Sicily taken, Allied fliers batter Italy
306 Axis evacuation boats blasted; fighting ends on island
By Reynolds Packard, United Press staff writer
Allied HQ, North Africa –
Allied planes have opened the Battle of Italy with heavy raids on railroad and highway lifelines into the southern provinces after destroying or damaging 306 evacuation boats in the final round of the Sicilian campaign, it was announced today.
All resistance on Sicily has ended, Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower’s communiqué said, and U.S. and British forces have joined in Messina, whose capture yesterday officially wound up the conquest of the island.
Ahead of timetable
The Sicilian campaign, which lasted slightly over five weeks, was completed ahead of the timetable laid down by Allied commanders, it was announced.
U.S. and Allied bombers and fighter-bombers ranged up the peninsula almost to Naples blasting and strafing bridges and other railway and highway objectives along the route over which the Axis soon must evacuate its troops or reinforce them against an Allied invasion of southern Italy.
Light bombers of the Tactical Air Force rounded out their offensive on Axis evacuation boats in the Strait of Messina yesterday with a series of attacks on disembarkation points on the Italian mainland.
34 vessels destroyed
An official tally for the almost-continuous assault on evacuation craft from Aug. 5 to 17 showed 34 destroyed, 47 knocked out of action by direct hits and 225 damaged severely by near or partial misses. The craft included every type vessel from medium-sized supply ships to barges.
Allied artillery mounted in and around Messina bombarded Axis positions across the Strait of Messina. Axis guns on the mainland were shelling Allied positions in northeastern Sicily.
The Allied conquest of Sicily cost the Axis 167,000 men up to the last week of the whirlwind campaign, it was officially announced today, and the final figure is expected to be about 200,000.
Against the staggering Axis toll, incomplete figures in Allied casualties in the battle for the biggest island in the Mediterranean totaled about 25,000 killed, wounded, captured or missing.
An official summation of the Sicilian battle revealed that 135,000 German and Italian troops were captured and 32,000 killed or wounded up to Aug. 10.
May abandon area
A statement said:
The Sicilian campaign is standing testimony to the supremacy of Allied navies in this area of the Mediterranean, to Allied air supremacy, and to the determination of the Allied land forces to engage and defeat the enemy wherever they may encounter him.
A French report relayed by Madrid said some German units had completed demolition assignments in southern Italy, regrouped, and left by train for Rome – a possible sign of Axis intentions to abandon the exposed part of the peninsula.
Gen. Eisenhower hailed the Sicilian conquest as a “real victory.” He told correspondents at Allied headquarters that he was highly gratified with the results but disappointed over the escape of even “a single German.”
Ahead of schedule
The campaign came to an end on the beaches of Messina “well ahead of schedule,” Gen. Eisenhower said. The campaign was won, he added, when the Allies placed their divisions on the island without substantial losses.
The statement of Axis losses up to Aug. 10 listed 260 tanks and 502 field guns destroyed or taken. Axis planes shot down or captured on the ground up to and on Aug. 12 were 1,013, of which 598 were German.
The official statement said:
Allied armies twice within the last few months inflicted severe defeats on the so-called “invincible” German Army, in each case at very small cost to themselves.
Axis boast empty
The enemy’s proud boast that he would drive the Allied forces into the sea wherever he met them in Europe seems to be as empty as the promise to the German people that not one bomb would fall on their cities.
Gen. Eisenhower revealed that the Axis evacuated all or most of its effectives during the last days of fighting in Sicily. He pointed out that the Strait of Messina is narrow – only two miles wide at the narrowest point – and in the last hours of evacuation, the commanders used Italian troops in a rearguard covering action.
‘Tough, good soldiers’
Gen. Eisenhower said:
As an American, I had as much pride in the 8th Army as any Britisher, and it was gratifying that we had developed an American army which can be its partner.
The American soldiers showed themselves in this campaign to be tough, good soldiers.
He praised Lt. Gen. George S. Patton for personally rallying and leading the Americans against the critical Axis counterattack at Gela soon after the invasion.
Flying Fortresses which penetrated to the Istres-Le Tubé and Salon Airfields near Marseilles, France, yesterday caused great damage among parked planes, it was announced. Only two heavy bombers were lost, while bombs were showered among 150 grounded planes at one field. Six enemy fighters tried to attempt.
Railroad lines battered
Mitchell and Marauder bombers, aided by Lightnings, bombed and strafed railroad lines and highway intersections across the toe of the Italian boot, setting several railway cars and many trucks afire. The Battipaglia yards south of Naples was battered.
Fighter-bombers destroyed nine small enemy evacuation craft last night and other planes scored five direct hits on as many clumsy pontoon barges trying to cross the Strait of Messina.
Eight planes out of a force that attacked the Bizerte area of Tunisia last night were shot down by Allied fighters and anti-aircraft guns.
Nine planes missing
Nine Allied planes were missing from all operations.
Raids by light and fighter-bombers on the Italian coast were concentrated from Reggio Calabria, which was also under fire from light and heavy artillery on Sicily, to Palmi, about 20 miles northward on the main railroad line.