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8. The Sicilian Campaign
- The University Press of Kentucky
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Well, the Truscott Trott sure got us here in a damn hurry. —Gen. George S. Patton Jr. As night fell on D-day, Adm. Alan Kirk’s bridge announcer, John Mason Brown, told his flagship Ancon audience, “Herewith . . . some of the news you helped to make. Admiral Hewitt, in a dispatch to Admiral Cunningham, reported that the Sicilian beaches assaulted by three American Task Forces were firmly held, that one of these beaches was found to be heavily mined, and that at Gela the pier was wrecked, its center section missing.” Brown summed up the events of D-day by telling the men that, according to Hewitt, the paratroop operation had been successful, gunfire support ships were engaging enemy tank reinforcements from inland, and “enemy air action was light, but that the destroyer Maddox was sunk by dive bombers early this morning.” Brown also candidly informed them that the paratroops had met German tanks and “appear to have had a hard time of it,” that unloading had been slowed by a cross swell and time needed to silence enemy batteries, but that word from the British was that “all is good,” and that one rumor was that the Eighth Army was “already eight miles inland.” With this optimistic report ringing in their ears, the men of the USS Ancon, like those on every ship off Sicily, prepared for possible enemy air attacks. To everyone’s surprise, although a few enemy aircraft appeared, no serious air raids interrupted the Allies’ first night off Sicily . That did not prevent Allied gun crews from being anxious and alert. On Savannah Richard Sharon noted in his diary, “Everyone is keyed up and any planes passing overhead will be given the closest scrutiny before allowing to pass safely. All planes are identified by their silhouettes because of the high altitude at which they operate.” CHAPTER 8 THE SICILIAN CAMPAIGN m-Tomblin 08.qx2 6/30/04 1:12 PM Page 195 The calm was broken at 0635 when a dozen Italian bombers attacked the transport area. One bomb narrowly missed Barnett, bursting under her port bow and blowing a hole in the number 1 hold, killing seven men and injuring thirty-five soldiers of the army port battalion. The ship’s captain, Cdr. G.E. Maynard, averted a major disaster by flooding the forward magazine and ordering quantities of ammunition tossed overboard. Nonetheless, a fire continued to rage below decks and the tug Hopi was ordered alongside to fight the fires. The Italian bombers were followed by German aircraft that appeared off Gela. In his diary entries, Richard Sharon wrote: “0710—Heavy bombing attack in progress and we are really pouring lead into the heavens . One of our light cruisers is being bombed about 1500 yards from our port beam. Another LST has been hit.”1 These air raids on the Gela beachhead came as no surprise to Allied commanders, who had been warned by signal intelligence to expect enemy air attacks. Early on July 11 this same source revealed that the Germans were coordinating air attacks with a push by the Hermann Göring Division against the Gela area beaches. The Axis drive for Gela began at 0615 on D-day Plus One, July 11, as tanks brushed aside a battalion of the Twenty-seventh U.S. Infantry positioned along Highway 117 south of Ponte Olivo. Enemy tanks and artillery penetrated to within three miles of Gela before American mortars and artillery forced them to swivel east, where they were stopped by antitank guns and artillery dug in at Abbio Priolo. The army did not request naval gunfire, probably because of the proximity of Allied troops to enemy forces in the bare, undulating countryside. On the right flank, however, the Second Battalion, 180th Infantry, battling enemy tanks from Biscari, was in desperate need of firepower, as only a few of their tanks and antitank guns had come ashore. They requested naval gunfire and the USS Beatty answered the call, effectively spoiling a German counterattack from the right. On the left flank, however, determined units of the Italian Livorno Division pressed on toward Gela.2 With only two Ranger companies between the enemy and Gela, shortly after 0830 the Americans called for naval support. Savannah was the first to respond. From his battle station, Pharmacist Mate Sharon watched the morning’s action. “0830—We are now firing our main batteries in an attempt to break up a German tank formation moving up on our troops...