What I Watched: The eighth episode of Crusade in Europe, a documentary series adapted from Dwight Eisenhower’s book of the same name. The adaptation was done by Fred Feldkamp, and narrated by Westbrook van Voorhes. This episode aired on ABC at 9:00 PM on Thursday, June 23, 1949, and is available on DVD and Amazon Prime.
What happened: At Casablanca, the Allied powers decide on their next target: the island of Sicily. Being so close to both Africa and Italy, capturing the island would allow the Allies greater control of the Mediterranean, and provide a platform for an invasion of the European continent. This begins with a six-day bombardment of the tiny island of Pantelleria, home to a vital airfield.
Following this small victory, the Allies assault Sicily from Malta with a platoon of paratroopers. This is made more difficult by a vicious wind. (Eisenhower gets off a rare joke about having to have knots translated into miles per hour.) The 7th Army, lead by the newly-promoted Patton, are among those who land.
A fierce German counter-attack follows, but American naval bombardment helps to turn the tide. We’re told that Patton’s speed “broke the morale” of the Italian army. With the occupying force battered, the Americans surge forward to take over the island. Within two weeks, the Allies conquered Palermo. They aim to immediately capture Messina, the port city closest to the Italian mainland. This required creating makeshift roads over the hilly terrain of eastern Sicily, another one of Eisenhower’s “engineering miracles.”
The difficulties of terrain allowed the Axis forces to gather more strength behind natural defensive positions. A fierce battle takes place at the small village of Troina, described as “the most savage fighting” thus far. But ultimately the American and British forces are triumphant, forcing another German army to surrender. In the aftermath of the defeat, Mussolini was briefly removed from power and arrested. Before the dust has settled, Montgomery’s troops have already slipped across the channel to begin the invasion of mainland Italy.
What I thought: After the three-parter on the African campaign, it was nice to see a segment of the war covered in one neat episode. There’s just a little bit too much information to convey in “Sicily”, and that means it moves by at a nice clip, without any of the hagiography that other Crusade episodes have wandered into. As an episode of television it’s effective, if impersonal.
One of the submerged themes of the episode is the increasing importance of air power. As van Voorhes narrates, the conquest of Pantelleria was the first time a battle had been won by air bombardment alone. And, as if to drive home the point, it was done to seize control of an airfield to allow further bombardment of Sicily. The Battle of Sicily also featured a never-before-seen amount of airborne troops. This was no longer rickety biplanes taking potshots at each other, but rather a sophisticated means of transplanting people and explosives.
Aerial combat had been a part of war since WWI, but its critical importance in WWII would greatly influence modern warfare. In the age of drones, it now seems as if the United States is trying to win entire wars by aerial power, and perhaps realizing the limitations of the technology. But the seductive force of air power is best evident in this episode: not only is it spectacular, but it’s much less man-intensive (and hence casualty-intensive) than land or naval invasion.
Van Voorhes makes a lot about the fact that the fighting was finally on European soil. There’s a sense that this marks the true beginning of the war, approximately a year and a half. The African theatre was hard to fit into the narrative of the war, especially considering that the Allies were “liberating” North Africa only to hand it back to another set of conquerors. With Sicily, all that morally confusing stuff is behind us, and the non-Western world can safely fade to peripheral status. The show’s not called Crusade in Africa, after all.
Sicily isn’t all glory, however. Crusade puts a lot of emphasis on the difficulty the terrain posed for the Allies, a difficulty that transformed into bloody battles. In many ways, the fighting in Sicily seems anachronistic. In my (stereotype-infected) mind, the Sicily of this era is a slice of the old world, a place of quaint traditions and community. A tank battle jars quite a bit with that image.
After the day is won, Crusade plays on these associations to give us a reminder of the toll of the war. We see the complete destruction of an almost picturesque Italian village, complete with de Sica-esque shots of confused civilians amongst the ruins. Yes, they have been liberated, but where are they to go from here?
What else is on?: The Bob Smith Show was still holding on, but otherwise television had shifted into the already-familiar pattern of summer doldrums. As we’ve seen, Admiral Broadway Revue, Suspense and Studio One had all shut down for the summer, with ABR not to return. As in radio, most of the A-list talent wanted the summer off, and hence the airwaves were filled with sports, filmed re-runs, and second-class talent. Even the few who had sets were probably motivated to go outside.
Coming up next: Back in 1949, the royals are still sightseeing.
The Eternal Couch Potato 