Eighth Army.

from the Army Commander.

To be read out to all troops.
1. The Armies landed in 0icily on Italian soil on
10th July, magnificently supported by the Royal Navy the Allied
Air and are, today, in possession of the whole island
except for the north east corner where the army is now hemmed in.
2. I want to tell all of you, of the &ighth Army that
this has been a very fine performance. On your behalf I have ex-
pressed .to the Commander 'of the Seventh .American Army on our left the
congratulations of the Eighth Army for the way the American troops
have captured & cleaned up more than half the island in record time.
V;e are proud to fight beside our Americah Allies.
3. The beginning has been very good, thanks to your splendid
fightin
b
qualities to the haEd work and devotion to duy of all
these who worK in the posts, on the roads, and in rear areas. We must
not forget to thamks to liThe Lord Mighty ill Btlttle
rt
for giving
us suoh a good beginning towards the attainment of our object.
4. now let us get on with the job.'ibgether With our .Al11eric8lll
Allies we have knocked Iaussolini off his perch. rye will now drive the
Germans out of Sioily
.5. lllto battle with stout hearts. Good luck to you all.
J
D..trnford's Diary
July 5th. We reheareed our landing, so far as we could, by going over the
exact proc edures which would be followed on the day of the attack.
We would all be assembled below deck in the section of the ship
appointed to us. We would be fUlly dressed with small pack, digger,
ammunition, rifle, tin hat, gaewcape, and in many cases mortar and
machine gun parts, etc, etc. The officers carried a revolver, map-
case, binoculars, and compaee, l among other things.
All the air of impending battle was OurB when, under cover of
darlmess - the ship's lights all out except for the occasional blue
lights in the gangway - we 'fI'Ould wait for the order to move. The
"blower", as we called the broadcaster, would give order s fir st to
this section and then to that, until every section had received ita
instructions. "Attention, pleae! Attention, please!" sounded in the
stilly drakness, "Number 8 section will prooeed from their places
to number station on the starboard side of the ship forward NOW."
The pause before the order "NOwt' was deliberate, and emphasized the barked
out order t l O ~ in a manner none of us could ever forget. It BOunded
like theppause of the auotioneer as, having slowly pronounced the
words "Going, going 0" he pauses with his hammer poised for a blow
before he finally bringeilown with great vehElllence to the accompaniment
of the last l1IOr'd
Il
Gone" 0 These inlltrcutionl!l were repeated slowly and
with great exactnellso Then the section eo addreeaed would proceed
very slowly in all but total darkness in one single line, each man
holding on to the webbing or equipment of the man in front of him so
as to avoid losing his way, and up the gangway they would go along
the dim corridors, up again to decks still higher till finally they
reaohed ~ h e promenade or boat deck. Stumbling over the high sills of
the ship s doorways, they l)uld issue out into the open air and the
moonUgh!. Out of the oppressively hot atmorphere of their close com-
partment below where little if any ventilation seemed to exist .nd into
the cool night air. Silently, for the whole ship wae bound in silence,
they\>uld creep forward till the leader had found hie boat station and
then, one by one, each man would file past him into the landing craft
ae it swung from its davits at the side of the ship. Here they'l)uld
kneel on one knee with their rifles vertical in their hands until the
craft had its full complement aboard in three rows -- the officer abeing
the last to enter as he was to 'be the first out on landing. There waa
always a slight hesitancy about taking the step from the ship into the
swinging Landing Oraft, for the gap between revealed a long. long drop
"into t 'he watery depths below.
Thus they would kneel or half-squat in tightly packed linee until
the rehearsal was complete and every aection had found I similar positions.
In this ,was these boys \>uld aeon be lowered with other LO s swinging ,
below them from the Promenade Deok into the sea and away to a mstlle
amre. The intense silence and the darkness gave the' whole procedure
a weir d and ghlo st ly atno spher e. 0