War Correspondents: Canadian Writers - Sicily 1943 (3c)

More Canadian Writers Focus Attention on Operation Husky

Ross Munro and several other writers cover the bases in Sicily during the

early days of action, e.g., July 13 - 15, 1943. Photo taken in Modica.

MIKAN 3578062 Library and Archives Canada (Ottawa)

Introduction:

I admit, I'm getting as much mileage from the "Ross Munro sitting in a jeep" photo as he got out of that jeep. But I think it is at least one positive way to shine a light on the steady workmanship of Canadian writers during the invasion of Sicily, July - August 1943.

Several articles by Ross Munro, Louis V. Hunter, Ralph Allen, Scott Young, Willian Stewart and others have been highlighted already in two earlier, closely linked posts and more writers contributed as well. According to an article posted below, 17 Canadian writers are listed as associated with coverage of the Sicilian battlefield where Canadian troops excelled, and with stories re the watery acreage just offshore where Canadians in Combined Operations bent their backs to keep Allied troops and all valuable supplies of war streaming to a variety of beachheads along the eastern shore.

Commando units were at work - there were likely a few Canadians among them - on shore just ahead of Canadian troops. Squadrons of planes were in the air too, and some were home to skilled Canucks.

The following news clippings - with a focus on Canadians, starting w the headline below - and occasional photograph or ad (do you like salmon?) are all from The Winnipeg Tribune (digitized, online - University of Manitoba). Please visit the university's site at your leisure for tonnes of valuable information.

Louis V. Hunter was highlighted in the previous post, and for those readers interested in tracking down Canadian writers, Hunter's piece below is hard to top:

I have recently had very good luck finding and sharing significant articles and meaningful books written by three writers mentioned in Hunter's article but who do not show up in this offering of The Tribune:

1. Lionel Shapiro:

Passages from "They Left the Back Door Open" Part 1

Passages from "They Left the Back Door Open" (2)

"Every strip of usable beach was organized as a miniature port."

A view of supply and infantry landing craft on a beach near Syracuse.

Photo - Facing page 15 in They Left the Back Door Open 

Passages from "They Left the Back Door Open" (3)

Art LD 3384.  The Invasion of Sicily: Troops and vehicles embarking
on invasion craft at 'Charlie' Beach near Santa Teresa di Riva, Sicily,
 3 September, 1943. Found at Imperial War Museum (IWM)

2. Sholto Watt:

Mr. Watt wrote many articles, most of which I found in The Montreal Star from September - December 1943. I have shared 33 posts on this site (from Oct. 22, 2019 - April 4, 2020) re articles from The Star (see right hand margin for "click on Headings" and Editor's Research). I share two links here that focus on S. Watt's writing:

Good photos are hard to find!

Credit - The Montreal Star

Invasion of Italy (4) - Montreal Star (Sept. 4, '43)

Passages: Sholto Watt, War Correspondent for The Montreal Star (1)

3. Dick Sanburn:

My jaw dropped. Sanburn talked to sailors that I knew very well from memoirs and personal experience. Then he wrote about his encounter (on the beaches of Sicily where my father and his mates had parked their LCMs), and I found that particular article - just a short time ago - and my chin hit the keyboard. Shortly thereafter I created a four-part series about his one piece.

Articles: Canadian Flotilla of Landing Craft in Italy (1)

Articles: Canadian Flotilla of Landing Craft in Italy (2)

Please visit the Blog Archive in right margin - for March 2020 - for the other two entries.

And now, back the The Winnipeg Tribune, with more highlights from Ross Munro, Louis V. Hunter, Ralph Allen... and more.

Canadian Louis Hunter had his ear to the ground, or to the Mediterranean Sea, and discovered a rare bit of news:

Not to be outdone, Ross Munro nabs another headlining story. He mentions details re the path Canadian troops are taking and he follows and visits the very same places. He mentions Pozzallo where the troops landed on July 10; he mentions Ispica (a town from which he posted a story on July 12, already featured in Part 3b of this series); he mention Modica, 15 miles farther to the northwest, and the photo of "Ross Munro in a jeep" was taken there. Many more details follow:

Ross Munro hit upon another story when he found a band of Canadian pilots flying out of Sicily:

Munro's stories were coming from the area near which Canadian troops landed, e.g., on the south-eastern coast of Sicily. Other airfields were being established as well on the eastern coastline where Monty's Eighth Army was landing. It was on the east coast (south of Syracuse) that my father's flotilla of Canadian Landing Crafts (the 80th and 81st, Landing Crafts Mechanised (LCMs)) were busy at work, and in my father's memoirs he mentions coming in contact with Canadian pilots, flying Hurricanes, and one was from his hometown, Norwich, SW Ontario.

Doug Harrison writes:

One morning in Sicily I woke up in my hammock in our cave (the hammock was slung between two lime-stone piers and above the lizards) and I saw Hurricane planes taking off just a short distance away. We now began working eight hours on and eight hours off. When we were pretty well unloaded I decided, on my eight hours off, to investigate the air strip and, behold, they were Canadians with Hurricane fighters. I arrived about supper time and explained who I was and was invited for a supper of tomatoes and bully beef... Not that again! 

“I have no mess fanny or spoon,” I said, and the cook told me there were some fellows washing theirs up and to ask one of them for the loan of their mess fanny and spoon. So I walked over, tapped a man’s shoulder and asked if I could borrow his equipment. The man straightened up and said “sure” and it turned out to be Bill Donnelly from my own hometown of Norwich, Ontario.

I got my oppo, A/B Buryl McIntyre from the cave and did the vino ever run that night. Small world. So when we had had enough Bill crawled into his hole in the ground, covered himself with mosquito netting, and we headed back to the cave. Overhead, Beaufort night fighters were giving jerry fighters and bombers hell. We felt the courage given us by the vino and slept quite soundly in our dank old cave ‘til morning rolled around again.

"Dad, Well Done" page 35 

In his memoirs my father mentions "we now began working eight hours on and eight hours off," and I assume that he is referring to a time period (e.g., mid-late July) when troops were well ashore and advancing northward, and the transport of ammunition, fuel, food, and other necessary materials of war, was top priority. He writes as well about the early days of the invasion, the snipers, the chaos and carnage ("Dieppe was never like this!" said his stoker), and some of the hot action re the initial landings is detailed vividly by Canadian correspondent Ralph Allen below:

Editor's Note: re R. Allen's last line, above. It is now known "Canadian sailors (did not) ferry Canadian soldiers" in Sicily during Operation Husky. However, they did have the apparent privilege and honour in the next operation, i.e., Operation Baytown, the invasion of Italy, beginning Sept. 3 1943.

The Canadian Press had a base in North Africa and sent reports back to Canada as well (as did individual reporters in Sicily):

In the map below we can see an arrow near Pozzallo on the south-eastern shore of Sicily, and it represents the location of the approx. landing point of the Canadian 1st Division. Around the corner from Pozzallo and Pachino we can see - between Noto and Syracuse - the lengthy landing area of Monty's Eighth, where Canadians in RCNVR and Combined Operations were hard at work for approx. four weeks (and living in caves near Avola). 

Louis Hunter is a busy boy. While back in North Africa - again with his ear to the ground - he learns about the specific role of Commando units which preceded the landings of Canadian troops. 

At the end of the article (above), Hunter mentions information about two Canadians crews (flotillas?) of landing crafts who arrived back in North Africa after landing troops. He is most likely referring to sailors attached to the 55th and 61st Canadian Flotillas of Assault landing craft. Once troops were ashore near Avola and Syracuse their job was done. The 80th and 81st Canadian Flotillas stayed in Sicily until the end of the first week of August. 

Commandos listed above; map from a book re Combined Operations

Singapore to St. Nazaire: The Canadian Amphibious War 1941-45

Black arrows, far right, illustrate the locations of the four Canadian flotillas

Map as found in Combined Operations by Londoner Clayton Marks

More form Mr. Allen, linked to The Winnipeg Tribune staff:

Good job, Boys! The British Express salutes and the Canadian Press sends it back home by underwater cable:

Besides providing the names of 17 Canadian correspondents and some of their articles, this post also supplied the name of an RCNVR correspondent, Lt. Cmdr. E. H. Bartlett. I am familiar with the name and have seen a few of his columns while scanning The Winnipeg Tribune, I believe. 

So, more research ahead, in praise of hardworking Canadian writers. Stay tuned.

Please link to War Correspondents: Canadian Writers - Sicily 1943 (3b)

Unattributed Photos GH

War Correspondents: Canadian Writers - Sicily 1943 (3b)

A Lot of Canadians Were Busy During Operation Husky:

The 1st Division, Sailors on Landing Crafts, Writers

This rare group photo of dedicated Canadian press representatives in Sicily

during Operation Husky has inspired a few posts re war correspondents

Introduction:

I discovered the above photo from the Library and Archives, Ottawa that includes such well-known names as  Ross Munro and Peter Stursberg, and it has encouraged me to go back to The Winnipeg Tribune to cut and paste some of the many significant news stories that were posted on the date recorded on the photograph, and during the next two days as well. A few stories re Operation Husky, beginning July 10 1943, were delayed until the 14th or 15th issues of The Tribune, and there are many mentions of the progress of Canada's 1st Division.

Though most eyes were on the advances made by the Canadian Army, our Navy (including the RCNVR and its many members of Combined Operations) and Air Force were very busy in many capacities and are mentioned here as well.

Today The Winnipeg Tribune is digitized, easy to explore

Ross Munro seems to have filed valuable stories whenever an opportunity presented itself, and several others followed suit and blazed their own important trails. I think that our understanding and studies about the roles of Canadians during WWII are very much the better because of their efforts.

All articles and photos (and occasional ad; do you like salmon?) that you see below have been downloaded from high resolution PDF copies of clean images of The Winnipeg Tribune (unless indicated otherwise). Please visit the site at your leisure that has been created at the University of Manitoba. It is a tremendous resource, in my opinion.

From the front page, July 14th:

The photo was likely taken near Gela on Sicily's southern shore, and to

the west of where Canadian troops landed (map to follow) 

Details re invasion barges are hard to make out; they are likely LCMs

(i.e., landing craft, mechanised). A.P. Wirephoto

Canadian writers Ralph Allen and Ross Munro also made the front page: 

The very top photo, w Ross Munro seated in a jeep, reportedly was taken in Modica on the 13th, and in the article below, delayed from July 12 (from Ispica), we read that "Modica, 10 miles northwest of here, surrendered" to Canadians earlier that morning. Things are happening fast, and Canadians - army, navy, airforce, writers with burdensome typewriters - are in the vanguard!    

Canadian Army troops heard encouraging words - below, in two small reports - about their service from three high-ranking commanding officers (McNaughton, Cunningham and Montgomery) before setting foot upon Sicily's shores. 

[Sometime after the invasion began, members of RCNVR who had volunteered as well to join the Combined Operations organization ("on loan to the Royal Navy" some would describe it), distinguished themselves in the service of Monty's 8th Army by manning four flotillas of landing crafts on the eastern task force, south of Syracuse. Monty's words of praise for those hundreds of Canadian sailors comes later].

The next writer is not Canadian but he is writing about "Ross Munro's eye-witness dispatches":

[Editor's Note: It is interesting that something is said above about the significant service of Canadians at Dieppe, overlooked as it was at the time. How could the large numbers of Canadians be so easily overlooked (i.e., the highest number of all troops at Dieppe, nearly 5,000 of the 6,100 there; the US contributed the fewest, approx. 50)?  A variety of reasons, I suppose, but whatever the reasons, they will have to be dragged out again soon. The Canadians in Combined Operations (400-500 sailors from RCNVR) manned four flotillas of landing craft during Operation Husky and I think they have been solidly overlooked to this point in time].

So, I wasn't kidding about the salmon : )

Mr. Young may have been the first Canadian writer who rubbed shoulders with a member of RCNVR and Combined Ops, i.e., a nattered stoker: 

William Stewart's articles are familiar to me, and he gets a word in as well on July 14 1943:

Louis V. Hunter may have been the second Canadian writer to rub shoulders with Canadians in Combined Ops, but he is a highly distinguished second because he spent some time with members of two Canadian flotillas once they returned to North Africa after their part was played in Sicily (the 55th and 61st flotillas of assault landing craft, which took 8th Army troops ashore beginning in the early hours of July 10 1943). He mentions "other flotillas have not yet returned", and is referring to the 80th and 81st Canadian flotillas: 

To Mr. Hunter I tip my hat!

I am making a break here, in the middle of an incorrect sentence. It should read, "The first picture... was brought back by Press Relations Officer Lt. Cmdr. E. H. Bartlett, R.C.N., of Toronto, who was ashore briefly on Sicily."

I like the following story because it refers to the resourcefulness of Canadian war correspondents, particularly Ross Munro during the early stages of the invasion of Sicily. How he beat the crowds of other writers, we may never know.

More to follow from the next day's issue of The Winnipeg Tribune, featuring Canadian correspondents.

Please link to War Correspondents: Canadian Writers - Sicily 1943 (3a) for more information.

Unattributed Photos GH