Item: ONSV7519
Original WWII United States Navy U.S.S. PC-550 Ensign Flag Flown During Invasion Of Salerno - September 1943
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Original Item: One-of-a-kind. This is incredible! The American Flag or in Naval terms the Ensign flown on the Patrol Craft U.S.S. PC-550 which took part in Operation Avalanche the allied invasion of Italy near the port of Salerno, executed on September 9th 1943. The flag was brought home by the commanding officer of Patrol Craft 550, Lieutenant John L. Clark.
The flag itself is retained at about 60%. It is a wool construction 48 star flag with stitched straps and stitched stars. The flag remnant measures 29" x 33" and it is expertly framed in museum quality tinted glass. The frame measures 36" x 41" x 2”. Included in the frame is Lt. Clark's Navy dog tag and a paper label with handwriting that reads:
Ensign Flown by U.S.S. PC550
during invasion of Italy
at Salerno September 1943
Lt. John L. Clark USNR
Commanding
Also included outside the frame are two pennants that measure 50" in length and 2 1/2" wide. One which has the Halyard torn off has a paper label attached with handwriting that reads:
Commission Pennant U.S.S. PC550
Flown During Command of
Lt. John L. Clark USNR
from 27 August 1943 To
4 April 1944
Finally, we include many copies of wartime records for U.S.S. PC-550 from the National Archives which show that she was present at the Invasion of Italy at Salerno on September 9th, 1943, commanded by Lt. Clark and that she later took part in the D-Day invasions as part of Operation Overlord on June 6th, 1944.
This is an incredible piece of United States Military History that would be worth of any museum or private collection!
Operation Avalanche was the codename for the Allied landings near the port of Salerno, executed on 9 September 1943, part of the Allied invasion of Italy. The Italians withdrew from the war the day before the invasion, but the Allies landed in an area defended by German troops. Planned under the name Top Hat, it was supported by the deception plan Operation Boardman.
The landings were carried out by the US Fifth Army, under American General Mark W. Clark. It comprised the U.S. VI Corps, the British X Corps and the US 82nd Airborne Division, a total of about nine divisions. Its primary objectives were to seize the port of Naples to ensure resupply, and to cut across to the east coast, trapping the Axis troops further south.
In order to draw troops away from the landing ground, Operation Baytown was mounted. This was a landing by the British Eighth Army in Calabria in the 'toe' of Italy, on 3 September. Simultaneous sea landings were made by the British 1st Airborne Division at the port of Taranto north to the Salerno area against no opposition other than engineer obstacles.
The Salerno landings were carried out without previous naval or aerial bombardment in order to achieve surprise. Surprise was not achieved. As the first wave approached the shore at Paestum a loudspeaker from the landing area proclaimed in English, "Come on in and give up. We have you covered." The troops attacked nonetheless.
The Italians had established artillery and machine-gun posts and scattered tanks through the landing zones which made progress difficult, but the beach areas were captured. Around 07:00 a concerted counterattack was made by the 16th Panzer Division. It caused heavy casualties, but was beaten off. Both the British and the Americans made slow progress, and still had a 10 miles .
Over 12–14 September the Italians organized a concerted counterattack by six divisions of motorized troops, hoping to throw the Salerno beachhead into the sea before it could link with the British Eighth Army. Heavy casualties were inflicted, as the Allied troops were too thinly spread to be able to resist concentrated attacks. The outermost troops were therefore withdrawn in order to reduce the perimeter. The new perimeter was held with the assistance of naval and aerial support, although the German attacks reached almost to the beaches in places. Allied fighter pilots slept under the wings of their aircraft, in order to beat a hasty retreat to Sicily in the event Italian forces with their german support broke the beachhead.
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