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Taking Sicily

Heroes Remember

Transcript
Well the final days we took there we got up from Regalbuto we started to go up north to the Plains of Catania, Catania is the capital of Sicily and that was the bottom of Mount Etna. The American's were on their way to Palermo. The British were coming up towards Catania. We were in the middle, just off centre. We didn't have much resistance there. It was just going straight on, hell bent for leather. The Germans retreated so quickly, because they never had the Italian Army now. What they had was just remnants. Everything happened quickly and before we realized they turned around and said "You're going into rest period now, for a week, and prepare yourself to go into Italy." But that took about two weeks...it took us just over two weeks to take Sicily. I would say we most probably lost about, during that battle, about five tanks. We didn't lose many tanks. Personnel, I would say about twenty. I don't think it's that many...in that basis there. There is other personnel from other squadrons who we knew, and we took it as it comes. I mean, well I don't think we had any time to think about it. That was the basis of the...when you're fighting war, you haven't got time to worry about who died, who got killed, who's wounded. Nobody knew.
Description

Mr. Horowitz talks about how (mostly how fast and relatively painlessly) the Allied forces took Sicily from the Germans and the Italians.

Robert Horowitz

Mr. Horowitz was born in Cornwall, Ontario, on August 30, 1919, of Jewish parents who immigrated to Canada from Russia. He grew up in Montreal where he studied at Lord Arthur School and then moved on to Montreal High. He enlisted with the Régiment de Trois-Rivières in the latter part of 1939 when he was 20 years old and still in high school. Mr. Horowitz attended Camp Borden during the winter of 1939-40 for approximately 1.75 years. He first set foot on European soil in Scotland and trained in Salisbury. He saw action for the first time in Sicily and the southern part of the Italian peninsula before being wounded in Tremali. Following the war, he spent some time with Veterans Affairs assisting Canadian Veterans in England and later retired in Canada.

Meta Data
Medium:
Video
Owner:
Veterans Affairs Canada
Duration:
02:02
Person Interviewed:
Robert Horowitz
War, Conflict or Mission:
Second World War
Location/Theatre:
Italy
Battle/Campaign:
Sicily
Branch:
Army
Units/Ship:
Three Rivers
Occupation:
Gunner

Copyright / Permission to Reproduce

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