I’m trying to recall the action and movements, we were encountering during this period of Nov. 1, 1943 and into June 4, 1944, when we finally break through and capture Rome. My personal journey depended on decisions made by the war generals. There are opinions even now, that the North African war effort was pointless. But it did result in diverting Nazi troops from other fronts and also provided our generals and our troops training and experience. Winston Churchill fought for the continuance of breaking into France and Germany through Italy, which our generals opposed. They insisted on the direct way through France and into Berlin. They compromised and Eisenhower put his emphasis on the Normandy invasion. On June 4,1944 Rome was captured and on June 6th we land in Normandy………………………………………. So, how did this affect me and my fellow GIs?. Gen. Ira Eaker was moved from England to Caserta, Italy not too far from Naples, to build up the MAAF Hqtrs and use the airport base to do daylight bombing of German manufacturing facilities and offer support to the Italian struggle. This created a shuffling of personnel and I have a memo in my army file that I was released from an army hospital in Sicily. I was moved to the 815th Eng Avn Bn. Also transferred from 904th to the 815th were 13 other GIs with special talents. There were many other transfers to other Battalions………………………….. With the use of hindsight, I can safely assume that this action of building up the forces in Italy may have caused the German Army to move troops into the Italy. By applying pressure in this area, Hitler reacted and moved a part of his defensive forces into Northern Italy and to Southern France. With pressure from Russia and Italy the landing at Normandy was successful to some extent, due to the three pronged Allies attacking forces. (more to follow)
Archive for October, 2008
Rosh Hashanah in Tunis, WWII
By mistake,, I wrote the above post on a Page section. So, please enter manage and click on Page to bring up the above Post. Irv PS. I’m awaiting instructions on how to transfer Page to Post. Irv
Tunis, continued(Sept-Nov.)
The abandoned building that we turned into our working and sleeping area was situated in the city and was close to the Air Force base for fast communication. We had set up our printers and were activated quickly We were busy with mapping and printing instruction material. We could only use candlelight in our apartments, and I mentioned this in my mail to Shirley how romantic it was to communicate with her by candlelight. We had a rec-room in the basement, where lighting was hidden by being underground and windows were shuttered. We had a library of books for reading there and ping pong table . So , really it was quite cozy. Also, we had a curfew. At night, to get some fresh air, after working in the printing department, we would assemble outside. That is where I was able to make new friends, a problem that confronted me, being a newcomer in a unit where the GI’s had lived and soldiered together for a year or more. Our unit was quite small,,perhaps about 20. (Just a guess,on my part. Who can remember. (It’s so long ago). I was taught how to run the Harris Printer. The photographer position was closed by the time I joined the outfit. But I did have the use of the lab and was permitted you use it when necessary. .
Tunis, 1943.
At this point in time, September, 1943, I was in the Army for one year. Within one year , we changed the situation in No. Africa. We, the allies landed in No. Africa on Nov. 7th, 1942 and by May 7th, 1943, after fierce battling captured Tunis and Bizerte, thus forcing the Nazis to surrender. ………On July 10th, we invade Sicily. When this occurred, the partisans in Italy ousted the Fascists and captured Mussolini and murdered him and his aides. He was caught trying to escape dressed as a woman. I have photos of his hanging and I hope to transfer them to the blog. On Sept. 3, 1943 the Italians signed an armistice agreement and the Allies land in Southern Italy…………….We, in North Africa were awaiting orders for movement into Europe, but it was slow in coming through.It was sometime in Feb. 1944, that we embarked on ships and entered Sicily and Southern Italy. The 4 or 5 months in Tunis seems in retrospect like a vacation. We were on call for special work to help the leaders of our Army and Air Force, but as I read my letters and recall incidents, we had time to sight-see and mingle with the populace.
