Mediterranean Algiers Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - July 17, 1943, Algiers, Algiers                                Page 4� stars and stripes weekly saturday july 17, 1943 a reporter s invasion diary a soldiers Are As invasion Lively ship hoists Anchor monday july 5 this the my birthday and i commemorate ii by boarding the Good ship do known As Quot Lisle to a Crew. I dont know where in a going or when but i do know Why. Its the invasion the opening of the second front. There Are More than 1000 soldiers aboard our ship alone. Infantry chemical warfare Engineer medical and Field artillery units. A Wear Battle dress of Olive drab and All Are plenty Bot and Sticky. They look Over the ship admiring the 20 and 40 my. And three Inch guns. Spirit is High. Card games Spring into life. One group gathers about a hillbilly who is extracting Lively jigs from a violin. Some of percent of these men Are veterans of the tunisian Campaign. No pets May be brought aboard according to orders. But a couple of Small dogs Are hustled into the hold not to reappear until the ship is underway. I Stow my gear in the Cabin of commander Wilbur Wiedman of Summit n. J., who obligingly offers to share his quarters and his writing desk. Heal Ham for dinner. Life belts Are issued and there is an Alert at 2240. But to enemy planes appear. Tuesday july i shortly after 1000 of clock we leave our berth and Are towed by tug to the far end of the Harbor. It Hope this ainu to a dry run mumbles a Corporal it evidently Isnit because we hoist Anchor late in the afternoon. Once in the open sea we turn eastward a a dozen troop transports and an escorting pack of destroyers. Debarkation drills Are held after Chow. Everybody has his Gar Tai a just tar Case Biller goes to desperate extremes a and life belts must be worn at All times. Well i always wanted to take a Mediterranean cruise but Little did i think it would include these trimmings. Loaded with All types of equipment from machine guns to hand grenades. Protestant services Are held. The Mary in this Page written by Isles a. Burchard arrived yesterday morning by plane from Sicily in the form of m wifely typewritten pages. Because of space limitations it had to is pared Down considerably. Beach to the dunes. I dig a foxhole with my helmet As the Earth actually quivers from Canion reverberations. Axis planes Armor Cive yanks very warm Welcome stiff Battle behind the German nobody wastes a second. A Cater-1 Linos with mortars and machine pillar busily packs Down a track gun moot of them had to fight we tie White strips of Gauze through the Sand for Mobile stuff ? vet packs Bandage about our arms. These coming off the a St a. Amphib-1 8 chased them dizzy will serve As identifying Marks Ian crawl Over it toward the front typical is the Story told by 1st during the blackness of the initial us there is a hurry Call for u. Tony Pappas of Chicago and attack. Close to Midnight. Calmer held artillery so it. Col. Gibbs capt. Gordon Johnson of it water was reported inshore. The hot foots it Over the dunes followed i Worth Texas and attached to Par boils gather in the wardroom for a i by guns and ammunition which i acute units. They were making final meal sandwiches and Coffee. I arrived by ducks the first ducks their first combat jump with their some sleep Bent Over tables. A to be used in this War. Sheer Man i objective a Strong Point at a Road radio blares Quot the army made a i Power moves much equipment i juncture. As capt. Johnston tells Man out of  overhead is the i with soldiers Manning ropes. Its i drone of planes and we know the Tough sledding Over soft Sand. Quot we landed 1500 Yards from the paratroopers soon will drop on is. A a desired spot with Only 40 men out cily by scores. We Are almost a on the Beach. They l0f a Loo who jumped. We Wert in Rived at the rendezvous ourselves. I and they seem Well i a Tough spot so we moved Toto it won t be Long now. Being captured. Nearby i Orchard near a House. All los a temporary red Cross station around us guns opened up so we saturday july 14 three wounded americans Are be charged the House with grenades. To in we Ijara a a a it in. A Jug treated. I talk to pvt. Joe we killed or captured everybody so Doc. Infantryman from i in it about 35�?and settled Down at least we have conquered a Small i nectar Wise i far aim a portion of Sicily. At the moment. F of a i am sitting to one of a series of. E landed a Nack in front of a a but they brought up a Battery Small sicilian caves one mile away x 111 a 8anci Dune a says Joe. Of 88�?Ts. We lost several men one and overlooking the Mediterran-1 a two or Haw of m decapitated by a Shell a which Ean. They serve As temporary regimental Headquarters. On the right a Hundred Yards beloved 105�?Ts Are blasting away. On away a Battery of it col. Gibbs the Sand dunes a column of italian prisoners plods toward the boats and incarceration. Thus far the opening of the second front has been an unqualified Success. We have just Learned that gels a town of 40,000, has fallen except for sporadic fighting. The rangers handled that Job. A colonel seems Well pleased although he does not know too much concerning the Progress of divisions in our left and right but All indications Are Good. As i write a battalion files past in open Battle order. It is going to reinforce the front Lin about five Miles ahead. The boys Are held up by tanks Light French made jobs. A few of our own tank already have been landed but they seem to be lost strayed or stolen. But lets turn Back the clock to late Friday night and take the la invasion to order. La James a. Burchard with the 7 the army forced us to Retreat through the rear of the House with 88 s giving us hell at the same time. Just when it seemed we were cooked some heavy stuff from a us. Cruiser came Over and discouraged the 88�?Ts. It was a gift from the gods. Quot we finally got Back with seven dead and just about everybody wounded. But you should have seen capt Sayre a Breckenridge Texas boy when we charged that House. He had a .46 in each hand and really used them. It looked like a wild West  la. Pappas was knocked cold on the Landing As he hit Rump first. He crawled on his hands and Knees two hours before contacting capt. Johnston and the fighting forty. Then a blast of enemy fire nearly removed his left Eye but he escaped without serious damage. Pappas dives Toto a Fox Hole As the Jerry planes come Over and Doest get up. We figure he shit and Rush Over. But he a just asleep a completely exhausted. Stukas and Strafer concentrate got a Bullet through my left 011 the Beach. Up front things Are Chow is a ult a nah shut a i e sir a pm Lucy locating hand so i went under water for a not exactly Rosy. But an italian Field Kitchen of sorts it up be to 1but 118111 1 grenades fixed the i Pruner happens to have a Pill Low regulation Chow i in when we sailed Pill Box. The italians who weren to Box plan in his Possession. It defines Are formed. They stretch All is appeared As a dead surrendered. We did no to have position and strength of to was Toto Toemon a cd and 2?�?Tj�1 Beacon still any time to  each Box to the Vicinity. His elated has two but do a More perfect land _ ,. Captors immediately go to work body Platos atut the Tarn Jas it desired the he a it Vatch the and wipe out the Pill boxes one by Way complains about we Long town still was tossing up plenty of having his shoulder treated. He one. I ack acc. With Good reason too. I Speaks italian Well. Quot these tops so we re going to Sicily they overhead our paratroopers were Tell me our arrival was no  ced to con? k 2. We it a underway coming to wave by wave. All Over he says. Quot in fact they expected us a Stem did Rita More and Little booklets on the Topo the landscape guns protested our two Days  Grabby history and importance of i arrival. But the paratroopers it of a no the Mediterranean largest Island  be stopped As was Demon pfc Arthur Anderson of Hise Tuati sikh this is not withal distributed. They also Tell us strafed when their pre arranged a a a j1? i bloody Bandage about. A Strong British Force will strike i signal fires and red Green lights knee in wave i reports that two from the Southeast As we make a flashed our positions to our land Down on the Barge . Your 8ecj5 Arf in flame dead of night Landing from the tog barges. Also highly encouraging i but casualties Are surprisingly Jne ? officer to a West. Our particular assignment was the Mediterranean itself. It iana11 111 ibis regiment considering a a commander. A a. Ian a a _. I Dom give a Damn what the came the reply. Infantry. Just walk up Here and look Over my shoulder. You la see those tanks and if they Are on fire we re All burning  band a july la the fireworks Start at Dawn with artillery engagements and raid after raid by planes. They drop heavy stuff that fairly lifts a Guy out of his Fox Hole. Our 155�?Ts Cut Loose and bedlam reigns hour after hour. The regimental staff is worried however. The Jerries have tanks and we done to. Yesterday a few tanks would have raised hell and Cut the German line. Now its too late. Well have to do it the hard Way and the Job Falls upon infantry and Field artillery. And we might mention a few lightnings that swooped around the general landscape looking for tanks. At 1030 our Case seems desperate. We re being surrounded by tanks. The Mark Iyo a Are trying to Cut through to the Beach splitting the american forces and getting in position to blast Supply lines. There is a grim Telephone message relayed by col. T. He demands a 11 anti tank weapons available a and fast. While he talks from regimental up machine gum open on us from two nearby Hills. We hit the dirt. The colonel t calmly finishes his Call before looking for his Fox Hole. Luckily for us and damned unlucky for the German tanks our is aimed at Gela. There is a great had calmed Down and the barges i scope of action. Three dead in a scramble to locate this Little town had Little difficulty in navigating. Attack and a few Woun ass of a re on the map. I at 0100 comes the order Quot first i this is the inf wednesday july i 1x1 your  they re i walk Over the dunes to an ital Many More ships join our con i Utyak and Clug away Ian House where there Are More Voy today. They stretch from Hor i 7? v5 1i? time the prisoners and a scared family. The Izon to horizon with War vessels ? attack is 0245. Soon the Mother holds a terrified child. They on the flanks. At one Tim i count Over 80ne be me a sicilian Watermelon. 63. But they re Only a drop in the ? up g 40 be along German 88 s Are Landing close and nautical bucket colonel t. To rwt01�?T# a m standing off in profusion so i dig into my Fox forms me. All told 2500 Craft will far be discovered. Sur Hole. Their target is a pair of take part to this invasion a the plug a Lighthouse on a Point a St a unloading supplies of the greatest Armada Ever assembled. I sy1 Stern remains sublimely Beach. They straddle the boats even the landings in North Africa aunt but done to hit them. One Shell comparison. And Quot now i believe in the colossal mands no More than five feet away the 2500 includes nothing smaller blunders of War a remarked a Young in the water. Work continues at than the ocl if you take in the Captain. A it was the same Way at an accelerated Pace smaller boats said the colonel the  a a number would run Well us to 8 000 _ we soon move the up Forward shades of Columbus Searchi to or be diligently. I a mile behind our front line in an a Calm Plack sea but hot. Its 3�ws a she4, 1 Olive Quick Foxholes Are dug Drill Drill Drill for the soldiers As 55f0m persistent beam and it in hard Earth i borrow a German the Convoy zigzags in perfect for a a alien 45 two piece Field shovel a neat con mation. The boys have got to get i i hell cuts Loose. Tra traction. We get a warm Welcome. Into those Landing barges in pitch  and Hight an Axis mortar lands too Yards darkness so nothing is left to la ind scape. The rattle of away. Then we re straddled by Chance. I a Guild. Echoes across the shells. I land in a foxhole with a water. There is an explosion and two Star general. There is no rpor1_ in. Kra at burst of Fiaone in Gela proper rank when shells Are splattering Early this morning the Convoy warships Pound the Hills. Tiffs the Vicinity pivots and swings northward. Now Oes on and in. We really Are on the Hunt setting just after Daybreak i climb we re hardly on deck ten min a c.fsea1hafc leads directly to Down the Landing net to a Barge u when it jeep drives up to Efta. Would it organized.156 cxe200n�vwar?ave an i amp i a  and More Sovera five a vib Quot be. Fps dov1 a Huifu have made their Way astern another huge a nov. I to american lines. They had appeared. Landing Convoy a Root has water. Are to get there a ramble i no Opportunity to capture a Strong across the strip of open Point As intended and put up a Cannon company was on the Way  from the Beach heading Tor the front. And 105�?Ts were rolled into positions overlooking the Road. Down rolled the tanks and into action went do or die american soldiers who had been commanded to Stop the tanks at All costs. Stop them they did i four tanks went up in flames in practically nothing Flat As Fields All around were seared Black by concentrated fire. Before the tanks fled the scene la of them gave up the ghost. Back went the survivors Toto the comparative safety of the German lines the Hermann goer ing divisions which were steadily being reinforced. As usual this unit catches the Brunt of the scrap. The others we hear gained their objectives fairly easily. But not us. We get germans tanks dive bombers Strafer mortars and All kinds of artillery. Atop the Hill Johnson found la. Col. Charles Denholm looking Over a a 57 at gun. The Crew had taken off to save its collective hide. Johnson and the colonel did no to know How to work the gun but they moneyed around a few minutes and got it spitting. Then they knocked off a German tank and chased some others Back. The German artillery really went to work for vengeance. When the stuff started to his right 20 Yards away Johnson and the colonel took it on the Lam in a jeep. They picked up Captain and a lieutenant on the Way. Just Topping the Hill a Shell landed right beside the jeep. The Captain was killed his body riddled by steel and the colonel got t to the left shoulder. The lieutenant had one through his lungs. They stopped in a Gully finally and Only got that far because Johnson reached Over to steer and manipulate the gear shift while the colonel worked the pedals. Except for his legs the colonel Wasny to moving very much. They had to leave the captains body behind but there was a Chance of saving the lieutenant. So Johnson recruited a Corporal. They found Bamboo canes supporting grape vines in a nearby Vineyard and used their shirts to improvise a Stretcher. Sticking the poles through their shirt sleeves they earned the lieutenant to a first Aid tent. Johnson thus was left without a shirt but he a been recommended for a dec. We try to sleep but no use. The Jerries really turn on a Mammoth air attack that lasts better than an hour. They hit at everything from the boats to suspicion de artillery positions. Some come uncomfortably close. Capt. Murphy says Quot what the hell if you do get killed it won t be so much bother if you re  a Cool Bird he a soon snoring. Monday july 12 at 0130 the rattle of machine guns awakes us again. Americans Are attacking in the dark with fixed bayonets. The germans even the Hermann Goering specials a done to like that for nothing. The boys Advance to positions they were forced to relinquish yesterday. At Dawn our artillery turns on the heat slackening the terrific Tempo of their fire Only when Jerry planes Are overhead. To sgt. Nels t. Sandin of Binghamton n. Y., and pvt. Tom Edwards of Evansville ind., Are repairing wires. They find themselves in the Middle of a tank Battle so they hide under a Bridge. They see the Mark via a flattened but done to see the Crews jump out. Hearing the tramp of feet on the Bridge they think american soldiers Are crossing. So they jump out face to face with the German tank Crews. Quot they were More surprised than us a says Sandin. Quot we both had rifles and they put up their hands. Some More germans coming around the Bend to the Bridge saw their pals with their hands up so they hoisted Mem too. That Way we got 22 prisoners. All of them were armed with pistols and knives but they did no to take much urging to. Drop everything. We marched them Back 200 Yards and turned them Over to a tank of