European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - April 18, 1992, Darmstadt, Hesse                                The Mediterranean file an Allied ship takes a direct hit from enemy fire during the invasion of Sicily. Continued from Page 13 was suffering from Battle fatigue. To Patton a up and at Mem Way of thinking Battle fatigue was Akin to cowardice and he ended up slapping the Soldier. The incident was hushed up by the censors but correspondent Drew Pearson managed to break the Story in his syndicated Washington column. The army denied the Story at first then admitted it was True and the associated press sent the details around the world. Mitgang received a copy of the a Story in Palermo and his immediate thought was a ooh of. This is going to be  a but i figured id take a Chance and print it a Mitgang said. A after All the Story had already been run in the states and some of the gis got clippings from their families and if we did no to print it some of them could say we weren to printing everything that was available Back  so he dummies the Story on Page 1 a Small Over two columns a then took the pages around to the War censors office for a routine of. The censor a major took one look at the Story and called his colonel. His colonel called Patton a chief of staff. A finally the colonel gets Back on the line and tells the major that he should make the decision a bearing in mind the Good of the 7th army and  and the major turns to me and says a for the Good of the 7th army a and myself a this Story is not going to run in the stars and  a we both just sort of grinned at each other a Mitgang remembers. A i done to think i really thought it was going to run  the Story incidentally also never made it to press in London where Llewellyn killed it outright. And having never acknowledged the incident in the first place the stripes editions  logically print a follow up Story when Eisenhower later reprimanded Patton. In september the staff took part in the landings at Salerno Italy then raced with the troops to Naples where yet another edition was set up. Issue no. 1 there was delayed when the print Crew discovered that the presses had been wired with explosives. Even after they were defused the machines were so beaten up that they  print photographs and the staff had to rely on line drawings. The water Gas and electricity at the Plant came and went and the just liberated italian print staff had the effrontery to go on strike. To top it All off mount Vesuvius chose to erupt. The volcanoes spurting flames and glowing  . Troops Advance near Vesuvius. Lava lit up the City at night making it a Choice target for Axis bombers. And still the staff found a Way to publish 500,000 copies a Day. The stars and stripes went into Competition with itself sort of when a group of staffers moved up from North Africa and began a 5th army edition using portable presses set up near the fighting. It. Col. White had ordered the Mobile units from the United states the previous fall but they did no to arrive in Oran until after the troops had moved on to Italy. The presses either remained in Oran or were stolen in Italy a former staffers disagree on that Point a but new presses were either bought or stolen a again disagreement a and the Mobile unit began printing in Early september. The operation folded a month later when it became Clear that the Naples circulation staff could Supply front line troops. The equipment was eventually turned Over to the French army and was last seen in Dijon. In june Ralph Martin started the stars and stripes at sea aboard an invasion ship heading for Sicily. The paper a three Page daily run off on the ships mimeograph machine followed the format file Greg Duncan and wife Jan before the trip to Anglo. Bill Mauldin la at the wheel of the jeep. Of the Algiers edition and included whatever news that came in by radio. There were also feature stories on the Crew and the obligatory poets Corner which included this Gem Alt we eat is steaks and Chicken chocolate ice Cream Well baked Ham but give me the Days of Nice canned corned beef cold Quot cd rations and thick sliced spam. On july 9, with the sicilian coast in sight the stars and stripes at sea folded after 13 issues. Page 14 a 50th anniversary special edition saturday april 18, 1992