Evening star., 1943-11-21
Continued From Page C-1.)

lights were very powerful, but all the
ships Illuminated by their beams were
too far away to be seen. After almost
an hour of this searchlight and flare
activity all became dark again.
Apparently the not-so-alert Axis
troops decided that the landing of the
paratroopS was the only invasion ac-
tivity to be expected during this par
ticular night. Shortly after midnight
the transports arrived at the unload
ing point and proceeded to lower boats
and disembark troops and equipment
into them
During this unloading period my ship
and the destroyers assigned to our
group of transports were patrolling cer-
tain assigned areas and covering pre-
arranged targets ashore where enemy
batteries were known to be situated. In
addition we were delegated to destroy
the aircraft beason at Scoglitti, which We
did in a few seconds. The destroyers
were assigned sectors of the landing
beaches for the first few minutes in
order to destroy machine-gun nests, cut
barbed wire, explode beach mines and
clear the beaches of enemy troops. After
a few minutes of this type of barrage,
the destroyers lifted their fire to known
strong points, pill boxes and gun en-
placements Immediately inshore from
the beaches.
The time schedule OF advance Of the
troops, after they landed, was known to
all f1re-support vessels. 1t was thus easy
to keep them covered with an effective
barrage and yet not endanger them in
their advance. Naturally, this type OF
gunfire is not conspicuous for it's ac-
curacy. Occasionally an explosion Of
ammunition in gun pit or in a maga-
zine gave definite evidence that the tar
get was being hit.
Have Little Opposition.
At any rate, the concentration OF
something like 100 violently exploding
shells per minute in the immediate VIC
Unity of the target served the purpose of
driving all gun crews underground or
causing them to abandon the battery
entirely-and not infrequently in de-
stroying the major portion of the bat
terry.
About an hour before daylight on July
10 we learned that all waves of troops
had landed On their designated beaches
with negligible losses and with little
| opposition. The water bugs had done
the job and successfully completed the
| first step in the conquest of Sicily.
Thpro inc i,,t I,a
sands of tons of military cargo, con-
| sisting of tanks, artillery, ammunition,
| food, medical supplies, and a long and
varied list of other assorted items. With
out pause for rest, for overhaul of equip
ment. or even to plug up bullet and
shell holes, the faithful water bugs
| clustered around the transports and
began the long grind of transporting
load after load of cargo to the unload
ing beaches.
The scene during the landing of our
first troops defiies description All ships,
including the water bugs, opened up
with all antiaircraft batteries. The
noise OF the antiaircraft firing of all
the combined antiaircraft batteries was
a somewhat muted tide of sound which
ebbed and flowed over the area as
enemy planes flew over various sectors
OF the sky, invariably reaching a mo-
mentary crescendo in any area where
bombs had just landed. This rolling
thunder of gunfire was periodically
drowned out by the sharp reports of our
own antiaircraft guns.
Not the least of the weird effects was
the rattle of falling shell and shrapnel
fragments on deck and through the
rigging, and also the small and large
geysers of water all around caused bv
similar fragments and few dud pro-
Jectlles landing in the water. Every one
IN an exposed position topside wore a
metal helmet as matter of course, but
even SO few men received superficial
wounds from this hail of fragments.
AS daylight increased we began to be
able to see some of the planes flying
overhead, though the sky was so filled
with blobs OF smoke from bursting anti
aircraft shells it was difficult to identify
friend from foe. The most reliable guide
was the color OF the planes. Our Spit
nres, P-4Os and other types of fighters
were painted in the lighter shades. Axis
planes were mostly black or dark brown
or gray. The great majority of the per-
sonnel OF antiaircraft gun crews of all
ships present had not previously been
under attack by hostile planes, and the
majority of the fighter pilots had not
previously had the job of protecting our
own forces against such attacks.
Although elaborate and detailed in
structions had been issued and drills
in plane Identification had been carried
out for months with the express pur-
pose of controlling the fire of antiair-
craft gun crews, the first and natural
instinct Of self preservation impelled
the majority Of the gun crews to open