Operation HUSKY (1943)

G.I. shoes and dog tags identify bomber survivor

Otherwise Ohio sergeant looks like native after passing through enemy lines in 15-day trek
By C. R. Cunningham, United Press staff writer

Mistretta, Sicily, Italy – (July 31, delayed)
The slender fellow was a blond, wore G.I. shoes and dog tags but the rest of him looked native Sicilian, including the green-checked shirt.

He told Capt. Paul Gale as the officer came out of his headquarters here:

Honest, captain. I’m an American. Here, see my dog tags. I’m in the Air Corps.

Capt. Gale took the fellow to a casualty clearing station. He identified himself as Sgt. Arthur P. Rohr, 21, of Lewisville, Ohio, and downed five plates of sauerkraut, a whole chicken and a bottle of wine.

Then he said:

Boy, I was lonely. For 15 days, I was lonely.

Only survivor

He had lived with Sicilians, slept on hillsides and moved through enemy lines for 15 days before he met the advancing Americans.

He is the only survivor of a bomber lost near Mt. Etna, and he doesn’t know how he managed to get out. The plane caught fire.

He said:

I ran to escape through the trap and pulled the release but it wouldn’t open. I jumped on the hatch, which you aren’t supposed to do because if you go out that way you might get caught in the slipstream. I guess that’s what happened to me.

Head aches

He must have struck his head on the fuselage because he remembered nothing more until he awoke with the sun high in the sky. He was on a mountain slope. His head ached, was cut and bloody. Near him was his tangled parachute. How it opened he doesn’t know.

He said:

I started out to find my ship, but the Italians beat me to it. I finally saw it. It had crashed all night, but a lot of Italian soldiers were around it and some more were digging a big hole a little distance away. I looked around and then decided to get the hell out of there.

Starts south

St. Rohr started south toward the British line. Unable to speak Italian, he tried a single word on a native he met. It was “aqua.” He got both food and water and that night, he slept on a hillside.

He said:

I tried to sleep but it was cold. I was lonely, boy, I was lonely and I thought about back home on the farm and my girl, Martha Owen, down at Hastings, West Virginia. You may not think there’s a God, but I’m telling you, I thought about Him plenty.

He stayed there for seven days and the Italian who first had fed him, continued to feed him. Hearing guns in the distance, he started off toward them. An Italian shepherd gave him the clothes he reached Mistretta in – “and the pants were so dirty they could stand by themselves.”

Meets deserters

He said:

I cruised around in the mountains and met two Italian deserters heading for the American lines. We made a three-day hike and those Italians like to have walked hell out of me. They were going too fast.

One day he ran into a family of Sicilians who helped him.

The father of the family heard about the Americans reaching Mistretta and brought Sgt. Rohr in on a mule.

1 Like

Völkischer Beobachter (August 4, 1943)

Neuer Terrorangriff auf Hamburg

dnb. Aus dem Führer-Hauptquartier, 3. August –
Das Oberkommando der Wehrmacht gibt bekannt:

Am Kubanbrückenkopf wurden mehrere Angriffe der Sowjets blutig abgewiesen. Der eigene Angriff nördlich Kuibyschewo wurde erfolgreich fortgesetzt. An der Donezfront brachen mehrere mit schwächeren Kräften geführte feindliche Angriffe zusammen. Im mittleren Frontabschnitt, vor allem südwestlich Orel, setzte der Feind seine Durchbruchsversuche unter Einsatz neuer starker Infanterie-, Panzer- und Fliegerkräfte fort. Unsere heldenhaft kämpfenden Truppen wehrten alle feindlichen Angriffe ab und gewannen, von der Luftwaffe unterstützt, vorübergehend verlorengegangenes Gelände im Gegenangriff zurück. Abermals wurde eine große Zahl von Sowjetpanzern vernichtet.

Auch südlich des Ladogasees traten die Sowjets nach heftiger Artillerievorbereitung mit starker Fliegerunterstützung erneut zum Angriff an. Sie wurden in harten Nahkämpfen und zum Teil im Gegenstoß unter schweren Verlusten abgewiesen.

An der Ostfront verloren die Sowjets am 1. und 2. August in Luftkämpfen und durch Flakabwehr 227 Flugzeuge.

Auf Sizilien standen unsere Truppen besonders im mittleren Abschnitt der Front in schweren Abwehrkämpfen. Unter sehr hohen blutigen Verlusten und erheblichem Materialausfall brachen die Angriffe zum Teil in Nahkämpfen zusammen. Eine vorübergehend in eine Höhenstellung eingebrochene feindliche Kampfgruppe wurde im Gegenstoß zurückgeworfen.

Auch im südlichen Abschnitt der Front hat die Kampftätigkeit wieder erheblich zugenommen. Schnelle deutsche Kampfflugzeuge griffen in die Erdkämpfe ein und bombardierten Panzer- und Kraftfahrzeugansammlungen des Feindes im Raume von Nicosia.

Der Feind verlor gestern im Mittelmeerraum 21 Flugzeuge.

Nach vereinzelten Tagesvorstößen feindlicher Luftstreitkräfte in die besetzten Westgebiete und an die norwegische Küste bombardierten die Briten in der vergangenen Nacht erneut das Stadtgebiet von Hamburg und die weitere Umgebung. Wieder entstanden Verluste unter der Bevölkerung und erhebliche Zerstörungen. Nach bisher vorliegenden Meldungen wurden bei diesen Angriffen 27 feindliche Flugzeuge abgeschossen.

Bei einem überfall britischer Torpedo- und Bombenflieger auf ein deutsches Geleit schossen Sicherungsfahrzeuge und die Bordflak von Handelsschiffen zehn Flugzeuge ab. Weitere vier feindliche Flugzeuge wurden von Einheiten der Kriegsmarine über dem westeuropäischen Küstengebiet vernichtet.

Der am 2. August gemeldete feindliche Luftangriff auf das rumänische Ölgebiet erweist sich mehr und mehr als ein schwerer Mißerfolg. Die Verluste des Feindes haben sich bisher auf 52 gezählte Abschüsse erhöht. 15 feindliche Bomber sind nach Auslandsmeldungen auf neutralem Gebiet notgelandet. Damit ist nach unseren Feststellungen allein über die Hälfte des gestarteten Verbandes nicht zurückgekehrt. Der wirkliche Verlust des amerikanischen Bombergeschwaders wird aber noch weit darüber liegen.

Gescheiterte Durchbruchsversuche auf Sizilien

dnb. Berlin, 3. August –
In Sizilien entwickelten sich neue örtliche Kämpfe auf der ganzen Front zwischen Catania und San Stefano. Am nördlichen Küstenstreifen tasteten sich die nordamerikanischen Verbände nur mit großer Vorsicht weiter vor. Sie stehen immer noch im Vorfeld der deutschen Widerstandslinie und haben die Gefechtsberührung mit ihr noch nicht herstellen können. Trotz Einsatz von Minensuchtrupps hatten die vorfühlenden Nordamerikaner empfindliche Verluste durch hochgehende Sprengladungen.

Auch südlich Catania waren die Briten wieder aktiver, ohne jedoch an unsere günstigen Verteidigungsstellungen herankommen zu können. Unsere Artillerie brachte die Vorstöße schon im Vorfeld der deutsch-italienischen Linien zum Scheitern. Die heftigsten Kämpfe spielten sich am mittleren Abschnitt im Raum nordöstlich von Enna ab. Den wiederholten, vom Feind gerade hier mit starken Kräften unternommenen Durchbruchsversuchen traten unsere Truppen in energischen Gegenstößen wirksam entgegen. Am Vortage hatten sich hier Kanadier durch Einsatz erheblicher Kräfte und unter Hinnahme beträchtlicher Verluste einer Höhe bemächtigen können. Am 1. August traten jedoch unsere Verbände überraschend zum Gegenstoß an und warfen den Feind aus der Bergstellung wieder heraus. In den harten, durch die ungewöhnliche Hitze erschwerten Kämpfen hatten die Kanadier sehr hohe Ausfälle.

Der Feind hat aber seine Absichten, unsere Front nordöstlich von Enna zu durchstoßen, um dadurch die unangreifbaren Stellungen am Nordrand der Ebene von Catania in der Flanke und im Rücken zu fassen, noch keineswegs aufgegeben. Im Laufe des Nachmittags griff er daher mit frischen Infanterie- und Panzerverbänden, die durch starkes Artilleriefeuer und zahlreiche Fliegerstaffeln unterstützt wurden, den langgestreckten Bergrücken hart nördlich der Linie Gerbini – Enna an verschiedenen Punkten an. In mehrstündigen erbitterten Kämpfen, die auch die Nacht über andauerten, schlugen unsere Truppen, denen Luftwaffenverbände helfend zur Seite standen, den Feind immer wieder blutig zurück.

20 Flugzeuge abgeschossen

Der italienische Wehrmachtbericht vom Dienstag lautet:

In Sizilien dehnte der Feind seine Angriffe auf den Südabschnitt der Front aus, wo heftige Kämpfe im Gange sind.

In den Gewässern Südkalabriens kam es zu einem Gefecht zwischen unseren Schnellbooten und feindlichen Einheiten, die abgewiesen wurden.

Die Stadt Neapel und Umgebung sowie zahlreiche Ortschaften auf Sizilien und Sardinien waren das Ziel feindlicher Luftangriffe. Sechs feindliche Bomber wurden von der Bodenabwehr abgeschossen, darunter zwei über Neapel, zwei über Messina und zwei über Cagliari. Zwei „Spitfires“ wurden von deutschen Jägern über Sizilien zum Absturz gebracht.

Zwölf zweimotorige Flugzeuge wurden über Sardinien im Verlauf von wiederholten Luftkämpfen von den tapferen Jägern unseres 51. Sturms vernichtet.

1 Like

The Pittsburgh Press (August 4, 1943)

Axis lines ripped apart, collapse in Sicily near

Yanks seize another city, drive within 55 miles of Messina
By the United Press

Two major Allied victories appeared to be ripe for the plucking today – the smashing of diehard Axis resistance in Sicily and the capture of the key German defense bastion of Orel on the Russian front.

Land, sea and air assaults in Sicily were rolling back the Etna Line and ripping apart the defenses of the Messina apex of the big Italian island. Military sources believed the end of the campaign was near, and said it would probably be as sudden as the Axis collapse in Tunisia.

Russia reported that a German army, estimated at 250,000, was in general retreat from the Orel salient, and a gloom-laden Nazi communiqué told of powerful Red Army attacks all along the southern front. It barely mentioned Orel, but clearly intimated that more bad news was brewing on the Eastern Front.


By Virgil Pinkley, United Press staff writer

Screenshot 2022-08-04 002747
Allied troops push ahead in Sicily, with Americans capturing Caronia, near San Stefano on the north coast, and driving on westward towards Messina, only 60 air miles away, and British Imperial forces now occupying Agira and Catenanuova on the Mt. Etna front. There were indications the Axis might seek to make a stand on a line from San Agata on the north coast to Cesarò, 16 miles to the south. Allied warships were pounding enemy attempts to reinforce their lines.

Allied HQ, North Africa –
A terrific Allied land, air and sea bombardment was levelled today against the receding Axis defenses on the northeastern tip of Sicily as American doughboys captured Caronia on the northern coast and drove six miles beyond it to within 55 miles of Messina.

U.S. and British warships up to cruisers shelled enemy reinforcements and supplies moving up to the front along the northern and eastern coasts, while heavy concentrations of land artillery hammered at German and Italian defense positions. Allied planes kept up unrelenting attacks on the whole Axis-held area.

British forces on the central front have smashed a German tank thrust and resumed their advance, it was announced. British, U.S. and Canadian troops were driving hard through the mountains toward the foot of Mt. Etna, threatening to dissolve the enemy’s defense line around the volcano.

Naples bombed again

Meanwhile, British Wellington bombers subjected Naples, Italy’s biggest port, to its third raid in 36 hours Monday night to give added weight to Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower’s warning that Italy’s failure to capitulate would bring death and destruction to its cities.

Ground forces made “very satisfactory progress” yesterday, Gen. Eisenhower’s communiqué reported and front dispatches said that fighting along the British-Canadian front south and southwest of Mt. Etna was so intense that the Germans for the first time have abandoned their dead in the battlefield as they fell back under relentless pressure.

A Berlin communiqué today said that German and Italian troops in Sicily were “outnumbered several times,” and their “big defensive successes” were scored in difficult terrain and unfavorable weather.

Americans advance

Lt. Gen. George S. Patton Jr’s U.S. 7th Army rolled up advances yesterday of up to six miles through hills and valleys, driving before them German and Italian forces believed preparing for a major stand along a line stretching from San Agata on the north coast, 11 miles east of Caronia, to Cesarò, 16 miles to the south.

The advances engulfed both Caronia Marina on the coast and Caronia itself, one mile inland.

A German communiqué broadcast by Berlin radio said that U.S. divisions attempted “again and again” to break through the Axis central front, but were thrown back each time with heavy losses.

U.S. cruisers and destroyers aided the American coastal drive by bombarding enemy defenses and roads, over which reinforcements and supplies were being rushed to the front.

Catenanuova, 21 miles west of Catania, fell to the Canadians yesterday after being bypassed by a column that captured Centuripe, five miles to the northeast, 24 hours earlier.

Nazi tanks smashed

German tanks from the Hermann Göring Division lashed out in a counterattack a few miles southeast of Catenanuova, but were repulsed by British infantry who destroyed three of them, including one 60-ton “Tiger.”

Agira, 11 miles northwest of Catenanuova, changed hands several times in dingdong fighting yesterday before the Canadians finally consolidated their positions in the city and pushed on well beyond it.

The communiqué said:

Bitter fighting has taken place in this sector, and the enemy has had heavy casualties inflicted on it.

Patrol activity increased on the plain just south of Catania as the opposing forces tested each other’s defenses while further inland other British forces pushed forward in some cases several miles.

Navy is big help in Sicily drive

Allied HQ, North Africa –
The complete coordination between the three breaches of the Allied services which has especially marked the Sicilian campaign, has been well illustrated by naval activities since start of the big offensive here on Sunday.

Along the northern coast of Sicily, as the Americans steadily fight their way eastward, the U.S. Navy has been bombarding the coastal road along which the enemy is retreating. Our fleet’s guns are shelling the enemy’s positions constantly.

Up in the triangle still held by the Axis, the enemy’s supply position is being made more difficult by PT-boat operations between Sicily and the mainland.

On Saturday night, before our offensive started, British light coastal craft met Axis E-boats off Cape Armi – at the toe of Italy – and engaged them in brisk battle. At least one E-boat was damaged before low visibility caused our boats to break off contact.

The pattern of air bombing continued yesterday as on Monday, with medium and light bombers making return visits to Adrano, Nazi communications center, to enemy positions around the town, and to roads leading to it.

1 Like

Lone American captures city, ‘saves bullets’

Private walks through Yank artillery barrage to get to area
By C. R. Cunningham, United Press staff writer

With a U.S. reconnaissance platoon, Cerami, Sicily, Italy – (Aug. 1, delayed)
One man walked through the American artillery barrage and captured this town Friday. He wanted to “save the division some ammunition.”

He is tall, blond Pvt. Edmund Wheeler, former New York City bank clerk, from Old Chatham, New York. He belongs to this super reconnaissance outfit which goes in ahead of regular reconnaissance units.

Pvt. Wheeler was on a reconnaissance mission about three miles from Cerami when “I went forward and got lost.”

He said:

Our mission was to locate a German self-propelled artillery piece on our right flank, but the damned thing must have been moved. We kept getting higher and higher in the mountain and when I got lost, I remembered the division’s objective was Cerami.

Sights patrol

Our artillery was working ahead of me and I wanted to save them some ammunition if possible. As I got closer to the town on the southeast flank, I saw a man folding a blanket. I knew he must have been a soldier because no civilian would fold a blanket. Then I saw a four-man patrol going into the town to the east.

By now, it was getting dark and I saw a house about the three-quarters of a mile outside the town and when I approached it, I heard a lot of kids talking. I went to the house and the Italian family gave me a royal reception, shouting “Americano, Americano.”

I shivered in my boots because I knew there were Heinies about and I thought the shouts would give me away.

There was one old guy there who was drunk. He spoke English and yelled “Hello, American soldier,” and I had trouble quieting him down.

This family kept talking to me and fed me eggs, cheese and goat’s milk and then asked me if I wanted to sleep there. I agreed if they promised to wake me at 4 a.m. But shortly after midnight, I was awakened by the roar of our artillery which had started again.

I grabbed my gun and made for the door, where a man and a woman had been on guard. They suddenly lighted a lamp which lighted me up like a Christmas tree. I dropped to the floor and scooted to a dark corner like a woodchuck, where I quit shaking and slept another couple hours.

Then again, the artillery started up and the old people told me it was American. The people just lay in bed whimpering but being a soldier, I started looking for a foxhole. They gave me a sort of hood – I must have looked like the shadow – and I found a hole and crawled in.

Captures town

Early in the morning, I heard a heavy explosion followed by the noise of trucks and figured the Heinies were pulling out, so I went back to the house. The old guy had sobered up and I sent them into town to look around.

He came back and said the Heinies had gone, but the Americans still were shelling. I started for town. I figured maybe I could send a message back saying I was in the town and that the shelling should be stopped and reinforcements sent in.

The only German in the town was a straggler. I made him a prisoner and as I started out of the town with him, I ran into the 9th Division. I stopped at the house and they were tickled to see my prisoner. Then I started hitchhiking back to my outfit.

I sure had a lot of fun.

2 Likes

Launching of Sicily drive from Malta base revealed

Tense moment for Eisenhower as ‘strongest wings’ endangered airborne forces is described
By Reynolds Packard, United Press staff writer

Allied HQ, North Africa –
On the night that Allied armies invaded Sicily, an American staff car marked with the four stars of a general stopped beside a road on the island of Malta.

Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower stepped out in the moonlight and gazed up at the sky where engines of a great airborne assault fleet thundered defiance to the strongest winds of the Mediterranean summer.

It was the tensest moment of an unprecedented invasion. Unexpected winds threatened disaster to glider and parachute troops; kicked up big waves that dangerously rocked the naval invasion forces already at sea. There may have been a time that night when a postponement was considered by the high command, which officials announced today was based on the bomb-battered island of Malta.

Invaders soar away

But Gen. Eisenhower, looking up into the moonlit sky, saluted the paratroopers smartly and turned back to his car. The invasion army soared on under direction of the American commander-in-chief, Gen. Sir Harold Alexander, Adm. Sir Andrew Browne Cunningham and Air Mshl. Sir Arthur Tedder.

It was revealed that Gen. Eisenhower carefully checked the wind velocity during those first tense hours of the campaign, aware that too much speed would case the paratroopers and gliders to overshoot their marks, confronting them with many additional hazards.

American-made windmills, imported years ago, served as a gage for the American commander and those who stood with him that night told today how he smiled reassuringly when the velocity of the wind died down as the hours wore on.

Seasickness too

Members of the Allied staff told correspondents that the winds which endangered the glider and paratroop operations also caused havoc with the stomachs of both soldiers and sailors, whipping the Mediterranean into a heaving sea. As a result, many results went ashore in landing barges, seasick. But they carried on with their job.

In a message to Air Vice Mshl. Sir Keith Park, commanding officer of the RAF on Malta, Gen. Eisenhower paid high tribute to the aid given to the Allied campaign in Sicily by the Malta Air Force.

The morning after the invasion, the Allied commanders watched cheering throngs of war-toughened island citizens parade. To them, it meant the end of prolonged, persistent day-and-night bombings by planes based in Sicily and Italy.

Malta praised

Gen. Eisenhower was said to have been visibly impressed with Malta’s stand, first on the receiving end of Axis bombings which drove many of the island’s 270,000 inhabitants to live in rock-robbed caves which once held galley slaves, and finally as the taking-off place and headquarters for operations against Sicily.

In a statement on Malta’s role in the war, Gen. Eisenhower said:

Malta is symbolic of the experience of the United Nations in this war. Malta has passed through successive stages of woeful unpreparedness, tenacious endurance, intensive preparations, and the initiation of a fierce offensive. It is resolutely destined to maintain the rising crescendo of the attack until the whole task is complete.

1 Like

‘Damned Americans’ shoot all time, Nazis complain

Harassed Germans do virtually all the defensive fighting in Sicily; Italians turn on them
By Richard Mowrer

With the 7th Army in Sicily, Italy –

These damned Americans fight all day and all night, and shoot all the time.

This phrase, taken from a German letter that was never mailed, adequately sums up the German soldier’s estimate of what he is up against in Sicily; numerous and aggressive Americans and lots of artillery fire, not to mention that of automatic weapons.

The Germans are fighting practically alone. Italian opposition is virtually nonexistent on the U.S. 7th Army’s front in northern Sicily.

Our troops meet some Italians, but they are few in number. Most of them are Blackshirt troops, who, since the fall of Mussolini, have been ordered to discard their Fascist Blackshirts for the uniform of the regular Italian Army.

Nazis in bad hole

Some Italian artillery forces are still supporting the Germans. But in the actual fighting line, it’s the Germans who are doing the fighting, with determination, skill and mounting desperation.

The Germans here are in a bad situation. They have the powerful U.S. 7th and British 8th Armies opposite them and the Allied air forces over their heads, and they are fighting at the deep extremity of the country of their Italian allies, who are close to collapse and whose troops do not want to fight anymore.

The Italians are even beginning to turn on the Germans. The Germans have complained of Italians firing on them, and stories of anti-German sabotage by Italian soldiers are becoming common. The Italians never liked their Nazi allies much, and now they resent them because they feel that the Germans are prolonging the war. As long as the Germans fight, at least on Italian soil, they are an obstacle to the peace which most Italians want more than anything else.

Advantage in defense

The Germans have had one advantage of fighting defensive actions in very rugged terrain. Being on the defensive, they could fortify heights and survey terrain for their artillery which we have had to attack. But they are up against superior odds.

They have had several divisions in Sicily, but these were not all full strength. The ghost of the old 15th Panzers, which surrendered to the British 8th Army in Tunisia, has appeared on this front. It now consists partly of Slovenes, Poles and Frenchmen from annexed territories.

What the Germans call the 15th Panzers is really “the phony 15th,” as far as we are concerned. In the estimate of U.S. officers who fought in Tunisia, the Germans in Sicily are not as tough as those they were up against in Africa.

Few airfields left

The Germans are up against a superior air force. Their own has been forced off Sicily to the extent that they have only a few landing strips on it, and no permanent airfields. Since Sunday, their planes have been more active, but never on a large scale.

By day, the Nazis limit themselves to the use of fighters equipped to carry bombs. Their bombers operate mostly at night.

Our artillery has been and continues to be very effective. The Germans do not like it at all. They have lost heavily to our artillery, which has blasted them repeatedly out of good positions.

Matter of hours

The Germans tried hard to maintain a continuous front from the north to the eastern shores of Sicily. So far, they have had the advantage of being in possession of high points along Mt. Etna’s slopes, which give them command of the surrounding country. But it I snow only a matter of hours, high-ranking American officers believe, until the Germans will be forced back so far that their continuous line will be divided in two by Etna.

Meanwhile:

The damned Americans are fighting all day and all night, and shooting all the time.

2 Likes

Völkischer Beobachter (August 5, 1943)

Die Bedeutung der Schlucht um Mius –
Bolschewistischer Großangriff wurde zur schweren Niederlage

Neuer großer Abwehrerfolg auf Sizilien

dnb. Aus dem Führer-Hauptquartier, 4. August –
Das Oberkommando der Wehrmacht gibt bekannt:

In der Schlacht am Mius haben Infanterie- und Panzerverbände des Heeres und der Waffen-SS unter Führung des Generalfeldmarschalls von Manstein und des Generals der Infanterie Hollidt mit vorbildlicher Unterstützung der von General der Flieger Deßloch geführten Luftwaffenverbände wiederholte Durchbruchsversuche starker feindlicher Kräfte vereitelt und im schwungvollen Gegenangriff den nördlich Kuibyschewo eingebrochenen Feind geschlagen. Bis zum 2. August wurden in diesen Kämpfen 17.895 Gefangene eingebracht, 730 Panzer, 703 Geschütze und 398 Granatwerfer sowie zahlreiche andere Waffen und umfangreiches Kriegsmaterial erbeutet oder vernichtet. Die Verluste des Feindes an Toten betragen ein Vielfaches der Gefangenenzahl.

An der Donezfront und im Raum von Bjelgorod versuchte der Feind mit mehreren Infanteriedivisionen und Panzerverbänden bei starker Fliegerunterstützung die Front zu durchbrechen. Während der Durchbruchsversuch am Donez aufgefangen und die Sowjets im sofortigen Gegenangriff zurückgeworfen wurden, sind die harten Kämpfe bei Bjelgorod noch nicht abgeschlossen.

An der Orelfront setzten die Bolschewisten ihre heftigen Angriffe mit Schwerpunkt südwestwärts der Stadt fort. Sie wurden unter Vernichtung vieler Panzer überall blutig abgewehrt. Starke Verbände der Luftwaffe griffen zusammen mit ungarischen Kampffliegern in die Kämpfe des Heeres ein und bombardierten Tag und Nacht Eisenbahnziele sowie Ausladungen im rückwärtigen Gebiet des Feindes.

Auch südlich des Ladogasees brachen feindliche Angriffe mit Panzer- und Schlachtfliegerunterstützung vor unseren Stellungen zusammen.

Fliegende Verbände und Flakartillerie der Luftwaffe vernichteten gestern an der Ostfront eine große Anzahl sowjetischer Panzer und schossen 118 feindliche Flugzeuge ab. In den beiden letzten Tagen wurden an der Ostfront 261 Panzer allein durch Einheiten des Heeres und der Waffen-SS vernichtet.

Im Seegebiet von Murmansk versenkten schnelle deutsche Kampfflugzeuge zwei feindliche Küstenfrachter und ein sowjetisches Schnellboot.

Auf Sizilien haben deutsche und italienische Truppen erneut in tagelangen schweren Kämpfen gegen einen vielfach überlegenen Gegner und bei schwierigsten Gelände- und Klimaverhältnissen einen großen Abwehrerfolg errungen. Nordamerikanische Divisionen versuchten immer wieder den mittleren Abschnitt der Front zu durchbrechen. Alle Angriffe scheiterten jedoch unter schwersten Verlusten an Menschen und Material. In der Zeit vom 10. bis 31. Juli wurden durch unsere auf der Erde kämpfenden Truppen 309 britisch-nordamerikanische Panzer vernichtet. Fliegende Verbände, Flakartillerie der Luftwaffe und Verbände des Heeres schossen im gleichen Zeitraum im Mittelmeerraum 199 Flugzeuge ab, davon allein 132 über Sizilien.

Bei Tagesvorstößen schwächerer feindlicher Fliegerverbände in die besetzten Westgebiete wurden neun Flugzeuge zum Absturz gebracht.

Sicherungsstreitkräfte der Kriegsmarine versenkten in mehrstündigen Gefechten nördlich Terschelling ohne eigene Ausfälle drei britische Schnellboote und beschädigten ein weiteres so schwer, daß mit seinem Verlust zu rechnen ist. Ein fünftes Schnellboot wurde in Brand geschossen.

Gescheiterte Durchbruchsversuche

dnb. Rom, 4. August –
Der italienische Wehrmachtbericht vom Mittwoch lautet:

Die heftigen Kämpfe, die seit vier Tagen an der sizilianischen Front wüten, haben im Mittelabschnitt zwischen Regalbuto und Centuripe einen besonders erbitterten Charakter angenommen. In diesem Frontabschnitt sind durch den fest entschlossenen Widerstand der Truppen mehrere mit starken Kräften ausgeführte Durchbruchsversuche des Gegners erfolgreich zurückgeschlagen worden.

Die Luftwaffe hat an den Bodenkämpfen teilgenommen und feindliche Bodenziele und Schiffe angegriffen.

Im östlichen Ionischen Meer wurden von deutschen Jägern drei „Liberator“-Maschinen zerstört und von unseren Minenräumbooten zwei zweimotorige Flugzeuge vernichtet.

Italienische Feststellungen –
Kapitulation wäre Schande und Elend

Italienische Pressestimmen stellen heraus, daß die bedingungslose Kapitulation, die England und Amerika von Italien fordern, den gegenwärtigen und allen künftigen Geschlechtern Italiens den Stempel der Schande aufdrücken würde.

Tribuna schreibt, das italienische Volk sei nicht so, wie der Feind annimmt. An der Seite Deutschlands gehe der Krieg weiter. Italien halte sein gegebenes Wort. Lavoro Italiana erklärt, das ganze Volk stehe im Krieg und blicke auf Sizilien. Italien könne die Grenzen der Ehre nicht verlassen, ohne sich selbst für immer zu beflecken und ohne das Recht auf den Respekt der freien Völker zu verlieren.

Tapfere Flak auf Sizilien

dnb. Berlin, 4. August –
Flakbatterien der Luftwaffe haben sich auf Sizilien gemeinsam mit den Verbänden des Heeres mit besonderer Tapferkeit geschlagen. Eine bei Porte Empedocle eingesetzte schwere Flakbatterie schlug sechs Tage lang, bis zum Ausfall der letzten Kanone, sämtliche Landungsversuche der Briten und Nordamerikaner an dieser Stelle ab. Die Flakkanoniere wichen keinen Meter zurück, auch dann nicht, als der Feind mit schweren und schwersten Schiffsgeschützen auf die Stellung dieser einzigen Flakbatterie einhämmerte.

Auch der britisch-amerikanischen Luftwaffe fügten unsere Flakartilleristen empfindliche Verluste zu. So wurden in der Zeit vom 10. Juli bis zum 27 Juli 73 Flugzeuge und Lastensegler abgeschossen, während bei der Bekämpfung von Erdzielen 12 Panzer vernichtet und eine größere Anzahl schwer beschädigt wurden. Bei der Abwehr feindlicher Angriffe von See her versenkten die deutschen Flakbatterien zwei Schnellboote, eine Korvette und sieben Landungsfahrzeuge. Drei Kreuzer wurden durch mehrere Salven getroffen und zum Abdrehen gezwungen und ein Zerstörer in Brand geschossen.

The Pittsburgh Press (August 5, 1943)

CATANIA FALLS TO BRITISH
Allies shatter southern flank of Axis defense

Drive threatens to trap elite German forces chased from eastern Sicilian port
By Virgil Pinkley, United Press staff writer

Screenshot 2022-08-05 143726
Victory at Catania was scored by the Allies in the capture of the heavily-defended Sicilian city (1). Paternò to the west was also occupied. The two roads for escape of the Axis troops in the Catania area (2) were blocked, the western road by the capture of Paternò and the eastern highway by naval shelling. In the north, U.S. troops (3) drove toward Randazzo.

Allied HQ, North Africa –
The Allies crumpled the lower end of the Axis line across southeast Sicily today by capturing Catania and the nearby transport junctions of Paternò and Gerbini, and to the north beat back the enemy defenses with a shattering land, sea and air bombardment.

The British 8th Army swept across the Catania plain under cover of the intense artillery fire and seized the ancient city of Catania to blast out the southeastern anchor of the wilting Axis line.

Other forces swarmed around to the northwest and took Paternò, core of a highway network keying the communications around the western slopes of Mt. Etna. The thrust threatened to trap the elite German troops who were thrown out of Catanias.

The 8th Army also seized Gerbini, 12 miles west of Catania and center of a major cluster of Axis airfields.

With the liquidation of the Sicilian campaign described as “only a matter of time” after the British 8th Army entered Catania, the Americans and Canadians pounded forward through stiffened resistance and heavy minefields on the central and north coast fronts in their drive to push the Axis back toward heavily-bombed Messina, last port of exit from the island.

Ned Russell, United Press correspondent, said in a dispatch from Catania that the hungry inhabitants of the city gave the British troops a tumultuous welcome.

The fall of Catania was followed quickly by the seizure of Paternò, which is an important road junction about 12 miles to the northwest in a web formed by mountainous roads and a railroad looping around the west side of Mt. Etna.

The Allied gain cut one of the main roads by which the Germans and Italians could escape from the Catania trap and put British forces near or astride the only railroad on the western slopes of Mt. Etna. Allied warships and bombers hammered the other escape road on the east side of the peak.

The fall of Paternò and Catania appeared to doom the town of Misterbianco, midway between the two bigger towns and on the main escape road out of Catania (Misterbianco means Mr. White).

The Americans pushing from Troina toward Randazzo and the Canadians hammering toward Adrano, which guards the only road by which the enemy can circle west of Mt. Etna, were reported fighting in the most difficult terrain. The enemy had laid heavy minefields in their paths and moved up mobile guns, as well as elements of the 15th Panzer Division.

The Allied forces are compelled to attack uphill at almost every point against hidden gun emplacements, often dug deeply into the rocks.

The doom of Catania had been sealed by the capture of Centuripe which gave the Allies high ground from which to blast ahead.

Despite a desperate enemy rearguard action, the British broke through to Catania from the south while the 78th Division attacked from the northwest and Canadians smashed into the enemy western flank. Many prisoners were taken and many others appeared to be trapped as the Allied offensive neared the road and railroad bottleneck at Adrano, only eight miles north of Paternò.

The British 8th Army under Gen. Sir Bernard L. Montgomery crashed into Sicily’s second city at 8:30 a.m., after the sun-browned Northumbrians of the 50th Division (who crashed the Mareth Line in Tunisia), the 51st Highlanders, and the veterans of the 78th Division (who fought at Dunkirk) had slugged their way through the strongest enemy defenses on the island.

In London, observers suggested that all organized resistance in Sicily might be overwhelmed in three days. The German radio said Catania had been evacuated in “the most successful maneuvers” yet carried out in Sicily “to mislead the enemy.” The Nazi broadcast said the Germans had retired to a much stronger line behind Catania.

The best Axis troops, including remnants of the reformed 6th Army which was liquidated at Stalingrad, the armored Hermann Göring Division, the 15th Panzer Division, the 29th Motorized Division and units of paratroops who were sworn to fight to the death, vainly attempted to check the Allied advance.

Allied pilots returning from Catania said military targets there were pitted with bombs, especially in the railroad yards south of the town where tracks and sheds were directly hit. The Dacino di Ponente customs house was badly damaged and part of the central station destroyed. The northern part of the town was wrecked by fire, all airdromes were hard hit and the Fascist Party headquarters damaged, but much of the residential section was only slightly damaged.

The port of Catania was not damaged as badly as other ports in Sicily such a Palermo and Trapani, although several sunken ships were in the harbor.

In the air, U.S. Flying Fortresses rocked Naples, Italy’s biggest port, with its fourth blockbuster raid in four days, reminding Italians that they will see only destruction and death until they capitulate.

Allied fighters and fighter-bombers destroyed 60 enemy trucks and other vehicles in behind-the-lines attacks yesterday to facilitate the ground advance. Eighty other vehicles were damaged.

The submarine base and docks were the main targets at Naples and the communiqué said they were “well covered by bombs.” One merchant ship was left afire. Eleven intercepting aircraft were shot down as the Fortresses ran into the heaviest aerial opposition in some time.

British Wellington bombers also attacked the Italian mainland Tuesday night, hitting Paolo and Catanzaro on the east coast of the toe of the boot, and Marauder medium bombers followed through with daylight raids on the same targets yesterday. The two towns are situated on the railway running from Naples down to Reggio Calabria, opposite Sicily.

U.S. motor torpedo boats were revealed to have joined small British craft in sweeping the Strait of Messina of Axis shipping.

The Northwest African Air Forces, now largely operating from Sicilian bases, maintained heavy shuttle attacks on enemy supply dumps, road communications and motor transport throughout yesterday, leaving blazing supplies and trucks in their wake.

Other night bombers heavily attacked Messina and Battipaglia, another important junction on the Naples-Reggio Calabria railroad, last night.

Three Allied planes were lost in all operations in the 24 hours ended last midnight and further reports shows that six additional Allied planes were lost Tuesday.

Axis planes have put in a sudden reappearance, it was revealed, and have attacked Allied shipping in Palermo Harbor on the north coast of Sicily several times in the last five days. Minor damage was caused, the communiqué said, and U.S. warships drove off the raiders with anti-aircraft guns.

At least seven out of a formation of 30 Ju 88 dive bombers were shot down in a pre-dawn raid last night.

1 Like

U.S. Sicily toll is 501 dead, 2,370 missing up to July 22

About 100,000 Axis troops captured, Stimson says

Washington –
U.S. casualties in Sicily, up to July 22, numbered 501 killed, 3,870 wounded and 2,370 missing, Secretary of War Henry L. Stimson announced today.

He said Italian and German prisoners taken by the Allies now number about 100,000. The number of enemy killed and wounded is also believed to be substantial.

Secretary Stimson said U.S. losses were moderate considering nature of the fighting and the terrain. British casualties were not a great deal higher than the American, he added.

While details of casualties since July 22 are not available, they are believed to be light.

Secretary Stimson said losses of U.S. B-24 Liberator bombers in the raid on the Ploești oil fields in Romania amounted to 20%, but a devastating blow was struck at vital oil resources, representing about one-third of the Axis oil production. A total of 177 Liberators participated in the raid. Eight were forced to land in Turkey.

More than 50 enemy fighters were destroyed in the raid, on which the Liberators flew 2,400 miles from the Middle East.

Secretary Stimson hailed Russian capture of Orel as a major victory. Likewise, he said, the capture of Catania by the British in Sicily will oblige the enemy to withdraw into northern Sicily to a narrow corridor highly vulnerable to attack by air and sea.

The Secretary, who returned only last Saturday from an inspection of U.S. troops in North Africa, England and Iceland, said he had seen evidence everywhere of America’s present military might. Not so long ago, he said, America’s military strength was merely a boast.

2 Likes

Völkischer Beobachter (August 6, 1943)

123 Sowjetpanzer und 194 Feindflugzeuge abgeschossen –
Harte Abwehrkämpfe auf Sizilien

dnb. Aus dem Führer-Hauptquartier, 5. August –
Das Oberkommando der Wehrmacht gibt bekannt:

Die Sowjets begannen gestern am Mius mit starken Infanteriekräften und zahlreichen Panzern gegen die neugewonnenen deutschen Stellungen nördlich Kuibyschewo heftige Gegenangriffe, die jedoch unter hohen feindlichen Verlusten restlos scheiterten. Auch am mittleren Donez blieben Angriffe der Sowjets erfolglos. Im Raum von Bjelgorod dauern die schweren und wechselvollen Abwehrkämpfe weiterhin an.

Im Orelbogen wurde im Zuge der Frontverkürzung die seit längerer Zeit vorgesehene Räumung der Stadt Orel in der Nacht vom 4. zum 5. August vom Feinde ungestört durchgeführt. Sämtliche Vorräte wurden planmäßig zurückgeführt, die kriegswichtigen Anlagen restlos zerstört.

Südlich des Ladogasees brachen starke Angriffe der Sowjets vor unseren Linien zusammen.

Am gestrigen Tage wurden an der Ostfront 123 Panzer abgeschossen. Kampf-, Sturzkampf- und Schlachtgeschwader der Luftwaffe führten an den Brennpunkten der Abwehrschlacht, vor allem im Raum Bjelgorod und Orel, schwere Schläge gegen den Feind. In Luftkämpfen wurden gestern 161 Sowjetflugzeuge abgeschossen, sieben eigene Flugzeuge kehrten nicht zurück.

Bei den in den letzten Wochen im rückwärtigen Gebiet der Ostfront durchgeführten Kämpfen gegen sowjetische Banden bewährten sich besonders ungarische Truppen, die in selbständigen Unternehmungen oder zusammen mit Verbänden des Heeres und der Waffen-SS eingesetzt worden sind.

In Sizilien versuchten nordamerikanische Truppen auch gestern, den mittleren Frontabschnitt zu durchbrechen. Nach harten, mit großer Erbitterung geführten Kämpfen brachen alle Angriffe unter empfindlichen Verlusten für den Feind zusammen.

Ein starker Verband schwerer deutscher Kampfflugzeuge griff den stark belegten Hafen Palermo an. Neben zahlreichen schweren Bombentreffern in den Hafenanlagen wurden zwei Handelsschiffe mit zusammen 13.000 BRT. und ein Zerstörer versenkt, ein leichter Kreuzer, drei Zerstörer und acht Frachtschiffe beschädigt. 23 feindliche Flugzeuge wurden über Sizilien und dem italienischen Küstengebiet abgeschossen.

In der vergangenen Nacht drangen einige feindliche Störflugzeuge in das westliche Reichsgebiet ein. Bei vereinzelten Bombenabwürfen entstand unbedeutender Schaden.

Sicherungsstreitkräfte der Kriegsmarine und Marineflak schossen über dem westeuropäischen Küstengebiet zehn feindliche Flugzeuge ab.

Deutsche Schnellboote versenkten vor der englischen Ostküste in der vergangenen Nacht ein britisches Minensuchboot.

Erfolge unserer Kampfflieger –
Hafen von Palermo bombardiert

dnb. Rom, 5. August –
Der italienische Wehrmachtbericht vom Donnerstag lautet:

Auf Sizilien haben die tapfer kämpfenden Verbündeten heftige Angriffe der feindlichen Streitkräfte abgewehrt.

Deutsche Kampfflugzeuge griffen den Hafen von Palermo an und versenkten einen Zerstörer und zwei Dampfer mit zusammen 13.000 BRT. Sie beschädigten einen Kreuzer, drei Zerstörer und acht Handelsschiffe von zusammen 30.000 BRT.

Das Stadtinnere in Neapel wurde von einem Verband mehrmotoriger Flugzeuge heftig bombardiert. Zahlreiche Gebäude erhielten Schäden. Unter der Zivilbevölkerung gab es zahlreiche Opfer. Vier feindliche Flugzeuge wurden von der Flak und drei von deutschen und italienischen Jägern abgeschossen.

In den letzten Tagen wurden von unseren zur Sicherung von Geleitzügen eingesetzten Streitkräften sechs feindliche Flugzeuge abgeschossen.

The Pittsburgh Press (August 6, 1943)

Allies advance through bitter Sicily fighting

Americans, Canadians battling to sever enemy route of retreat from Catania sector
By Virgil Pinkley, United Press staff writer

Allied HQ, North Africa –
Allied armies smashed through stiffened Axis resistance to within five miles of the key communications town of Adrano on the Mt. Etna Line today while aerial squadrons battered rear-line roads in northeastern Sicily and fired massed enemy evacuation ships in day-and-night raids on Messina.

U.S. forces of the 7th Army, under Lt. Gen. George S. Patton Jr., were meeting strong opposition around the mountain town of Troina, but Canadians were reported threatening Adrano after pushing five or six miles eastward as the Allies advanced steadily from the Centuripe-Regalbuto sector.

The Germans still held Troina (which had previously been reported captured) and were fighting furiously to block the Americans at that point, some 50 miles from Messina.

Try to break road

The Americans near Troina and Canadians approaching Adrano were striving to break the road west of Mt. Etna by which the enemy might escape from the Catania front. The only other road, running up the coast east of the peak, had been shelled and bombed at points where it is only a narrow ledge in the mountains and was reported impassable for retreating enemy vehicles.

The Americans occupied the town of Gagliano, six miles southwest of Troina and behind the forward lines, and also advanced two or three miles on the north coast where naval and air bombardment of the enemy again aided their progress, today’s communiqué from headquarters of Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower said.

Axis position hopeless

The closely-coordinated and intensifying air, land and sea attacks on the northeastern Sicily “coffin corner” was said to make the position of the Axis forces hopeless and it was doubtful whether an evacuation would be possible except for a few specialists and key personnel.

The capture of Misterbianco which was doomed by the fall of Catania, and of the 13 Gerbini airfields (west of Catania), gave the Allies additional bases from which to press their all-out aerial assault as land forces fought to close the Mt. Etna trap on the enemy.

The Italian 434th Battalion, which was left behind as a rearguard outfit when the Germans moved northward from Catania, surrendered unconditionally to the British 8th Army because the capture of Centuripe by a famous Irish brigade which fought well in Tunisia had made the position of Catania untenable. But there was bloody fighting ahead on the roads to Adrano and Randazzo, which lie north of Mt. Etna.

The Germans were fighting desperately, especially against the Americans near Troina, in an effort to hold back the northern claw of the Allied pincers and prevent closing of the trap.

Resistance was described as the fiercest of the Sicilian campaign, with units of the Hermann Göring and the 15th Panzer Division outing up “suicidal opposition.”

Attack day and night

The enemy appeared to be attempting to prepare a new and much shorter line behind Mt. Etna, probably stretching from the Taormina area to somewhere around Naso on the south coast.

The Allied aerial onslaught against Messina and the Strait of Messina area was the greatest of the Sicilian campaign, with Flying Fortresses, Wellingtons and other types of craft participating in day-and-night raids.

The British 8th Army, pushing up the east coast through captured Catania, was believed already threatening Acireale, eight miles to the north and only a little more than 50 miles short of Messina. Front dispatches indicated that the British were probably within artillery range of Acireale.

40,000 still fighting

Other British and Canadian forces, along with the U.S. 7th Army, were hammering the Italo-German armies back toward Messina around an arc reaching the north coast near San Fratello, about 53 miles west of Messina.

Authoritative sources here estimated that only 5,000 Italians and 35,000 Germans were still fighting in Sicily, and a front correspondent for the service newspaper Stars and Stripes said the two forces could no longer be considered allies.

Armed conflicts have been reported between the Italians and the Germans, the correspondent said. The Germans were reported to be hoarding food and keeping it from the hungry Italians.

Attack railroads

Flying Fortresses opened the latest series of raids on Messina with a daylight attack on highway and railway communications in the port yesterday.

British Wellingtons took over the assault in darkness, blasting evacuation ships and other craft drawn up in the harbor and on the shore ready for a dash across the two-mile-wide Strait of Messina to the Italian mainland. Troop concentrations were also hit.

Evacuation of key German service personnel was believed already underway, mostly by small boats at night. Any large-scale evacuation was believed impossible, however, because of Allied air and naval supremacy. Allied torpedo boats have already operated in the Strait of Messina.

Medium bombers attacked road communications at Francavilla northeast of Mt. Etna, while light bombers struck at Adrano, a key point on the road looping around the western slope of Mt. Etna.

Other light bombers and fighter bombers in relays hit troop concentrations and road junctions in the shrinking Axis bridgehead.

Daylight raiders also attacked electrical installations on Sardinia, while night intruder aircraft carried out offensive sweeps over southern Italy.

Eight Allied planes were lost in all operations.

2 Likes

Völkischer Beobachter (August 7, 1943)

Feindschiffe vor Sizilien beschädigt –
U-Boote versenkten 6 Schiffe mit 43.500 BRT.

dnb. Aus dem Führer-Hauptquartier, 6. August –
Das Oberkommando der Wehrmacht gibt bekannt:

Am Mius setzte der Feind den Versuch fort, das ihm in den Vortagen entrissene Gelände unter Einsatz von Panzern und zahlreichen Schlachtfliegern wiederzugewinnen. Er wurde wieder unter hohen Verlusten abgewiesen.

Am Donez scheiterten örtliche Angriffe unter hohen Verlusten der Sowjets an Menschen und Panzern.

Im Raum von Bjelgorod dauern die Kämpfe mit steigernder Heftigkeit an.

Auch südwestlich Orel setzte der Gegner die Versuche erfolglos fort, unsere Front zu durchbrechen. Bis auf einen örtlichen, ebenfalls abgeriegelten Einbruch wurden alle Angriffe in erbitterten Kämpfen abgeschlagen. Eine durchgestoßene feindliche Kampfgruppe wurde unter Abschuß zahlreicher Panzer vernichtet, die Reste zurückgeworfen.

Südlich des Ladogasees wiesen unsere Truppen ebenfalls starke Angriffe der Sowjets ab.

Die Luftwaffe griff mit starken Kampf- und Nahkampfgeschwadern in die Erdkämpfe ein und fügte dem Feind schwere Verluste an Menschen, Panzern, Geschützen und Fahrzeugen zu.

Am gestrigen Tage wurden an der Ostfront 209 Panzer und 84 Flugzeuge abgeschossen.

Seit Beginn der Großkämpfe im Osten wurden im Verlaufe eines Monats von Truppen des Heeres und der Waffen-SS 69.164 Gefangene eingebracht, 7.847 Panzer, 3.083 Geschütze und 1.620 Granatwerfer vernichtet oder erbeutet, von der Luftwaffe 3.731 Flugzeuge abgeschossen. Die blutigen Verluste der Bolschewisten sind außerordentlich hoch.

In den Abwehrkämpfen bei Orel in der Zeit vom 5. bis 27. Juli schoß allein das schwere Panzerjägerregiment 656 502 sowjetische Panzer ab und vernichtete mehr als 200 Pak und 100 Geschütze.

Auf Sizilien setzte der Feind im mittleren Abschnitt seine Durchbruchsversuche mit unverminderter Heftigkeit fort. In schweren, für den Feind besonders verlustreichen Kämpfen wurden alle Angriffe abgewiesen. Die Stadt Catania, schon seit Tagen nur mehr durch schwache deutsche Gefechtsvorposten gesichert, wurde, ohne daß der Feind nachdrängte, geräumt. Deutsche und italienische Kampfflugzeuge griffen von neuem die Häfen von Palermo und Augusta an und beschädigten dort vor Anker liegende Schiffe, darunter ein großes Handelsschiff.

Eine geringe Zahl feindlicher Flugzeuge warf in der vergangenen Nacht über Westdeutschland planlos einige Sprengbomben. An der holländischen Küste wurde ein Flugzeug zum Absturz gebracht.

Deutsche U-Boote versenkten in zähen Kämpfen gegen den feindlichen Nachschub aus stark gesicherten Geleitzügen und an Einzelfahrern sechs Schiffe mit 43.500 BRT. und beschädigten zwei weitere durch Torpedotreffer.

25.000 BRT. im Hafen von Gibraltar versenkt –
Schneidige Tat italienischer Sturmboote

dnb. Rom, 6. August –
Der italienische Wehrmachtbericht vom Freitag lautet:

Am Mittelabschnitt der sizilianischen Front liefern die italienischen und deutschen Truppenverbände hartnäckige Verteidigungskämpfe. Die Stadt Catania, die seit drei Wochen von weit überlegenen Kräften angegriffen wird und täglich den heftigsten Luftbombardierungen und Beschießungen der Marineeinheiten ausgesetzt war, wurde evakuiert. Die Bevölkerung hat in beispielhafter Weise die Angriffe des Feindes und die harten Entbehrungen auf sich genommen, die durch die Umstände bedingt waren, und dabei eine stolze Haltung an den Tag gelegt.

Italienische und deutsche Kampfflugzeuge griffen von neuem die Häfen von Palermo und Augusta an. In den Hafen liegende Schiffe wurden getroffen und beschädigt. Fünf feindliche Flugzeuge wurden von Achsenjägern vernichtet.

In der Nacht zum 5. August sind Sturmboote der königlichen Marine, die auf einem unserer U-Boote befördert wurden, in den Hafen von Gibraltar eingedrungen und haben zwei „Liberty“-Schiffe mit je 7500 BRT. und einen 10.000-BRT.-Tanker versenkt. In der Nacht zum 8. Mai hatte das gleiche U-Boot eine ähnliche Aufgabe durchzuführen, bei der im Hafen von Gibraltar ebenfalls durch Sturmboote zwei britische Dampfer mit insgesamt 17.500 BRT. und ein nordamerikanischer Dampfer von 7500 BRT. versenkt wurden.


Die italienischen Sturmboote haben in diesem Krieg eine lange Reihe glänzender Waffentaten vollbracht, die dem Feind schwere Verluste zugefügt haben. Die hohe Schlagkraft dieser bewährten Angriffswaffe hat sich jetzt bei zweimaligem Eindringen in den stark gesicherten Hafen von Gibraltar besonders ruhmvoll bekundet. 50.000 BRT. wertvollen Schiffsraums sind dabei vernichtet worden. Italien und seine Verbündeten können stolz sein auf den ungebrochenen Kampfgeist und die heldenmütige Einsatzbereitschaft, die sich in diesen kühnen Handstreichen auf eines der stärksten Bollwerke Englands im Mittelmeer offenbaren. In London aber mag man darin eine Antwort auf die zynischen Worte Churchills finden, man müsse Italien „im eigenen Saft schmoren lassen.“ Die italienische Flotte hat durch den Angriff auf Gibraltar gezeigt, daß sie im Kampf um die Selbstbehauptung Italiens gegen den feindlichen Vernichtungswillen hinter den Kameraden des Heeres, die in schwerer Abwehr auf Sizilien stehen, und der Luftwaffe nicht zurücksteht.


U.S. War Department (August 7, 1943)

Communiqué

Sicily East Coast.
The coast road near Taormina has again been successfully bombarded by British naval forces. In the same region the waters close inshore have been patrolled at night by the Navy. No enemy traffic has been encountered. Minesweepers are actively sat work clearing a channel into Catania.

Sicily North Coast.
It is learnt that on the night of August 3-4, U.S. destroyers on patrol south of the Lipari Islands sank one heavily-armed enemy lighter escorted by two E-boats. One of the E-boats exploded, the other escaped in the early hours of August 6. Five E-boats were driven off by U.S. destroyers on patrol off Palermo. Other destroyers and PT boat patrols which by night have been pushed as far east as the Gulf of Gioia, on the west coast of the toe of Italy, have met no enemy traffic.

Ustica, the island some 40 miles to the northward of Palermo, was occupied by a combined U.S. naval and military force on August 5. The garrison of about 100 Italian soldiers and sailors were made prisoners. There were found 216 Italian civil prisoners and a guard. All Germans left the island on July 1. The civil population of about 1,100 were destitute and without water while many were ill with malaria.

Air Communiqué

Heavy attacks on the enemy in northeastern Sicily were maintained throughout yesterday by the North African Air Forces. Heavy bombers attacked road communications at Messina and road junctions at Badjazzo and Gesso were attacked by medium bombers.

Fighter-bombers carried out numerous attacks on enemy shipping off the Sicilian coast and scored a number of hits.

It is now known that on August 5-5, 21 barges and four other small vessels were sunk as a result of attack by our fighter-bombers.

Roads and enemy transport in Sicily and southern Italy were attacked and a large number of vehicles destroyed.

Last night, our bombers attacked the docks and railway communications at Naples and continued their attacks on enemy troops and shipping in the Messina area.

During these operations, one enemy aircraft was destroyed.

One enemy aircraft was destroyed on the night of August 5-6.

Eight of our aircraft are missing.

The Pittsburgh Press (August 7, 1943)

SICILY STRONGHOLD FALLS
Yanks in Troina after fiercest battle of drive

Smashing blows drive Nazis back near Mt. Etna; 125,000 prisoners captured on island
By Virgil Pinkley, United Press staff writer

Screenshot 2022-08-07 041418
Another stronghold falls to the U.S. 7th Army in Sicily with the capture of Troina, dominating the last Axis escape corridor around Mt. Etna. Farther south, the British reached Belpasso, a seven-mile drive from Catania. Allied forces also threatened Adrano. Messina, enemy evacuation port, was pounded by Allied fliers.

Allied HQ, North Africa –
U.S. troops have captured the mountain-top stronghold of Troina in the fiercest battle of the Sicilian campaign and the main Axis defense line, shattered at key points, was believed falling back today under heavy bombing to the hills north of Mt. Etna.

A total of 125,000 prisoners have been taken by the Allies and Italian troops seemed to have been withdrawn completely from the frontlines. Germans defending Troina lost heavily when the U.S. 7th Army’s crack units – supported by a great artillery and dive-bomber attack – seized the city.

It was also announced that the Allies have occupied the tiny volcanic island of Ustica, 40 miles north of Palermo.

Battle to the end

The capture of Troina by the famous 1st Division was of tremendous importance in blasting the southern and western lines around Mt. Etna and the Germans fought to the last to hold this junction between the Hermann Göring Division and the 15th Panzer Division, which is defending threatened Adrano to the south.

The Germans were fighting to hold the road and railroad that runs along the western side of the volcanic peak while their defeated forces on the south or Catania front withdrew. Canadian and British forces are hammering forces way close to Adrano, which is astride the escape road. At last reports, they were five miles away.

But the capture of Troina permitted the Americans farther north to push on toward Bronte, which is on the same road, thus threatening to cut off the Germans at Adrano, which now appeared to be untenable for the enemy.

Front narrowed

The new gains narrow the battlefront from 170 miles on July 20 to approximately 45 miles in length and it was believed the enemy was falling back for a new stand at Randazzo Pass, north of Mt. Etna.

Randazzo Pass is a strong position between Etna and the Nebrodi Mountain range, but Allied air fleets have been hammering this road and many other targets as far as Messina with relentless fury. Every type of plane was hurled into the assault on the cracking and retreating Axis forces.

Some 350 tons of bombs were dropped on Messina alone during round-the-clock attacks, while other planes raked the roads and junctions throughout the enemy sector with bombs and machine-gun bullets. Scores of flaming vehicles were left on the highways, while RAF Wellingtons ranged northward and attacked the harbor of Naples. They also hit 30 landing craft on the beaches near Messina, from which the Allies have been attempting to prevent evacuation of enemy personnel.

Lay heavy minefields

The retreating Germans have laid heavy minefields and again resorted to all types of boobytraps. Nine bridges were blown up in the path of Americans advancing against stubborn opposition on the north coast near Caronia, east of San Stefano.

Troina, atop a 3,600-foot peak, fell after a week-long siege marked by the fiercest fighting since Tunisia.

The peak was held by a German suicide force of 1,500 who held out against terrific artillery barrages and air raids by as many as 70 dive bombers at a time. Key positions on its approaches changed hands several times in a single day in the see-saw battle that preceded its fall.

Reach Belpasso

The main British column driving northwestward from Catania reached Belpasso on the southern slopes of Mt. Etna, an advance of nearly seven miles.

Ustica, a tiny island which Premier Mussolini used as a place of banishment for political opponents, was occupied by combined U.S. naval and military forces Thursday and the garrison of 100 Italian soldiers and sailors made prisoner. All Germans left the island July 11.

Two hundred and sixteen Italian civil prisoners and a guard were found on the island, in addition to 1,100 civilians, who were destitute and without water. Many were ill with malaria.

Meanwhile, U.S. destroyers were credited with sinking one heavily-laden enemy lighter and one of two escorting torpedo boats south of Lipari Island off the Sicilian north coast Tuesday night.

Sink 21 barges

Allied fighter-bombers, joining in the offensive against Axis shipping in Sicilian waters, sank 21 barges and four other small vessels Thursday night, a communiqué said.

The communiqué reported that U.S. destroyers and motor torpedo boats have in the past few nights driven as far east as the Gulf of Gioia on the west coast of the Italian toe without meeting enemy traffic.

British naval forces concentrated their bombardments on the Sicilian east coast road near Taormina, 28 miles south of Messina, where previous shellings loosed landslides that completely blocked that vital highway.

Clear Catania channel

All enemy sea traffic has ceased in this area too, the communiqué said, and minesweepers have begun clearing a channel into Catania, the big east coast port which fell to the British Thursday.

Enemy transport was also attacked in southern Italy, while the Naples raiders last night concentrated on the docks and railway communications.

Two enemy planes were shot down during the 24-hours ended last night and eight Allied planes were lost.

British four-engined Liberator and Halifax heavy bombers from the Middle East Command bombed San Giovanni, Italian mainland ferry terminus across a narrow strait from Messina, last night.

2 Likes

Bombers, guns shatter town

Yanks soften up Troina for ground attack
By C. R. Cunningham, United Press staff writer

Outside Troina, Sicily, Italy – (Aug. 4, 9 p.m., delayed)
Fifteen hundred death-bound Germans who have held off Yankee assaults on the mountain fortress of Troina for five days learned about hell today from waves of dive bombers and the greatest American artillery bombardment since El Guettar.

Prisoners told us the German officers in Troina threatened to shoot any man who retreated. The Yankee job today probably saved them some cartridges.

Close to 200 guns and 106 dive bombers were turned loose on Troina. Through tremendous clouds of smoke over the town aerial observers saw piles of masonry and huge chunks of earth tumbling.

Softened for attack

Not since Jebel Berda at El Guettar in Tunisia had the Americans had just a fight and not since then had such an artillery job been necessary. Col. Robert B. Cobb, of Ulm, Washington, a 28-year-old hero of Tunisia, testified to that.

But the planes and guns have set up the town for the final assault.

As I write this at the frontline, the Yanks are 2,500 yards from the northwest approaches to Troina. They were ready to move up after the bombing.

Guns follow planes

The artillery barrage was at its height at 5:20 p.m., five minutes after the last wave of 36 dive bombers hit the city and the supply roads over which the Germans could be seen rolling up ammunition trucks.

The guns boomed for a half-hour. One three salvoes of 155 howitzers set up an explosion in what must have been an ammunition or gasoline dump. At another point, the church steeple was toppled. The Germans had been using it for an artillery observation post.

Before the sun went down, U.S. soldiers were scrambling out of their foxholes on three sides of the city. Once a German mortar tormented them, hit two men and their broken bodies were flung into the air.

Regiment pinned down

Directly ahead of me, a regiment was pinned down by machine-gun fire a foot over the heads of the men concealed in shallow holes. On my right was a regiment that had already gone through 18 hours of constant bombardment.

They had been shoved off a hill directly south of the town last night but counterattacked and regained it at 11:30 a.m. today. Again, the Germans threw in a heavy assault which pushed it back down into a gully where they had to stay until the dive bombers went to work.

2 Likes

Soles of 6 pairs of shoes emphasize cost of victory

They’re visible in rear of truck, showing that those Americans gave their all in Sicily
By Hugh Baillie, United Press staff writer

Hugh Baillie, president of the United Press, wrote the following dispatch after a tour of the entire front in Sicily.

With the Allied armies in Sicily, Italy – (Aug. 4, delayed)
The town of Agira has fallen and Canadian troops, many of them stripped to the waist, are going through the streets collecting weapons.

Their lank brown torsos are gleaming with sweat and many of them are carrying Tommy guns ready for immediate use. They all looked well pleased. I saw one swinging along wearing an ordinary felt hat at a jaunty angle. He had on shorts and wore a bandana handkerchief on his neck. His Tommy gun seemed the outstanding portion of his costume.

The Fascist Party secretary sat glumly, refusing to answer questions. There were other officials wearing Fascist regalia, some cooperative, some not.

Shops reopen

However, most folks in Agira were rapidly returning to their peaceful pursuits, reopening shops, chattering excitedly while troops, guns and supplies poured through the narrow, tortuous streets of the medieval city. The town’s chief magistrate went about his duties wearing the word “mayor” in crudely-lettered English on an arm brassard.

The Germans were then shelling a road beyond the town, causing an eight-mile traffic jam before their batteries were silenced. The grunt of their gun could be heard, then it seemed like a long wait before the missile arrived, whereupon a plume of coal-black smoke would shoot up.

Gives orders under tree

The commander of the Canadians, youngish and brisk, was seated under a tree receiving one officer after another who snappily saluted and reported, getting orders in rapid fire fashion from the general while studying maps and sipping tea.

Entering the American zone, I encountered “the Yanks,” as they are universally termed here. At a road intersection a tall, lean young American, iron-hatted, uniformed against the cold Sicilian nights, gives directions in a familiar Midwestern accent. The fact that every man must wear an iron hat as part of his fighting uniform gives the Americans a grim, tough, purposeful aspect. And they have had some of the toughest, grimmest fighting of this campaign.

Prisoners in trucks

Near the American front, I met streams of prisoners riding trucks to the rear. The Germans outnumbered the Italians in this particular batch. They did not seem downcast. In fact, the prisoners seemed to be enjoying the ride, reveling in the refreshing breeze caused by the trucks moving rapidly over the bumpy road. They stared around curiously and interestedly. They seemed either youngish or oldish, not in the prime 20s like most of the U.S. troops.

All of them were plenty grimy, covered with the gray Sicilian dust. However, that is not confined to prisoners. Everybody gets a coating of Sicilian chalk. You eat it, breath it, also carry it in your eyebrows and ears. It is inescapable, even for generals.

Shells whoosh

Another town, almost abandoned, seemed a sinister place. About a half-dozen residents remained, one aged woman munching her gums in a doorway apparently oblivious of the shells whooshing and exploding in the next block after which debris pattered, glass tinkled and the noise of the explosion reverberated and echoed in the deserted alley-like streets.

However, the church was still alive. The bells rang at noontime, sounding sweetly amidst the various ugly noises. I entered and found the church unattended, also undamaged except for a few broken windows from which glass littered the marble floor.

The cost of war

Outside through the city square passed jeeps carrying lightly-wounded young Americans, some with arms, legs or heads neatly bandaged in the field, now en route back to dressing stations.

They had crimson-stained, grim, preoccupied expressions. Our casualties are described as light, but nevertheless it gives you a strange feeling to see the soles of six pairs of army shores visible in the rear of a truck and comprehend that there are six more Americans who have given their lives to halt German aggression.

It somehow carries more wallop about what should be done to prevent Germany from repeating the crime after another few years than many speeches that will probably be made at the peace conference. The poignant shoe soles were scratched from scrambling over rocky hillsides. Well, they have made their war contribution, giving everything, including life itself.

1 Like

Nazis loot Catania homes; mayor complains to Allies

Sicilian official describes how Germans blew up hotel, power plant before retreat
By Ned Russell, United Press staff writer

Catania, Sicily, Italy – (Aug. 5, delayed)
The Mayor of Catania, Marquis di San Giuliano, officially welcomed British military authorities to deprived the 50,000 inhabitants remaining in the city of food for 24 hours before the British troops arrived.

Sitting in a spacious office in the Carabinieri headquarters, beneath a huge photograph of King Victor Emmanuel, the dapper little mayor turned over his battle-scarred city to a brigadier, who commanded the first troops to sweep through Catania in pursuit of the fleeing Germans.

The mayor spoke bitterly of the departed Germans and vowed enthusiastically that “Fascism and the Germans are enemies of Sicily.”

Blow up hotel

His bitterness was accentuated when he told the British commander how the Nazi troops, on their last night in the city, blew up the Hotel Moderna, which had been the German headquarters, the city’s electricity works and the post office.

The Marquis said:

They used to be wonderfully smart and cheerful soldiers, but since Tunis fell, they bullied us constantly and stole food, clothing and household belongings and sold them in other cities and villages.

Only about 50,000 of Catania’s 244,000 inhabitants remained in the city before the Allied advance, the mayor said, and most of them had not eaten in the past 24 hours.

Permission granted

He appealed to the brigadier for permission to repair the electricity works in order to operate the flour mills and use big supplies of wheat stored near the city.

The Allied commander immediately complied and at the same time informed San Giuliano that the local authorities and police were given responsibility for halting looting and restoring order.

The mayor disclosed that nearly 2,000 civilians had been killed in Allied air raids since June 15, and that more than half of the 50,000 who remained in the city were forced to live constantly in basement air-raid shelters.

Loot mayor’s car

The Germans started to leave the Catania sector three days ago, San Giuliano said, after attempting by various means to block the Allied advance.

He explained:

They looted my car once and stole it from me at the point of a machine-gin this morning to carry ammunition to a machine-gun post at a road junction north of the city. I told the first British officer I met about that machine-gun post and he fixed it.

The Germans tried to tell us they were fighting for Italy, and they couldn’t understand why we didn’t fight. But we know they are only fighting to keep you out of the European mainland as long as possible.

1 Like