Operation Husky
Page 47
Loyal Edmonton Regiment (Edmontons, Eddies)—Lt. Col. Jim Jefferson
3rd Canadian Infantry Brigade (3 CIB)—Brig. Howard Penhale
Royal 22e Régiment (Van Doos)—Lt. Col. Paul Bernatchez
West Nova Scotia Regiment (West Novas)—Lt. Col. Pat Bogert
Carleton and York Regiment (Carletons)—Lt. Col. Dodd Tweedie
1st Canadian Army Tank Brigade
Three Rivers Tank Regiment—Lt. Col. Leslie Booth
GERMAN
OKW Commander—Generaloberst Alfred Jodl
Commander-in-Chief South—Generalfeldmarschall Albert Kesselring
XIV Panzer Corps—General der Panzertruppen Hans Valentin Hube
Herman Göring Division—Generalmajor Paul Conrath
15th Panzer Grenadier Division—Generalmajor Eberhard Rodt
ITALIAN
Sixth Army—Generale di Corpo Mario Roatta, then Generale d’Armata Alfredo Guzzoni
XVI Corps—Generale di Corpo Carlo Rossi
206th Coastal Defence Division—Generale di Divisione Achille d’Havet
54th Napoli Division—Generale di Divisione Count Giulio Cesare Gotti-Porcinari
APPENDIX B:
THE CANADIAN ARMY IN OPERATION HUSKY
(COMBAT UNITS ONLY)
IST CANADIAN INFANTRY DIVISION
4th Reconnaissance Regiment
(Princess Louise Dragoon Guards)
The Royal Canadian Artillery
1st Field Regiment
(Royal Canadian Horse Artillery)
2nd Field Regiment
3rd Field Regiment
1st Anti-Tank Regiment
2nd Light Anti-Aircraft Regiment
Corps of Royal Canadian Engineers
1st Field Company
3rd Field Company
4th Field Company
2nd Field Park Company
Brigade Support Group
The Saskatoon Light Infantry
1st Canadian Infantry Brigade
The Royal Canadian Regiment (Permanent Force)
The Hastings and Prince Edward Regiment
48th Highlanders of Canada Regiment
2nd Canadian Infantry Brigade
Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry Regiment (Permanent
Force)
Seaforth Highlanders of Canada Regiment
Loyal Edmonton Regiment
3rd Canadian Infantry Brigade
Royal 22e Régiment (Permanent Force)
Carleton and York Regiment
West Nova Scotia Regiment
1st Canadian Army Tank Brigade
11th Canadian Armoured Regiment (Ontario Tanks)
12th Canadian Armoured Regiment (Three Rivers Tanks)
14th Canadian Armoured Regiment (Calgary Tanks)
APPENDIX C:
CANADIAN INFANTRY BATTALION
(TYPICAL ORGANIZATION)
HQ COMPANY
No. 1 Signals Platoon
No. 2 Administrative Platoon
SUPPORT COMPANY
No. 3 Mortar Platoon (3-inch)
No. 4 Bren Carrier Platoon
No. 5 Assault Pioneer Platoon
No. 6 Anti-Tank Platoon (6-pounder)
A COMPANY
No. 7 Platoon
No. 8 Platoon
No. 9 Platoon
B COMPANY
No. 10 Platoon
No. 11 Platoon
No. 12 Platoon
C COMPANY
No. 13 Platoon
No. 14 Platoon
No. 15 Platoon
D COMPANY
No. 16 Platoon
No. 17 Platoon
No. 18 Platoon
APPENDIX D:
CANADIAN MILITARY ORDER OF RANK
(LOWEST TO HIGHEST)
Private (Pte.)
Gunner (artillery equivalent of private)
Trooper (armoured equivalent of private)
Lance Corporal (L/Cpl.)
Corporal (Cpl.)
Lance Sergeant (L/Sgt.)
Sergeant (Sgt.)
Company Sergeant Major (CSM)
Regimental Sergeant Major (RSM)
Lieutenant (Lt. or Lieut.)
Captain (Capt.)
Major (Maj.)
Lieutenant Colonel (Lt. Col.)
Colonel (Col.)
Brigadier (Brig.)
Major General (Maj. Gen.)
Lieutenant General (Lt. Gen.)
General (Gen.)
APPENDIX E:
AXIS MILITARY ORDER OF RANK
(LOWEST TO HIGHEST)
Because the German Army and the Luftwaffe ground forces had a ranking system where rank also usually indicated the specific type of unit in which one served, only basic ranks are given here. The translations are roughly based on the Canadian ranking system, although there is no Canadian equivalent for many German ranks. Italian ranks more closely mirror those used by the Canadian Army.
GERMANITALIANCANADIAN
Schütze Soldato Private, infantry
Grenadier Granatiere Private, infantry
Kanonier Cannoniere Gunner
Panzerschütze Personale del carro armato Tank crew member
Pionier Pioniere Sapper
Funker Segnalatore Signaller
Gefreiter Caporale scelto Lance Corporal
Obergefreiter Caporale Corporal
Unteroffizier Sergente Scelto Lance Sergeant
Unterfeldwebel Sergente Sergeant
Feldwebel Sergente maggiore Company Sergeant Major
Oberfeldwebel Maresciallo Regimental Sergeant Major
Leutnant Scottotenente Second Lieutenant
Oberleutnant Tenente Lieutenant
Hauptmann Capitano Captain
Major Maggiore Major
Oberstleutnant Tenente Colonnello Lieutenant Colonel
Oberst Colonnello Colonel
Generalmajor Generale di Brigata Brigadier
Generalleutnant Generale di Divisione Generale di Corpo Major General
General der Artillerie Generale di artiglieria General of Artillery
General der Infanterie Generale di fanteria General of Infantry
General der Kavallerie Generale di cavalleria General of Cavalry
General der Pioniere Generale del pionieri General of Engineers
General der Panzertruppen Generale delle truppe armate General of Armoured Troops
Generaloberst Generale d’Armata Colonel General
Generalfeldmarschall Maresciallo d’Italia General Field Marshal
APPENDIX F:
THE DECORATIONS
Many military decorations were won by soldiers in the invasion of Sicily. The decoration system that Canada used in World War II, like most other aspects of its military organization and tradition, derived from Britain. A class-based system, most military decorations can be awarded either to officers or to “other ranks,” but not both. The exception is the highest award, the Victoria Cross, which can be won by a soldier of any rank.
The decorations and qualifying ranks are:
VICTORIA CROSS (VC): Awarded for gallantry in the presence of the enemy. Instituted in 1856. Open to all ranks. The only award that can be granted for action in which the recipient was killed, other than Mentioned in Despatches—a less formal honour whereby an act of bravery was given specific credit in a formal report.
DISTINGUISHED SERVICE ORDER (DSO): Officers of all ranks, but more commonly awarded to officers with ranks of major or higher.
MILITARY CROSS (MC) : Officers with a rank below major and, rarely, warrant officers.
DISTINGUISHED CONDUCT MEDAL: Warrant officers and all lower ranks.
MILITARY MEDAL: Warrant officers and all lower ranks.
NOTES
INTRODUCTION: THE SUPREME TRAGEDY
1 C.P. Stacey, The Canadian Army, 1939-1945: An Official Historical Summary (Ottawa: King’s Printer, 1948), 47.
2 J.L. Granatstein, Canada’s Army: Waging War and Keeping the Peace (Toronto: University
of Toronto Press, 2002), 213.
3 G.W.L. Nicholson, The Canadians in Italy, 1939-1945, vol. 2 (Ottawa: Queen’s Printer, 1956), 23.
4 Ibid.
5 R.H. Roy, The Seaforth Highlanders of Canada, 1919-1965 (Vancouver: Evergreen Press, 1969), 137.
6 Richard Victor Latimer, “The Gibblers: Or Balmorals and Bully Beef,” unpublished memoir in possession of author, 245.
7 Roy, 137.
8 C. Sydney Frost, Once a Patricia: Memoirs of a Junior Infantry Officer in World War II (Ottawa: Borealis Press, 2004), 86.
9 Strome Galloway, Sicily to the Siegfried Line: Being Some Random Memories and a Diary of 1944-1945 (Kitchener, ON: Arnold Press, n.d.), 1-3.
10 Farley Mowat, And No Birds Sang (Toronto: McClelland & Stewart, 1979), 35.
11 Nicholson, Canadians in Italy, 20-21.
12 Ibid., 24-26.
13 Historical Officer, Canadian Military Headquarters, “Report No. 126: Canadian Operations in Sicily, July-August 1943, Part I: The Preliminaries of Operation ‘Husky’ (The Assault on Sicily),” Directorate of Heritage and History, Department of National Defence, 6.
1: IF THE ARMY CAN’T AGREE
1 G.W.L. Nicholson, The Canadians in Italy, 1939-1945, vol. 2 (Ottawa: Queen’s Printer, 1956), 26.
2 J.L. Granatstein, Canada’s Army: Waging War and Keeping the Peace (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2002), 202-05.
3 George Kitching, Mud and Green Fields: The Memoirs of Major General George Kitching (Langley, BC: Battleline Books, 1986), 140.
4 Ibid., 148-49.
5 “Appreciation by Comd 1 CDN DIV at Norfolk House 27 Apr 43,” RG24, vol. 10878, Library and Archives Canada, 7-8.
6 Howard Graham, Citizen and Soldier: The Memoirs of Lieutenant-General Howard Graham (Toronto: McClelland & Stewart, 1987), 138.
7 Historical Officer, Canadian Military Headquarters, “Report No. 126: Canadian Operations in Sicily, July-August 1943, Part 1: The Preliminaries of Operation ‘Husky’ (The Assault on Sicily),” Directorate of Heritage and History, Department of National Defence, 74-76.
8 Nicholson, Canadians in Italy, 4.
9 Ralph Bennett, Ultra and Mediterranean Strategy, 1944-1945 (London: Hamish Hamilton, 1989), 220.
10 Turnbull Higgins, Soft Underbelly: The Anglo-American Controversy Over The Italian Campaign, 1939-1945 (New York: Macmillan, 1968), 45.
11 C.J.C. Molony, The Mediterranean and Middle East: The Campaign in Sicily 1943 and The Campaign in Italy 3rd September 1943 to 31st March 1944 (London: Her Majesty’s Stationery Office, 1973), 2.
12 Ibid., 4.
13 Ibid., 3.
14 Arthur Bryant, The Turn of the Tide: A History of the War Years Based on the Diaries of Field-Marshal Lord Alanbrooke, Chief of the Imperial General Staff (Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1957), 556.
15 Molony, 7.
16 Winston S. Churchill, The Second World War, vol. 5, Closing the Ring (London: Cassell, 1952), 25.
17 Viscount Alexander of Tunis, “The Conquest of Sicily,” MG27, vol. III A1, Library and Archives Canada, 1.
18 Molony, 6.
19 Ibid., 7-10.
20 Carlo D’Este, Patton: A Genius for War (New York: Harper Collins, 1995), 492.
21 Carlo D’Este, Bitter Victory: The Battle for Sicily, 1943 (New York: Harper Perennial, 1988), 74-75.
22 Molony, 2-10.
23 Viscount Alexander, 4-5.
24 Molony, 10.
25 Nigel Hamilton, Monty: Master of the Battlefield, 1942-1944 (London: Hamish Hamilton, 1983), 245.
26 Viscount Alexander, 7.
27 Hamilton, 246.
28 Bernard Law Montgomery, The Memoirs of Field Marshal The Viscount Montgomery of Alamein, K.G. (London: Collins, 1958), 170-72.
29 Hamilton, 252.
30 Eric Morris, Circles of Hell: The War in Italy, 1943-1945 (New York: Crown Publishers, 1993), 14-15.
31 D’Este, Bitter Victory, 92.
32 Montgomery, Memoirs, 34-35.
33 Thomas Parrish, ed., The Simon and Schuster Encyclopedia of World War II (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1978), 13.
34 Rick Atkinson, The Day of Battle: The War in Sicily and Italy, 1943-1944 (New York: Henry Holt and Company, 2007), 131.
35 Hamilton, 257.
36 D’Este, Bitter Victory, 116.
37 Martin Blumenson, The Patton Papers: 1940-1945 (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1974), 236-37.
38 Viscount Alexander, 8-10.
39 Blumenson, 241.
2: FINALLY, THE FINAL PLAN
1 “Appreciation by Comd 1 CDN DIV at Norfolk House 27 Apr 43,” RG24, vol. 10878, Library and Archives Canada, 7.
2 Ibid., 9-10.
3 George Kitching, Mud and Green Fields: The Memoirs of Major General George Kitching (Langley, BC: Battleline Books, 1986), 149-51.
4 Kitching, 150-52.
5 Historical Officer, Canadian Military Headquarters, “Report No. 126: Canadian Operations in Sicily, July-August 1943, Part 1: The Preliminaries of Operation ‘Husky’ (The Assault on Sicily),” Directorate of Heritage and History, Department of National Defence, 28-29.
6 Dominick Graham, The Price of Command: A Biography of General Guy Simonds (Toronto: Stoddart Publishing, 1993), 71.
7 Richard S. Malone, A Portrait of War, 1939-1943 (Toronto: Collins Publishers, 1983), 41.
8 J.L. Granatstein, The Generals: The Canadian Army’s Senior Commanders in the Second World War (Toronto: Stoddart Publishing, 1993), 156.
9 Chris Vokes, My Story (Ottawa: Gallery Press, 1985), 88.
10 Dominick Graham, 70.
11 Howard Graham, Citizen and Soldier: The Memoirs of Lieutenant-General Howard Graham (Toronto: McClelland & Stewart, 1987), 140.
12 Kitching, 152-53.
13 Historical Officer, “Report No. 126,” 34.
14 Ibid., 35.
15 Kitching, 134.
16 Historical Officer, “Report No. 126,” 35-36.
17 Kitching, 154.
18 Dominick Graham, 73.
19 Historical Officer, “Report No. 126,” 36.
20 Vokes, 89.
21 G.W.L. Nicholson, The Canadians in Italy, 1939-1945, vol. 2 (Ottawa: Queen’s Printer, 1956), 32.
22 Bert Hoffmeister, interview by B. Greenhouse and W. McAndrew, transcript, 2001/26, Directorate of Heritage and History, n.d., 41.
23 Nicholson, Canadians in Italy, 32.
24 Thomas de Faye, interview by author, Victoria, 3 November 1998.
25 Nicholson, Canadians in Italy, 35-36.
26 Howard Mitchell, My War With the Saskatoon Light Infantry (M.G.) 1939-1945 (n.p., n.d.), 70.
27 Robert Kingstone, “Transcription of Interview Number 31D 1 Kingstone,” interview by D.W. Edgecombe, 6 October 2000, Canadian War Museum, 4-5.
28 Nicholson, Canadians in Italy, 41.
29 James Riley Stone, interview by William Thackray, 13, 20 May and 3, 10, 17 June 1980, University of Victoria Special Collections.
30 Historical Officer, “Report No. 126,” 44.
31 Dr. John Haley, interview by author, Victoria, 30 October 1998.
32 Historical Officer, “Report No. 126,” 45.
33 Nicholson, Canadians in Italy, 42.
34 Reginald H. Roy, The Seaforth Highlanders of Canada, 1919-1965 (Vancouver: Evergreen Press, 1969), 145-46.
35 Captain A.T. Sesia, “Personal Notes and Observations: Part I—Sicily, 24 Apr. 43- 2 Sep. 43,” RG24, vol. 10878, Library and Archives Canada, 13.
3: EVERYONE KNOWING HIS JOB
1 Bert Hoffmeister, interview by B. Greenhouse and W. McAndrew, transcript, n.d., 2001/26, Directorate of Heritage and History, 42.
2 Frederick Norman Pope, interview by Chris Bell, 31 May and 7, 10, 15, 22 June 1982, University of Victoria Special Collections.
3 George Kitching, Mud and Green Fields: The Memoirs of Major General George Kitching (Langley, BC: Battleline Books, 1986), 158-59.
4 Carlo D’Este, Bitter Victory: The Battle for Sicily, 1943 (New York: Ha
rper Perennial, 1988), 184.
5 Ibid., 185-86.
6 Walter Warlimont, Inside Hitler’s Headquarters, 1939-1945, trans. R.H. Barry (New York: Frederick A. Praeger, 1964), 318.
7 G.A. Shepperd, The Italian Campaign, 1943-45: A Political and Military Re-assessment (London: Arthur Baker Limited, 1968), 22.
8 Historical Section (GS), Army Headquarters, “Report No. 14: The Sicilian Campaign (July-August 1943), Information from German Sources,” University of Victoria Special Collections, 3-4.
9 Albert Kesselring, The Memoirs of Field-Marshal Kesselring, trans. Lynton Hudson (London: William Kimber, 1953), 158-61.
10 Samuel W. Mitcham Jr. and Friedrich von Stauffenberg, The Battle of Sicily (New York: Orion Books, 1991), 18-20.
11 Ibid., 30.
12 Ibid., 31.
13 C.J.C. Molony, The Mediterranean and Middle East: The Campaign in Sicily 1943 and The Campaign in Italy 3rd September 1943 to 31st March 1944 (London: Her Majesty’s Stationery Office, 1973), 40-41.
14 Warlimont, 321-22.
15 Molony, 41.
16 Mitcham and von Stauffenberg, 33.
17 Molony, 41.
18 Mitcham and von Stauffenberg, 33.
19 Ibid., 34-35.
20 D’Este, Bitter Victory, 207.
21 Mitcham and von Stauffenberg, 43.
22 Ibid., 36.
23 Molony, 42.
24 D’Este, Bitter Victory, 207.
25 Mitcham and von Stauffenberg, 52.
26 Douglas Orgill, The Gothic Line: The Italian Campaign, Autumn 1944 (New York: W.W. Norton, 1967), 12.
27 Warlimont, 322.
28 Mitcham and von Stauffenberg, 53-54.