Evening star., 1943-07-12
Italian Navy Absent
When Allied Vessels
Rained Fire on Sicily
BY JOSEPH MORTON,
Annotated Press War cerrespondenl

Associated Press War correspondent.
AN ALLIED AIR BASE IN
NORTH AFRICA, July l2.-one Of
the few American airmen to get
: complete picture Of the invasion
Of Sicily told yesterday Of witnessing
assault by two great groups Of Allied
warships without = sign Of m
italian vessel around.
One group was fighting on an
attack Of enemy bombers and the
other was Smelling the shore 30 heav-
lily that the warships themselves
seemed to blaze.
He said he saw fires burning ut
. number Of points along the 100
mile coastline captured by the Allies
and great strings Of blaxes extended
across central Sicily.
The pilot, 1t. Col. Frank L. Dunn.
San Antonio. said: THE whole
thing spread out before me as I
came In yesterday afternoon about
8 miles up in the air"
Armada Was Great.
'Tt was wonderfully clear day.
I could see all of Sicily. Malta, Pan
telleria and the tip Of Italy"
Our ships were the greatest col
lection of naval strength I have
ever seen. And there seemed to be
thousands of landing craft with
their noses firmly planted on the
beach.
"On the east side Of Sicily I saw
pretty much the same thing, with
men still coming ashore.
"On land I couldn't see much
fighting anywhere, but there was
considerable smoke at one point on
the southern coast and the roads
leading to it. Over the east side
there was a big cloud OF smoke
hanging over long stretch OF beach.
"Warships were firing at the shore
and from the air they looked ablaze.
They certainly were going full blast.
Counted Failing Bombs.
II saw bombs being dropped on
one group of warships. but was
unable to spot the planes that were
attacking. I actually counted three
strings of bombs fall.
The warships were taking evasive
action, swishing around and even
going in circles and scattering fast.
The whole area was bathed in flame
from ack-ack batteries.
Looking over the entire island, I
must have seen hundreds of fires
with one chain stretching from east
to west right across the middle.
They appeared to be airports but it
was impossible to tell definitely.
The biggest single fire was at
a city on the east coast from which
billowed black smoke five to ten
thousand feet. Three Of the fires
across the island also we're tre-
mendous. also saw . lot Of our
vessels returning from the opera
tions."
Like Cluster Of Islands"
Another flyer, Capt. James H.
Macia. jr., OF Tucson, Ariz., said he
was riding along on bombing mis-
sion as an observer and noted that
the whitecaps on the windy sea
seemed to be very uniform.
81 took another look, then realized
I was seeing an Invasion force" he
said i
There were many medium sized
ships In the first group and behind
them large landing craft. Destroy
ers and cruisers were grouped all
| around on the outside for protec-
ton. It was an amazing sight
| Just like q cluster of islands in the
sea-
There were at least five diff
] ferent groups OF the same magni-
tude. Most of the naval vessels
seemed to be cruisers and destroy
ers plus a task force of some ships
headed directly to the southeast
| corner of the island. The string
seemed to be many miles long
and it was making good time.
Saw Forces Unloaded.
I'VE went back over the same
area again today and saw two big
forces unloading. There was a lot
of movement among naval craft
but no oil slick or any evidence OF
sunken ships. Small landing craft
were taking the men ashore in an
orderly manner just like practicing
on some Virginia beach. 1t was a
pretty sight to watch-especially
when you consider whom We were
attacking" Macia said.
The pilots Of speedy fighter and
reconnaissance planes got the best
bird's-eye view of the operations
after the landings were under way
They saw the landing craft beached
along mile after mile of the south
eastern coast and many others
coming ashore. Still more were
standing of the coast waiting their
turn to come in. A few ships were
even heading back toward Africa
, their joh annarentlv done