![]() ![]() Montgomery’s Eighth Army were successful. ![]() Three days earlier, Operation Husky, the invasion of Sicily, had begun with the British and Canadians landing on the beaches to the south of Syracuse on the Pachino peninsula, while the Americans landed farther south and west on beaches near Gela. So recalls Lieutenant Peter Stainforth, 1st Parachute Squadron, Royal Engineers, of the 1st Parachute Brigade landing near the Primosole Bridge on the night of July 13, 1943, in Sicily. Fortunately, we were all complete, but two of our weapon containers were missing.” When I had got my breath back I picked myself up and set about gathering up the rest of my chaps and finding our weapon containers. My water bottle had burst and was crushed flat. ‘Oh my God’ I thought, ‘I’ve been hit!’ I pulled my hand away and it was water. ![]() I felt something warm trickling down my leg. There was no time to get my bearings before I landed with a hell of a thwack on my back in a deep ditch. ‘‘As I floated down, the whole dropping zone seemed to be on fire tracer bullets had set the tinder-dry stubble alight. ![]()
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