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13. A drawing of “the convoy”. 14. A drawing of “mine sweepers at Work”. 15. A drawing of “landing from the parent ship”.
the dates of the drawings 9th and 10th september 1943, and the identification of the battleship george v can pinpoint this series of pictures to operation slapstick, part of the Allied invasion of italy during World War ii.
the operation was the idea of british Admiral of the fleet sir Andrew cunningham. Allied planners had identified the attractions of capturing the important ports of taranto and bari in the “heel” of italy but with forces heavily committed to operations in calabria and at salerno, insufficient resources were available for a further operation against strongly defended positions. however, the secret signature on 3 september of the Armistice with italy changed all this.
At very short notice slapstick was planned to land the british 1st Airborne division at taranto. insufficient airlift was available and so, under the command of commodore W. g. Agnew, four ships of the british 12th
cruiser squadron together with the fast minelayer hms Abdiel and the us cruiser uss boise were employed as transport. escorting the convoy were the battleships hms howe and hms king george v together with six destroyers. the heavy nature of the escort was to ensure that the italian battleships based at taranto would comply with the terms of the surrender and not interfere with the landing. the escort commander, vice-Admiral Arthur power was also the expedition commander.
the role of artist l rea is not clear. it would appear that the drawings were made from life and so he was part of the expeditionary force that landed, presumably however in the role of an official war artist.
327.WYLLY, Col. H.C. the york and lancashire regiment 1758- 1919. [Privately Printed] 1930.
£550
royal 8vo., 2 vols in original red cloth with regimental insignia in gilt on upper covers. illustrated with maps and photographs. spines faded, a little light patchy fading to boards, otherwise a very good set.
first edition. A scarce regimental history. the second volume is dedicated entirely to the first World War.
327
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