Message to the 8th Army from General Bernard Montgomery, July 1943 Eighth Army PERSONAL MESSAGE FROM THE ARMY COMMANDER To Be Read Out To All Troops. 1. The Allied Armies landed in Sicily, on Itlian soil, on 10th July magnificently supported by the Royal Navy and the Allied Air Forces, and are, today in possession of the whole island except for the north-east corner where the enemy is now hemmed in. 2. I want to tell all of you, soldiers of the Eighth Army that this has been a very fine performance. On your behalf I have expressed to the Commander of the Seventh American Army on our left the congradulations of the Eighth Army for the way the American troops have captured and cleaned up more than half the island, in record time We are proud to fight beside our Amerlcan Allies. 3. The beginning has been very good, tanks to your splendid fighting qualities and to the hard work and devotion to duty of all those who work in the ports, on the roads, and in rear areas. We must not forget to give thanks to "THE LORD MIGHTY -N BATTLE" for giving us such a good beginning towards the attainment of our objective. 4. And now let us get on with the job. Together with our American allies we- have knocked MUSSOLINI off his perch. We will now drive lhe Germans out of SICILY. 5. Into battle with stout hearts. Good luck to you all. B. L. MONTGOMERY, General Eighth Army SICILY July, 1943. From the Album (Scrapbook) of Major W.D. Blackburn consisting of captioned photos and clippings from newspapers and magazines. The items are from Canada, England and Italy. He served in the Regiment from 13 August, 1940 to 12 February 1944. He commanded "C" Company in Italy.