Brooklyn residents of Italian descent took news of the Allied invasion of Sicily calmly and stoically, their chief reaction summed up in the terse statement:
Let’s get it over with fast.
Many, with relatives in both armies, expressed hope that Allied victory, uppermost in their thoughts, would be accomplished with as little bloodshed as possible.
Yank flier gives first eyewitness account of landings – tells of shelling by Allied ships
By Richard D. McMillan
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Pfc. Martens’ last note, from Corregidor begged family for news of Dodgers
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Meanwhile U.S. refuses to free his partner, Lepke, for execution
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Isle on path to Greece is battered
Cairo, Egypt (UP) –
U.S. heavy bombers smashed the Maleme Airdrome on the island of Crete in daylight yesterday and attacked Taormina and Comiso on Sicily, a communiqué said today.
The attack on Maleme on Crete, often called an invasion stepping stone to Greece, heavily damaged sheds and grounded aircraft.
London dispatches speculated that other blows against the European fortress soon would follow the invasion of Sicily. The attack on Crete and a new order closing the Syrian border with Turkey, presumably to guard military movements by Allied troops, centered attention on the Eastern Mediterranean.
In the attack on Sicily, U.S. heavy bombers hit the headquarters of the general post office at Taormina, 30 miles southwest of Messina, and battered the Sicilian air base of Comiso.
Allied HQ, North Africa (UP) –
A communiqué from Gen. Eisenhower’s headquarters today said the Allied air forces “continued their heavy attack” with good results on Sicilian airfields and “vital points” in the enemy defense system during Thursday night and Friday.
The communiqué said:
Enemy resistance was on a slightly increased scale, and during air battles we shot down 15 Axis aircraft. Ten of our aircraft failed to return.
London, England (UP) –
British military observers hinted strongly today that the Allied invasion of Sicily may be followed quickly by other and possibly more important landings around the northern rim of the Mediterranean.
With apparently intentional vagueness, informants asserted that the Sicilian operation should not be regarded as “the only landing or even the (capital) landing.”
Informants described the invasion as an “operation in force” which, according to latest reports reaching London, is “going according to plan.”
On the basis of the scanty reports available, military observers said, heavy and difficult fighting is expected before the invasion force succeeds in establishing firm bridgeheads.
Apparently because other operations may be impending, these observers were reluctant to describe the Sicilian attack as the opening of a “second front.”
Axis force put at 400,000
An estimated 300,000 Italian troops plus 100,000 Germans, including a division of combat troops and Luftwaffe units, are defending Sicily, it was believed.
The Italian forces included the Italian 6th Army, commanded by Gen. Alfredo Guzzoni, formerly Deputy Chief of Staff and Undersecretary of War, military observers reported. They include units especially trained for coastal defense.
Unofficial estimates set the bombload dropped on Sicily in the last two months of concentrated Allied air attack at approximately 5,000 tons. Several airfields were believed to have been knocked out by this softening-up process.
The observers set the Axis air strength in Italy at about 500 German fighters and 800 German bombers, supported by 1,500 German planes of doubtful quality.
London, England (UP) –
Lt. Gen. Delos C. Emmons, until recently commander of the Hawaiian Department, has arrived in London for conferences of an undisclosed nature with Lt. Gen, Jacob L. Devers, commander of U.S. forces in the European Theater, it was announced today.
The Pittsburgh Press (July 10, 1943)
By Ernie Pyle
Fourth of five articles on the WACs.
North Africa –
There are some amazingly interesting individuals among the 283 WACs now serving in North Africa. For instance, one girl used to be a bartender. One was a reporter on an English paper in China. One is an heiress to Penney Store millions. One was a poetess. One was at Pearl Harbor. And two of them have sons in the service.
Five of the WACs have met their brothers here in North Africa. They are Lt. Sarah Bagby, of New Haven, Missouri; Lt. Susan Hammond, of Nahant, Massachusetts; Capt. Ruth Briggs, of Westerly, Rhode Island; Evelyn Pagles, of Tonawanda, New York, and Ethel Crow, of Houston, Texas.
Mrs. Mary McCurl, of Baltimore, has a son in the Merchant Marine, and Mrs. Florence Byrns, of Cincinnati, has a son in the Army. Miriam Stehlik, of Cedar Rapids, Iowa, was a model before joining the WACs. Virginia Stacy, of Seattle, was at Pearl Harbor and now works for the Navy here.
Alice Hesse, of Boulder Creek, California, had a book of poetry published. Sgt. Nana Rae, of New York, has become a poet since arriving here. She came out with one on the G.I.s’ most unfavorite pill. The title is Atabrine, and the poem follows:
If I should die before I wake,
At least I won’t have pills to take,
And after doses one to three
The Lord can have the rest of me.
One of my favorite WACs is Betty Jane O’Leary, of Pittsburgh. She is a beaming blond with impish eyes. She does secretarial work at WAC headquarters. The first time I appeared there without my having identified myself or anything, she began committing favorably upon my dogs, my picket fence at home, my good looks, and the general quality of genius apparent in these columns. Smart girl, that O’Leary.
Sgt. Mary Murray is 43, with a young face and graying hair. She has traveled all over the world as a fur salesman. She married into the Navy and lived for many years in China. She saw the Japanese invasions of Manchukuo and Shanghai in 1931 and 1937. Now she is chief cook at one of the three WAC messes, and she says she never enjoyed anything more in her life.
Every afternoon there is a string of G.I.s at her back kitchen door waiting for coffee and a chance to talk to Mary. She hears more battle stories than any other WAC. For some reason, the men want to tell her everything. Dogfaces just back from the front unburden their horror stories to her, and what some of them have been through almost makes her cry at night when she relays the hair-raising experiences to the other girls.
There isn’t a more popular WAC with the soldiers than Murray, and she thinks they are all wonderful. Slightly tipsy soldiers weep on her shoulder and occasionally ask to kiss her because she reminds them of their mother.
She kisses them back, but wishes their impulses were stirred by something less maternal.
Stampa Sera (July 10, 1943)
L’azione decisamente contrastata dalle nostre forze - Combattimenti in corso lungo la fascia costiera sud-orientale - Paracadutisti e poderose forze navali ed aeree impegnati dall’avversario
La «carta» del nemico
Il nemico «deve» giocare una carta. Ha troppo proclamato che bisogna invadere il continente. Lo dovrà tentare, questo, perché altrimenti sarà sconfitto prima ancora di aver combattuto. Ma questa è una carta che non si può ripetere. Fu concesso a Cesare di invadere per la seconda volta la Britannia, dopo che un naufragio gli aveva disperso i legni coi quali aveva tentato la prima invasione.
MUSSOLINI
Il Quartiere Generale delle Forze Armate comunica:
Il nemico ha iniziato questa notte con l’appoggio di poderose formazioni navali ed aeree e col lancio di reparti paracadutisti l’attacco contro la Sicilia.
Le forze armate alleate contrastano decisamente l’azione avversaria. Combattimenti sono in corso lungo la fascia costiera sud-orientale.
Durante le azioni effettuate ieri dall’aviazione su centri della Sicilia, le artiglierie italiane e germaniche distruggevano ventidue velivoli, dei quali quindici a Porto Empedocle; altri undici apparecchi venivano abbattuti dai cacciatori tedeschi.
Nelle acque della Tunisia nostri aerosiluranti hanno colpito e gravemente danneggiato tre piroscafi di complessive 29 mila tonnellate.
Gli aerosiluranti che hanno colpito i piroscafi nell’azione segnalata nel Bollettino odierno erano condotti dai seguenti piloti: tenente Pagliarusco Vasco, da Barbarano (Vicenza); sottotenente Degli Angeli Carlo da Cesena (Forlì); sottotenente Avantini Giampiero, da Formio; sergente maggiore Guerra Aldo, da Padova; sergente Scagliarini Guido, da Finale Emilia; sergente Gineprari Radames, da Perugia.
I velivoli abbattuti dalle artiglierie contraeree sono precipitati nelle seguenti località: 15 a Porto Empedocle, 2 a Trapani, 2 a Sciacca, uno a Villa Oliva (Siracusa), uno ad Aragona (Agrigento), uno a Falconara (Caltanissetta). Alcuni equipaggi sono stati catturati.
Gli avvenimenti del fronte orientale hanno influenzato irresistibilmente la situazione strategica generale. Era interesse dei russi, che premevano in tal senso a Londra e a Washington, di non essere lasciati soli a combattere sui campi di battaglia europei. Era interesse degli anglosassoni approfittare, per le loro progettate operazioni offensive, del momento in cui l’esercito tedesco è impegnato contro le armate sovietiche. Gli Stati Maggiori delle Nazioni Unite sono stati così costretti ad affrettare i preparativi, e a rompere gli indugi. Molti segni facevano presagire le decisioni che maturavano; e il silenzio improvviso della stampa nemica sul problema del secondo fronte avvalorava l’ipotesi che l’ora dell’azione stesse per scoccare.
L’Italia è messa oggi dal precipitare degli eventi di fronte alla sua grande prova. Il primo tentativo in forze dei due grandi imperi coalizzati contro l’Europa sì compie contro di noi; ed è sul suolo italiano che saranno decise le sorti del conflitto. Bisogna guardare con animo fermo, senza clorotiche paure, questa dura realtà. Bisogna che tutti gli italiani dimostrino la stessa tenacia, lo stesso spirito di sacrificio, la stessa impavidità di cui statino offrendo esempio i soldati che, sui limiti sacri del territorio patrio affrontano con le armi in pugno il nemico. Bisogna che tutti si dimostrino della stessa tempra delle popolazioni civili martellate finora dalla offensiva aerea avversaria. Le truppe inglesi e americane prendono terra in Sicilia nella convinzione di trovarci, tanto per usare una espressione coniata da loro, «ammorbiditi». Dobbiamo disilluderli. Bisogna che trovino il granito. Bisogna che sulla sponda siciliana essi sentano battere gagliardo il cuore della Patria italiana: con lo stesso ritmo con cui batté sul Piave, venticinque anni fa, in un’ora ugualmente solenne e decisiva della vita nazionale.
La posta in giuoco è immensa: si tratta dell’esistenza del popolo, di tutto il popolo. La vittoria ci schiuderà un avvenire di prosperità e di potenza, ai cui benefici tutti saranno ammessi, nessuno potrà sottrarsi alle fatali conseguenze dì una sconfitta. E’ l’ora dell’estrema solidarietà nazionale. Il nemico giuoca la sua ultima carta. Di tentativi tipo Dieppe se ne possono ripetere a decine; un’operazione come quella, che risulta iniziata stamane, non si ripete una seconda volta. Se fallirà, il nemico dovrà convincersi che l’impresa di battere l’Asse è irrealizzabile, e dovrà arrendersi ad una realtà più forte della sua volontà. E’ dunque l’esito dell’intero conflitto che verrà determinato dagli sviluppi di questa nuova fase della guerra. Senta ognuno la tremenda responsabilità del compito, e sia ogni animo all’altezza della grande ora.
By the time this message reaches Your Holiness a landing in force by American and British troops will have taken place on Italian soil. Our soldiers have come to rid Italy of Fascism and all its unhappy symbols, and to drive out the Nazi oppressors who are infesting her soil.
There is no need for me to reaffirm that respect for religious beliefs and for the free exercise of religious worship is fundamental to our ideas. Churches and religious institutions will, to the extent that it is within our power, be spared the devastations of war during the struggle ahead. Throughout the period of operations, the neutral status of Vatican City as well as of the Papal domains throughout Italy will be respected.
I look forward, as does Your Holiness, to that bright day when the peace of God returns to the world. We are convinced that this will occur only when the forces of evil which now hold vast areas of Europe and Asia enslaved have been utterly destroyed. On that day we will joyfully turn our energies from the grim duties of war to the fruitful tasks of reconstruction. In common with all other nations and forces imbued with the spirit of good will toward men, and with the help of Almighty God, we will turn our hearts and our minds to the exacting task of building a just and enduring peace on earth.
Allied HQ, North Africa (July 10, 1943)
The Northwest African Air Force continued their heavy attacks on Sicilian airfields and vital points in the enemy’s defense system yesterday and the previous night. Despite indifferent visibility, good results are reported.
The enemy resistance was on a slightly increased scale, and during air battles, we shot down 15 Axis aircraft. 10 of our aircraft failed to return.
Despite unfavorable weather conditions and swells in the Sicilian Channel, the initial Allied landings in Sicily, which started before dawn, proceeded according to plan.
The many beaches and landing places used for these first assaults extended over a distance of 100 miles. By 6 a.m., under heavy fire from the covering forces of cruisers, monitors, destroyers, gunboats and other naval units, enemy opposition had been countered and the success of all landings was already assured. By 0730 hours [7:30 a.m.], our troops were advancing and artillery was being put ashore.
Fighting continues as more and more troops with their guns, vehicles, stores and equipment are landed by the Royal and U.S. Navies. Units of the Royal Indian and of the Dutch, Polish and Greek Navies are participating in the widespread operations.
In addition to attacks on the few airdromes still being used by the enemy, our heavy, medium and fighter bombers attacked roads and communications throughout Sicily. Air operations are proceeding according to plan.
Völkischer Beobachter (July 11, 1943)
Entschlossener Widerstand gegen anglo-amerikanische Landungsstreitkräfte auf Sizilien
vb. Wien, 10. Juli –
Der Fortgang der Kämpfe in dem großen Frontbogen zwischen Bjelgorod und Orel zeigt von Tag zu Tag deutlicher, welche weittragenden Absichten die Sowjetmacht mit ihren Truppenmassierungen in diesem Raume verfolgte: Der Anstoß unserer gewaltsamen Erkundung vom 4. Juli hat genügt, um den Feind zur vollen vorzeitigen Entfaltung seiner bereitgestellten Menschen- und Materialmassen zu zwingen. Seit diesem Tage versucht er durch rücksichtslosen Einsatz das Gesetz des Handelns in die eigene Hand zu bekommen, um seinen ursprünglichen Plan doch noch durchführen zu können. Die deutsche Führung aber nutzt ihren Anfangserfolg – eben den Stoß in die feindliche Bereitstellung hinein – mit Energie und Erfolg aus: Auch am Freitag wurde, wie der heutige OKW.-Bericht meldet, neuer erheblicher Geländegewinn erzielt und die Vernichtung der bolschewistischen. Massen fortgesetzt. Die Einbußen des Feindes insbesondere an Panzern und Flugzeugen haben bereits ein Ausmaß wie bei den großen Ostschlachten des Jahres 1941 angenommen.
Daß der riesige Einsatz von beiden Seiten – die Schlacht vor Kursk wurde gestern als Materialschlacht größten Ausmaßes bezeichnet – außerordentliche Anforderungen an den deutschen Soldaten stellt, bedarf keines Beweises. Die Verbände des Heeres, der Waffen-SS und der Luftwaffe stehen hier nicht nur einem zahlenmäßig außerordentlich starken Feind gegenüber, sondern auch einem Gegner, der hier sein bestes und neuestes Kriegsmaterial bereitgestellt hat, um gleichzeitig mit seinen plutokratischen Verbündeten den Großangriff auf Europa beginnen zu können, der seit Wochen von der Feindseite mit ununterbrochenen Trompetenstößen angekündigt worden ist.
Es besteht gar kein Zweifel daran, daß die beabsichtigte Sowjetoffensive im Abschnitt Mitte und der anglo-amerikanische Angriff auf Sizilien gleichzeitig erfolgen sollten, um eine Zersplitterung der Verteidigungskräfte Europas herbeizuführen und – worauf die jüdische Agitation des Feindbundes immer besonderen Wert legt – einen größtmöglichen „Stimmungseffekt“ zu erzielen. Dieses Programm ist durch die deutsche Initiative bei Kursk etwas in Unordnung geraten:
Aus der großen bolschewistischen Sommeroffensive ist eine äußerst verlustreiche Abwehrschlacht geworden, die wenig dazu beitragen dürfte, den Angriffsschwung der Briten, Kanadier und Nordamerikaner an der äußersten Südspitze des Königreiches Italien zu beflügeln.
Italien war jederzeit bereit
Daß unsere italienischen Verbündeten diesen Angriff erwartet und daß sie ihn jetzt erwartet haben, zeigt ein Blick in die heutige römische Morgenpresse, die noch vor Kenntnis der Ereignisse in der letzten Nacht gedruckt worden ist. So schreibt zum Beispiel Popolo di Roma:
Wo immer der Feind auch seine Landungen unternehmen mag in Sizilien, Sardinien, Kalabrien – überall stehen wir bereit. Dieser Stunde, die die Engländer mit größter Spannung und die Amerikaner mit stärkster Unruhe erwarten, blicken die Italiener mit ruhiger Entschlossenheit entgegen. Seit Tagen ist für uns jede Stunde eine „Stunde,“ das heißt, wir sind an jedem Küstenabschnitt, wo ein feindlicher Angriff erfolgen könnte, zu jeder Stunde bereit, den Feind gebührend zu empfangen. Der Kampf auf unserem Boden, dessen ist sich auch der Feind bewußt, kann nur ein Kampf bis aufs Äußerste sein.
Die grimmige Tapferkeit, mit der das italienische Volk seit Wochen und Monaten die Terrorangriffe der britischen und nordamerikanischen Luftgangster ertragen hat, kennzeichnet ebenso wie die wachsenden Abschußerfolge der italienischen Luftwaffe, mit welchem Geist das faschistische Italien der Bedrohung seines Heimatbodens entgegentritt. Seite an Seite mit den an der Mittelmeerfront eingesetzten deutschen Verbänden wird es dafür sorgen, daß die Hoffnungen der demokratischen Länderräuber, in Italien den Punkt des geringsten Widerstandes zu finden, zuschanden werden.
Juden fordern sofortige Invasion
Die englischen und amerikanischen Mütter, die nun zum erstenmal in diesem Kriege Blutopfer größten Ausmaßes zu bringen haben, können sich dafür nicht nur bei ihren verbrecherischen Regierungshäuptern Churchill und Roosevelt, sondern auch bei dem internationalen Judentum bedanken, das das Hauptbindeglied zwischen Bolschewismus und Plutokratie darstellt. Es ist bezeichnend, daß gerade gestern in Neuyork auf einer Versammlung von 42.000 Menschen, die zu Ehren einer „Sowjetischen Kulturmission“ stattfand, von jüdischen Rednern die sofortige Invasion in Europa gefordert wurde. Außer Stephen Wise, dem berüchtigten jüdischen Hetzer, sprachen als Sowjetdelegierte der Direktor des Moskauer jüdischen Theaters Salomon Michaels und der Oberst Itzig Pfeffer, die erklärten, daß die alljüdische Einigkeit eine wesentliche Vorbedingung des Sieges sei. Wir haben eine dunkle Ahnung, daß diese jüdischen Offenherzigkeiten am Vorabend des Kampfes um Italien dem nordamerikanischen Judentum dereinst teuer zu stehen kommen werden…
dnb. Aus dem Führer-Hauptquartier, 10. Juli –
Das Oberkommando der Wehrmacht gibt bekannt:
In der großen Schlacht von Bjelgorod und Orel erzwangen Truppen des Heeres und der Waffen-SS gegen verbissenen Widerstand neu herangeführter feindlicher Kräfte weitere Angriffserfolge. Während nördlich Bjelgorod erheblicher Geländegewinn erzielt wurde, entwickelten sich südlich Orel schwere Artilleriekämpfe. Die Gesamtzahl der seit dem 5. Juli auf dem Schlachtfeld liegenden abgeschossenen oder erbeuteten Panzer hat sich auf 1227 erhöht.
Die Luftwaffe griff mit starken Verbänden in die Kämpfe des Heeres ein. Jagdfliegerkräfte und Flakartillerie der Luftwaffe schossen gestern 119 Sowjetflugzeuge ab.
In der Nacht zum 10. Juli hat der Feind mit Unterstützung starker See- und Luftstreitkräfte den Angriff auf Sizilien begonnen. Er traf sofort auf heftige Abwehr auf der Erde und in der Luft. Die Kämpfe sind im Gange.
Britische Bomber griffen in der vergangenen Nacht westdeutsches Gebiet an. In Wohnvierteln, besonders der Stadt Bochum, entstanden Gebäudeschäden und Brände. Bisher wurde der Abschuß von elf feindlichen Bombern festgestellt. Zwei weitere feindliche Flugzeuge wurden über den besetzten Westgebieten und dem Atlantik vernichtet.
Von Seestreitkräften, der Bordflak von Handelsschiffen und der Marineflak wurden in der Zeit vom 1. bis 10. Juli 21 feindliche Flugzeuge abgeschossen.
Deutsche Unterseeboote griffen erneut stark gesicherte Geleitzüge an. Sie versenkten in hartnäckigen Kämpfen unter der brasilianischen Küste und im Mittelatlantik insgesamt acht Schiffe mit 51.000 BRT.
U.S. Navy Department (July 11, 1943)
For Immediate Release
July 11, 1943
In a coordinated air and surface attack which took place in the South Atlantic some time ago, two U.S. Navy patrol bombers crippled a German submarine with bombs and machine guns, and two U.S. destroyers then completed the attack by sinking the enemy underwater raider by gunfire. Many German prisoners were captured.
The airplanes were two Mariner patrol bombers (Martin PBM-3Cs) commanded by Lt. Howland S. Davis, USNR, of 215 Wendover Rd., Baltimore, Maryland, and Lt. (jg.) Harold C. Carey, USN, 220 East Randall Ave., Ocean View, Norfolk, Virginia.
The destroyers were the USS JOUETT (DD-396), commanded by Cdr. Jesse Sowell, USN, of Barr Street, Lancaster, South Carolina, and the USS MOFFETT (DD-362), commanded by Cdr. Fondville L. Tedder, USN, of 503 North Washington St., Shelby, North Carolina.
The New York Times (July 11, 1943)
Weakest spot is hit; new invasions hinted in Washington, London and North Africa
By Drew Middleton
Allies fight way inland from Sicilian beachheads
Landing along 100 miles of Sicily’s southeastern coast, U.S., British and Canadian forces battered forward against determined opposition as Allied ships continued to pour men ashore. Axis reports said the invaders had driven to the inland edge of the plain between Catania and Syracuse (1), had taken Noto (2) and battling for nearby Pachino. These reports also told of landings at Gela (3), at Capo Boeo (4) and in the Trapani region (5). In aerial assaults immediately preceding the invasion, U.S. bombers demolished Axis general headquarters at Taormina and smashed the Comiso Airdrome. Porto Empedocle was also a target.
Allied HQ, North Africa – (July 10)
U.S., Canadian and British troops smashed forward on a 100-mile front in southeastern Sicily today, heralded by a tremendous aerial offensive against enemy communications and airfields.
The first stage of the invasion of Sicily ended successfully at 6 a.m. today, when, after three hours of savage fighting on the beaches and intensive shelling by cruisers, destroyers and gunboats, the Axis coastal defense batteries were shattered and the success of all the landings was assured.
Men and arms pour ashore
By 7:30 a.m., Allied infantrymen, their bayonets bright in the morning sun, were hacking their way inland through the enemy defenses and artillery was rumbling up the beaches to answer the Axis guns barking from the hills. Fierce fighting continued throughout the day. Fresh troops, guns and equipment poured ashore from landing craft and transport of the British and U.S. Navies.
The Allies landed between Syracuse and Catania, according to a Vichy broadcast recorded by Reuters in London. Other Axis reports, relayed from Berne, told of landings at Capo Boeo and in the Trapani area, in the western part of Sicily, and at Gela, in the southeast.
Later enemy reports located the main battle area somewhere between Syracuse and Capo Passero, to the south. They said that heavy fighting was going on at Pachino, while the town of Noto had been captured. Reports from France, quoted by the United Press, said that the Allies were in close contact with Axis troops on the inland edge of the plain between Catania and Syracuse.
In Washington, there were hints of an imminent attack on the Italian mainland itself, while London sources, according to the United Press, said that the attack on Sicily was not to be regarded as “the only landing.” An Associated Press dispatch from Allied headquarters in North Africa said that “other offensives may be in the offing.
It was apparent tonight that, although Sicily was far from conquered, the Allies had scored a signal success in the first day’s operation and that only a very strong and determined counterattack could halt their steady progress north from the southeastern corner, where they had landed on beaches and landing points extending over 100 miles.
Weather unfavorable
A heavy swell in the Sicilian Channel, where the landing craft rolled drunkenly, and unfavorable weather conditions in general did not halt the Allied attack. Almost two months after the eviction of the enemy from Africa, Old Glory and the Union Jack were planted on metropolitan Italian soil.
As the landing craft grated on the beaches, men of the U.S., British, Indian, Dutch, Polish and Greek Navies sent hundreds of shells over the beaches onto the batteries, pillboxes and rifle-pits on which the enemy defense or the bridgeheads depended. But the naval operations did not halt with the thunderous support of the landing forces. “Widespread naval operations” are continuing in the Central Mediterranean area.
The Rome radio, heard by the United Press in London, said that Italian naval forces had gone into action off Sicily and that Italian torpedo-bombers had damaged three invasion transports totaling 29,000 tons.
All the resources of the Allied navies in these waters were thrown into the support of the landing operations. As important, but less glamorous, was the work of the thousands of seamen aboard the transports and landing-craft who brought their ships through a hail of bombs to the appointed places and guided the landing-craft toward the gunfire from the coast.
Most vulnerable area
The Allies landed in what is probably the most strongly defended and certainly the most vulnerable corner of Sicily. For not only are the forces landing on the southeastern corner within striking distance of airdromes like Comiso, which is about 10 miles from the sea, but they are about 60 miles from Catania, the main port on the eastern coast; roughly 55 miles from the mammoth air base at Gerbini – one of the few still in operation – and 30 miles from Syracuse, one of the best ports on the east coast.
The resistance offered to the Allied troops today was stiff. There are a large number of Italian troops, including field and semi-static coastal divisions, and a large number of corps troops, such as coastal defense and anti-aircraft artillery, on the island. These have been stiffened by crack regiments originally intended for Tunisia, but switched to Sicily when the Germans were defeated in Africa.
Despite the fluidity of the tactical situation, it was clear that Anglo-American cooperation in the most difficult of all military operations – a landing on a hostile coast – had denied the enemy the use of Sicily as a submarine and air base and that the Allied troops were driving forward toward the airfields.
The first line of the Sicilian defenses has been pierced. The Germans must now launch counterattacks strong enough to halt the Allies before they can secure any of the large ports through which the remainder of the huge and varied Allied force can pour.
There is every prospect of harder fighting ahead, especially if the Allies push toward the northeastern corner of the island, which, since its main port, Messina, is closest to Italy, is the most important enemy supply area. Messina is guarded by a mountain chain running from east to west across the northern half of the island, a chain that appears to offer the same difficulties as the Tunisian hills.
At 3 a.m. today, U.S., Canadian and British troops, escorted and supported by a strong British naval force and a “token” American squadron and preceded by an armada of Allied planes, began what is believed to be the most important, hazardous and delicate operation yet attempted by the Allies in this war.
Vital to next moves
Not only is the invasion of Sicily the first step in the storming of Europe; its possession will give the Allies military advantages, without which further operations in the Central Mediterranean area would be almost impossible. The fighting in North Africa, for three years, was a struggle for air bases. This is again true in Sicily. Once Allied bombers are taking off from such fields as Gerbini and Comiso, the air battlefront will extend into northeastern Italy and the Adriatic.
The capture of these airfields would remove any remaining threat from the air to Allied convoys passing through the Sicilian Channel.
Hazards explained
The Allied offensive that opened this morning is hazardous and delicate for three reasons. First, the enemy has prepared the defenses of Sicily for just such an attack. Second, strategical surprise – that is, surprising the enemy by the invasion of Sicily – was almost impossible after weeks of very heavy aerial bombardment. Third, tactical surprise – that is, fooling the enemy as to the bridgeheads selected – became impossible at dawn.
There are no reports of any incident like the encounter with a German convoy off Dieppe that ended any chance of tactical surprise there. But it is unlikely that the enemy’s aerial patrols did not sight the vast armada moving toward Sicily during the night.
Allied HQ, North Africa (UP) – (July 10)
Surging ashore from wave on wave of landing craft, U.S., British and Canadian assault troops opened the invasion of Sicily at 3 a.m. today. In the first critical hours of the operation, there were no official details of its progress or even a designation of the landing points and immediate objectives. But, as the hours passed, the feeling of quiet confidence around Allied headquarters indicated that all was going according to plan and the first eyewitness reports of the attack were optimistic.
Reconnaissance photographs of the first stages of the battle, developed at an advanced airdrome, showed a spectacle hardly paralleled in this war as Allied warships laid down vast smokescreens and pummeled shore batteries while the troops scrambled onto Sicily’s rocky headlands. Barge-load after barge-load of troops drove onto the shore under a withering barrage from the coastal guns, which were also turned against Allied destroyers as they ran close inshore to cover the debarkation from transports to landing craft.
Violent aerial bombardment of Sicilian installations continued today. Allied fliers concentrated on the few airdromes still in use by the enemy, and on roads and other communications. They met little opposition.
The Allied fleet bearing the invasion army was made up of hundreds of ships spearheaded by fast destroyers and heavily-armed cruisers, and included a great many of the latest-type landing barges. Many of these latter were understood to be huge tank-landing craft that came over the high seas from Britain or the United States under their own power.
The Allies completed their initial landings without the loss of any ships, the Associated Press reported. The vessels encountered neither submarine nor air attacks.
Under the invasion plan, the first troops ashore would be engineers and sappers carrying automatic arms and Bangalore torpedoes, small pipe-like grenades for blasting breaches in the barbed-wire that the Italians were reported to have planted thickly on the Sicilian shores. The proportion of U.S., British and Canadian troops was not disclosed. Hardened for this battle in prolonged maneuvers in England, the Canadians were believed to include veterans of the bloody clash at Dieppe.
The invasion was a landing operation of a scope unsurpassed in this war or in military history. The Axis invasion of Crete was a thumbnail venture by comparison, while the overrunning of the Pacific Islands by Japan was far simpler because of the weakness of the Allied defenses.
There were no illusions here that the Sicilian campaign would end in a few hours or without a heavy cost. Some 300,000 of Italy’s toughest fighters man the island’s defenses, bolstered by a German shock force of uncertain size, but possibly as many as 100,000 men.
An Allied Force Command post, North Africa (AP) – (July 10)
The Northwest African Air Forces paved the way for Allied landings in Sicily by heavy bombing of the island’s airfields, communications, radio installations and defense emplacements yesterday.
Increased enemy fighter opposition was encountered. Fifteen enemy planes were shot down and others were destroyed on the ground. The Allies lost 10 planes.
Cairo, Egypt – (July 10)
Only a few hours before dusk yesterday, before the Allied invasion force had set sail for Sicily, a flight of U.S. Liberators made a sudden slashing attack on the Axis headquarters on the island, completely demolishing both the general headquarters and the communications buildings at Taormina.
It is probable that the Sicilian defensive nerve center was paralyzed, at least for some valuable hours.
This became known here this morning almost simultaneously with the first details of the invasion.
The bombers unloaded heavy explosives and incendiaries on the San Domenico Hotel, which is believed to house the Axis headquarters, and on the post office building, in which all telephone, telegraph and the communications facilities are established, and completely demolished both by a concentrated series of direct hits, a communiqué said. Huge fires were left burning and a mass of rubble was all that was left, according to returning pilots. The bombers also battered railway tracks at Taormina and the Comiso Airdrome.
Other big bombers attacked the Maleme Airfield, the largest in Crete, where the Germans first established their foothold during that island’s invasion. The attack came only a few days after the British raiders’ landings on Crete. Almost 100 U.S. bombers took part in these sallies and one was lost.
