Hello all, Looking for help tracing the movements of those who were the first to land on Siciliy - especially help (if possible) would be military records, diaries, letters. Suggestions welcome. Have tried BBC WW2 Peoples War (were unhelpful).
Have you used the site search option http://ww2talk.com/index.php?search/4417209/&q=sicily+landings&o=relevance ? or http://ww2talk.com/index.php?search/4417218/&q=operation+husky&o=relevance TD
While this source may not reveal individual experiences,it does shed light on airborne operations including Sicily https://www.rafmuseum.org.uk/docume...r_N_Med_Ops_in_WW_II_Italy_Balkans_Greece.pdf
As TD says you should find quite a bit on this forum using the search facility, you might find this useful: London Gazette – World War 2 despatches In particular: Page 2077 | Supplement 38895, 28 April 1950 | London Gazette | The Gazette
Sandra, Hello again.. I'm by no means an expert on the Sicilian fighting during July/August 1943 but I shall be visiting Sicily again next week to pay my respects at locally organised Commemorative Events in Maletto and Riposto that will allow a pause of reflection to remember the thousands of fighting men who died and the thousands of Sicilian civilians who were killed before, during and after the initial landings in July 1943. I'm sure you've already touched in on the various resources at your finger tips on this site and other ones.. for example these are the rough outlines of the "movements" of the men who landed on the island from sea and air. I'm sure you've visited the island but I think it's always worth reminding ourselves of the many who died during those desperate days of bitter fighting including those buried at the CWGC Cemeteries in Sicily. Catania - 2142. Results Syracuse - 1067. Results Agira - 490. Results Many, more more men are memorialised or buried elsewhere in Italy and around the world who died as a result of the fighting in Sicily. Rather mundanely, compared with the above, there are plenty of photographs at the IWM here: Search our collection | Imperial War Museums best wishes
Allied invasion of Sicily - Wikipedia It was another trial run effectively prior to D Day but hopefully using lessons learnt from the disaster of Dieppe. A good number of the Airborne unfortunately never made it to solid ground "The British air-landing troops fared little better, with only 12 of the 147 gliders landing on target and 69 crashing into the sea" Lessons were learnt that were used in D Day to make the invasion more likely to be successful TD
"Looking for details on 54th Heavy Regiment RA Signal Section. Can anyone help?" WO169/9821 54th Heavy Anti-Aircraft Regiment Royal Artillery war diary would cover May to December 1943 Royal Artillery: 54 Heavy Anti-Aircraft Regiment (RA HAA) | The National Archives
Hello again, Hope all is well with you. I'll try the IWM again tomorrow. And yes, you are quite right, I have family in Italy and some remember some of the German bombings and the terrible way some of the people were treated. The cost in lives was a great sacrifice by many. I have family in Italy - Ancona and the stories of how the people suffered in horrific. Best wishes
I'm well thanks and looking forward to my trip to Sicily, No doubt you spotted my father's account: The Sicilian campaign
Good to hear, I'm sure you'll have a great time in Sicily. I'm envious. I have seen your father's account, it's very informative.
For Sandra (with profuse apologies for delayed response and having missed this thread whilst my eyes were up a certain creek sans paddle) As for the story of some of the first to land please see attached pdf, and jpeg which is a slightly abridged account of same from Lt E J "Bloggo" Davies, quoted in: "By Land, Sea and Air" An Illustrated History of the 2nd Battalion The South Staffordshire Regiment 1940 - 1945 by Alexander Junier and Bart Smulders with Jaap Korsloot. I cannot recommend this mighty tome and the work of the authors highly enough (my personal thoughts on this book, for anyone are; if you ever have the good fortune to see a copy buy it at all and any cost). You may put some faces to names from Lt Davies' account from photos within this thread: D Company 2nd (Airborne) Battalion The South Staffordshire Regiment Kind regards, always, Jim.
After Sicily Eric Davies transferred to the 1st Parachute Battalion and was wounded at Arnhem. Despite his wounds he escaped from an Ambulance train and evaded until April 1945. Another good book about the Airborne invasion of Sicily is Glider Pilots in Sicily by Mike Peters
What is your interest? What do you want the information for? Arguably some of the first ashore were the
