TUNISIA

INFANTRY MEN WITH FULL EQUIPMENT boarding ship for the invasion of Sicily. Extra clothing and personal effects were carried in the unmanageable barracks bag. The only satisfactory way to carry this bag was over the shoulder, an impossible feat for a man with a pack on his back. Later the bag was redesigned; a shoulder strap and a handle on the side were added. It was then called a duffel bag.

TUNISIA

MEN MARCHING ABOARD LANDING CRAFT IN BIZERTE HARBOR. This port was one of the embarkation points for the invasion of Sicily, an island strategically important because its geographic location between Africa and Italy almost divides the Mediterranean Sea in two. In order to travel from one end of the Mediterranean to the other it was necessary to pass through the ninety-mile strait between Sicily and Tunisia. With Sicily in enemy hands, control of this strait was divided and enemy aircraft and submarines interfered with Allied shipping to the Middle East. (Landing craft, infantry, large, LCI (L).)

SICILY

FLYING FORTRESS BOMBING ENEMY INSTALLATIONS in Sicily. For weeks prior to the invasion of the island, airfields, rail lines, and ports had been under aerial bombardment by Allied planes. Note black antiaircraft bursts.

SICILY

RESULT OF AERIAL BOMBARDMENT ON NAPOLA RAILROAD YARD, near Trapani in western Sicily. By the time of invasion the railroad net on the island was crippled and remained so throughout the campaign.

SICILY

PARATROOPERS HEADED FOR SICILY. On 9 July 1943 U. S. paratroopers boarded their transports at Kairouan, Tunisia. They were scheduled to land at 2330 on that day, but a forty-mile wind blew the planes from their course, and parachutists were strewn over a large part of southeastern Sicily, but nevertheless aided in retarding the German counterattack against the beachheads. (Douglas C-47.)

SICILY

GELA BEACH, SICILY. The invasion of the island took place on 10 July 1943. Gela was the center of the American invasion area which extended from Licata on the west to Scoglitti on the east. The British Army landed in the region between Capo Passero and Syracuse on the east coast of the island. Beach landings in both areas were preceded by airborne assaults. By sunrise, three hours after the first landings, the beaches were under control.

SICILY

LICATA BEACHES, LOOKING WESTWARD ALONG THE COAST. The highway in the foreground is the main coastal road. This was the western portion of the U. S. assault area and Licata, located at the foot of the hill in the distance, was occupied by 1130 on D Day.

SICILY

SCOGLITTI, in the eastern section of the U. S. invasion area. Troops landed here against little opposition and occupied the important town of Vittoria, a few miles inland, on D Day.

SICILY

AN AMERICAN CRUISER SHELLING DEFENSES in the Gela beach area during the early morning of D Day. The naval bombardment, which started at 0345, silenced the few coastal batteries that protected the beaches. Large-scale enemy resistance on the beaches did not materialize during the landings.

SICILY

ALLIED SHIPS UNDER AERIAL BOMBARDMENT. At daybreak on D Day enemy air forces launched a series of bombing and strafing attacks on the ships offshore and on the troops along the beaches.

SICILY

U. S. AMMUNITION SHIP EXPLODING as result of a direct hit by an enemy bomb during the late afternoon of 11 July 1943. The ship burned throughout the night, furnishing a brilliant beacon for enemy aircraft. The Allies made several attempts to sink the ship, but the water was too shallow.

SICILY

LOWERING LANDING CRAFT OFF GELA BEACH. Troops boarded the craft after it was afloat. (Foreground, landing craft, vehicle-personnel, LCVP; background, LCM.)

SICILY

INFANTRY LANDING ON GELA BEACH (top). Unloading equipment and supplies from LCVP’s (bottom); in the background are two LST’s. The sea ran so high during the morning of the landings that many craft were washed up on the beach and could not be refloated in time for turn-around to mother ships. (LCVP in top picture.)

SICILY

A BATTERY OF ANTIAIRCRAFT GUNS being unloaded from an L S T, the largest type landing craft used during the operation. The prototype of the landing ship, tank, was built by the British and used in the invasion of North Africa. The LST shown is a seagoing ship. Its payload was from 1,600 to 1,900 tons of which 400 tons were deck-loaded. The ship could carry on each side sectional ponton ramps for inaccessible landings (in use above). The first three vehicles are 6-ton 6 x 6 prime mover trucks. (90-mm. guns.)

SICILY

LANDING CRAFT ON BEACH. Top picture from left to right: LCI, LCM, and LCVP; on beach is a ¼-ton 4 x 4 truck, jeep. Bottom picture: in middle distance is LST, with bow doors open, ramp down, and unloading onto a sectional ponton ramp; in the foreground are two LCT’s. (The LCI (L) (1-350) was an infantry carrier with side ramps which could be lowered for unloading directly on the beach. It carried a crew of 3 officers and 21 men.)

SICILY

A LOADED DUKW COMING ASHORE ON THE BEACH (top). Prisoners loaded in a DUKW waiting to be evacuated (bottom). This amphibian truck, the DUKW, was one of the planned surprises of the operation. Until ports were captured and prepared for use, this means of moving all types of fighting equipment from ship to shore helped to solve a very pressing problem. (The term DUKW is the manufacturer’s (GMC) code serial number which has no meaning. The resemblance to the word duck and the purpose for which this vehicle was used quickly brought about the common name “duck.”)

SICILY

AN LST DECK-LOADED WITH MEN AND EQUIPMENT off Gela awaiting signal to approach the beach, while a U. S. cruiser fires on an enemy strong point.

SICILY

TROOPS ON THE BEACH. During the landing (top) and while troops were moving inland (bottom), the beaches were strafed sporadically. At one time, during the German tank-supported counterattack on D plus 1 in the Gela area, it looked as if the U. S. forces might be pushed back into the sea. (Top picture, left to right, center of beach, LCV, LCVP; offshore, LCVP. Bottom, a truck towing a 105-mm. howitzer is pulled through the sand by a diesel tractor with angledozer.)

SICILY

WOUNDED ARRIVING ON BOARD A TRANSPORT. During the first days of the invasion the seriously wounded were brought back to transports equipped with surgical and medical facilities. These ships would then deliver the wounded to base hospitals in Africa.

SICILY

FLYING AMBULANCE. As soon as airfields had been captured many of the U. S. wounded were evacuated by planes to hospitals in North Africa. The Douglas C-47 transport was generally used for this purpose. Medical personnel accompanied wounded.

SICILY

FIRING A HOWITZER INTO ENEMY POSITIONS on the road to Palermo. After securing the beaches the U. S. forces drove to the west and north and began the advance on Messina along the north coast road. Palermo, one of the most important ports in Sicily, fell to U. S. forces on 22 July 1943. (75-mm. howitzer motor carriage T30 with a .50-caliber antiaircraft gun mounted in rear.)

SICILY

HALF-TRACK DETOURING THROUGH A SIDE STREET. When the enemy retreated through the Sicilian villages he would often blow up buildings on both sides of the main street, thus blocking the passage for vehicles. If he had time he would also mine and booby-trap the road and ruins. (The 75-mm. gun motor carriage M3 was the first standardized American self-propelled antitank weapon used in World War II.)

SICILY

TROINA. View from the northwest with Mt. Etna in the background. The town is located on top and around the base of the hill in the center of horizon line (top). View from Troina toward the northwest showing Highway 120 winding over the hills to Cerami (upper left corner) (bottom). Troina lies at the junction of Highway 120 and the road to Adrano and Paterno. The U. S. Seventh Army took Troina on 6 August after some of the fiercest fighting of the campaign.

SICILY

ENEMY ARTILLERY. At top is the famous German 88-mm. gun. The pillbox in the background was sited to fire both toward the sea and along the road. The coast of the island was ringed with pillboxes, some of which had not been completed at the time of the invasion. The self-propelled gun (bottom) of Italian manufacture is a 90-mm. cannon. It was used in North Africa as well as in Sicily. (Top, German 8.8-cm. Flak 18 with single-piece barrel; bottom, 90/53 Ansaldo self-propelled (SP) gun on redesigned M 13/40 Ansaldo chassis.)

SICILY

HALF-TRACK MOVING THROUGH A SICILIAN TOWN. The gun is a 75-mm. howitzer M1A 1 used generally as an infantry support weapon. (75-mm. howitzer motor carriage T30.)

SICILY

SELF-PROPELLED HOWITZER. This is the M7 howitzer motor carriage mounting a 105-mm. howitzer which was used for high angle as well as direct fire. The .50-caliber machine gun is mounted in a raised pulpit-like structure which gave the vehicle the nickname Priest. (Mounted on M3 tank chassis.)

SICILY

THE LONG TOM. This was the largest U. S. piece of artillery in Sicily. A 7½-ton 6 x 6 prime mover truck towing a gun into position (top). Firing from a camouflaged position in an orchard (bottom). (155-mm. gun with standard carriage.)

SICILY

OBSERVING FIRE ON SICILIAN TOWN. The officer at right is in telephone communication with the artillery command post. The man in the center is using a battery commander’s telescope (BC scope). U. S. field glasses and artillery sights of all kinds were greatly improved by the end of the Tunisian fight. Fine sand managed to work its way into the moving parts of optical equipment, obscuring the image and interfering with the mechanical operation. Moisture condensed on the inside of the lens elements and, combined with dust, cut down the optical effectiveness. Corrections were made by sealing the instruments wherever possible and by placing a moisture-absorbing chemical between the elements.

SICILY

SHERMAN TANKS ENTERING PALERMO on the day the city surrendered, 22 July 1943.

SICILY

THE CITY OF PALERMO. The port had been damaged by Allied bombing raids, and the Germans before withdrawing had demolished some of the installations. After the arrival of U. S. troops the port was quickly made serviceable and was used as a supply base for troops advancing from here eastward along the coast toward Messina. It was later used as one of the embarkation ports for the invasion of Italy.

SICILY

SIGNAL CORPS MEN REPAIRING COMMUNICATIONS LINES. Maintaining communications and other public utilities behind the lines were problems that fell within the scope of Allied Military Government. In Sicily the U. S. Army was called upon to furnish personnel and supplies, though native labor and materials were used whenever possible.

SICILY

SICILIAN CHILDREN RECEIVING CANDY FROM A SOLDIER. U. S. soldiers were universally popular with children of all classes. The individual soldier gave a good portion of his ration of sweets and chewing gum to native children.

SICILY

SCENE FROM THE NORTHERN COAST OF SICILY, looking toward the west. At left is the San Fratello Ridge; at right is the village of Acquedolci. The fight for the San Fratello Ridge was unusually severe. Highway 113, the main axis of advance along the north coast from Palermo to Messina, follows the shore here. The enemy would blow the bridges, mine the approaches, and hold the top of each mountain ridge as long as possible, and then retreat behind the next ridge.

SICILY

SAN FRATELLO RIDGE. Top: the ridge is in the upper left of the picture, Torrente Furiano in the right foreground; bottom: view of the ridge on Highway 113 from the northwest. San Fratello Ridge was taken on 8 August after bitter enemy resistance.

SICILY

CORONIA VALLEY, typical of the valleys separating the mountain ridges along the northern coast. The valleys provided little concealment from the enemy in position on top of the ridges. The bridge spans were usually long and easily demolished. Note that both highway and railroad bridges are blown in this picture.

SICILY

PROBING FOR MINES AT A BRIDGE-CROSSING SITE. The mine detector reacts to metal; whether the metal was a mine or a shell fragment had to be determined by probing and digging, usually with a bayonet. (Mine detector SCR 625.)

SICILY

BRIDGE BUILDING. In the valleys this task presented no particular problem once the enemy had been chased off the mountain ridge overlooking the bridge site. However, near Messina, where the road in some places is hewn out of the cliffs overhanging the sea, the problem was more difficult. The air compressor (Le Roi) mounted on a 2½-ton truck (in picture above) was used for operating power-driven saws, hammers, and drills.

SICILY

BROLO BEACH ON THE NORTH COAST OF SICILY. This is one of the several localities where U. S. forces made amphibious landings behind the enemy lines. Highway 113 runs along the hills, the railroad near the beach. The village of Brolo is at upper part of picture. The landing was supported by aircraft and naval gunfire.

SICILY

ENGINEERS REPAIRING A BREAK IN HIGHWAY 113, on the north coast, caused by German demolition. The locality is Capo Calavâ where the road practically overhangs the sea.

SICILY

MEDIC TREATING A BLISTER on an infantryman’s foot. Medical aid men were present at the scene of every action. They were unarmed and were identified by an arm band with a red cross, or a red cross painted on the helmet, or both.

SICILY

MEDICAL AID MAN GIVING BLOOD PLASMA TO A WOUNDED MAN. Plasma was dried human blood that could be kept almost indefinitely under ordinary conditions. It was prepared for use by adding the required amount of triple-distilled water or a saline solution containing the same amount of salt as whole human blood. It was not as effective as whole blood, which retained its effectiveness for a maximum of only twenty-one days when properly stored and refrigerated. This made whole blood difficult to keep and use under field conditions.

SICILY

DIGGING A FOXHOLE IN AN OLIVE GROVE using a helmet as a shovel. These holes provided excellent protection against shell and bomb fragments. The steel helmet was used for a variety of purposes besides protecting the head. It made a fine wash basin, was used as a basket to carry post exchange items (paper bags were not available), and practically everyone used it as a seat while living in the field. In some cases it was used as a cooking utensil in violation of regulations, as excessive heat took the temper out of the steel, making it useless for the purpose for which it was originally intended. (The soldier in picture is wearing the fiber liner while he digs with the steel helmet M1.)

SICILY

A GOUMIER OF FRENCH MOROCCO. The goumiers, generally called goums by American soldiers, formed part of the French colonial troops. Serving with the Americans in Tunisia, Sicily, Italy, and southern France, they were greatly respected for their fighting ability. (The term “goum” literally means “company,” and a goumier is a member of an infantry company. Not all native infantrymen, however, were known as goumiers, the term applying only to soldiers of certain Moroccan tribes.)

SICILY

GOUMIERS ADVANCING ACROSS THE HILLS IN SICILY. Their specialty was mountain fighting, and they used horses and mules to carry supplies.

SICILY

SOLDIERS STERILIZING MESS KITS AFTER EATING. When possible this was done before and after every meal. Such procedure was of the greatest importance in Sicily where sanitation as we know it was little practiced among the population as a whole. In spite of every precaution, dysentery of one kind or another was common among Allied forces.

SICILY

INFANTRYMAN TURNED MULE SKINNER.

SICILY

PACK MULE. The interior and northern coast of Sicily were mountainous and had few roads fit for vehicles. Mules often had to be used to bring supplies to troops in forward areas.

SICILY

FIELD BAKERY. The men in the picture above are using a British oven which was built into a trailer. Field ovens of U. S. troops were separate units and not built in trailer form. In some instances U. S. troops obtained the British type oven when previously stationed in the British Isles. Others obtained them in America. Every attempt was made to vary the rations of the troops, and fresh bread was baked when possible.

SICILY

FLYING FORTRESS DURING BOMBING OF MESSINA. In the first two weeks of August the enemy started to withdraw to Italy across the narrow Strait of Messina under heavy bombing attacks. By concentrating antiaircraft guns in and around Messina as a means of combating these attacks, the Germans managed to ferry across thousands of their first-line armored and airborne troops, but much of their heavy equipment was left behind. U. S. patrols entered the city from the west on 16 August 1943 while British units entered from the south on the same day. The campaign had lasted thirty-nine days.

SICILY

UNLOADING EQUIPMENT IN PALERMO. Even before the fighting in Sicily had ended, the build-up for the invasion of Italy started. The crane (left center) unloading pipe is a truck-mounted crane M2. Designed to handle 240-mm. howitzer materiel and 8-inch gun materiel in the field, it was a six-wheeled type with power supplied to all wheels and capable of accompanying convoy vehicles at a maximum speed of about thirty miles per hour. It was also used to facilitate unloading as above. The crew consisted of a chassis operator and a crane operator.

SICILY

SMOKE SCREEN OVER PALERMO HARBOR AREA. This port, within easy reach of enemy bombers based in Italy, was subjected to air raids during the build-up period before the invasion of the mainland. The smoke screen obscured the port area and kept the bombardiers from aiming at any specific target.

SICILY

LST’S IN PALERMO HARBOR. The very low altitude barrage balloons (above) protected the ships from dive-bombing attacks. They were flown at different altitudes from day to day.

SICILY

AMMUNITION DUMP NEAR PALERMO during the build-up for the invasion of Italy.

SICILY

GLIDER TRAINING FIELD IN SICILY. (Douglas C-47 transport with CG-4 gliders.)

SICILY

MESSINA WITH THE ITALIAN MAINLAND ACROSS THE STRAIT. On 3 September 1943 British and Canadians of the British Eighth Army crossed this channel into Italy.

SARDINIA

THE SINKING OF THE ITALIAN HEAVY CRUISER TRIESTE in Maddalena harbor, Sardinia. The cruiser was sunk by twenty-four B-17’s coming from bases in Africa, 10 April 1943. (Top picture: cruiser within its protective antitorpedo net; center: salvo of bombs landing on and near ship; bottom: this photograph was made within the next few days and shows oil rising from the sunken cruiser.)

SARDINIA

SEAPLANE BASE. The planes are captured Italian seaplanes at Cagliari on Sardinia. Sardinia was not invaded by U. S. forces, but the Germans evacuated the island in September 1943. Shortly thereafter the Allies started basing aircraft there, chiefly medium bombers. The bases were within range of all central Italy. (Top plane is an Italian Cant. Z-506-B Airone (Heron) three-engined bomber torpedo reconnaissance seaplane. The planes have British RAF markings added after capture.)

CORSICA

AIR CORPS PERSONNEL SETTING UP CAMP on the French island of Corsica. On 14 September 1943, French commandos landed to help patriots who were fighting the Germans. On 4 October the island was in Allied hands, and soon thereafter the airfields were being used as bases for fighters and medium bombers.

CORSICA

BOMBARDMENT SQUADRON REPAIR TENT in Corsica, riddled by bomb fragments. U. S. medium bombers based here ranged over all northern Italy and southern France. Fields in Corsica were within range of enemy planes based in the Po Valley, and were bombed and strafed periodically.

CORSICA

MALARIA CONTROL IN CORSICA. Throughout the Mediterranean campaign, the malaria problem was ever present. Vigorous measures were taken to eliminate the disease-carrying mosquito. Douglas A-20 Havoc light-bomber (top) spreading Paris green dust over swampland near an Allied military installation; (bottom) refilling hopper of plane with dust.