I AMAZING WORK

Waikato Times, Volume 132, Issue 22093, 17 July 1943, Page 5

I AMAZING WORK

ARMADA RIGHT ON TIME LONDON, July 15 Sidelights upon the armada which carried the invasion army reveal the | meticulous care with which the operation was planned, writes a i correspondent. From a naval opera- j tional point of view the most amaz- ' ing feature of the whole scheme was I the fact that hundreds of vessels, j sailing from scattered ports, arrived off the Sicilian coast within an hour of the appointed time. In the whole brilliant operation only one ship was lost. I Unfavourable weather caused de- : lay in landing to the extent of an hour or an hour and a-half on some beaches, but with so many trans- i ports and vessels sf all kinds, the j great organisation, speed and effitiency with which the sailors did ' their difficult and strenuous job en- ■ abled the Allied tanks' to be landed 75 minutes after the first wave of invasion troops went ashore. Allied battleships and cruisers bombarded several points around the island coast on the night of the invasion and following nights. One of the strangest operations was that in which two destroyers captured Pozzalo, a small village on the south-west coast, and took 20 prisoners. On the morning of July 10, the despatch adds, when the combined operation started, it was known that the Italian fleet was raising steam. As far as is known . today it is still raising steam. 1