WAR PICTORIAL NEWS NO 118 [Main Title]

To The Shores of Sicily.

I. 'TO THE SHORES OF SICILY.' Merchantmen and troopships, forming part of the Allied invasion fleet destined for Sicily, steam in formation protected from air attack by tethered barrage balloons. A Nelson Class capital ship (possibly HMS Rodney) cruises at sea forming part of the Royal Navy covering force for Operation Husky. HMS Wallace cruises off the Cape Bon Peninsula in Tunisia, forming part of Support Force East under Rear-Admiral Harcourt. A "military expert" is transported from one Royal Navy (RN) destroyer to another by jackstay transfer. Allied troops attempt to relax en route to Sicily by sun bathing and swimming in an improvised pool on the decks of an unidentified troopship. Merchant seamen wash and sew articles of clothing. Infantry from a Highland Division read booklets entitled "A Soldiers Guide To Sicily" as they lounge on deck. The RN crew of a multiple pom-pom anti-aircraft position scan the sky for enemy aircraft. Merchant shipping and small naval craft struggle to keep station as the weather worsens and the sea rises. The commentary stresses that declining weather conditions could have seriously affected the meticulous Allied planning for the invasion of Sicily. British paratroopers from 1 Airborne Division check their equipment and don Denison smocks at a North African airfield. The paratroopers climb into a United States Army Air Force (USAAF) Douglas C-47 Skytrain transport aircraft (possibly belonging to XII Troop Carrier Command) on the first stage of their long journey to the Sicilian dropping zones. Axis artillery shells explode around merchant shipping near the South Eastern beachhead as infantry from the First Canadian Division wade ashore. An Allied cargo ship burns in the shallows, a victim of accurate coastal artillery fire. Artillery shells plume around landing craft as they ferry troops and equipment ashore. A White scout car is driven ashore, negotiating a rocky and uneven shoreline on its way to the interior. A DUKW 2.5-ton 6x6 amphibian vehicle leaves the landing ramp of LCT 47 laden with British infantry as Eighth Army M4 Sherman tanks raise clouds of exhaust smoke from the beach. The Sicilian landings are described as being the first phase of operations leading to the unconditional surrender of Italy and Germany. Smiling British troops pose for the camera with their equally happy Italian prisoners of war.

35mm