154 BRIGADE ACCOUNT - THE ASSAULT LANDING
By 0320 hours information reached Brigade Headquarters that the assault companies of 7 Black Watch and 7 A&SH had succeeded in landing without serious opposition, but that their follow up companies had not yet put in an appearance. At 0345 hours the reserve convoy including Brigade Headquarters were due to close to Red II beach, but at that time three of the LCIs of 1 Black Watch had not reached the waiting position, and it was not till 0415 that they were collected. Although information as to the progress of the initial landing was still scanty, it appeared that progress was being made on Red II beach by the 7 A&SH. The Brigade Commander decided that Brigade Headquarters and the reserve convoy should close at once in order to disembark the infantry before daylight. Disembarkation was duly carried out without enemy interference. It was fortunate that this landing was to all intents unopposed as with the concentration of craft on the beaches at daylight heavy casualties both to the craft and personnel would have been inevitable. By 0630 hours "C" company of 7 A&SH had captured Pt 25 and made contact with the 1st Canadian Division who landed on our left. At this time it was apparent that the leading battalions had reached their objectives, and the Brigade Commander recommended the landing of 153 Brigade who were planned to land on Red II and mop up PORTOPALO Bay. By 0700 hours all objectives had been secured with Brigade reserve in position according to plan.
The Brigade Commander at this stage with Commander, 11 RHA proceeded in the latter's Honey tank to the Headquarters of 7 Black Watch on the main ridge. From Colonel Oliver?s Command Post PACHINO town could be seen, and it was apparent that the Canadians on the left were making progress to the West of the town. As a result of this, the Brigade Commander ordered the 7 Black Watch to exploit to PACHINO with the squadron of tanks and one platoon of 7 Black Watch mounted on them. The force eventually reached PACHINO without meeting resistance and made contact with the Canadians on their left and 231 Brigade on their right. The Brigade Commander then proceeded along the ridge to Headquarters of 1 Gordons who had also completed their task without interference. The Brigade was finally re-organised to form a firm base, with the 1 Black Watch holding a portion of the main ridge between the 1 Gordons and 7 Black Watch, and the 7 A&SH concentrated in reserve in the beachead area.
The landing had thus gone entirely according to plan, and was not dissimilar from the training exercises which had been carried out previously; in fact the operation had gone even more smoothly than was customary on these exercises. Resistance had been negligible and only a very few casualties were suffered resulting from "S" mines, and in another case a grenade thrown into a LCA had caused a bangalore torpedo to explode. Two or three hundred rather antiquated Italian prisoners were taken, all of whom were too terrified to offer resistance. It was interesting to examine the beaches and the ground over which this operation took place after the period of intensive theoretical study of the ground from the air photographs, summaries and defence overlay maps, and satisfying to find that these had been so accurate that ones impressions as to landing facilities and the lie of the ground had proved reliable. The Brigade?s task of securing a firm base on the covering positions and of rendering PORTOPALO Bay safe for the landing of the rest of the Division had therefore been accomplished
History Section Reference :
The Landing, Sicily.
Museum Reference :
Documents - Sicily