The Wilmington morning star., 1943-07-12
Three Sicilian AirGelds
Captured ByAMed Units

,ress has been made and the ad
vance continues. Information II
regard to casualties is not ye
available but it is believed they
have been slight
There was no suggestion tina
any of the many american, Brit
ish and Canadian thrusts made ir
the early mornitg hours yestel
day had been halted or turnee
back.
Although few details were con
tained in today's communicates,
they served to round out the pic
ture of the gigantic operation If
which synchronized land, sea ano
air forces carried out their tasks
with the precision of fine watch.
American and British parachute
troops and glider-borne forces pre-
ceded the ground units, attacking
inland objectives on the island In
the biggest operation OF this kind
since the German capture Of
Crete.
They went over in huge trans
ports flown by troop transport COM
mand pilots who actually were
over the detectives before Axis
anti-aircraft crews spotted them
and opened fire.
Although heavily loaded with
men and equipment the planes
maneuvered through the anti-air-
craft fire and began unloading.
Gliders were cut loose from the
transports just over the objec-
/ tives. All this was three or four
hours before the zero hour for the
borne infantry to come ashore.
! The British gliders landed on
eastern targets while the Aneri-
can paratroopers bailed out over
targets to the west in the invasion
zone.
These air-borne forces achieved
success with negligible losses"
an official announcement said.
While this operation gathered
momentum, a bridge of ships was
stretching out from the African
coast toward Sicily.
1t was composed of invasion
craft, transports, freighters and
probably tankers. Warships form
ed steel sides for the long columns
of ships. Somewhere up ahead
minesweepers were at work clear
ing the waters where the landings
were scheduled to take place.
At the same time, hundreds Of
Allied airmen hovered in the dark
ness above the ships, pounded
known strong points along the
coasts and roared inland to bomb
air fields, railroads and highways
wherever Axis forces would at
tempt to reach points to be in
vaded
Twenty-eight Allied planes were
listed officially as lost during the
invasion operations ano q enemy
planes were shot down.
It was the first time since the be-
ginning of the Allied aerial thrust
against Sicily that the attacking
forces lost more planes than the
Axis. This fact. it was pointed out,
indicated the size and intensity of
the operations that shielded the
ground forces.
Cairo dispatches said aerial re-
connaissance yesterday showed
that several important Sicilian air
fields had been made unservice-
able by the heavy pounding of U.
S. air units.
It was disclosed also that Ameri-
can heavy bombers from the Mid
die East attacked railroad yards
at Cantania, on Sicily's eastern
shore, while the Allies were
swarming onto the island yester-
day.
(The German high command, in
a coInmunique broadcast from Ber-
lin and recorded by the Associated
Press,) said heavy fighting was in
progress Sunday on the southeast
coast of Sicily and declared that
81 Allied planes had been shot
down over the island and surround
ing waters.
(The Germans said Italian tor
pedo planes sank three Allied ves-
sells, including two 13,0OO-ton trans
ports, and in joint attack with
German air units they damaged
three enemy cruisers and numer-
Gus large and medium sized trans
ports as, well as many landing
boats"
Qn communique broadcast by
the Rome radio and recorded by
the Associated Press, the Italians
declared that 81 Allied planes had
been shot down over Sicily and re-
ported that Italian and German
troops were "energetically" engag-
ing the Allied forces and had held
them.
Zone Berlin broadcast quoted
Virginio Gayda, Italian editor who
often speaks for Premier Mussolini,
as saying that ''the first move
ments Of Allied landing troops on
Sicily have been paralyzed by the
immediate action of Axis forces.
At several points the enemy was
surrounded and annihilated.
Cs4 D-.~f-