Salt Lake Telegram | 1943-09-27 | Page 1 | Naples Looks as Dead as Pompeii, Says Writer after Flight over Fifth Army's Objective

Naples Looks as Dead as Pompeii Says Writer I After Flight Over Fifth Army's Objective By Reynolds Packard ABOARD A MITCHELL BOMBER OVER NAPLES Sept 24 Delayed UP From UP-From From the air Naples appeared today to be a deserted city as dead as near near-by Pompeii Neither antiaircraft fire nor enemy fighters disturbed b d us as we carried out a minute mInutes almost leisurely aerial reconnaissance flight in the bomber Dorothy Anne II with a small escort of fighters over Italy's third largest largest larg- larg lang larg est city Below us streets unrolled like white ribbons through a brownish brownish brown brown- ish mass of houses house but there thee motor traffic was no sign sign-of any No smoke rose from the chimneys chimneys chim chim- of factories This motionless state might have been due partly to the 24 hour curfew which the Germans recently imposed on Neapolitans after giving them only a few hours to obtain supplies before remaining In their homes S Or it might mean that the city has has' been evacuated But whatever the explanation then there was plenty of fighting visible visible visible ble between en Naples and arid Salerno We Wes saw w shells landing and sending sending send send- ing log up mushroom puffs of smoke dust and debris The flight was a volunteer job because of the amount of time that had to be spent over the I target area aIea Th The pilot was First I Lieutenant Fred Dyer Denver Colo Cob the copilot was Lieutenant Lieuten Lieuten- ant Charles Barnett Los An An- geles We flew in low over Mt ML VesuviUs Vesuvius Vesuvius Ve Ve- Ve- Ve which was giving out outa a feather of white smoke from which splattered black lava like likeS S spilled chocolate icing We circled Naples harbor and andI I could see nine ships three sunk and the remainder badly listing There was no maritime traffic Tile The port works had been flattened flattened flattened flat flat- by allied bombs and possible possible possible pos pos- sible German demolitions but Naples itself appeared intact An oil refinery was in flames southeast of Naples Railway yards around Naples had been blown to bits bib