Editorial: Victories abroad, defeats at home
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Yanks play rough –
The Japs die hard in jungle trap as tanks close in
U.S. troops on New Georgia Island again beat foe at own game, destroying force surrounded on beach
By Ira Wolfert
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Roving Reporter
By Ernie Pyle
Southern Sicily, Italy – (by wireless)
On our first morning in Sicily, I stopped to chat with the crew of a big howitzer which had just got dug in and camouflaged. The invasion was only a few hours old but in our sector, it was nearly over.
This gun crew was digging foxholes. The ground was hard and it was very tough digging. Our soldiers were mad at the Italians. One of them said in real disgust:
We didn’t even get to fire a shot.
Another one said, “They’re gangplank soldiers” – whatever that means.
Their attitude expressed the disappointment of lots of our soldiers. Our troops had been through such keen and exhaustive training they were worked up to a violent pitch and it was an awful letdown to find nothing to take it out on.
Dieppe veteran sore
I talked with one Ranger who had been through Dieppe, El Guettar and other tough battles, and he said this was by far the easiest of all. He said it left him jumpy and nervous to get trained to razor-edge and then have the job fizzle out, the poor fellow, and he was sore about it!
That Ranger was Sgt. Murel White, a friendly blond fellow of medium size, from Middlesboro, Kentucky. He has been overseas a year and a half. Back home he has a wife, and a five-year-old daughter. He used to run his uncle’s bar in Middlesboro and he says when the war is over, he’s going back, drink the bar dry, and then just settle down behind it for the rest of his life.
Sgt. White and his commanding officer were in the first wave to hit the shore. A machine-gun pillbox was shooting at them and they made up hill for it, about a quarter of a mile away. They used hand grenades. White said:
Three of them got away, but the other three went to Heaven.
Since the invading soldiers of our section didn’t have much battle to talk about, they looked around to see what this new country had to offer, and you’d never guess the most commented-upon discovery among the soldiers that first day.
No, it wasn’t signorinas, or beer, or Mt. Etna. It was that they found fields of ripe tomatoes! And did they eat them! I heard at least two dozen men speak of it during the day, as though they’d located gold. Others said they found some watermelons, but I couldn’t find any.
I hitched a ride into the city of Licata with Maj. Charles Monnier, of Dixon, Illinois, Sgt. Earl Glass, of Colfax, Illinois, and Sgt. Jaspare Taormina of 94 Starr St., Brooklyn. They are all engineers.
Sgt. Taormina was driving and the other two held Tommy guns at ready, looking for snipers. Taormina himself was so busy looking for snipers that he ran right into a shell hole in the middle of the street and almost upset our jeep.
Sick of Nazi browbeating
Taormina is of Sicilian descent. In fact, his father was born in a town just 20 miles west of Licata and for all he knows his grandmother is still living there. The sergeant can speak good Italian, so he talked to the local people on the streets. They told him they were sick of being browbeaten and starved by the Germans and the reason they put up such a poor show in our sector was that they didn’t want to fight.
They said the Germans had lots of wheat locked in granaries in Licata and they hoped we would unlock the buildings and give them some of it.
Before the sun was two hours high our troops had built a prisoner-of-war camp, out of barbed wire, on the rolling hillsides, and all day, long groups of soldiers and civilians were marched up the roads and into the camps.
At the first camp I came to, about 200 Italian soldiers and the same number of civilians were sitting around on the ground inside the wire. There were only two Germans, both officers. They sat apart in one corner, disdainful of the Italians. One had his pants off and his legs were covered with Mercurochrome where he had been scratched. Civilians even brought their goats into the cages with them.
After being investigated, those who were harmless would be turned loose. The Italian prisoners seemed anything but downhearted. They munched at biscuits, asked their American guards for matches. As usual, the area immediately became full of stories about prisoners who’d lived 20 years in Brooklyn and who came up grinning, asking how things were in dear old Flatbush.
Völkischer Beobachter (July 22, 1943)
Kühner deutscher Schnellbootangriff auf Syrakus
Aus dem Führer-Hauptquartier, 21. Juli –
Das Oberkommando der Wehrmacht gibt bekannt:
Am Mius und am mittleren Don versuchte der Feind auch gestern, mit starken Infanterie- und Panzerkräften unsere Abwehrfront vergeblich zu durchbrechen. Heftige feindliche Angriffe und Vorstöße wechselten mit eigenen Gegenangriffen. Die Kämpfe dauern an.
Auch im Raum von Orel nahm vor allem östlich und nördlich der Stadt die schwere Abwehrschlacht ihren Fortgang. Im südlichen Teil dieses Frontabschnittes wurden auf breiter Front vorgetragene Angriffe der Sowjets blutig abgeschlagen, örtliche Einbrüche abgeriegelt.
Am gestrigen Tage vernichteten unsere Truppen 133 Sowjetpanzer.
In der Zeit vom 5. bis 19. Juli wurden in den harten Angriffs- und Abwehrkämpfen an der Ostfront 45.172 Gefangene eingebracht, 4.827 Panzer durch Verbände des Heeres, der Waffen-SS und Flakartillerie der Luftwaffe abgeschossen und mehrere hundert weitere Sowjetpanzer durch fliegender Verbände der Luftwaffe vernichtet, Außerdem wurden 2.201 Geschütze sowie 1.080 Granatwerfer erbeutet oder vernichtet. In der gleichen Zeit wurden 2.344 Sowjetflugzeuge abgeschossen.
Im Schwarzen Meer versenkte ein deutsches Unterseeboot einen Frachter von 2.000 BRT. und in der Kronstadtbucht wurde durch Küstenbatterien der Kriegsmarine ein Schleppzug in Brand geschossen. Mit seiner Vernichtung kann gerechnet werden.
Unter dem Schutze dichten Nebels unternahm der Feind in der Nacht zum 20. Juli mit stärkeren Kräften einen Landungsversuch an der nordnorwegischen Küste bei Vardö. Im sofort einsetzenden zusammengefaßten Feuer aller zur Verteidigung der Küste eingesetzten Einheiten des Heeres, der Kriegsmarine und der Luftwaffe brach das Landungsunternehmen des Feindes völlig zusammen. Der Gegner mußte sich unter Verlusten in dichtem Nebel zurückziehen.
Im Westabschnitt der sizilianischen Front führten deutsch-italienische Kampfgruppen vom Feind unbehindert die befohlenen Bewegungen planmäßig durch. Im Ostabschnitt wurden zahlreiche Angriffe britischer Truppen abgewiesen und örtliche Einbrüche im sofortigen Gegenstoß bereinigt.
Im Kampf gegen die feindliche Transportflotte wurden auch gestern wieder gute Erfolge erzielt. Bei dem schon gemeldeten Angriff eines Verbandes schwerer deutscher Kampfflugzeuge auf Malta in der Nacht zum 20. Juli wurden Anlagen des Hafens La Valetta in Brand geworfen und Bombentreffer auf sieben großen feindlichen Transportschiffen, von denen. mindestens zwei als vernichtet anzusehen sind, erzielt.
Ein deutscher Schnellbootverband führte eine nächtliche Unternehmung gegen den vom Feinde besetzten Hafen von Syrakus durch und versenkte in überraschendem Angriff zwei Zerstörer und einen Dampfer von 3.000 BRT. Ein weiteres großes Schiff wurde durch Torpedotreffer schwer beschädigt.
Die Kämpfe auf Südsizilien –
Wachsende schwere Verluste der Landungstruppen
dnb. Berlin, 21. Juli –
In Südsizilien traten auch am 19. Juli deutsche und italienische Truppen dem mit starken Infanterie- und Panzerkräften vorstoßenden Feind wirksam entgegen. Bereits am Vortag hatte der Gegner in die Verteidigungslinien einzubrechen
Zur Fortführung seiner Vorstöße zog er weitere Kräfte heran und trat nach heftiger Artillerievorbereitung im Raum südlich und westlich Catania erneut zum Angriff an. Als der Ansturm am Westflügel im Abwehrfeuer unter schweren Verlusten zum Erliegen kam, verlegte der Gegner den Schwerpunkt weiter nach Osten, um südwestlich von Catania an drei verschiedenen Stellen unter Einsatz erheblicher, von Panzern unterstützter Kräfte unsere Linien zu durchstoßen. Nur an einer Stelle gelang dem Feind ein örtlicher Einbruch, der aber im sofortigen Gegenstoß bereinigt wurde. Die übrigen Angriffe scheiterten bereits im Abwehrfeuer unter Abschuß von 19 schweren Panzerkampfwagen des Feindes.
Bei Nacht griffen deutsche Kampfflugzeuge feindliche Schiffe im Seegebiet von Augusta mit guter Wirkung an. Sie versenkten durch Bombentreffer einen Frachter von über 10.000 BRT. und beschädigten sechs Einheiten mit zusammen 25.000 BRT. schwer. Weitere Treffer lagen zwischen stilliegenden Transportern und Landungsbooten. Italienische Flieger waren ebenfalls erfolgreich. Sie versenkten durch Bombentreffer einen feindlichen Munitionsfrachter von 12.000 BRT. und beschädigten einen schweren Kreuzer sowie ein großes Transportschiff.
Schwere Panzerverluste des Feindes
dnb. Rom, 21. Juli –
Das Hauptquartier der italienischen Wehrmacht gibt bekannt:
Im Mittelabschnitt der sizilianischen Front räumten die Achsentruppen nach schweren Kämpfen Caltanisetta und Enna und besetzten neue Stellungen.
Vom 10. bis 20. Juli wurden 228 feindliche Panzer zerstört und etwa hundert beschädigt, außer den vielen Panzern, die der Feind während der Landeoperation verlor.
Flugzeuge unseres fünften Kampfsturmes führten einen kühnen Angriff auf den Hafen von Augusta durch, wo ein Handelsschiff großer Tonnage und ein Transporter schwer getroffen wurden. Zwei feindliche Flugzeuge wurden im Luftkampf abgeschossen. Drei unserer Flugzeuge kehrten nicht zurück. Schwere deutsche Bomber griffen in der Nacht zum 20. Juli den Hafen von Malta an. Die Hafenanlagen und sieben Handelsschiffe wurden getroffen. Zwei der Handelsschiffe sind als versenkt anzusehen.
Deutsche Schnellboote versenkten in den Gewässern von Sizilien zwei Zerstörer und einen Dampfer von 3000 BRT. Außerdem torpedierten sie ein Handelsschiff mittlerer Größe. Alle Einheiten kehrten zu ihrem Stützpunkt zurück.
Feindliche Angriffe auf Neapel und Orte in Campanien, Calabrien und Sardinien verursachten geringe Schäden und wenig Opfer. Die Flak schoß zwei Flugzeuge bei Neapel ab, eines in der Nähe von Salerno und eines in der Umgebung von Decimo (Provinz Cagliari).
Erst Terrorbomben – dann Falschmeldungen –
Leugnungsversuch stellt die Verbrecher
Eigener Bericht des „Völkischen Beobachters“
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The Pittsburgh Press (July 22, 1943)
AXIS DEFENSES IN SICILY COLLAPSE
Fleet shells Crotone port in South Italy
Planes also raid harbor; Naples rail facilities blanketed by bombs
Allied HQ, North Africa (UP) –
A strong force of surface ships shelled the port of Crotone in southern Italy in the early hours of Wednesday, it was announced today.
The London radio said British warships carried out the naval attack on Crotone, setting numerous fires and withdrawing without damage or casualties.
Crotone is an Ionian Sea port near the southwesterly edge of the Gulf of Taranto, which lies in front of the heel of the Italian boot.
Announcement of the naval bombardment of Crotone followed an Allied communiqué revealing that targets there had been “well covered” with bombs in an air raid.
In Springfield, Illinois, Senator Scott W. Lucas (D-IL), a member of the Senate Naval Affairs Committee, said that he expected an Allied army to be fighting “in Italy within 10 days’ time.”
Ranging far up to Grosseto, 90 miles north of Rome, U.S. Flying Fortresses scored on runways and among airdrome buildings in an attack yesterday and intruder planes kept up the continual battering of internal Italian communications last night.
Meet little opposition
The big U.S. bombers met only one enemy fighter and little anti-aircraft fire, raining their explosives at will on the Grosseto Airdrome.
2nd Lt. Reynolds Baggio of Los Angeles described the raid as “monotonous” because of the spiritless opposition over Grosseto.
British Wellington bombers laid carpets of bombs on Naples rail and dock facilities, cutting deeply into vital Axis supply routes, and on the Crotone Airfield, where seven grounded aircraft were left burning.
Five Axis planes downed
The airdrome raids were designed to destroy as many enemy planes as possible at the least cost to the Allies. The day’s toll in air combat was five enemy planes destroyed against loss of two Allied aircraft.
Allied planes continued their assaults against Sicily in front of advancing land forces on a day-and-night basis.
An Italian communiqué broadcast by Rome radio said an airdrome at Rome was raided this morning and that Salerno on the mainland and Cagliari on Sardinia had been attacked during the past 24 hours in addition to Naples.
Yanks advance 55 miles
Americans near Marsala, also 15 miles from north coast
By Virgil Pinkley, United Press staff writer
Bulletin
London, England –
The Algiers radio said tonight that U.S. and Canadian troops had occupied heights dominating the northern seacoast of Sicily.
Allied HQ, North Africa –
Axis defense collapsed rapidly in central and western Sicily today as U.S. and Canadian Armies captured 18 more towns and slashed through Castelvetrano to within 22 miles of the westernmost tip of the island while other columns pushed swiftly toward the north coast.
At Washington, Acting Secretary of War Robert P. Patterson said the Americans had advanced about 20 miles beyond Castelvetrano and were in the outskirts of Marsala, on the westernmost tip of Sicily. This was an advance of 55 miles in less than three days.
The fall of Castelvetrano gave the Allies one of the most important airfields in Sicily, which had been used by the Axis for air patrol over the Sicilian Strait.
The British 8th Army was still locked in furious battle at Catania, but the rest of the allied lines surged forward at the rate of a mile-an-hour in some sectors, with the Americans driving nearer to Termini and Palermo on the north coast.
Large enemy elements were believed isolated in the western part of Sicily. The Americans were last reported 15 miles from the north coast.
The swiftest advance was made by the Americans, who covered 35 miles in 36 hours as they swept Menfi on the south coast and captured Castelvetrano, only 22 miles from Marsala at the western end of the island.
Among the other towns captured were:
WESTERN SICILY: Bivona, 37 miles east of Castelvetrano and 20 miles north of Agrigento; San Stefano village, near Bivona (not the San Stefano on the north coast); Ribera, 20 miles east and south of Castelvetrano; Casteltermini, 45 miles east of Castelvetrano; Caltabellotta, 10 miles north of Sciacca and 25 miles east of Castelvetrano.
CENTRAL SICILY: Santa Caterina, 10 miles northwest of Caltanissetta; Mussomeli, 18 miles northwest of Caltanissetta; Campo Francos, 14 miles west of Caltanissetta; Marianopoli, 12 miles northwest of Caltanissetta; Pietra Perzia, five miles south of Caltanissetta; Piazza Armerina, 18 miles southeast of Caltanissetta; Mirabella, 20 miles southern of Caltanissetta.
EASTERN SICILY: Ramacca, 22 miles southwest of Catania; Mineo, 28 miles southwest of Catania; Patagonia, 24 miles southwest of Catania.
Field dispatches indicated that the northernmost point reached by the Americans in the western part of the island was about 15 miles south of Palermo. The capture of Palermo or Termini, both on the north coast, would break the last Axis communications lines in the north and split the island in two.
The Allied advances exceeded the most optimistic pre-invasion expectations. It was understood that the Axis forces threatened with isolation in the western and northern parts of Sicily were almost all Italian, as the Germans had withdrawn toward the northeast corner of the island where a final stand, based on Mt. Etna, was expected. The Italian forces left behind were reported to lack modern weapons in many instances and the American advance was meeting little resistance except at few points.
The Allies now hold more than half of Sicily, most of the good airdromes and some 400,000 prisoners, as well as vast quantities of war material seized in good condition.
The Italian 26th Division was surrendering piecemeal in western Sicily with many reports of Italians shooting German officers who attempt to prevent them from surrendering.
One group of Italians which shot their Nazi officers came over to the Allied lines carrying white flags, smiling and singing.
The Allied advance has now pushed forward on an average inland depth of 35 miles from the coast and the Americans have extended their western flank from 50 to 60 miles.
Axis holds corridor
The fall of the Enna communications center in mid-Sicily hastened the German withdrawal northeastward toward Messina. The enemy still had a narrow corridor on the north coast for movement of troops eastward, but this was being closed steadily.
Radio Algiers said that Palermo, Marsala and Trapani appeared to have been abandoned by the Axis.
Axis reinforcements to stiffen the northeastern defenses were apparently still arriving. Many paratroopers were being put into the frontline defenses by the enemy.
The London radio reported that allied paratroopers had been landed behind Catania, putting that east coast port under attack from three sides.
The Battle for Catania continued with unabated ferocity. The British 8th Army inflicted heavy casualties on the Germans and made some progress.
The crack Hermann Göring Division, the 15th German Panzer Division and paratroop elements were reported taking full advantage of the natural defenses offered by three large rivers and innumerable rushing streams in a so-far futile effort to stem the slow, but steady British 8th Army advance.
An Algiers broadcast said the fall of Catania could be expected hourly with the situation of defending troops becoming desperate at all points.
Canadian troops were hammering forward in the central sector, between the American and British flanks, against what the communiqué called “determined resistance.”
Record bombing shatters defenses at Jap-held port
Waves of U.S. planes drop 133 tons of bombs on Bairoko, New Georgia Island
By Brydon C. Taves, United Press staff writer
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