giving us a feeling of easy confidence.

     As I looked upon this magnificent panorama I knew
     at once the supreme purpose of sea power in a world war.
     In these ships a fully equipped army was sailing safely and confidently
     on a split-minute schedule toward a point of our own choosing.
     We were circling the Fortress Europe, reserving the oceans,
     greatest of all highways, for our exclusive use
     and denying it to the enemy.

     Our ships cut serenely across a painted ocean.
     In the distance the destroyers raced proud and impudent
     like thoroughbred terriers. This was our highway.

     Passages from pages 14 - 18

Drawing by Canadian James Reidford,

The Montreal Star, November 2, 1943

*  *  *  *  *

The Most Valuable New Weapon in World War II

     The Eighth Army nibbled off Pachino peninsula
     at the extreme south-east corner of the island and
     two days later captured the port of Syracuse.

     The Seventh Army landed on Sicily's beaches
     around Gela, almost dead centre of the south coast.
     From these two modest points of invasion, involving
     the minimum gamble allowed such an operation,
     the two armies fanned out driving the Germans before them,
     never defeating any substantial number, never cutting them off.

     ... Had we played boldly,
     we would have won a spectacular victory.
     Instead, we pushed the enemy out of Sicily and we were confronted
     by the same German units when we landed on the Italian mainland...

Canadians manned landing crafts at Avola (on map) and Noto (south of Avola)
Map of Sicily as found in Combined Operations by Clayton Marks

The passage continues:

     The assault on Sicily developed exactly as it was planned.
     In most sectors* our troops swarmed ashore without serious opposition;
     in isolated places where resistance was offered, it was quickly beaten down.
     Our forces proceeded inland as blueprinted and well ahead of schedule...

     Defence of the coast had been entrusted to local Italian regiments
     made up of poorly-trained and ridiculously-equipped home guards,
     and they stampeded to the safety of our prisoner of war cages
     on the beaches in such terrified disorder that our troops faced
     greater danger from being trampled upon than from bullets.

     Except at Gela where General Patton's men fought a brisk action,
     the southernmost bulwark of the Fortress Europe was as secure
     as a country gate swinging in the wind. Within 24 hours
     the beaches were organized for reception of supplies and our
     lines stretched 10 to 15 miles inland with perfect security. 

     It will be said, and probably correctly,
     that the most valuable new weapon we developed
     in this war was the simply constructed landing craft.
   

Pachino37. Landing Craft, Mechanised (LCM), the workhorse of d-days

     This type of vessel which has a shallow draught
     capable of negotiating a beach of normal gradient and
     a square prow which when lowered becomes a serviceable ramp,
     has been turned out by the thousands in the United States
     and has made possible all our amphibious operations.
     For it must be remembered that a successful assault on
     an enemy-held beach is less than half the battle.

     The outcome depends less on the quality of shock troops
     than on the efficiency of supply lines. In our offensive against
     the Fortress Europe,  which necessitates in nearly every case landings
     from the sea, the enemy has depended on his interior supply lines.
     We have resolved this difficulty with the L.C.I.
     (landing craft infantry) and the L.S.T. (landing ship tank).

     Passages from pages 34 - 35

 An L.C.I. (L) (L for Large) (left) and L.C.T. (C for Craft) (right) land off the beach

during Operation Husky, invasion of Sicily. Photo - Imperial War Museum (IWM)

Landing Craft Tanks (LCTs) (left and centre) with prows open and a supply

brigade, likely including Italian prisoners, in Sicily. An L.C.I. (L) (right) has 

its gangplanks (steps) down so troops can disembark. Photo - IWM

In a very significant book entitled The Watery Maze, by Bernard Fergusson (highly recommended for readers who desire more information about the growth and operations undertaken by the Combined Operations organization, and how Canadians came to be involved), we read that Prime Minister Winston Churchill was very aware, early on, that to fight and win an amphibious war successfully, ship- and landing craft-building would need to take precedence. ("As the enemy held all the ports, we must be able to land over beaches." )

More ships would also mean... more crews!

     Obviously two of the most urgent problems were the provision
     of landing ships and craft, and the crews to man them.
     ... as an illustration of the magnitude of the crew problem,
     the Joint Planners, in the very month of Mountbatten's appointment,
     had persuaded the Chiefs of Staff that our requirements in LCTs alone
     for the eventual invasion would be 2,250 - a figure to daunt almost anybody.

     And where were the crews to come from? Canada made an offer,
     which was gratefully accepted, of 50 officers and 300 ratings,
     but this was a drop in the bucket.

     Excerpt from page 93.

More to follow from They Left the Back Door Open.

Please link to Passages: "Ticket to Hell via Dieppe" by A. Robert Prouse (2).

Unattributed Photos GH

Articles: Six Canadian Sailors Make Headlines (2).

"In the first 72 hours we underwent 34 air raids" - Sicilian Invasion

Leading Seaman Joe Watson of Simcoe, Ontario

 HMCS - In "His Majesty's Canadian Service"

L/S Joe Watson is squeezed in, second from left in the middle row.

He is seen 'having a puff' before getting to work in Comox, B.C. 

He arrived there in January 1944, after 55 days home leave.

Introduction:

Based on the very good company Joe kept, i.e., stalwart mates in RCNVR and Combined Operations, and the many photographs in which he appears, Joe Watson's wartime history likely runs a little bit like this:

He enlisted in the Royal Canadian Navy Volunteer Reserve sometime in the summer of 1941 (let's say August) in Hamilton or Toronto. After initial training he travelled to HMCS Stadacona in Halifax for a lengthier stint of training and became a well-liked member of the Effingham Division.

The following two photographs are of the Effingham Division in Halifax. The first was taken near the front entrance of Wellington Barracks A (aka Nelson Barracks, now gone, and replaced by modern buildings, including a Tim Hortons). The second, with a fuller compliment of the Effingham Division members (but still not all), was taken near the left end of Wellington Barracks A or B, in my opinion. (Barracks B, for officers, was still standing when I visited Halifax in 2012).

   

Joe Watson appears in the back row, fourth from the left. circa Fall 1941

Wellington Barracks to the left, Parade Ground (marching drills), right. 

Joe Watson is again in the back row, second from the right.

NB - For full lists of names, email gordh7700@gmail.com

A better look at the front of Wellington Barracks A. Rope climbing exercise.

Photo as found in "Sailor Remember" by William H. Pugsley

While training in Halifax, the members of the Effingham Division were informed that the Royal Navy was requesting volunteers (to be members of Combined Operations) for hazardous duties overseas, on small crafts, "with nine days leave thrown in" (wrote my father, one of Joe's mates). Almost to a man the Effingham Division volunteered, Joe Watson included.

In January, 1942, Joe Watson was transported to the United Kingdom aboard a Dutch liner called Volendam and soon after landing at Greenock, Scotland, was bussed to nearby HMCS Niobe (a Canadian transport depot) for just enough time for his kit to catch up to him, then whisked by train to a British Navy base on the southern coast of England (HMS Northney 1, on Hayling Island). At Northney he was introduced for the first time to the intricacies of handling a landing craft, likely an LCA (Landing Craft, Assault).

Joe is 2nd from right, outside brick barracks at HMS Northney. Early 1942

He was one of the first 50 Canadian volunteers for Combined Ops

The barracks on Hayling Island were not warm and inviting.

An RCNVR and Combined Ops veteran writes:

     We spent little time at (HMCS) Niobe but entrained for Havant in southern England, to H.M.S. Northney 1, a barracks (formerly a summer resort) with a large building for eating and then cabins with four bedrooms.

     This was December, 1941 or January, 1942* and there was no heat at all in the brick cabins. The toilets all froze and split. But we made out. Our eating quarters were heated.

"Dad, Well Done" Page 11

(*It was January, '42. The above group of sailors would have arrived at Hayling Island in December, 1941, if their first transport ship from Canada (the Queen of Bermuda) had not run aground outside of Halifax, stranding all aboard in a blinding snow storm. I checked newspaper microfilm of The Halifax Chronicle from that era and there was a big 'news worthy' storm, for certain).

How Joe Watson handled the stranding of his first transport or the cold in his first barracks in the U.K., I do not know. (Surely, his next destination - HMS Quebec, south of Inveraray, Scotland - was at least warmer).

But according to an interview he offered to an unknown writer in an unknown newspaper (once he returned to Canada in December, 1943, after two years of service overseas), he handled a strafing in the heated Mediterranean theatre of war - in July, '43 - in stride.

As far as I know, he only got caught in the tight crosshairs of the Luftwaffe on one occasion. And when that happened, he was fortunate to be really close to a thick and sturdy truck... or at least one of the truck's fat tires!

That being said, Joe recalled being in a hot spot on many occasions (let's say 34 times) and it made the headlines:

The regular German air raids - about every 2 hours - during Operation
Husky (Sicilian invasion) are confirmed by a number of sources! 

The news report, featuring an interview with Joe Watson, begins below:

Joe and others in his group were at ports in southern England at the

time of the Dieppe Raid, but were not assigned to ALCs.

A12063. Landing Craft, Mechanised (3), front view with ramp down. 
Joe and mates trained aboard LCMs at HMS Quebec, Loch Fyne  
Photo Credit - Lt. R.G.G. Coote, RN; Imperial War Museum

A12064. LCM (3), interior view taken from aft. Loch Fyne, Scotland.
Photo Credit - Lt. R.G.G. Coote, RN; Imperial War Museum

The news article continues:

Fortunately Joe lived to tell the tale!

L/S Watson was likely a member of a 3 - 4 man crew that manned an LCM during the Allied  Sicilian landings beginning on July 10, 1943. He does not mention that an officer was on board with him when "the crew" was strafed, and I believe it is true to say that not all landing crafts, whether Canadian or British or American, required that an officer be aboard at all times. 

The duty of the crew was pretty straight-forward in all likelihood: Load the landing craft with supplies and equipment (to support troops) from the holds of cargo or transport ships; drive it to the assigned landing beach, e.g., Green Beach or Red Beach or White, etc.; help unload the landing craft, keeping one eye open for bombers or snipers or any other hostile elements; return to a designated transport ship for more supplies; return to the assigned beach; unload; repeat, repeat, repeat until the transport ships are empty. Ten, maybe go grab a cuppa joe or tea and a smoke. As long as an officer was on one of every 3 - 4 landing crafts (ALCs or LCMs), then the work could be completed efficiently without tons of supervision.

Something Watson mentions gives the reader a good clue about a standard operating procedure during landings: "The barges carrying the troops went in about an hour ahead of our barges carrying trucks and supplies."

The smaller landing crafts (LCAs - Landing Craft, Assault; LCPs - Landing Craft, Personnel) were used during early raids and invasions to ferry troops to landing beaches, followed shortly thereafter by larger landing crafts (e.g., LCMs - Landing Craft, Mechanised; LCTs - Landing Craft, Tanks) filled to the gunnels with almost every conceivable piece of equipment required for the successful completion of the raid or invasion.

Landing crafts underwent design and size changes as the war progressed (as models of automobiles and trucks and many other goods have done in our own lifetimes), and that being said, the LCMs became known as the workhorse of many operations, capable of carrying more troops and supplies as sizes increased.

The map below, re the Sicilian invasion, mentions the four Canadian Flotillas of Landing Crafts that were active in July, 1943, when Joe was serving in The Med. The 55th and 61st Flotillas were made up of ALCs (smaller, w troops) and the 80th and 81st Flotillas were made up of LCMs, "our barges carrying trucks and supplies," as Joe says.

Lower right - 4 Canadian flotillas active in July (7/10/43) support UK troops

Upper right - 80th Flotilla supports UK/Canadian troops, in Italy 9/3/43

Map - Combined Operations, page 76, by Londoner Clayton Marks

Joe would have one eye on the shoreline and the other on the sky as he steered his LCM away from a cargo ship.

"Enemy planes were very active overhead..." he says.

"And in the first 72 hours from the time the invasion started (7/10/43), we underwent 34 air raids," he recalls.

The extent of the bombing and strafing was significant in Joe's mind. That type of barrage and hostility he had never endured before, not during the November, 1942 invasion of North Africa, certainly not in training exercises in England or Scotland. He remembered the regular beatings.

The details were significant in the mind of the listening reporter, and they made the headlines: "In 34 Raids in 72 Hours During Sicilian Campaign Simcoe Sailor Uninjured."

Besides the regular beatings Joe remembered some details about one significant, particular event: "A German plane came down real close to our barage (sic) and strafed us with machine gun fire.." but no member of the Canadian crew was injured.

In my estimation, an LCM would make an appealing target for the enemy because it was bigger than an ALC ("small crafts make a small target," said my father in memoirs). As well, equipment on board an LCM, like a truck or lorry, would fill the sight lines of a sharp-eyed, approaching pilot more clearly than crouching troops in an ALC. And during that trip to shore when Joe's LCM got caught in the cross hairs, there was at least one truck on board.

Unlucky for Joe and crew? Unlucky and lucky as it turns out.

Doug Harrison, a member of Joe's crew, recalls the constant bombings during the first three days of the landings as well as one particular trip to shore:

     We started unloading supplies with our LCMs about a half mile off the beach and then the worst began - German bombers. We were bombed 36 times in the first 72 hours - at dusk, at night, at dawn and all day long, and they said we had complete command of the air.

     Stukas blew up working parties on the beach once when I was only about one hundred feet out. Utter death and carnage. Our American gun crews had nothing but coffee for three or four days and stayed close to their guns all the time.

     Once, with our LCM loaded with high octane gas and a Lorrie, we were heading for the beach when we saw machine gun bullets stitching the water right towards us. Fortunately, an LST loaded with bofors (guns) 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 (Simcoe). What good would that have done?

"Dad, Well Done", pages 31 - 32

It would have been unlucky for all aboard the LCM had the gas cans exploded, but the truck tire (and rim, bumper, engine) might have stopped the bullets from hitting Joe and his crew members. Perhaps it was luckier still that a bristling LST was nearby.

Photo Gallery:

 Fortunately, Joe lived to tell the tale

The Fab Five on leave in Glasgow. Back, L - R: C. Dale, P. Bowers, Joe Watson.

Front, L - R: Chuck Rose, Joe Spencer. Photo - J. Spencer. circa 1942

Joe Watson would have been aboard ALCs and LCMs in North Africa.

Photo taken Nov. 8, 1942 by RN Photographer F.A. Hudson (IWM).

Canadians in Combined Ops assist British troops; landings in Sicily, July 1943.

A loaded LCM, front right. Photo by Ray Priddle, at The Memory Project.

The interview with Joe Watson concludes below:

Joe very likely lived inside a protective, limestone cave near Avola, Sicily with a good number of other Canadian sailors for parts of July and August. They called the cave The Savoy and ate a lot of bully beef and tomatoes (perhaps U.S. rations on occasions) that was heated up over a makeshift stove.

Lt. Cmdr. Jack Koyl recalls the following in memoirs:

     The conditions for men ashore off duty varied. The 81st Flotilla Officer, Lt. Mullins, went ashore on the second day, after a day of ferrying high octane gas through air attacks, and managed to arrange with the (Eighth, British) Army for the billeting and feeding of his men at a rough camp about three minutes walk from the beach.

     The 80th did not fare so well and had to fend for themselves. They found, after living and feeding from ship to ship until the 21st of July, a cattle cave near the beach, which provided shelter but was uncomfortable and dirty. Both Flotillas lived mainly from Army "Composite" rations and what meals they could get from merchant ships they were unloading.

Combined Operations by Clayton Marks, page 181

L/S Watson would have been very happy to receive word that the collective duties of the LCM flotillas (re transporting all manner of supplies to Sicilian shores) were over - perhaps near the end of July or in the first week of August. Along with many others, he was soon in Malta.

Lt. Cmdr. Koyl continues:

     At the end of the 28 days, eighty LCMs in the two squadrons of three Flotillas each which had been working "GEORGE" and "HOW" sectors, remained in operation. The record of the Canadians was particularly good since only two of their craft out of twenty-two were non-operational. In another Flotilla working the same sector, the 83rd LCM Flotilla, only three craft out of fourteen remained operational.

     The eighty operational LCMs proceeded under their own power down the east coast of Sicily, anchored under the shelter of Cape Passero, and made Malta the next afternoon, the 7th of August (1943).

Combined Operations by Clayton Marks, page 182

Convoy of LCMs approach Valetta, Malta in August, 1943

Photo from the collection of Joe Spencer, RCNVR/C.Ops.

In Malta, much needed rest and recuperation time for the LCM crews was provided. My father, who had travelled from Sicily to Malta a week earlier because of dysentery, was well on his way to full recovery when the Canadian crews arrived in Valetta Harbour. 

Tired sailors love clean beds, mail and chocolate bars, and once Joe Watson and his mates had safely parked in one of the most scenic harbours in The Med, they didn't have to wait long.

My father writes: 

     When my friends returned from Sicily in their landing craft, I was waiting for them at the bottom of the cement steps. Our commanding officer Lt/Comdr Koyl and a few hands disappeared for awhile and when they returned they were weighted down with kit bags of parcels and mail.

     The blues disappeared and quietness settled in as every one of us, in a different posture, chewed on an Oh Henry bar and read news from home. The war wasn’t so bad after all. We shared with anyone who hadn’t received a parcel; no one went hungry. We feasted on chocolate bars, cookies, canned goods and the news.

     There were still about 250 of us - we hadn’t lost a soul, but one man had a terrible shrapnel wound in his arm*. We conserved parcels for a rainy day and were dispersed to ships and tents to live for a few days while our stoker got the engines on each craft ready for the invasion of Italy.

     Of course, no one knew when that would be, but urgency was the order of the day and repair parts were non-existent. We toured the island of Malta and some sailed over to Gozo, another small island. We mingled with the inhabitants but generally we took the opportunity to get some rest and re-read mail. 

(*Likely Al Adlington of London, Ontario, seen with Joe and six other sailors in an earlier photograph, "outside brick barracks at HMS Northney. Early 1942." Near top of page.)

"Dad, Well Done", pages 112-113

Joe reports that the invasion of Italy came up next, and he served there "for three weeks... in support of the Allied forces."

After that, he was transported back to England. There he received a pretty fat pay packet, several days leave, and a ticket aboard the Aquitania for the trip back to Canada, having served for two years overseas.

Once back home he very likely enjoyed his 55 days leave to a great extend. And before volunteering for more service with the RCNVR or Combined Operations, a local writer or reporter found his door and knocked.

When Joe was asked for an interview, he obliged.

Photo Gallery:

Home Leave, Service at HMCS Givenchy III, Discharge

Joe Watson, right of centre (straightening his collar), with other mates from

Comb. Ops., head toward Halifax aboard Aquitania after two years of service. 

December 1943. Photo - From collection of D. Harrison

Don Linder, Chuck Rose, Buryl McIntyre, Joe Watson, Don Westbrook.

Stop at Hornepayne on the way to West Coast. January, 1944

Joe's last posting: The Spit (Goose Spit), Comox, B.C. HMCS Givenchy III

Today - HMCS Quadra. Photo - Comox Library. Taken in the 1930s.

Back row: Donald Westbrook, Charlie Rose, Joe Spencer

Front row: Joe Watson, Doug Harrison, Arthur Warrick

In one of the back chapters of my father's memoirs he writes:

     A naval photographer took a picture of six of us... because we all joined the same day (i.e., Combined Operations, in Halifax; December, 1941), went through twenty-three months overseas together and were going to be discharged all on the same day too (at HMCS Star, Hamilton, Sept. 5, 1945).

Thus the big smiles on some.

More photographs related to Joe were displayed earlier at Joe Watson, RCNVR and Combined Operations, 1941 - 1945.

More articles to follow concerning adventures overseas from the sailors who were there.

Please link to Article: Six Canadian Sailors Make Headlines (1).

Unattributed Photos GH