Pantelleria

WWII ARMY AIR FORCES RESTRICTED FILM RAID ON PANTELLERIA OPERATION CORKSCREW 77724

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• published: 18 Feb 2016
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Created in 1943, PANTELLERIA is a confidential Army Air Forces film featuring Gen. Jimmy Doolittle that details the raid in support of Operation Corkscrew. Corkscrew was the code name for the Allied invasion of the Italian island of Pantelleria (between Sicily and Tunisia) on 11 June 1943, prior to the Allied invasion of Sicily during the Second World War. The radar installations and airfield on the island were seen as a real threat to the planned invasion of Sicily. The Italian garrison on the island was 12,000 strong in well-entrenched pillboxes and 21 gun batteries of a variety of calibres. In addition, there was an opportunity to assess the impact of bombardment upon heavily fortified defenses. It was decided to see if the island could be forced into submission by aerial and naval bombardment alone. Failing this, an amphibious invasion was planned for 11 June. Starting in late May, the island was subjected to steadily increasing bombing attacks. In early June, the attacks intensified and 14,203 bombs amounting to 4,119 tons were dropped on 16 Italian batteries. On 8 June, a Royal Navy task force of five cruisers, eight destroyers and three torpedo boats carried out a bombardment of the main port on the island. The engagement was observed by General Dwight D. Eisenhower and Admiral Andrew Cunningham from the flagship HMS Aurora. From 8 May to 11 June 5, 285 bombing sorties were flown by fighter-bombers, medium and heavy bombers including B-24s and B-17s, dropping a total of 6,202 tons of bombs on the island. Two demands for the garrison to surrender went unanswered and, on 11 June, the amphibious assault went ahead. About an hour before the landing craft reached the beaches, the accompanying ships opened fire. Unknown to the attackers, the commander of the garrison on Pantelleria had sought permission to surrender from Rome the previous evening and received it that morning. When the first of the British Commandos landed, the Italians surrendered. An assessment reported that the defences had been reduced to 47 percent effectiveness. The ease of the operation led to an optimistic assessment of the effectiveness of bombing, which was not always borne out in practice. The Italian garrisons on other nearby islands (Lampedusa and Linosa) quickly fell. This cleared the way for the invasion of Sicily a month later. This film begins with the Allied forces gathering at Casablanca, and FDR and Churchill's meeting there. Pantelleria is 45 miles from Africa and 60 miles from Silicy. At mark 4:55, we have the assigning of targets and plotting plans by the allied forces. At mark 5:50, we have the transporting of the materials needed for the assault on June 11, 1943. The Royal Navy assisted with the bombardment of the island coast behind on 6 occasions. The focus once more turned on Pantelleria in the spring of 1943. The taking of the island was partly operational and partly experimental. There was a need to gain a toe hold on Italian soil prior to the invasion of Sicily and later the Italian mainland and a need to better understand the effectiveness of intensive bombing prior to a sea-borne assault. The month of May was devoted to the softening up of the island fortress. On Saturday May 8, 1943, 33 American bombers made the first attack on Pantelleria dropping about 43 tones of drums of bombs. 30 minutes later, a second attack was made by 13 American fighters each releasing half a ton of bombs. On the morning of June 11, 1943 the smoke from the fire over Pantelleria was so dense that crafts could no longer find their targets at mark 13:00. Failure or success of the forces lay concealed under the smoke. From May 8, 718 US tons of bombs were dropped, and 826 tons were dropped. By June 10, 1477 tons of bombs have been dropped. At the deadline of 10:30, the Allied forces landed. Pantelleria falls at mark 15:40. Occupation at the island reveals that the garrisons means of existence were not completely destroyed at mark 16:05. There was food, water and ammunitions but the bombings destroyed the island communication system that isolated units suffer hunger, thirst and lack of supplies at mark 16:40. The enemy paid with approximately 95 aircrafts ¾ of which were German at mark 16:50. The allied air army lost 13 aircrafts and 5 missing not 1 a heavy bomber at 16:57. 13 American lives were lost, 17 missing in action and 5 wounded. The planes found in the amazing underground hangar were undamaged. 11,121 prisoners were caught in which only 89 were German at mark 17:30. Only few causalities were uncovered. The impact of dominant air power demonstrated at Pantelleria, has echoed down the years in every conflict ever since. The decisive nature of overwhelming air superiority, the destruction of an enemy’s infrastructure, and the consequent No Fly Zones able to be imposed, just as at Pantelleria, was illustrated once again as an essential precursor in the removal of the Gaddafi regime in Libya.