Lot 391
WORLD WAR II LANDING SHIP COMMANDER'S DIARIES
Superb-content diary of Lt. William L. Newell, an LST commander in the U.S. Navy who participated in the landings at Sicily and at Salerno in the summer of 1943. The diary, housed in three volumes and kept in pencil, runs from January 1943 through November 1944 beginning with his last days of civilian life and includes excellent content describing his intense training for his mission up and down the eastern seaboard of the United States. He sailed to North Africa in May in preparation for the invasion of Sicily and was stationed in Algiers. The diary reads, in very small part: "...[June 5, 1943]... Troops came aboard today and the ship is now sealed. I don't know yet where we are going but I have seen the Barret's last operation order... [June 7] We are still going slowly on a wide zig-zag course. heading east sometimes along the Africa coast... [June 9] We are now going north at a much faster pace. Tomorrow is going to be the day with H hour at 0245. Paratroopers will go over first and land inland. They will light fires to show the beach...[June 10] General Quarters sounded just before midnight. Sicily is in sight ahead. There are huge fires burning that light up huge areas of the horizon...Condition IV was soon set...I went over the side in a net...We headed in with about 8 or 10 boats of the Blue wave, 4th section and stragglers. Following star course and the guide list, we soon sighted a blue and white light in by the beach...Control Vessel was 100 yds to our left. We went that way and were told the beach was straight ahead between the blue and yellow (it looked white) light. We went in opposed by a few bursts of machine gun fire, two artillery shells and the beam of a search light way down the beach. After a while we saw boats coming out empty. This was reashuring [sic]. We hit the beach...After we had dug in it was decided to move up the beach to the east which we did and dug in again. A Jeep went by and was blown up within ten yards of me... then it was discovered that the beach was mined. The Army got to work with mine detection and disposal so that soon an area was cleared and a swad[?] built across the beach. The landing of heavier equipment could then start. Just before daylight there had been a huge display of A fire... the Cruisers had been firing away steadily at coast defenses. On the beach my job amounted to little more than digging fox holes. I dug so many so deep that I wore the skin off of one finger... After about 1000 there were strafing or bombing attacks every hour..." Much more superb content. After several days, Newell returned to Algiers where he would begin preparations for another landing, this time Salerno. His description of the landing takes up several pages and reads, in very small part: "...[Sept. 9, 1943] All was quiet as we sailed into the transportation area in the Gulf of Salerno, Italy. But for a fire to the left of our beach all was dark.... I was greatly handicapped in navigating as the compass ... did not function... at 0510 the wave passed the PC control vessel and was told green beach was straight ahead and marked.... Seeing a great deal of gun fire that looked to be on the beach, I held a conference of my four remaining boats to acquaint them with the situation. I found that I had two bulldozers with sleds, a heavy weapons outfit, and a boat team composed mainly of medics. Some voiced a hesitance to go in. We continued on even though we had no attack troops as I felt if there was trouble on the beach men and equipment of all kinds would be needed...The stretch was negotiated at maximum speed and the beach reached at 0520...I tried to land clear of concentrated small arms fire. The heavy weapons team and the boat load of medics crossed the beach without loss although they drew machine gun fire before they reached the dune line. The Shore Engineers with the bull dozers drew fire as soon as they came from their boats. The boats' crew state there were casualties. I saw the bull dozers brought to a position above the water line and the crews seek shelter. My first mission was completed, my wave has landed as safely as possible. Later investigation revealed that no other ... waves had landed before my wave and that only a handful of men had been landed to hold the beach... Down on blue beach heavy fighting was going on. A force including LCTs was trying to land there but were either repulsed or suffered heavy loss. The support boats in that sector were trying to cover the landing with smoke. On yellow on the right flank of green beach no boats were landing at all. A very small group landed where I had and on red beach. The British LCS was doing a true job of supporting the landing and stayed very near to the beach. Once it came by and called to us on its loud speaker that if we would advance on the machine gun nest about 50 years up the beach it would cover the advance with smoke. I acknowledged the message by semaphore which they seemed to understand as they then went into action and a soldier of the engineers went up and got the machine gun nest... The number of these landing craft arriving at the beach became very large by 0700 and attracted enemy fire. Thus red beach and the adjacent water was put under a severe bombardment of '88s' and motors. I say '88s' because that is what the Army personnel called it. I saw several boats hit by this bombardment. It would be very hard to say just how many were lost. It should [be] noted that this group of bots broke all rules by not staying spread out... at 0945, but for scattered shells, the bombardment stopped. Immediately made a survey of red and green beaches and found our $10 boat on the left flank of red beach.... By noon the Navy beach parties and Army shore parties had developed red and green beaches with roads and swept areas for mines so that they could handle vehicles and supplies. Shortly after noon three pontoon docks were placed... In mid-afternoon there must have been a break through behind green beach as there was quite a mortar bombardment that stopped operations for twenty minutes. The situation remained unchanged until dark when the number of boats reaching the beach declined...I found a fox hole back of the beach where the headquarters company of the 5th Army was bivouacked. There I got a few hours sleep in between the several air alerts... [Sept. 10] The job began to look pretty tough for the boat crews so I sent a note out to the ship asking for a couple of extra men... to help unload.... by this time there was a huge wall of supplies all along green each and ever increasing number of boats unloading. At one time I counted 41 boats... The beach personnel were having a struggle to keep enough beach front cleared to allow boats t come in... Enemy air activity over the beach... German planes came over 3 times. At about 1030 a plane crossed green beach and dive bombed red beach. I later was told... that 2 beach masters on red beach were killed... I was unable to communicate with the ship at any time by TBX as I lacked priority and the TBY could not make contact...." Much more fine content. Newell also took part in the Allied landings at Naples on October 6, 1943 which he described as a bit of a mess: "... When we got in to the Bay of Naples we could see Vesuvius with smoke curling up from it crater. At 1230 the boats were put in the water and with much confusion and little planning the troops put ashore. I went on the dock at 1500 and stayed till dark. The harbor and all that I could see were a complete wreck. In the harbor ships were sunk everywhere so that very few other ships can get in and around... ". He participated in a few other relatively uneventful landings before being transferred to England where he was stationed in Plymouth where he began making preparations for the Normandy landings that June. He did not participate in the landings, but did help in the preparations. On June 5, 1944 he wrote: "We started the group out again same as last night... All morning ships have been going past heading east. There were battle ships, cruisers, destroyers and LST's by the dozens. The big question now is when will we hear the news. We are all waiting. I believe H hour is about 0800 tomorrow morning. [June 6] When I came into the office just after 0800 there radio said that SHAEF had just announced the landing in the Bay of the Seine. The Germans had announced it even earlier....". Much more excellent content. Pages quite clean, binding slightly worn, else very good to fine condition.
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