大象传媒

SALERNO 鈥� 9TH SEPTEMBER 1943

On board the LST our guns, trailers and their vehicles were in the body of the ship and would be first off. The staff vehicles and personnel were on the deck and besides our regiment of artillery, there was a lot of infantry on board. Being on deck and therefore up very early, when the morning haze cleared, we had a wonderful view of the Bay of Naples with all its little white houses glistening in the early morning sun and with Vesuvious faintly visible in the distance. There was sporadic AA fire from time to time, both from on shore and from ships as we hung about a long way from shore waiting for the first wave of assault troops to establish themselves efficiently for us to follow with our guns. Among the assault troops was a troop of four guns from our regiment, C Troop and these were the only artillery on shore until the remainder of the regiment arrived later that morning. C Troop was supposed to have made up a battery together with a troop of self propelled guns, but the latter were sunk on the way in! One thing was already quite obvious, that the Germans had no intention of letting us remain onshore if they could possibly help it.

About 0930 hours our ship began to approach the land slowly and it soon became part of a mass of shipping stretching in all directions and with a constant backwards and forwards of USA manned small landing craft. In due course our turn came to land and as our ship glided towards the shore on a very calm sea, shells began to fall very close on either side of us. I must say that we felt rather exposed as there was no real cover so we crouched down by our vehicles as a shelter against any bits of flying metal. I clearly remember looking back and up at the ship鈥檚 captain who appeared to be quite calm as he direct the ship towards the shore and hit the beach exactly on the right spot and where a length of wire netting had been laid, presumably by the beach party to prevent the vehicles from sinking into the sand.

The huge front was lowered and immediately vehicles started leaving the LST. In order to facilitate a rapid departure, I should explain that the deck chains holding the trucks and guns steady had been taken off prior to our making the final run in and we were all warned not to get in between trucks. However, there was one accident where a driver was injured rather badly, but I understand he made a good recovery ultimately.

As soon as it came the turn of our command post trucks to leave the ship they duly rumbled down the sloping lowered bows and we followed on foot moving off to a rendezvous forty or fifty yards to the left, but still on the beach and hidden from the view of the enemy on the ground by a somewhat elevated road which I imagine served both as a highway and a protection against the sea for the nearby farmland. By this time our signallers, in the back of one of the trucks were receiving a coded message giving us instructions from the assault party that had gone in close behind the infantry. It was whilst my lieutenant and I were decoding it that we were suddenly attacked by a dive bomber that released its bombs overhead. They went off with an ear splitting explosion but exactly where I never did know because everybody, myself included, was face downward in the sand. Unfortunately both my officer and I hung on to the decoding sheet of paper which was ripped in two halves. After that little bit of excitement we worked out exactly where we had to go and then moved forward off the beach and along the road. On the way, during one of the several halts we came upon a very large field of those large plum shaped tomatoes for which Italy is so well known. Needless to say we helped ourselves to a few and they were delicious.

Well quite soon we reached and occupied our battery area and had to start digging our command post. This took several hours as usual so we had to take turns about either to dig or to deal with the gunnery side. The battery had already received some casualties having lost a captain and a gunner killed and several men wounded. One of my two officers had already been evacuated from the beachhead with suspected jaundice and the other was ordered up to one of the battery observation posts later in the day leaving me in charge for a few hours until a replacement officer was sent over. Curiously the officer sent to the OP said to me 鈥渃arry on sergeant, I鈥檒l see you in the morning!鈥� Unfortunately he and his OP party was captured and oddly enough I next saw him several years later, long after the ward had ended, in the morning, on a train travelling to Manchester.

During this first day ashore I suppose it could be said that the weather was ideal for a war. A beautiful sunny blue Italian sky by day with the temperature somewhere in the seventies Fahrenheit and pleasantly cool in the evening. And we did not realise it at the time, but the Salerno landing was the first made by the British forces in World War II against German resistance, if Dieppe is discounted, on the mainland of Europe.

All that first night we were kept busy firing in defence of our infantry and so far as we in the command post were concerned it was a case of snatching a few hours sleep in turn during the quiet periods which do of course occur.

Somewhere around midnight, Eddie appeared. Being our BQMS his LST did not beach until 1030 hours and all on board had had a noisy time. A number of Bofors Antiaircraft guns were bolted to the deck and were in constant action against enemy planes, long before they landed. The noise from the guns was deafening, probably accentuated by the iron deck acting as an amplifier.

The next morning a reconnaissance party went off to select a new battery position closer to the now established front line and we all had to move later in the afternoon to what seemed a good site for our command post. This entailed a lot of work in abandoning the old dugout, digging a new one and transporting and installing all our equipment and the signallers as well. And while this was going on we had t remain in action and do everything we were called upon to do. Two of our officers and several other ranks at eth OP鈥檚 were reported missing and for most of the day and all through the night we were called upon for gunfire in support of our infantry the 9th Royal Fusiliers who were having to fight off fierce counter attacks in and around the small but strategically important town of Battipaglia, from four battalions of German infantry with supporting armour. In fact, the area around this town had been earmarked by the enemy for their attempted breakthrough to the sea and the hoped for destruction of the beachhead.

One typical incident that happened at the OP on this second day of the invasion was when it went in with an infantry attack on the German positions. Suddenly four enemy soldiers jumped out of a dug out and surrendered to the signaller who was loaded down with equipment and carrying a Tommygun. He sent them running back to our lines and then there was an outburst of enemy artillery and mortar fire. The signaller dived into a small farmhouse and found his officer waiting for him. A salvo of shells fell around the house, a haystack and barn beside it went up in flames and they were in some danger of cremation. The officer yelled out orders through the 鈥榩hone for supporting fire from our guns, which gave them a respite and the chance to smoke a cigarette whilst awaiting the next crisis.

And incidentally, during these first days ashore we existed on Compo Rations, all entirely British. They were packed, 14 men for 1 day or 14 days for 1 man. The powdered tea and milk was pretty grim and the cigarettes and chocolate had mysteriously disappeared, reputedly before the containers had left the UK> An the troops were not amused!

On September 11th the battery area was shelled again in the morning for the Germans in the not so distant hills could undoubtedly see and had pinpointed our position by firing shells, plus and minus of our guns from which they could calculate the exact range from them to us. As a precaution, C Troop was given permission to move to its alternative position where it would be more difficult for the enemy to detect and range on its guns. That afternoon we had to work out all the details of the barrage which was to be fired later in the day to support an attack by the Americans over to our right. We were again on the extreme right of the British half of the beachhead and the Americans were to our right, but there was a gap between us at this stage of the battle. As it was fairly normal for the artillery to be ordered to support some activity on either side of its own area, our regiment had been detailed on this occasion to help the US 45th Division.

The barrage started in the evening and everything was going smoothly, our work in the command post having been completed for the time being and while the guns were fully occupied, when suddenly there was an almighty crash of falling shells. At the time I was convinced they were dropping around the command post without actually hitting us. We were after all quite a small target. In fact only a few landed around us and the bulk straddled D Troop killing a sergeant and two gunners and wounding a sergeant and several other men. At the same time two guns were temporarily put out of action. All this was followed by some confusion in the now pitch darkness. D Troop moved to its alternative position and we had to move and dig yet another command post to be close enough to continue control of the two troops. It took us until daylight before everything was shipshape again and I doubt whether anyone had much more than our hours sleep during the previous night.

All day Sunday 12th we were very busy working out fire plans in support of our infantry. Every time the enemy was seen to form up for an attack they were shelled until they withdrew to their original positions and in the afternoon we were shelled in return. The Germans attempt to destroy our bridgehead was building up to a peak with a succession of thrusts against both our Division and the US 45th and with a general shortage of infantry to cover the whole length of our front, the enemy was trying to establish a weak area by switching their attack from one part of the front to another.

That night we were bombed and I was momentarily shaken because I was sleeping in the open, on top of the ground, not having had time to dig a personal spit trench and must have been awakened by the noise of the first bomb exploding. As I shot to an upright sitting position I saw this nearby reddish flash, in fact I can still see it, followed by another series of explosions. The enemy must have identified our position by a track going to a disused brickfield and the next day our sergeant major had it covered over with earth. This effectively baffled the enemy so far as our battery position was concerned and no more bomb or shells fell on this particular position. Our wagon lines, where most of our vehicles were concentrated and which were some distance from the battery were not so lucky and were bombed every night for a week.

In the morning we managed a good wash down and also washed some clothes. The weather had continued very warm and sunny each day and the wet clothes soon dried. All day long US Mitchells bombed the enemy especially around Battipaglia and there was not a great deal for us to do. No doubt the enemy decided to take cover with so much air activity. At night the battleships out at sea fired their big guns over our heads and on to the German positions and from time to time we could see the huge red hot shells streaking across the sky. Many years later I learned that they really shook the enemy troops.

A night-time hazard so far as we were concerned was the mosquito. This nasty little insect appeared in profusion and took no notice if the barrier cream we had been issued with to smear on our hands and faces. This area of Salerno was reclaimed marshland and clearly little attempt had been made to kill off this malaria carrier.

And whilst mentioning things that went on in the night I must include an incident recounted by Eddie who now as BQMS had the job, among other duties, of being responsible for seeing that the battery ammunition dump was constantly replenished. This meant taking trucks down to the beach, backing them on to the Navy鈥檚 Landing Craft Tanks, which were spasmodically arriving with a shipload of shells and charges, usually during the night, loading up and keeping the dump supplied.

One night there was an urgent call for ammunition. Only 250 rounds remained in the dump. Fighting was fierce and the position obvious. So Eddie and his drier in their 15 cwt lead the 鈥渁mmo鈥� trucks down to the beach. They found an LCT just about to beach with its front already lowered. An 鈥渁mmo鈥� truck was backed on but the sight which confronted them filled them with dismay. The LCT had been loaded in North Africa by Basutos but the ammunition was a mixture of Bofors, 3.7, 4.5, 5.5 inch, small arms and 25 pounder. Eddie and his driver started sorting out the 25 pounder shells. None of it was packed properly or stacked. It looked as thought it had been tipped in. Nevertheless having managed to sort out and load their lorry they went round to the cab at the front to drive off. Unbelievably they found that the LCT was now out to sea in Salerno Bay! Very angry, bordering on the livid Eddie found the Naval Lieutenant in Command and demanded to be put ashore. He first of all refused because 鈥渢hings were too hot on the beach head鈥�, but after a short delay he relented and Eddie was able to return to the battery dump with the truck load of ammunition. The other vehicles fared pretty well although the supply of ammunition seemed to be a lucky dip affair at that time. And so far as is known none of the guns of 254 Battery were ever out of ammunition.

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