Forgotten Heroes
The 28-day campaign that 1st Canadian Infantry Division and 1st Canadian Army Tank Brigade fought during its part in Operation Husky—the invasion of Sicily—in 1943 cost 562 men their lives. A further 124 officers and 1,540 other ranks were wounded, and 8 officers and 76 men were taken prisoner. These 2,310 casualties out of a total force of about 26,000 constituted a quarter of all British Eighth Army losses.
Canada’s soldiers faced a terrifically onerous and hard-fought campaign that had them slugging it out with elite German paratroopers and other soldiers fighting from prepared positions in Sicily’s rugged interior mountains. Characterized by small, steep summits linked by spiny ridges separated by narrow, arid valleys, the mountain country west of Mount Etna was ideal for the defense and severely handicapped Canadian offensive operations. Conducting divisional-scale operations proved impossible. Ultimately, most battles were won by single infantry battalions carrying out desperate attacks where the heroism of a few carried the day. And all too often the heroism of those soldiers was never officially recognized.
The number of Canadians presented with awards for valour during Operation Husky is slight in relation to the ferocity and duration of the campaign. Twenty-eight days of near constant contact with a determined foe yielded not a single Victoria Cross. Only 17 officers received the Distinguished Service Order (DSO) and a further 29 the Military Cross (MC). Just 9 common soldiers were awarded the Distinguished Conduct Medal (DCM), while 47 earned the Military Medal (MM).
It is the intention of the Operation Husky 2013 committee to redress this situation by casting light on the bravery of several such men, including one whose gallantry clearly warranted a Victoria Cross.
Private Sidney John Cousins
On July 22 the outcome of a fierce gunfight in the streets and on the hillsides to either side of Leonforte hung in the balance, as the Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry tried to wrest the hilltop town from the German grip. A sergeant and two of his section’s men from No. 8 Platoon set out to eliminate an enemy machine-gun position that had pinned down several of their comrades in ‘A’ Company during an assault on one ridge. After working their way up a steep slope to within 25 feet of the gun the soldiers realized they had no angle of fire on it, but were themselves exposed. A burst of fire wounded the sergeant and killed one of the men. Without thought for his own safety, 23-year-old Private Sidney John Cousins snatched up the fallen soldier’s Bren gun. As a later official report on his actions read, Cousins then, “rushed this post, firing from the hip. He knocked it out and killed 5 of the enemy therein. He then went to ground, changed magazines, and repeated his performance on another post, again knocking out 5 of its occupants. As a result of his gallant action, the whole of the enemy line collapsed, and the [company] successfully gained and held the ridge.” The native of Bagot, Manitoba was killed later that evening when a German shell scored a direct hit on the position he was guarding. The PPCLI’s commander, Lieutenant Colonel Bob Lindsay, recommended Cousins for a Victoria Cross. The award, however, was not approved by higher command and he was subsequently given only a posthumous mention in despatches, because the DCM and MM cannot be awarded posthumously.
Captain Alexander Railton “Alex” Campbell
Advancing cross-country on July 17 toward Valguarnera, two companies of the Hastings and Prince Edward Regiment were within a mile of the town but unable to see it because of an intervening ridge. Taking up position on a hilltop overlooking a major road, the two companies began digging in. They were still badly exposed when six trucks each loaded with 20 to 30 German Panzer Grenadiers drove along the road below. The Canadians opened fire with rifles and Bren guns. In the ensuing firefight, Captain Alex Campbell charged alone down the slope armed with a Bren gun and clenching a spare magazine in his teeth. At pointblank range, Campbell raked the back of one truck with fire that killed eighteen enemy soldiers and brought the showdown to a rapid conclusion when the survivors surrendered. Between 80 and 90 German soldiers were killed and 18 taken prisoner. Such bravery as shown by the 33-year-old Perth, Ontario native commonly resulted in a Military Cross award. But Campbell’s heroism went unnoted. From here he went on to be at the forefront of the battalion’s courageous assault on the heights of Assoro and earned a reputation as a lion among the Hasty Ps during numerous other actions. On Christmas Day, 1943, on the outskirts of Ortona, Campbell was cut down while leading his company in yet another attack against a heavily defended German position.
Corporal Robert Lumley Manning “Bob” Hackett
Some of the landing craft carrying Seaforth Highlanders of Canada to the beach on July 10 grounded on a sandbar 40 feet short of shore. Corporal Bob Hackett of Vancouver was one of the first men off the landing ramp. Carrying a heavy piece of a mortar and all his other gear, Hackett began wading through hip-deep water only to find its depth rapidly rose to almost cover his head. Heavy swells added to the peril the men faced getting ashore and most retreated to the landing craft. Hackett was one of the few to make it to the sand on his own steam. He and Company Sergeant Major Joe Duddle quickly dumped their gear, drove a bayonet into the sand to serve as an anchor and attaching a rope to it, then spooled the line back out to the landing craft for the others to hang on to as they pulled themselves shoreward. A strong swimmer, the 24-year-old Hackett plunged into the sea and for two hours helped men get ashore. Some, like a party of British engineers accompanying the Canadians, were unable to swim and panicked in the heavy swells. Hackett helped calm these soldiers and guide them along the line. In several cases he had to physically control thrashing soldiers and, while towing them, swim to safety. Dragging one man ashore, Hackett realized the soldier had stopped breathing. He administered artificial respiration and brought the man back to life. After two hours in the water and seeing everyone had reached safety, Hackett returned to the landing craft where the British crew wrapped him in a blanket and gave him hot tea to restore his body temperature to normal. Hackett’s heroism, which many of those helped ashore credited with saving their lives, was never recognized. On May 20, 1944, Hackett was sent to England for officer training and never again saw action.
Lieutenant Lou Maraskas
No. 2 Troop commander, Lieutenant Lou Maraskas, of the Three Rivers Regiment pushed his unit’s three Sherman tanks into Leonforte during the fierce street battle there on July 22. At 1330 hours, the troop’s lead Sherman shoved a wrecked German Mark III tank aside in order to get up a main street and assist an embattled company of the Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry. Seconds later, an 88-millimetre gun slammed two shells one after the other into the tank and it began to burn. Jumping out of the turret of the following tank, Lieutenant Lou Maraskas raced forward and pulled the wounded driver free of the burning wreckage despite the fact the Germans were raking it with machine-gun fire. Still under fire, Maraskas dragged the wounded man to safety. Climbing back into the turret of his tank, Maraskas led the rest of the troop into the continuing battle. His disregard for personal safety in rescuing one of his badly wounded men from almost certain death passed almost unnoticed in the intensity of the fighting that day. Christmas Eve, 1943, found Maraskas once again embroiled in deadly urban combat in the heart of Ortona. Having dismounted from his Sherman to discuss operations with several infantry officers, Maraskas was severely wounded when an 88-millimetre shell scored a direct hit on a nearby stack of 6-inch mortar rounds.
Captain G. E. Baxter
July 28 found 1st Canadian Infantry Division closing on the vital objective of the ancient hilltop town of Agira, where several thousand Sicilians had taken refuge. Having faced stiff opposition for more than a week in fighting toward the town, a heavy artillery and mortar bombardment had been ordered to begin at 1545 hours to break the German resistance. All three of the division’s artillery regiments were readying to fire 400 rounds-per-gun at Agira, virtually ensuring that its historic buildings would be annihilated and hundreds of Sicilians killed. Tasked with helping to direct the fire of the guns, a Forward Observation Officer from the 1st Field Regiment (Royal Canadian Horse Artillery), Captain G. E. Baxter, noted few signs of German enemy ahead of his position at the base of the hill looking up toward the town. Cautiously, accompanied only by his radio signaller, Baxter crept through the vineyards and across open slopes toward Agira. Finally, walking right into the heart of the town, Baxter realized the Germans had largely withdrawn. Quickly radioing this news back to divisional headquarters, Baxter was able to get the artillery bombardment cancelled at the last moment. His selfless action in risking being either killed or taken prisoner by entering Agira unsupported by any infantry or armour undoubtedly saved many Sicilian lives and prevented the destruction of one of the island’s most ancient towns.