Remembering those who died in Sicily in 1943
The CWGC Catania War Cemetery, the largest in Sicily, has 2,135 graves
The Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) cemeteries in Catania and Sicily contain the remains of 2,410 men who lost their lives between the start of the Sicilian campaign on the night of 9 July and the end of August 1943.
The overwhelming majority were members of the armed forces of the UK, the British Commonwealth and the British Empire.
All but 26 are identified as from the UK, but this underestimates the number born outside Britain who were serving in the country’s armed forces when they died. They include seven members of the African Pioneer Corps from what was then Bechuanaland in southern Africa and at least two dozen who had permanent residences in what is now the Republic of Ireland.
The average age of those (where it’s recorded) was 26-and-a-half years. More than 90 per cent were under 30. But there were men, often veterans of the First World War, who were approaching retirement age when they went to Sicily and never came back. Private George Cunningham of the Army Catering Corps was 51. Major Arthur Hutton of the Royal Engineers was 50 when he died on 17 July. He had been awarded the Military Cross and had been Mentioned in dispatches.
There is special tragedy attached to men at the other end of the age range. Two in the Catania cemetery who died during the Sicilian campaign were under 18 and should not have been there at all. Private Thomas Rowland of the Durham Light Infantry was 17 and if this had been known he would have not been sent overseas. Tellingly, there are no family connections in his records kept by the CWGC. Perhaps he was an orphan or had lost contact with his parents and other relatives.
There is less uncertainty about Harold Augustus Scarse, a Royal Inniskilling Fusilier, who died near the Simeto river on 6 August 1943 during a 38 (Irish) Brigade attack. Scarse was from Hilton House in the Honour Oak estate in Lewisham, one of London’s largest council estates. It was devastated by German bombs on 19 March 1941. Among the 39 people killed in the attack was Scarse’s father, also named Harold, and his mother Emily. Having no living parents would have made it easier for Scarse to get into the front line despite his age. Perhaps, he was just more determined.
The overwhelming majority in the Catania and Syracuse cemeteries were not officers but some of high rank were killed during the Sicily campaign.
The most senior and decorated was Colonel Douglas Thorburn, a professional soldier aged 46, who had been awarded the military cross twice in the First World War. The Second World War quickly saw him in action and he was made an officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) for his role in the evacuation of British and New Zealand troops from Greece in 1941. The distinguished service order (DSO) was awarded in 1942 for his leadership of the 2nd battalion of the Highland Light Infantry in fighting in Egypt.
Thorburn was killed serving with 51 (Highland) Division on 10 July 1943 soon after he landed in Sicily.
Four Lieutenant Colonels died in the Sicily campaign.
Charles Payne of the Royal Artillery was killed on 13 July. George Willis of the Royal Armoured Corps, who had been awarded the DSO in the desert war in 1942, died leading his men at Primosole bridge on 17 July. The commander of the 7th battalion of the Argyll & Sutherland Highlanders Robert Mathieson, recipient of the DSO and the OBE, was killed four days later. Kings Own Scottish Borderers commander Andrew Board Stephenson, DSO, was killed by shell fire on 23 July.
Two chaplains lost their lives in Sicily.
Captain Father David Hourigan was in a glider which made landfall on a cliff edge on the night of 9/10 Sicily. It came under fire from a searchlight position. Hourigan, 36, was wounded, taken prisoner and died soon after. Green Howards Chaplain Charles Wallace died on 27 July.
Household names lost their lives in the Sicily campaign.
Hedley Verity as a soldier and cricketer. Source: The Imperial War Museum
Professional England and Yorkshire bowler Hedley Verity was commissioned into the Green Howards in 1940. In 1943, he was captain and company commander in a night attack across the Simeto river on 19 July. Verity was hit in the chest by shrapnel and left behind when his company retreated. A prisoner of the Germans, Verity was shipped to the Italian mainland and sent to a hospital in Caserta where he died of his wounds on 1 July aged 38. He is buried in the war cemetery in the town.
Robert Alexander played both cricket and rugby for Ireland before the war. He was commissioned into the Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers in April 1940 and joined its second battalion. After taking part in the campaign in Mozambique in April 1942, and then – following a short spell in India – in Iraq and Iran, the 2nd Inniskillings and Alexander were transferred to the Mediterranean theatre and landed in Sicily on 10 July 1943. On 19 July, the battalion was given the task of creating a bridgehead over the Simeto river south of Catania. This was successfully achieved, but in the bitter fighting near Lemon Bridge, Alexander – by then a captain and a company commander – was killed.
Robert Alexander seated on right side
The battle for Sicily was completed in 38 days. But there were periods of intense violence. More than 200 died on 14 July, mainly in fighting for Primosole Bridge. More than 100 were killed on 5 August, the day that the Irish Brigade successfully forced the crossing of the Simeto river south-east of Etna.
For some Regiments, the Sicily campaign was among the bloodiest of the war. The Durham Light Infantry had three battalions in action and 204 of its men are buried at Catania and Syracuse. There are 126 Green Howards, which had three battalions in Sicily in 1943, 105 Seaforth Highlanders also with three battalions there, and 84 members of three battalions of the Black Watch in the cemeteries. This is also the final resting place of 83 members of the 1st and 2nd battalions of the London Irish Rifles.
More than 200 members of the Royal Artillery and 141 Royal Engineers died in Sicily between 9 July and the end of August. Around 100 pilots and air and ground crew and more than 100 men who served as glider pilots and airborne troops are in the cemeteries.
Not everyone who died as a result of the Sicily campaign are buried on the island. Around 700 are commemorated on the Cassino Memorial for that period though not all died in the fighting in Sicily. They include 58 Canadians and around 250 glider and airborne troops. Others are buried when they had been transported off the island to distant places including Libya and where they later died of their wounds.
These numbers can numb the mind. But the stories of the individuals who fought and died in Sicily in 1943 always shine through.
They were young and brave. Most came from across the UK. Some were from thousands of miles in distant parts of the British Empire and Commonwealth. They were labourers, craftsmen, farmers, teachers, scholars, doctors, lawyers and representatives of every profession under the sun. And they were husbands, fathers, sons and lovers, irreplaceable to those who knew them.
Photographic portraits of the men who lost their lives in Sicily in July and August 1943 will be placed on their graves in the Catania and Syracuse war cemeteries following memorial services on Sunday 9 July.