This week marks the anniversary of the Anglo-American invasion of Sicily, which turned the tide during World War II and was to pave the way for the siege in Malta. To commemorate the event, Albert Storace visits the Museo dello Sbarco in Sicily.
Quite close to Catania’s main railway station, a few minutes’ walk away on Viale Africa, there is a very interesting museum. The Museo dello Sbarco in Sicilia 1943 is part of a complex of museums known in the area as Le Ciminiere.
British forces from Malta were involved in the invasion, which was launched from Tunisia and directed at the southern part of Sicily
The tall chimneys still on the rehabilitated site remind one that up to World War II, this was the main processing plant of Sicilian sulphur. Eventually turned into a museum space, apart from the museum of the Anglo-American invasion on July 9-10, there is the Museo del Cinema and Museo della Radio.
For us in Malta, this was a very important, significant event. It was a turning point in our history, as it was to be to the war in general. Stalin had long been clamouring his Allies to open a second front to reduce Nazi pressure on the Eastern front.
After the victory of Alamein in October 1942 and the defeat of Nazi-Fascist forces in North Africa, it was only a matter of time before the vulnerable ‘soft underbelly of Europe’, namely Sicily and Italy, would be chosen by the Allies well before any other significant invasion force could be launched against the Axis powers elsewhere.
The successful outcome of such an invasion was to have momentous consequences. It led to the fall of Mussolini’s government and his arrest. It led to the raising of the siege of Malta, with the consequent Italian surrender and signing of an armistice on September 3 (but made public five days later on September 8).
The war was virtually over in Malta, although the very last enemy bombs were dropped over us in the summer of 1944.
British forces from Malta were involved in the invasion, which was launched from Tunisia and directed at the southern part of Sicily.
The US forces involved landed along the gulf of Gela, while the British and Commonwealth forces landed at the gulfs of Augusta and Noto.
It bears reminding that apart from Australian and Canadian regiments, there were also Free French elements with their Moroccan auxiliaries and a Canadian Malta Brigade as well.
Visitors to the museum have to be in a guided group for the first part of the tour, which begins with a brief screening of a documentary consisting of excerpts shot by war correspondents and film crews, on loan from London’s Imperial War Museum.
Then, one steps into a reconstruction of a typical Sicilian town square, where on top of the municipio there is the Fascist slogan Credere, obbedire, combattere. One gets a peep inside a Carabinieri station, a grocer’s shop, a sitting room and bedroom all furnished in period style.
Next, one steps inside the bombed version of the same square and for better re-evocation, one enters the interior of an air-raid shelter, hears the wailing sirens and feels the ground shaking. From then on, one can visit the rest of the museum at leisure.
The display halls cover quite an extensive area and deal in detail with every aspect of the 39-day campaign, by the end of which the German and Italian forces still fighting the Allies managed to make an orderly retreat across the Straits of Messina in mid-August.
As is to be expected, there are weapons and uniforms used by both sides. Various stages of combat are manifested, from the securing of beachheads and bridges to the conquest of various cities, towns and villages.
After the first shock of surprise, the Axis offered some very tenacious resistance, until superior enemy forces led to surrender and/or retreat. Among many interesting details, one notes that on July 10, the first Canadian Division with the 231st Malta brigade landed at Pachino beach, clearing the way to Regalbuto via Agira.
Also presented in detail are battles such as that for the bridge on the Arapo, one of the bloodiest of all, a six-day battle fought and won by the first US Infantry Division for the control of Troina.
The re-organisation of civic order and administration of the liberated parts of Sicily are recorded step by step, as are the reactions of the suffering hungry, battered townsfolk.
Country people seemed to be indifferent to invaders and defenders. However, the exhibition does bring into focus the horrors of war suffered by both sides, more so when one sees reconstructed field hospitals.
There may be some sort of satisfaction for the winning side, such as that seen in the re-evocation of the armistice signed at Cassibile under an open tent, complete with soil on the ground brought from the same spot.
However, one is constantly reminded that there are always losers on both sides, as victors and vanquished suffered more or less equal casualties of around 10,000 each. The air raids carried out during the campaign are all listed, with at the top, Catania faring worst with 87, followed by Palermo (69) and Messina (58).
In the very last room there is a very poignant atmosphere. On the back wall is a huge projected photograph of an Allied war cemetery just outside Catania.
A bronze nude soldier lies dead on a marble platform. At ground level is a small screen with names of casualties of both sides, unfolding continuously and which are at the same time read out by a recorded voice.
It is a tragic reminder of the folly and waste of war; wars which, when unfortunately everything else fails, seem to have to be waged.
On Wednesday, a number of Canadian veterans who had landed on Pachino beach will take part in a commemorative ceremony there, some of whom joined by children and grandchildren of dead ex-combatants and survivors. The regiments involved are the Royal Regiment of Canada, the 48th Highlanders of Canada, the Hastings & Prince Edward Regiment and the Seaforth Highlanders of Canada.
On July 30, at the war cemetery at Agira, there will be a replica of the concert broadcast from there and relayed by CBS exactly seven decades before.
For more information, send an e-mail to museosbarco@provincia.ct.it.
This feature was made possible with the assistance of museum guide Graziella Catanna.