The D-Day landings took place June 6, 1944, in Normandy, France. Canadians took one of the lead positions in the fighting, storming Juno Beach. But Normandy was not the only front upon which Canadians fought and died. On July 9 of 1943, Canadians, Britons, Americans and many other soldiers landed on the south coast of Sicily and began the campaign to liberate Italy from the German army during the Second World War. The fighting was fierce, and lasted until Feb. 25, 1945.
Married to Viscount Waldorf Astor, Lady Nancy Astor was an American who became a British MP. According to many, she was cavalierly outspoken before and during the war, sometimes referred to as "The Right Honourable Member from Berlin," for her defence of Hitler and her staunch support of Neville Chamberlain’s appeasement policy towards Germany.
Shortly after D-Day in Normandy, Lady Astor made a speech in the House of Commons where she referred to the soldiers of the British eighth Army, fighting the Italian campaign (including the 1st Canadian Corps), as "D-Day Dodgers," suggesting that they were avoiding the "real" fight in Europe. The soldiers were angered and outraged. Italian campaign veterans had been in action for 11 months before the Normandy D-Day, and some had served in North Africa before that.
Whether she said it or not, Lady Astor was detested by the soldiers fighting in Italy, and their sarcastic reply to her statement came in the form of a song about their "easy" life in Italy, "The Ballad of the D-Day Dodgers."
Sung to the tune "Lili Marlene," a favourite of the Allied troops, "The D-Day Dodgers" was first written in November 1944 by British Lance-Sergeant Harry Pynn. Verses and variations were subsequently written by other soldiers of the British Eighth Army and 1st Canadian Corps while on active service in Italy, and spoke of the battles in which they fought. Hamish Henderson, the Scottish folklorist and songwriter, collected the many verses from the soldiers after the war.
Lady Astor always claimed she never spoke those words, but the many verses of "The Ballad of the D-Day Dodgers" were sung with gusto in the last months of the war, and at post-war reunions.
Here are the lyrics to both a Canadian and British version of "The D-Day Dodgers."
To help put Lady Astor's comments in context, have a look at the timeline of the Italian campaign:
1943
May: Axis forces in North Africa are defeated.
July 9-10: Operation Husky; Allied landings on the south coast of Sicily.
July 22: Palermo, Sicily, falls to Allied forces under George S. Patton.
July 24-26: Benito Mussolini's Italian fascist government is overthrown; Mussolini is arrested; Marshal Pietro Badoglio declares martial law in Italy.
Aug. 17: Messina, Sicily, in Allied hands.
Sept. 3: Italy signs armistice.
Sept. 3: Operation Baytown; General Bernard Montgomery crosses the Straits of Messina and lands near Reggio di Calabria (the "toe" of Italy). British Eighth Army's XIII Corps was composed of British and Canadian formations.
Sept. 9: Operation Slapstick; a British landing seizes the southern Italian port of Taranto.
Sept. 9: Operation Avalanche; the main invasion at Salerno on the western coast of Italy, by the British X Corps and the U.S. Fifth Army, had a primary objective: seize the port of Naples to ensure resupply.
Sept. 10: Germans occupy Rome.
Sept. 23: Mussolini declares fascist government in Northern Italy.
Oct. 13: Official Italian government declares war on Germany.
Nov. 19: Gustav/Winter Line holds until May 1944.
Dec. 20-28: The Battle of Ortona is one of Canada's greatest victories during the war. Renowned for the deadliness of its close-quarters combat, the savage and prolonged fighting, the "Italian Stalingrad" pitted the 1st Canadian Divison against the very heavily defended elite German 3rd Parachute Regiment of the First Parachute Division with orders "to fight for every house and tree." In "Bloody December," Canadian casualties neared 2,400 men.
1944
Jan. 17 to May 18: Battle of Monte Cassino; a costly series of four battles.
Jan. 22: Operation Shingle; Allied landings in Anzio.
April and May of 1944: the Eighth British Army, including the 1st Canadian Corps, was secretly moved across Italy to join the U.S. Fifth Army in the struggle for Rome. Here, under the dominating peak of Cassino, the Allied armies hurled themselves against the enemy position.
May 23: Allied forces break out of Anzio and head for Rome.
June 4: Rome captured by Allies.
June 6: D-Day for Operation Overlord/Neptune (the assault phase); Allied invasion of Normandy.
Aug. 26 to Dec. 17: fighting on the Gothic Line (Italy), known as Operation Olive and the Battle of Rimini.
Sept. 2: Pisa liberated.
1945
Feb. 25: 1st Canadian Division redeployed to Western Europe.
Spring: the last of the Gothic Line falls.
May 2: German forces in Italy surrender.
May 8: VE-Day declared.
Canadian troops played a vital role in the liberation of Italy during the Second World War. Approximately 76,000 Canadians served in Italy, with 25,264 casualties, including more than 5,900 killed.
Related:
Vera Lynn, the Andrew Sisters and more: A World War 2 playlist
CBC Digital Archives: News broadcast from June 6, 1944
CBC News: The allied invasion of Normandy
CBC Digital Archives: 10 years after D-Day: CBC's war-era broadcaster Matthew Halton
CBC News Indepth: Ortona - The Courtyard of Hell (Halton)
'D Day Dodgers' performed by The Leesiders