Canada doesn’t celebrate Memorial Day like the US, but it is the 71st anniversary of the invasion campaigns in Sicily and Italy. The Italian campaigns have largely been over looked with the better known Normandy invasion in 1944. The Italian invasions were important in their own right (and led to Mussolini’s overthrow), but also were hard-fought opportunities to learn strategies and to battle-train troops. Canada had fewer troops in Sicily and Italy than other allies, but they frequently took on some of the most difficult assaults. The CBC Radio recently posted a live recording from the May 23rd battle to break the “Hitler” line, one of the last positions defending Rome. The 4:27-long audio clip is not overly gripping, but it is interesting to hear the nearby artillery fire and imagine the correspondent huddled in the half-damaged farmhouse to make the recording.
Ash Lad Blog 