And No Birds Sang By: Farley Mowat

1288 Words3 Pages

And No Birds Sang is the story of a young Canadian man, Farley Mowat. The story begins September 2nd, 1939 with a young Farley painting his parents porch when his dad pulls into the driveway and excitedly claims the war is on! Farley was an eager eighteen year old with the aspiration of joining the air force and becoming a fighter pilot. In one month he presented to the Royal Canadian Air Force, he was rejected due to his young age and slim build. Instead he was enlisted in the 2nd Battalion called the Hasty Pees, with the expectation of being transferred to the 1st Battalion and active service. The story follows Mr. Mowat and his experiences during multiple battles as the Allies invaded and eventually took over Italy. The title comes shortly after Farley’s first battle when everything was quiet in the air and no birds sang.
By the summer of 1943 the Allied Powers had finished their campaigns in North Africa. Their next objective was to move into Sicily and invade Italy to cause the Germans to move northwest from the coast. This came to be known as “Operation Husky which was designed to open the shipping lanes in the Mediterranean, eliminate it as an Axis base, and to aid in the fall of Mussolini’s government” (Hickman n.d.). In July 8th, 1943 Mowat, now an intelligence officer was ordered to head to Sicily to participate in Operation Husky. They left the night of the 8th and encountered terribly rough seas due to the sirocco. The sirocco is an intense wind that comes off of the Sahara. It looked as though Operation Husky would be cancelled. Fortunately, later that night the wind slowed and the platoons were able to continue with the operation. The invasion commenced on the night of July 9th, landing on the west side of the Pachi...

... middle of paper ...

...o join the war, that quickly changed. They never had enough food, water, or clothing. While the desire to stop and give up was found, each man continued on, knowing that a task had to be completed if they wanted to defeat the Axis powers.

Works Cited

2006. Brief HIstory of Mussolini and the Fascists in WW2. January 6. Accessed March 30, 2014. http://www.custermen.com/ItalyWW2/History/Fascists.htm.
2. Hickman, Kennedy. n.d. About.com. Accessed March 26, 2014. http://militaryhistory.about.com/od/worldwarii/p/husky.htm.
3. Mowat, Farley. 1979. And No Birds Sang. Toronto: McClelland and Stewart Limited.
4. Slavin, Bill. n.d. Ambush at Grammichele. Accessed March 29, 2014. http://www.fireandfury.com/scenarios/grammichele.pdf.
5. 2014. The Royal Canadian Regiment. March 6. Accessed April 1, 2014. http://theroyalcanadianregiment.ca/individual_submissions/sicily.html .

Open Document