GIGANTIC OPERATION

Evening Star, Issue 24916, 14 July 1943, Page 3

GIGANTIC OPERATION

THE GREATEST AMPHIBIOUS EXPLOIT FIRST LORD GIVES SOME DETAILS (Reo. noon.) RUGBY, July 13. The largest amphibious operation ever attempted was the description the First Lord of the Admiralty, Mr Alexander, gave the Sicilian invasion when speaking to the Foreign Press Association iu London to-day.' _ He revealed that between November. 1942, and .January 8, 1943, we landed over a million tons of supplies, over 400.000 personnel, over 40,000 vehicles in North Africa.

Referring to the breaking of the blockade of Malta, Mr Alexander said that from July, 1942, until May, 1943, we sank 346 enemy ships on the Mediterranean supplv lines. Turning to Sicily, Mr Alexander continued: "Here is the largest amphibious operation ever attempted. It has been carried to the iplace of landing by the (Royal Navy and the United States navy, despite the most difficult weather, with a skill and determination which reached the highest naval standards, and for which we should all be grateful to those who carried through (the enormous task of planning and those who so brilliantly got to all the right places at just the right time. " Also, we ought not to forget the hundreds of merchant ships that have 'icon engaged, and we owe them a great debt.

" In the great task which still lies ahead of us in Sicily we can be confident that the naval forces and merchant ships, with the assitance of the Air Force, will do their utmost to maintain our forces on land with all the supplies they need until the campaign is completed in Italy." He also paid a tribute to the splendid co-operation of the United States fleet and to the smaller but valuable naval units of our other allies, and stressed the importance of naval power as a determining factor in the present war.