Valguarnera was a Battle Honour granted to Canadian regiments that fought around that town during the Battle of Sicily, a phase of the Italian Campaign during the Second World War.

Background

The previous battles around Piazza Armerina had demonstrated to the Canadians the type of actions the Germans were commited to fighting - sharp holding actions at key pieces of terrain. "But no matter how frustrating the German delaying tactics the Canadians, with equal determination, kept advancing and dislodging the enemy hill by hill and town by town."¹ The 3rd Canadian Brigade continued the advance west and north on 17 Jul, proceeding up Route 117 with The Carleton and York Regiment in the lead, supported by Sherman Tanks of The Three Rivers Regiment.

The next day, 18 Jul, was the first real divisional level battle the Canadians would fight in the Second World War.

The 18th was a day of confused and expensive fighting on the craggy approaches to Valguarnera; but that night this place too fell into Canadian hands.³

The divisional commander, Major General Guy Simonds, kept his 3rd Brigade engaged frontally against the enemy, while dispatching the 1st Brigade off the east to outflank the town of Valguarnera itself.

The 3rd Brigade sent the Royal 22nd Regiment to secure Portello Crottacalda, a narrow pass, while The Carleton and York Regiment and The West Nova Scotia Regiment moved to the flanks of the dominating high ground, a feature known as Monte Della Forma. The attack on this feature was supported by the divisional artillery, the machine guns and mortars of the Saskatoon Light Infantry, and tanks of The Three Rivers Regiment in extremely hot weather. By late afternoon, both units were on their objectives.

"B" and "D" Companies drifted to the west during their march, descending a steep slope at dawn to find themselves directly in front of the town. A roadblock was established by "D" while "B" cautiously advanced. An encounter by a small patrol and a German anti-aircraft battery alerted the town, and "B" Company was forced to return to the hills. The Germans in the town, however, were rear area troops and disturbed by the presence of enemy troops. An armoured half-track towing an 88mm gun was destroyed by a PIAT, and additional German vehicles continued to flow down the road in front of "D" Company's position, where it remained until it ran low on ammunition and was finally forced by a German counter-attack to withdraw.

Likewise, "A" and "C" Companies had drifted off to the east during the night, and after a brief separation found each other and near dawn dug in near a road. "A" Company managed to ambush a small German convoy carrying reinforcements. One platoon commander recalled the scene in his memoir:

Modern satellite view, taken on 31 December 2006, showing co-ordinates.

I leapt to my feet to find the road no longer empty. Six immense green-painted trucks were grinding to a halt below us. As I stared, incredulous, the lead truck nosed ponderously into the ditch, canted slowly on its side and spilled out two or three dozen gray-clad soldiers. Now I was screaming at my men, some of whom were still drugged with sleep, wildly urging the Bren gunners into action.

Over a hundred and fifty German infantrymen were packed into those six trucks. They had been driving all night, en route to reinforced their comrades who were holding up Third Brigade's advance, and most of them must have been drowsing or asleep when they were engulfed in gunfire.

For a moment I was distracted by Sharon and Robinson, that pair of usually phlegmatic farm boys, clamoring to know if they should bring our antitank projector into action. Then a furious bellow made me turn to see (company commander) Alex Campbell launching himself down the slope. He was holding a Bren tucked under his one good arm and firing quick bursts as he ran. Although a spare mag was clenched between his teeth, he was still able to roar like a maddened minotaur.

For precious seconds our fire grew ragged as we stared at Alex, appalled and awed by what he was doing. A few of the Germans tried to make use of the respite to bring rifles and Schmeisser machine-pistols into play. Alex was by then only a few yards from the nearest of them and I momentarily expected to see his mighty bulk come crashing to the ground. We all must have shared that fear, for suddenly every man in the two companies began to fire again as fast as he could load. The rattle and roar of small arms and grenades rose to a crescendo...and the stretch of road below us became a slaughterhouse.

Alex concentrated his berserk fury on a single truck...Within that truck twenty or more Germans writhed and died.

Meanwhile, soldiers from the other trucks were desperately trying to bail out through a thickening curtain of bullets, grenades and mortar bombs. Not many reached the dubious shelter of the roadside ditches, and most of those who did were wounded. As they and the few others who survived began making frantic efforts to surrender, the firing petered out and soon little groups of our men began herding prisoners off the road and up the hill.⁵

Eight Dog Company men (from the Hastings and Prince Edward Regiment), withdrawing under command of S(ergeant) Major Turner, encountered the second-in-command of the RCR coming forward on reconnaissance. This officer, Major Pope, insisted that the Hastings men accompany him and somewhat unwillingly they did so. It was nearly fatal to all of them. Turner was shot through the back by a sniper, but the survivors pushed forward into the inferno of the aroused valley. Reaching the road the came face to face with three (PzKpfw) IV tanks supported by a platoon of German infantry.

With great personal bravery Major Pope attempted to engage the tanks with a PIAT, but the first bomb failed to explode and he was killed before he could reolad.

The seven Hastings privates were now on their own. With their one Bren gun they engaged in a spirited exchange with the tanks and German infantry. The tank commander, foolish enough to thrust his head out of the turret, was shot by a rifleman, and for few precious minutes the German force was disorganized. The eight men ducked quickly into the ditch, through a culvert, and began belly crawling up the hillside through a field of cactus. Tank shells and incendiary machine-gun bullets set the dry hill-side on fire...After lying in the open sun for six hours (as the flaming grass scorched their bare legs and arms) they escaped at last when dusk had fallen.¹¹

Another history described Pope's action:

No member of The (RCR) had spared himself so little since the landing as had "Billy" Pope and no man died more gallantly. At the head of a light patrol he advanced towards three enemy tanks, and taking a PIAT he personally attacked the monsters, though without success. A few minutes later, calmly smoking a cigarette, and meditating on a renewed effort, he was cut down by Spandau fire from one of the tanks he was seeking to destroy.¹²

The official history, however, states that "By extreme misfortune three bombs fired from a PIAT failed to explode. A hail of bullets from the tanks' machine-guns forced the patrol to retire; Major Pope was killed."¹³ The tanks withdrew, a mechanized column was observed leaving the town to the north, and the RCR prepared for a counter-attack. At 14:00 the CO sent a message to the brigade commander by runner (in fact, the regimental padre) stating that he intended to patrol forward, but could not do so until after dark owing to lack of support weapons and tanks.

Valguarnera - 48th Highlanders

As the RCR was settling into their positions, the reserve battalion of the brigade was sent to occupy high ground two miles south of Valguarnera. One company encountered a sizeable German force which was dispatched by a single section at the cost of three men. Corporal Kay, the section commander, earned the DCM for this action. In all, the company killed 35 Germans, by their account, and took 20 prisoners.

The 48th mopped up "nests of snipers" still in the rear of the other two battalions, and after a right flanking march, entered Valguarnera well after dark to find it deserted by the enemy.

After dark, patrols (of the 48th) slipped into the town to find the 10,000 inhabitants hiding behind locked doors and the Germans gone. It was a quiet conclusion to a difficult day...If nothing else, the enemy's high command was aware that it was dealing with a force to be reckoned with. "Near Valguarnera troops trained for fighting in the mountains have been mentioned," Generalfeldmarschall Kesselring reported to Berlin. "They are called 'Mountain Boys' and probably belong to the 1st Canadian Division."¹⁵

Lieutentant Colonel R.M. Crowe and Major J.H.W. Pope - Commanding Officer and battalion second-in-command of The Royal Canadian Regiment, checking a map outside of Piazza Armerina on 17 Jul 1943. They were the only two RCR officers killed in action during the Sicillian Campaign. Pope was killed at Valguarnera trying to knock out a German tank with a PIAT. LAC Photo.