大象传媒

This story was submitted to the People鈥檚 War site by Norman Wigley of the 大象传媒 Radio Sheffield Action Desk on behalf of Mr George Martin, and has been added to the site with his permission. The author fully understands the site鈥檚 terms and conditions.

This edited account is taken from the book 鈥淐assino to the River Po. Italy 1944-45. A personal account of life and action in a tank troop,鈥� written and published by George Martin.

Other parts to this story can be found at:

Part 1: A7832441

Part 2: A7832702

Part 3: A7832964

Part 4: A7833152

Part 5: A7833549

Part 7: A7833837

Part 8: A7833972

Part 9: A7834043

Part 10: A7834179

By Friday 7th July 1944 we had continued north and reached a point a few miles south of Arezzo. The main highway south from Arezzo was an almost straight road overlooked by a hill on which was a German observation officer, who was bringing down such accurate fire from, among others, two mobile guns of heavy calibre, that nothing could move by daylight. Our orders were to go out and draw the fire of these guns while spotter planes went up to look for them, a battery of guns waiting to fire as ordered by the artillery officer in the plane. The plan was simple enough; we had to drive along a dirt road which went off the main road, in first gear, making as much dust as possible, the second and third tanks to return through the fields before rejoining the track again in the rear, so keeping a long trail of dust rising into the air, making it appear as though a long convoy of vehicles was heading to by-pass the town.

As was my custom, I went back and collected my troop together and told them just what we had to do. I was not expecting, nor did I get, whoops of delight! With a wry smile on his face my driver said, 鈥淪ir, aren鈥檛 you very popular with our Squadron Leader? You always seem to get the job of lead troop.鈥� The day before the action we had a good meal, a visit from the padre, and checked all equipment. We slept well that night, as we had been relieved of guard duties by other troops of the Squadron. We knew that if the plan worked, no enemy gunner worthy of the name would be able to resist the temptation. We took up our positions before dawn, and waited. At 09.00 hours we started engines and set off along the track, dust rising behind us high in the still air. Tension was acute as we moved slowly forward. Although we had covered 600 yards or so, the gunfire we had hoped to draw was not forthcoming. The 鈥榤ush鈥� in our headphones was suddenly interrupted by a loud 鈥榗lick鈥� and on our frequency, a German soldier, forgetting he was on 鈥榮end鈥�, sang in a deep guttural voice, a verse of 鈥楲ille Marlene鈥�. It sounded so clear and close, it might have been sung by one of our own crew, we looked at each other and laughed. The voice on the radio started to 鈥榯rail鈥� somewhat towards the end of the verse. Just before he finished the last line, he stopped abruptly, paused, and suddenly shouted, 鈥淎chtung 鈥� Shermans, Achtung 鈥� Sh鈥︹�︹�� The rest was unfinished as he discovered his mistake and switched off his radio.

We were now well along the track, and doubly aware of our danger, now that we had obviously been spotted. Some 100 yards ahead on our left stood a large house and about 30 yards beyond the house, our track joined the main road. I parked my tank below the gable of the house, my sergeant, some 20 yards to my rear, guns trained on the house, and behind him my corporal, guns trained on the right flank. To our rear the great cloud of dust hung in the still air, the sun beat down from a clear blue sky and we, having reached the point to which we had been ordered to go, had failed to draw the expected fire! This I could not understand because any dust trail such as we had made was normally sufficient to bring down a hail of artillery fire from the enemy batteries. I was fairly certain that our approach had not gone unnoticed, so I decided to take a walk to the main road, rather like a small recce party, and make quite sure that we had been seen.

Engines now switched off, and warning the corporal that if anything happened to us he would have to take the troop back, I took along my sergeant and second driver, armed with grenades and Tommy guns. The warm air now seemed deathly quiet, nothing stirred and there was no sign of enemy movement; in the far distance though, I could hear faintly the drone of the spotter plane鈥檚 engine. We carefully approached the main road and there was still no sign of movement. To our left the main road came to an abrupt halt where the Germans had 鈥榖lown鈥� a bridge over the canal. After surveying the scene, we strolled back making sure that we could be seen. We were no more than halfway back to the tanks when we heard a couple of distant bangs, seconds later two large calibre shells whistled over and landed near the canal bank with loud explosions. 鈥淟et鈥檚 get moving Sergeant, turn about and be ready to move, pass the word on to the corporal will you?鈥� 鈥淭hought they鈥檇 never bite,鈥� said the sergeant. I had just got onto my tank turret when I heard another couple of shells coming over. Quickly, I slipped my legs into the turret hatch as the shells screeched at us. No mistake this time about accuracy, it hit the gable wall about ten feet above my turret! By now I was getting accustomed to being blown to the turret floor, but it was becoming tiresome. Perhaps it was just as well though, because shrapnel, bricks, stone and rubble rained down upon the tank and into the turret hatch.

Judging by the hole in the gable wall, the shell must have been five or six inch diameter, so without waiting for another salvo, we turned about and headed for 鈥榟ome鈥�. Before we had gone very far I heard in the distance, from behind our lines, the sound of artillery fire and the heavy 鈥榗rump鈥� of salvo after salvo of shells, as they landed, I hoped, on the S.P.guns. By early afternoon we arrived back at our rendezvous, a small farm some distance from the track along which we had travelled, laying our 鈥榙ust trail鈥�. We received a radio message from our Squadron Leader: 鈥淚鈥檝e a personal message for you from 鈥楤ig Sunray鈥� (our Brigadier), he congratulates you on your effort this morning, and is pleased to inform you that both guns have been destroyed 鈥� a spotter plane report. Oh, and my congratulations as well, George,鈥� he added. 鈥淐an鈥檛 understand why it took them so long to open up,鈥� I said, 鈥渂ut at least the bait worked.鈥� The Squadron Leader then came on again, 鈥淪unray has another little job for you while you鈥檙e there. Take a small party on foot to the blown bridge and get the following information:- width on top of the canal bank, width of roadway approaching the bridge, length of blown section of bridge, and is the road straight enough to assemble a Bailey bridge?鈥� 鈥淚t鈥檒l take a couple of hours at least,鈥� I said, 鈥渋t鈥檚 two and a half miles or so.鈥�

Taking my corporal and a couple of co-drivers, we set off armed with grenades and Tommy guns. To my sergeant I gave instructions that he must not attempt to look for us should we not return, but must take charge of the troop and return to HQ when ordered. We used cover to the side of the track and eventually arrived at the main road and the blown bridge. By now we were hot, tired and hungry, but keeping to cover as much as possible, we noted all the details requested. We had a ten-minute 鈥榖reather鈥� before starting our return journey. Perhaps because of the lack of food, and fatigue, our journey back took longer than I had allowed for and I was hoping that our tanks had not moved off! We still had about 300 yards to go when we noticed figures behind some bushes. Quickly we took cover and I began to wonder if we had been cut off by an enemy patrol, but felt sure that they would have opened up by now. Slowly we began to move forward and to our surprise, and relief, the troop sergeant and his crew came out of the trees. The Sergeant must have read my thoughts, 鈥淚 hope you don鈥檛 mind, sir, when you didn鈥檛 come back we just had to come and look for you, the whole troop wanted to come but the rest are with the tanks.鈥� I simply reminded him that orders should be obeyed, although in his position I should probably have done the same! Such is the spirit of comradeship common to most of the fighting units. We returned to the tanks and had a welcome drink of cold spring water before we returned to Squadron HQ, where we had a visit from the Brigadier who seemed well satisfied with the information we had obtained.

Pr-BR

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