Today in World War II History—July 11, 1943
80 Years Ago—July 11, 1943: On the heels of a Luftwaffe attack on Allied ships off Sicily, US ships fire on US C-47s loaded with paratroopers, one of the worst fratricidal incidents of the war; 23 C-47s lost, 318 casualties.
At Gela, Sicily, US cruisers and destroyers halt a German armored counterattack.
American Red Cross field director James Shaw rescues men from sinking landing ship USS LST-158 off Licata, Sicily, under German air attack; he will be awarded the Silver Star, the first for a Red Cross worker in WWII.