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At 4am on 1st March 1944 Pte Anstee, Ernie Hayward, Gilb Mullins, Cpl Hinkley and myself had to go up to the OP to lay a new cable for the field telephone back to platoon HQ. The old cable had been cut by an exploding shell. On the way up to the OP we had to pass through the deserted and very badly damaged village of Trimonsoli. Our boots clattered with an eerie echo on the cobbled stone streets. We went along several streets, following the two NCO鈥檚 who had been up there before. We had to try and memorise one or two of the most prominent buildings as best we could in the dark. This was to aid us on our return journey which we would have to make without the NCO鈥檚, as they were to stay in the OP until night fall. We got to a big square in the village and dashed across it as it was in full view of the enemy. Then after climbing a steep bank and a huge fallen tree we hurried along a rough but fairly wide track, passing one or two ruined houses along the way. The Germans sent up flares at intervals and we had to stand dead still until they died down, and then dash on as far as we could before the next lot were sent up. They were very bright and you could see many objects very clearly. We splashed through mud and water, often tripping over old phone wires. I fell into a shell crater full of rainwater and I just wanted to swear like hell, but I had to bite back the temptation and keep quiet.

As soon as we got to the OP and said cheerio to the two NCO鈥檚, we set off back laying the new cable to the platoon HQ. We didn鈥檛 waste any more time than we were forced to by the enemy flares. We had to be on the home side of Trimonsoli before daylight or the Germans would either pin us down with small arms fire or wipe us out altogether by shelling. Several times on that return journey we had to stop dead as the flares went up. Just before we reached the end of the track leading down into Trimonsoli, they sent up a mass of flares and everywhere was lit up by a brilliant light. We stood still like statues, but I think the Germans must have either seen some thing or even heard the metal cable drum unwinding. For the next few minutes the air was filled with the horrible screaming of the Nebal Waffas or Moaning Minnies as we called them. As the screaming projectiles came towards us we threw ourselves flat on the ground and stayed there while they exploded around us, some on the track and some on the ground just above us. As we lay there we could feel the earth shake as they exploded. As soon as the explosions ceased, we whispered to each other and then made a dash over the remainder of the track and down the bank into Trimonsoli. When Ernie and I got down the bank we noticed Anstee was not with us and we began to fear that he may have been hit, but as we turned back to look for him, he came dashing up. What a relief! He said that when we all dived to earth he and his rifle got tangled up in all the old and new phone cables that were on the track. We hurried on into Trimonsoli and ran over the square. It was getting lighter and we still had to get right through the village before we could really be safe. Having crossed the square, we were laying the cable along a street and throwing it off the road into a hedge and a garden when a spandau firing tracers opened up hitting into a bank and old building on the road behind us. We climbed a wall and made a wide detour over gardens until we came to the road on the safe side of Trimonsoli. By this time it was getting quite light and we had nearly run out of cable owing to the long detour we had made. So we decided to look for the old existing line.

Ernie went back to the platoon HQ and traced the cable back to us. While he was away Anstee and I tied the remainder of the cable back from the road and got the testing phone ready to connect, then we had a smoke. I reached for my bayonet to cut back some wood and brambles at the end of our new cable and found it was not in the scabbard. I must have lost it in the tangle of wires when we dived to earth on the track. I was very annoyed and a bit worried, so I told Anstee I would go back the way we had come and look for it while he waited for Ern to return. Just then Ern arrived and they both advised me not to go, but I said I had decided to go and asked them to give me ten to fifteen minutes while they joined up the cables to the testing phone. I assured them that I would not cross the square again if there was any enemy fire, so they agreed to wait for me. When I got back to the square it was raining hard and I had seen no sign of my bayonet. I paused a moment and peered around the corner of a house. I stepped out into the road but soon dived back again as a shell from a German 88mm crashed into a house on the edge of the square, blowing a huge hole in it. I had not found my bayonet, but knew it was impossible to go across the square. I hurried back to Anstee and Ern and they told me not to worry about it. Having joined both ends of the cable to the testing phone, Anstee rang up the OP, and that was working OK. Then we rang platoon HQ and told Captain Drew that all was OK and that we were coming in. I also explained how I had lost my bayonet and he said not to worry and that I could soon get another one. As soon as we knew that the phone contact between platoon HQ and the OP was working, we disconnected the testing phone and lit up a fag. We hurried back to platoon HQ where we had a brew up and our breakfast.

It rained steadily for the next two or three days and the whole area was a swamp of mud and water. We fired our mortars at intervals and the enemy threw a few shells back at us, but did no damage. During the night of 3rd March 1944 a German patrol infiltrated into our lines and cut brigade HQ phone cables only about 300yds from our platoon area. They then laid in wait and when three brigade linesmen arrived to repair it, they jumped out from behind some bushes and captured two of them. The third man made a dash and got away. The whole affair was carried out so swiftly and silently that our own sentry who was on guard outside our billet hardly heard a sound. He opened the door and told Sgt Riley that he thought he heard a German say 鈥淗anden Hock鈥�. Sgt Riley apparently thought he was imagining things, anyway he didn鈥檛 go outside and told the sentry, Dick Whittington to get back to his post again. It was still pouring with rain on Saturday 4th March 1944 when an advance party of the American 88 division came up to view the positions as they were to take over from us on the following day. All that day they brought up weapons and kit in jeeps and trucks and dashed about kicking up a hell of a row as if they were on a picnic or at a fair. It was not long before the Germans got wind of a change over, and they pelted the roads with shells all afternoon. That sobered the Yanks up a bit. We took them up to the OP after dark and they laid their own cable back to our HQ, they also brought up their mortars and bombs.

As soon as the Yanks had taken over form us, we left our positions at 5am and crossed back over the river Garigliano and had our breakfast at Mondragone. After breakfast and a wash and shave, we moved on to a little town called Villa Litterno and were billeted in partly destroyed houses or buildings near the railway. We arrived at about noon and after dinner, the commanding officer had the whole battalion on parade. He told us we would be staying in Villa Litterno to have a complete rest and clean up. There would be no parades at all after which we would be embarking on LCT鈥檚 to make a landing on the Anzio beaches. The rifle companies who had received the most casualties in the Garigliano fighting received new reinforcements. All afternoon and next morning we unloaded the carriers and cleaned the mortars. We sent clothes to be cleaned, drew deficiencies and had an exchange of clothing. In the afternoon and evening and for the following four days we had a very easy time. On my Birthday 7th March 1944 I went into Aversa and saw a film show and in the evening 鈥淧opeye鈥�, Wenty, Bill Blackett, Gordie Bisset and several more of the lads in the platoon got together and we had a grand party. In an Italians house we had Sherry, Brandy, Red and White wine, Vino, Spumanti and a sparkling wine like Champagne. It really was a grand party for my Birthday and it went on until one by one we crawled back to our billet. Sadly it was the last party poor Gordie Bisset would ever have.

On 9th March 1944 we were issued with a new Battle Dress and our clean clothes came back from the ARMY laundry. There was an issue of free cigarettes and a NAAFI issue of supplies. I went into Mondragone on 9th March 1944 to see an ENSA show which was very good and Bill Blackett and Gordie Bisset had us laughing all the time, it was great. Friday 10th March 1944 was our last day of rest. I had a letter from home and a letter and some magazines from Mollie. We packed up and left Villa Litterno next morning at about 11.30am. We arrived at the port of Pozzuoli at 1 pm and boarded LCT鈥檚 at 7pm. It rained hard all evening and the wind was very strong. We sailed after dark and I was on guard duty on the transport, which was lashed to the deck. What a rough night that was, it poured with rain, the boat rolled and tossed and huge waves crashed over the decks. It got so rough towards the middle of the night that I and the other sentry, Charlie Seaward, got into the cab of a 15cwt truck to escape some of the rain and waves. It was still raining the next day as we pulled into Nettumo on the Anzio beachhead.

We disembarked about 2pm and travelled by truck to our B Echelon area which was not far from the sea. We pitched small two man tents over holes in the sand which we had dug. When I got into my blankets to sleep that night it was to the rumble of guns in the distance and aircraft overhead. We spent the next two days loading our carriers and preparing bombs. On the 14th March 1944 we had a terrific thunder storm with vivid flashes of forked lightning. Four Barrage Balloons over the harbour were struck and destroyed. We stood ready to move up to the front line on Wednesday 15th March 1944. After dark, as we moved up, we were welcomed by a hail of spandau bullets and the artillary on both sides was fairly active. We were unloading bombs, kit and mortars and taking them into a deep and wide wadi untill nearly 3am. Before I fell asleep for a couple of hours I watched enemy planes firing tracers down at the harbour and soon after the Bofors started to fire tracer shells up at them. I was awakened at 5am to help bring the remainder of the bombs and kit into the wadi before daylight. On 17th March 1944 we dug our gunpits and camouflaged them, then took things a little quieter. The Germans shelled and machine gunned the area above the wadi in the evening, but did no damage. The next morning the shelling started again and some of our bombs were destroyed. A shell fell into the wadi and hit a pit where they were stored. I made a dive for the dugout before the next shells exploded.

The Inniskillins and C Company had heavy shelling on their positions too but there was hardly any spandau fire. Our wadi area was shelled heavily day and night. On Sunday 19th March 1944 following a heavy barrage by the RA, Commandos and the Cameronians made an attack and the Germans suffered a lot of casualties in a wadi just forward of C Company. The shelling increased on our wadi area, so we had to move back to another wadi on the other side of the road after dark. The Commandos took their objective but the Cameronians could not quite reach theirs, so they both withdrew a little. The Cameronians had several casualties, and the Commandos lost 14 killed and 22 wounded.

I went up to battalion HQ with 鈥淧op鈥漜omer to collect 鈥淒on 5鈥� field telephone sets and on the way back we could see enemy shells bursting all around our positions. When we got onto the track above the wadi, we saw a chap lying on a stretcher who had been badly wounded in the back. When we did finally get back to the wadi they were laying poor Gordie Bisset on a stretcher where he died almost instantly. A piece of shrapnel had penetrated his skull and brain. He was such a wonderful happy go lucky chap, full of the joy of living, loved by us all and always with such a happy cheeky smile on his face. How ironic it was, because if I had not gone up to battalion HQ with Popeye that morning, it could have been me on that stretcher because Geordie had taken my place in the gunpit while we were away. My old friend Cpl Blackman of the Medical staff, who had been so kind to me at Aintree on the first Christmas of the War when I was in the sick bay, was also killed that morning. He was with the stretcher-bearers when a shell fell near them on the track above the wadi. The next morning 22nd March 1944 I had to go up to battalion HQ again. This time it was to help carry Paddy Maquire on a stretcher, he had a very bad attack of Malaria.

When I got back I wrote a letter home and received one from Mollie. The next two or three days were fairly quiet apart from a little shelling. The shells exploded on the track above the wadi or in the field beyond. Our OP phone cable was cut in several places and it meant that two of us had to go out at night to mend it. I went up to battalion HQ again on the 24th March to collect a new barrel for one of our mortars and some drinking water. On 25th March 1944 the enemy shelled the whole wadi area, from our positions to battalion HQ. As the shells fell closer, I dived into a sand-bagged dugout and could almost feel the blast of two of them when they exploded close outside. On hit a tree above and the other fell outside. Shrapnel tore away a corner of the dugout and Bill Saphire was slightly cut on the forehead by a small piece of shrapnel.

26th March 1944 was a comparatively quiet day with very little activity at all. In the afternoon we packed up, after dark we were relieved by the Yorks and Lancs and we went back to B Echelon. Enemy planes were overhead when we got back and the Ack-Ack were making it very hot for them. The next day I had a letter from Mum and I wrote to Mollie and Ray. On Tuesday 28th March 1944 we had a short church service under some trees, then I cleaned by rifle and had a good wash down. I read a book called 鈥淪ilent Waters鈥�. During the next few days we did a bit of drill and dug in our carriers and on Thursday 30th March 1944 Ern and I went to see a film at a mobile film unit. It was George Raft and Pat O鈥橞rian in 鈥淏roadway鈥�.

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