Ferguson: New deal in matrimony
By Mrs. Walter Ferguson
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U.S. extends plane inquiry to war fronts
Check being made of all Curtiss engines delivered to Armed Forces
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Resistance point reduced to rubble by Allied raids
Few of Sicilian villages show scars of war, but Palazzolo feels full fury of attack
By Ned Russell, representing the combined American press
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Millett: Fellows ‘too old to fight’ find new dangers in life
They’re restless because being out of uniform deprives them of measure of respect
By Ruth Millett
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Roving Reporter
By Ernie Pyle
Aboard a U.S. Navy ship of the invasion fleet – (by wireless, delayed)
Our ship has been in African waters many months but this invasion is the first violent action its crew has ever been through. Only three or four men, who’d been torpedoed in the Pacific, had ever before had any close association with the probability of sudden death.
I’ve come to know a great many of the sailors aboard and I know they went into this thing just as soldiers go into the first battle – seemingly calm but inside frightened and sick with worry. It’s the lull in the last couple of days before starting that hits you so hard. In the preparation period, your fate seems far away and once in action you are too busy to be afraid. It’s just those last couple of days when you have time to think so much.
The night before we sailed, I sat in the darkness on the forward deck helping half a dozen sailors eat a can of stolen pineapple. Some of the men of our little group were hardened and mature. Others were almost children. They all talked seriously and their gravity was touching. The older ones tried to rationalize how the law of averages made it unlikely that our ship out of all the hundreds in action would be hit.
‘If I get through alive–’
They spoke of the inferiority of the Italian fleet and argued pro and con over whether Germany has some hidden Luftwaffe up her sleeve she might whisk out to destroy us. Younger ones spoke but little. They talked to me of their plans and hopes for going to college or getting married after the war, always epilogued by the phrase:
If I get through this fracas alive.
As we sat there on the hard deck, squatting in a circle around our pineapple can like Indians, we all seemed terribly pathetic to me. Even the dizziest of us knew that within less than 48 hours, many of us stood an excellent chance of being in this world no more. I don’t believe one of us was afraid of the physical part of dying. That isn’t the way it is.
Your emotion is rather one of almost desperate reluctance to give up your future. I suppose that seems like splitting hairs and that it really all comes under the heading of fear, yet somehow to us, there is a difference.
These gravely yearned-for futures of men going into battle include so many things – things such as seeing “the old lady” again, of going to college, of staying in the Navy for a career, of holding on your knee just once your own kid whom you’ve never seen, of becoming again champion salesman of your territory, of driving a coal truck around the streets of Kansas City once more and, yes, even of just sitting in the sun once more on the south side of a house in New Mexico.
Ernie eavesdrops
When you huddle around together on the dark decks on your last wholly secure night, it’s these little hopes and ambitions that make up the sum total of your worry at leaving rather than any visualization of physical agony tomorrow.
Our deck and the shelf-like deck above us were dotted with little groups huddled around talking. You couldn’t see them but you could hear them. I deliberately listened around for a while. Every group was talking in some way about their chances of survival. A dozen times, I overheard this same remark:
Well, I don’t worry about it because I look at it this way. If your number’s up, then it’s up and if it ain’t, you’ll come through no matter what.
Every single person who expressed himself that way was a liar and knew it but, hell, a guy has to say something on the last night. I heard oldsters offering to make bets at even money we wouldn’t get hit at all and 2 to 1 we wouldn’t get hit seriously. Those were the offers but I don’t think any bets were actually made.
Somehow it seemed sort of sacrilegious to bet on your own life.
Simple, undramatic patriotism
Once I heard somebody in the darkness start cussing and give this answer to some sailor critic who was proclaiming how he’d run things:
Well, I figure that Captain up there in the cabin has got a little more in his noggin than you have or he wouldn’t be Captain, so I’ll put my money on him.
And another sailor voice chimed in with:
Hell, yes, that Captain has slept through more watches than you and I have spent time in the Navy.
And so it went on that last night of safety. I never heard anybody say anything patriotic like the storybooks have people saying. There was philosophizing but it was simply and undramatic. I’m sure no man would have stayed ashore if given the chance. There was something bigger than the awful dread that would have kept them there. With me, it was probably an irresistible egotism in seeing myself part of the historic naval movement. With others, it was, I think, just the application of plain, ordinary, unspoken, even unrecognized, patriotism.
So… Just like Britain… Why didn’t they put Brits here? They would love this place
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La Stampa (July 16, 1943)
La battaglia nella Sicilia Meridionale –
Le nostre truppe respingono ostinati attacchi sferrati dal nemico con largo appoggio di mezzi corazzati
Reparti paracadutisti prontamente annientati nella piana di Catania – Altri quattro piroscafi per 27 mila tonnellate affondati da nostri aerosiluranti, un incrociatore e due mercantili danneggiati – 14 aerei abbattuti
Il Quartier Generale delle Forze Armate ha ieri diramato il seguente Bollettino N. 1146:
In Sicilia, la pressione avversaria viene contenuta dalle truppe dell’Asse, che hanno respinto ostinati attacchi sferrati con largo appoggio di mezzi corazzati.
Nella plana di Catania nuclei di paracadutisti sono strati prontamente annientati.
Nei combattimenti di questi giorni ai sono distinti il 10.o Reggimento Bersaglieri, la 207.a Divisione costiera e la Divisione germanica «Hermann Göring».
Alla battaglia, che continua aspra e serrata, portano il loro concorso valido ed ininterrotto gli aviatori dell’Asse ed in particolare gli arditi nostri aerosiluratori che hanno ieri affondato quattro altri piroscafi per 27.000 tonnellate e danneggiato un incrociatore pesante e due mercantili di medio tonnellaggio.
Obiettivi navali e terrestri sono stati pure battuti, con efficaci risultati, da bombardieri nostri e tedeschi.
Cacciatori germanici abbattevano nel cielo dell’isola cinque «Spitfire»; due altri velivoli precipitavano in mare colpiti dal tiro di dragamine tedeschi.
Formazioni aeree hanno effettuato incursioni su Palermo, Messina e su Napoli e dintorni, causando danni sensibili ad edifici civili e facendo vittime fra le popolazioni.
Risultano distrutti dalle batterie della difesa sei quadrimotori a Messina e uno a Napoli.
In Mediterraneo un cacciatorpediniere è stato colato a picco da una nostra motosilurante.
Le vittime causate dalla incursione su Torino, citata dal Bollettino n. 1144, sono salite a 402 morti e 601 feriti.
La motosilurante che ha affondato un cacciatorpediniere nemico nell’azione segnalata dal Bollettino odierno, è al comando del sottotenente di vascello Antonio Tedeschi, da Bologna.
Völkischer Beobachter (July 16, 1943)
Wieder 336 Sowjetpanzer und 70 Flugzeuge im Osten abgeschossen –
Trotz Schlechtwetters weiter schwere Kämpfe
dnb. Aus dem Führer-Hauptquartier, 15. Juli –
Das Oberkommando der Wehrmacht gibt bekannt:
Trotz Verschlechterung der Wetterlage halten die schweren Kämpfe an der Ostfront an. Im Raum von Bjelgorod wurde eine weitere feindliche Kräftegruppe im konzentrischen Angriff zerschlagen und erneute, jedoch mit schwächeren Kräften als an den Vortagen geführte Gegenangriffe unter hohen Verlusten abgewiesen.
Östlich und nördlich Orel setzte der Feind seine von Panzern und Schlachtfliegern unterstützten Angriffe auch gestern fort. Die Versuche der Sowjets, die deutschen Stellungen zu durchstoßen, scheiterten blutig. Sofort eingeleitete Gegenangriffe sind im erfolgreichen Fortschreiten.
Im Gesamtabschnitt der großen Schlacht wurden gestern erneut 336 Sowjetpanzer vernichtet und von der Luftwaffe 70 feindliche Flugzeuge abgeschossen.
Die Kämpfe in Südsizilien halten mit unverminderter Heftigkeit an. An mehreren Stellen wurden feindliche, von Panzern unterstützte Angriffe zurückgeschlagen und hinter der deutsch-italienischen Front gelandete feindliche Fallschirmjägereinheiten vernichtet.
Deutsch-italienische Luftstreitkräfte fügten dem Feinde weiter empfindliche Verluste an Schiffsraum zu. Eine größere Anzahl Kriegs- und Transportschiffe wurde versenkt oder beschädigt.
Starke feindliche Bomberverbände griffen gestern vormittag das Gebiet um Paris und einige Orte in Nordwestfrankreich an. Die Bevölkerung hatte Verluste. Im Verlaufe heftiger Luftkämpfe und durch Flakabwehr wurden 22 Feindflugzeuge, darunter 14 schwere nordamerikanische Bomber, abgeschossen. Fünf deutsche Jagdflugzeuge gingen verloren.
In der vergangenen Nacht flogen einzelne feindliche Störflugzeuge ins nördliche Reichsgebiet ein und warfen wahllos einige Bomben.
Die militärische Lage auf Sizilien –
Ruhige und sachliche Beurteilung in Italien
Eigener Bericht des „Völkischen Beobachters“
al. Rom, 15. Juli –
Die politischen und militärischen Beobachter Italiens fahren fort, die militärische Lage in Sizilien mit kaltblütigem Realismus der Öffentlichkeit darzustellen, ohne dabei naturgemäß auf Einzelheiten einzugehen, deren Kenntnis dem Feind nützlich sein könnte. Sie stimmen darin überein, daß die vom Gegner aufgebotenen Mittel alle Erwartungen bei weitem übertroffen haben und auch zu dem unmittelbar militärischen Objekt Sizilien nicht im Verhältnis stehen.
Pavolini stellt im Messaggero fest, daß es sich hier offenbar um die totalen Invasionsversuche handelt. Alle bekanntgewordenen Zahlen deuteten darauf hin, daß England und Amerika sich auf eines der größten Landungsunternehmen eingelassen hätten, das die Geschichte kennt. Seine Feststellungen bedeuten natürlich nicht, daß man sich in Italien durch das gegnerische Aufgebot aus der Ruhe bringen läßt. Sie dienen in erster Linie dazu, dem Lande den bisherigen Verlauf der Kämpfe klarzumachen, die nach einem Kommentar des Popolo d’Italia in die zweite Phase eingetreten sind, nachdem der Gegner die erste Phase, die Landung, verhältnismäßig rasch hat überwinden können. Um sie zu verhindern, wäre es erforderlich gewesen, die verteidigenden Verbände entlang der gesamten Küste einzusetzen. Gerade das aber hätte bedeutet, das Spiel des Gegners zu spielen, der nach der Vernichtung der Küstenverteidigung den Weg ins Innere frei gefunden hätte.
Im Regime Fascista kennzeichnet Farinacci die Lage mit folgenden Sätzen:
Es ist logisch, daß eine Landung, die unter Einsatz starker Luft- und Seestreitkräfte durchgeführt wird, zu einem augenblicklichen Erfolg bestimmt ist. Es ist auch möglich, daß, von der schweren Schiffsartillerie und ihren Bombern unterstützt, die Angreifer zweier Erdteile um einige Kilometer ins Innere der Insel eindringen. Aber dann wird die Lage für sie erheblich schwieriger, sobald die Streitkräfte der Achse sich an den strategischen Punkten konzentrieren und die feindlichen Truppen mit allen zur Verfügung stehenden Kräften angreifen. Das Problem des Nachschubs wird dann immer schwieriger werden und die Verluste, die den gegnerischen Transportschiffen zugefügt werden, immer erheblicher werden.
Auf der anderen Seite dient die realistische Sprache der faschistischen Presse dem Zweck, die europäische Öffentlichkeit auf die über den Rahmen Italiens hinausgehende Bedeutung des Sizilien-Unternehmens hinzuweisen. In diesem Zusammenhang findet der Einsatz der deutschen Truppen auf Sizilien besonders nachdrückliche und dankbare Unterstreichung. General Bolati schreibt im Giornale d’Italia, der Kampf in Sizilien, der sich weit entfernt von der deutschen Südgrenze abspiele, lege den deutschen Soldaten Blutopfer auf, die ihnen unter Umständen erspart geblieben wären.
Die Formeln „Zwei Völker im Kampf“ und „Mit dem Freund bis ins Ende marschieren“ finden heute an den Küsten und auf den Bergen Siziliens ihre höchste Verwirklichung. Das bereits gemeinsam vergossene Blut und das Blut, das in Zukunft gemeinsam vergossen werden wird, bringt die beiden größten europäischen Völker einander noch näher und läßt sie in einem einzigen großen Ideal miteinander verschmelzen, für das jedes von beiden sich im Interesse der gemeinsamen Ziele opfert.
Einen Tag nach der englisch-amerikanischen Landung fand in Rom eine Kundgebung statt, die zwar in keinem unmittelbaren Zusammenhang mit diesem Ereignis steht, aber dennoch einen wesentlichen Bestandteil der totalen Mobilmachung bildet, mit der Italien auf die Bedrohung des heimatlichen Bodens antwortet.
Einer Gruppe von jungen Studenten, die sich freiwillig zur Leistung des Arbeitsdienstes in Fabriken gemeldet hatten, wurden feierlich die Ausweise des Industriearbeiterverbandes überreicht. Die studierende Jugend ist in Italien immer der Träger revolutionärer Gedankengänge gewesen. Die Verbundenheit zwischen Studentenschaft und Arbeiterschaft ist deshalb im gegenwärtigen Augenblick eine Tatsache von besonderer Bedeutung. Darauf wies auch der neue Staatssekretär im Korporationsministerium, Contu, hin, der auf dieser Veranstaltung eine kurze Ansprache hielt.
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Allied HQ, North Africa (July 16, 1943)
Communiqué:
Navy.
Catania Airfield has again been heavily bombarded from the sea.
Strong naval forces continued to give support on the right flank of the Army.
One of our destroyers operating north of Augusta has sunk one E-boat and probably damaged or sunk a second.
The work of disembarking troops and their supplies is proceeding smoothly.
Ground forces.
Bitter fighting took place, especially in the eastern sector, where the 8th Army made further progress against German troops, who desperately contested every inch of the ground.
Severe losses were inflicted on the enemy in the western sector. The 7th Army advanced several miles across the difficult hill country and captured further important positions.
The following towns can now be added to the list of towns captured by the Allied forces: Bagni, Vizzini, Vittoria, Niscemi, Campobello, Palma di Montechiaro, Sortino, Modica, Comiso, Biscari, Riesi and Canicattì.
The speed of the advance is very satisfactory, but transport and supporting weapons are of necessity limited during the present stages. Little damage has been done by the enemy to communications.
Air Communiqué:
On the night of July 14-15, our bombers attacked the docks and railway communications at Naples and airdromes in the vicinity of the city. The attacks were continued yesterday on communication points and industrial targets at Naples by forces of heavy bombers. Many bombs burst in the target area and numerous fires were started.
The docks at Palermo were bombed during the night by medium bombers, and fighter-bombers by day and light bombers by night continued the attack on road and rail communications throughout Sicily. Paternò, a point of focal communications, was attacked during the day by medium bombers.
Sweeps and patrols by our fighter aircraft were maintained throughout the day over Allied ships and our land forces. During the night, our intruder aircraft carried out operations over southern Italy and Sicily.
Twelve enemy aircraft were destroyed by our night fighters, one enemy merchant vessel was sunk by our torpedo aircraft, four enemy aircraft were destroyed during the day’s operations.
Seven of our aircraft are missing.
U.S. Navy Department (July 16, 1943)
Communiqué No. 442
North Pacific.
On July 15, during the early morning, a U.S. light surface unit bombarded Japanese positions in Gertrude Cove on Kiska. The enemy did not return the fire.
Memorandum to the Press:
The following information has been announced in the Southwest Pacific:
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The USS GWIN (DD-433), a 1,630‑ton destroyer, which was damaged in the second battle of the Kula Gulf early in the morning of July 13, sank later while being towed to an Allied base.
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During the afternoon of July 15, 27 Mitsubishi bombers, escorted by about 40 or 50 Zeros and other fighters, were intercepted over Rendova by 44 U.S. fighter planes. 15 Japanese bombers and 30 Zeros were shot down. 3 U.S. pilots did not return to their base.
Press Release
For Immediate Release
July 16, 1943
U.S. Escort Carrier “B” attacks 11 submarines: 2 sure kills; 4 very probables; 4 probables
A U.S. “baby flattop” escort carrier, designated Escort Carrier “B” for the purpose of this report, recently returned to port bringing with it a thrilling story of continuous and aggressive action against Nazi submarines.
Planes of “Carrier B,” by the speed and teamwork of their attacks, working in close harmony with U.S. destroyers and anti-subsurface craft, chalked up the remarkable record, according to preliminary estimates, of two “certain kills” (prisoners were taken), four “very probably kills,” and four “probable kills” in attacks on a total of 11 submarines. All ships in the convoys protected by Escort Carrier “B” reached their destinations undamaged. It is believed that this record of defense and attack over a similar period of time has not been equaled by any other vessel in the history of anti-submarine warfare.
Message of President Roosevelt and Prime Minister Churchill to the people of Italy
July 16, 1943, 7:00 a.m. EWT
At this moment the combined armed forces of the United States and Great Britain under the command of Gen. Eisenhower and his Deputy Gen. Alexander are carrying the war deep into the territory of your country. This is the direct consequence of the shameful leadership to which you have been subjected by Mussolini and his Fascist regime.
Mussolini carried you into this war as the satellite of a brutal destroyer of peoples and liberties. Mussolini plunged you into a war which he thought Hitler had already won. In spite of Italy’s great vulnerability to attack by air and sea, your Fascist leaders sent your sons, your ships, your air forces, to distant battlefields to aid Germany in her attempt to conquer England, Russia, and the world. This association with the designs of Nazi-controlled Germany was unworthy of Italy’s ancient traditions of freedom and culture – traditions to which the peoples of America and Great Britain owe so much.
Your soldiers have fought not in the interests of Italy but for Nazi Germany. They have fought courageously, but they have been betrayed and abandoned by the Germans on the Russian front and on every battlefield in Africa from El Alamein to Cape Bon. Today Germany’s hopes for world conquest have been blasted on all fronts. The skies over Italy are dominated by the vast air armadas of the United States and Great Britain. Italy’s seacoasts are threatened by the greatest accumulation of British and Allied sea power ever concentrated in the Mediterranean.
The forces now opposed to you are pledged to destroy the power of Nazi Germany – power which has ruthlessly been used to inflict slavery, destruction, and death on all those who refuse to recognize the Germans as the master race. The sole hope for Italy’s survival lies in honorable capitulation to the overwhelming power of the military forces of the United Nations. If you continue to tolerate the Fascist regime which serves the evil power of the Nazis, you must suffer the consequences of your own choice. We take no satisfaction in invading Italian soil and bringing the tragic devastation of war home to the Italian people. But we are determined to destroy the false leaders and their doctrines which have brought Italy to her present position.
Every moment that you resist the combined forces of the United Nations – every drop of blood that you sacrifice – can serve only one purpose: to give the Fascist and Nazi leaders a little more time to escape from the inevitable consequences of their own crimes. All your interests and all your traditions have been betrayed by Nazi Germany and your own false and corrupt leaders; it is only by disavowing both that a reconstituted Italy can hope to occupy a respected place in the family of European Nations.
The time has now come for you, the Italian people, to consult your own self-respect and your own interests and your own desire for a restoration of national dignity, security, and peace. The time has come for you to decide whether Italians shall die for Mussolini and Hitler – or live for Italy, and for civilization.
The Pittsburgh Press (July 16, 1943)
Surrender of Italy demanded by Allies
Die for Il Duce or live for homeland, people told in message
By Merriman Smith, United Press staff writer
Washington –
President Roosevelt and Prime Minister Winston Churchill today served on the Italian people a life-or-death demand that they overthrow their leaders and made peace or suffer the consequences of invasion and total war at home.
Die for Mussolini and Hitler – or live for Italy, and for civilization.
That was the keynote of the message that was drummed into Italian ears by all available United Nations radio stations and put before Italian eyes on millions of pamphlets dropped by Allied air forces over the length and breadth of the Italian peninsula.
The message clearly threatened invasion of the mainland – presumably as soon as Sicily is in hand – unless Italy surrenders.
Although no time limit was set, Mr. Roosevelt and Mr. Churchill offered the Italian people but one alternative to capitulation – to suffer “the tragic devastation of war.”
The message emphasized that the air over Italy is dominated by vast numbers of Allied planes. They were dropping pamphlets today, but it could be blockbusters tomorrow.
And the Italian seacoasts are threatened by “the greatest accumulation of British and Allied sea power ever concentrated in the Mediterranean,” the message said.
Again and again, the message emphasized that it was the Fascist leaders of Italy who had “betrayed” the Italian people. Italy’s present plight is:
…the direct consequence of the shameful leadership to which you have been subjected by Mussolini and his Fascist regime.
As a prelude to the “last chance” appeal, swarms of Allied planes last night attacked Naples and northern Italy for the second time in three nights. And, of course, for days, the Axis propagandists have been preparing the Italian people for the loss of Sicily, where Allied armies are striking into that island’s vitals ahead of schedule.
The Roosevelt-Churchill message was made public simultaneously here and in London and Algiers at 7 a.m. EWT. At that moment, the pamphlets were being dropped on Italy and radios were beginning to beam the message to Italy.
Despite the lack of a time limit on the demand for capitulation, the message – with its description of the Allied might poised at Sicily implied that the United Nations would not wait long.
Mr. Roosevelt and Mr. Churchill have repeatedly hammered at the theme that they believe the Italian people to be the victims of that “jackal,” that “black-hearted Italian,” as Mr. Churchill has called Mussolini.
During Mr. Churchill’s last visit to Washington in May, he appealed to the Italians to revolt against their leaders. Early in June, on the morning of the fall of the Italian island of Pantelleria, Mr. Roosevelt again urged the Italians to revolt.
The joint message to the Italians today warned that they must disavow both the German Nazi leaders and their own “false and corrupt leaders” as the only way for “a reconstituted Italy can hope to occupy a respected place in the family of European nations.”
No promises were held out for the Italians – such as food. The message was devoid of any commitments concerning the future of Italy – such as the type of leaders and government to follow Mussolini.
Likewise, it avoided any statement that would preclude the use of Italian bases to carry the war to the German homeland.
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John Roosevelt sees action near Sicily
Algiers, Algeria –
Lt. John Roosevelt, son of the President, participated in the Sicilian operations, the U.S. Army field newspaper Stars and Stripes disclosed today.
He was one of the officers aboard a U.S. destroyer protecting the Gela landing, the paper said.
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BIG BATTLE RAGES CLOSE TO CATANIA
British Army 15 miles from Sicilian port
Over 20,000 prisoners, many tanks, guns captured
By Edward Gilling, representing combined Allied press
15th Army Group Command Post, Sicily, Italy (UP) –
The enemy fought fiercely on Thursday to prevent the 8th Army from entering Catania Plain and there was exceptionally heavy fighting on the read north from Augusta before our armored units broke through.
Later motorized infantry followed through after overcoming the stiffest Axis defenses.
This suggested that the 8th Army had broken through to the Catania Plain and was advancing northward after a big battle in the Lentini sector, 15 miles south of Catania.
All day Thursday, the enemy, mostly Germans, put up the stiffest resistance to hold up our advance toward Catania.
By Virgil Pinkley, United Press staff writer
Allied HQ, North Africa –
The fiercest battle of the Sicilian campaign raged only 15 miles south of the east coast port of Catania today after Allied forces had smashed through Vizzini in a see-saw battle on the central front and Americans seized the road junction of Canicattì on the western flank.
Capturing more than 20,000 prisoners and many tanks and guns, the Allied offensive surged forwards against increasingly desperate Axis resistance as Gen. Sir Bernard L. Montgomery’s 8th Army fought its way into the Lentini area on the edge of the Catania Plain and beat back heavy counterblows in which the Nazi Hermann Göring Division suffered severely.
Delayed dispatches from Sicily said Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower was at the front but it was not immediately clear whether these reports referred to his earlier visit.
Gen. Montgomery, who told correspondents that he was “quite satisfied” with progress so far, hurled his veterans northward from Augusta to the mountainous and narrow Lentini front, where the enemy had massed considerable strength for a counterattack. The reformed Nazi 15th Panzer Division as well as the Hermann Göring Division were in action. But the 8th Army smashed back everything they could offer at the edge of the plain.
At last reports, heavy fighting was still in progress near the edge of the plain and only 15 miles from Catania port, which is the key to the Axis lines protecting Messina, 60 miles farther north at the toe of the Italian boot.
Today’s communiqué told of the capture of 13 additional towns (some of which had been reported occupied yesterday) and field dispatches disclosed important gains all along the front, including extension of the western flank in hard fighting by the U.S. 7th Army under Lt. Gen. George S. Patton Jr.
In the center of the line, which is now between 30 and 40 miles inland at some points, the Allied forces plunged northward from Vizzini, which changed hands five times before the Axis was finally ousted for good.
The Americans, who had taken 15,992 prisoners in all, pushed forward over difficult terrain in the Naro or extreme western sector near Agrigento and captured Canicattì, which is a road junction only 15 miles from the key town of Caltanissetta, in the middle of Sicily.
Smash 10 tanks
The Americans knocked out at least 10 Mark IV tanks, which are equipped with long-barreled 75mm guns, and inflicted heavy losses on the enemy. The American gains were more than four miles and at some points, patrols advanced still farther. A large part of the prisoners captured were Germans.
The Allied advance continued with support of powerful aerial bombardment extending to Palermo, Messina, Naples and other bases in southern Italy and with the aid of naval forces which ranged along the east coast and shelled Catania.
Allied air forces operating from Sicilian fields ranged the length and breadth of the island in support of ground troops, laying down a “rolling barrage” of bombs to soften up Axis resistance.
Royal Canadian Air Force headquarters in Ottawa announced that a Canadian air squadron is operating in Sicily under command of Maj. Gen. James A. Doolittle.
Axis planes scarce
Field dispatches said Axis planes were so scarce on some front sectors that ground forces found it unnecessary to use the foxholes which they had dug hurriedly.
A dispatch from United Press correspondent Donald Coe, at an advanced case, said:
Instead of enemy planes, there are now patrols of Allied aircraft sweeping the sky for hours without encountering opposition.
The communiqué indicated that allied aerial domination was continuing to increase as the ground troops plowed ahead.
The communiqué also announced capture of Riesi, 168 miles northeast of Licata, and Niscemi Airdrome, about the same distance northeast of Gela. These advances extended the American front well inland from the south coast.
Seize Vizzini
Vizzini, a road junction 22 miles east of Caltagirone, was also occupied, while U.S. troops took over Palma di Montechiaro, on the south coast west of Licata.
Other towns taken were: Canicattì, Bagni, Vittoria, Campobello, Sortino, Modica, Comiso and Biscari airdrome, some of which had been previously reported seized.
It was believed the enemy might have decided to fight a rearguard action all the way back to the northeastern tip of Sicily, making the best possible use of the mountainous area across the base of the northeastern strip running from Catania through Mt. Etna to the northern coast, probably around Capo d’Orlando.
The key to the whole campaign, however, may depend on what happens in the next few days on the Catania Plain, since the fall of Catania would endanger the whole Axis line and threaten to cut it off from the Italian mainland.
The Allied naval forces supporting the 8th Army ranged all along the coast and a destroyer operating north of Augusta sank one enemy torpedo boat and probably damaged or sank another.
Both sides were using tanks in the east coast, where the Germans have some of their big 60-ton vehicles in action.
The German communiqué today said that the Allies suffered heavy losses in tanks” south of Catania and that Axis planes successfully attacked Allied shipping, sinking or damaging several transports to boost the total of invasion vessels sunk to 52.
The German radio said that two Allied cruisers, five destroyers, one submarine, two other warships and 27 merchantmen were sunk in the first two weeks of June in the Mediterranean. In addition, many other ships, including 18 cruisers, were damaged and 426 planes shot down, the Nazis claimed.
Allies capture Mubo in Guinea
45 Jap planes destroyed over Rendova
By Brydon C. Taves, United Press staff writer
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The Wallace-Jones row –
Feudists get Roosevelt tax in war setup
Office of Economic Warfare is created with Leo Crowley as chief
By Lyle C. Wilson, United Press staff writer
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