大象传媒

11 November 1943

Monte Camino

Tonight the orders were for the 3rd Coldstream to proceed up Monte Camino to relieve the 5th Grenadiers who had suffered very heavy casualties and at 6 p.m. we moved off, No. 2 Company being second and after a terrible climb through constant mortar and shell fire we reached our positions at 2 a.m. and proceeded to improve them. I found to my horror next morning when it was light enough to see that a dead Grenadier was lying just outside my "sangar" and owing to the fact we were under direct observation it was impossible to do anything about it. No. 4 Platoon were the forward platoon and the total number of it was 13 of the 17 who left the caves, three we were able to account for but the fourth Wilf Critten was missing and it was thought that he had been wounded by a rolling boulder on our way up. The same boulder just caught my big toe and it was giving me quite a lot of pain. For the next four days I must have been the most miserable man in Italy, for true to the Italian winters it poured down for the whole time, and the supply position was beginning to get precarious because all supplies had to be carried by troops a distance of four miles besides climbing the hill, and on the 14th and 15th my daily ration was one tin of bully beef and a packet of biscuits with one drink of tea and a small ration of rum. At 4 p.m. on the 15th the Company runner came from Company H.Q. and informed us that owing to the difficulty of supplies we were to evacuate the hill at 6 p.m., so I packed all my kit and just as I was settling down for a last smoke before dark a terrific burst of spandau fire rang out and looking out saw 50 or 60 Germans approaching up the hill and for an hour and a half a terrific battle enraged and it looked as if it was going to be a last man last round effort but they finally withdrew and during the lull we pulled back through nos. 5 and 6 platoons and started the evacuation and although it had been pretty bad coming up it was ten times worse because only one narrow path led up the hill and with it being used every night it was just one morass of mud. We finally got to the bottom minus the majority of our kit and then began the six mile trek back to the Troop carrying Vehicles and although it began as an orderly withdrawal it ended up in a shambles with everyone, Jocks, Bill Browns and Colys together and everyone was dead beat and on arrival at the Troop carrying Vehicles Military Police were lifting us into the trucks and I collapsed in one corner wet through to the skin and fell into a coma. The next thing I knew was being given a mess tin full of stew and a mug full of cocoa and rum and it certainly put new life into me because it was the first hot meal I had eaten for five days and my next job was to get comfortable for a bit of sleep and I managed to scrounge a blanket and lay down in a ditch and enjoyed four hour wonderful sleep and on being wakened for breakfast I found the ditch was half full of water but it was impossible to get any wetter than I already was.

18 November to 1 December 1943

During this period we were resting at a village named Puglianno and our time was taken up with drill parades, weapon training and we were visited by the Regimental Band of the Irish Guards who were touring Italy at the time and the time passed all to quickly.
2 December 1943
Razorback Ridge

At 3 p.m. we moved off to a concentration area directly opposite our old friend Monte Camino and at 10 p.m. after a terrific artillery barrage we moved off and climbed the mountain again this time up the mule track which had been cleared of mines and passing on our way three bodies of Germans who had gone up on mines and terrible sights they were. The bodies were without arms and legs, all their clothes blown off and their bodies pitted with shrapnel holes. We arrived at the cliff at about 6 o'clock and it was about 10 o'clock when we moved off again and at this time going straight over the top and after traveling all night arrived at the place we were to attack, another hill named Razorback Ridge but luckily enough Jerry had pulled out so on attaining our objective began to build our homes for the next few days. We had a fairly quite time here with an occasional mortar and shell fire and one night I had to go on a Recce patrol but all was quiet and on the 9th day the mail arrived up and I had six letters from my beloved wife, Verna, one of which informed me about my dear friend Harry.

11 December 1943

Today with nine days growth of beard and dirt we came out of the line via Calabritto where we were able to pay our last respects to our comrades we were leaving there and on reaching the T. C. V.'s were conveyed to Puglianno where we were able to get washed and shaved and most important, deloused. We stayed here until the 14th when we moved to Mondragone on the west coast.

17 December 1943
Cellole and River Garigliano

Tonight we relieved the Recce Corps. at a place between the village of Cellole and the River Garigliano where the main task was to hold the position and patrol the area.

19 December 1943

I was warned during the day that I would form one of the standing patrol which would go into NO MAN'S LAND at ten o'clock with the object of waiting for any German patrol which may come our way, and equipped with Bren guns and Tommy guns we set off the patrol commander being Lt. Gardener. The time would be around midnight when I saw a figure walking casually down the road, but before I had time to challenge two Spandaus opened up and bullets were flying about like peas, and the person whom I later found out to be the patrol commander ran back up the road, and the next thing I heard was German voices so my section proceeded to throw our grenades and finally drove them off, which gave us time to have a look round to discover I had three casualties, Slater and Gould slightly and my great friend Phil Warrior who was very bad so between us we got him back to the patrol headquarters for me to find Lt. Gardener still lying in the middle of the ditch and despite the fact that the German patrol was still around I proceeded to tell him exactly what I thought of him. The two slightly wounded lads began to walk back to Company H. Q. and I was sent back to Company H. Q. for the stretcher bearers for Phil but it was too late, the bullets having entered his buttocks and driving upwards to his heart and he died on the way to R. A. P. and there I lost the best comrade I have had in battle because he feared nothing and even in the worst positions could always crack a joke. Christmas Day arrived and with it rain and our dinner consisted of bully and biscuits and I was fed up with this cowboy life and on the 28th we were relieved by No. 4 Company and proceeded back to Cellole, where we stayed until the 30th when we were given the griff that we were to make a raid on the river whilst the engineers built a bridge higher up the river. Zero hour was 0031 hours on the morning of the 30th and my sections job was to sweep the banks of the river up to the bridge and destroy a mortar which was known to be there.

We reached the starting line at 0015 hours and settled down to wait for the barrage to lift and when the time arrived we set off and everything was quiet until we were fifty yards from the bridge when eight or nine Spandaus started firing and then everyone seemed to go mad. My section and I found the mortar and after killing three of the crew threw the mortar in the river, and followed the platoon across the bridge where we lay doggo awaiting for the signal to withdraw and during this time Mitchell was killed by Spandau fire. On the success signal going up I was ordered to lead off by compass for Cellole and after picking five Germans up and chased by mortar fire we reached our own lines at 5 a.m. and the first person I saw was Pedlar, the first time since the beginning of November, and on the 31st we were relieved by the 2 / 7th Queens and at exactly twelve midnight we left Cellole for a place called Falciano where we were able to get a decent nights sleep, and so we came to the end of 1943 with a very dim view of war.

1944

1 to 19 January 1944
Trentola and Gustav Line

The first two days of the new year were spent at Falciano where we had our Christmas dinner and on the third we went from the 56 (London) Division into Corps. reserve and pulled back to Trentola which is seven miles north of Naples, and from here I spent four happy days leave at Naples with Ron Booth and it was here I encountered the experience of being stopped by small boys of ten or eleven who would take you to a girl who was selling herself for a bar of chocolate or a tin of bully.

20 January 1944
Tremonsoula

From today we are part of the 5th Division and at half past three in the afternoon we left Trentola and traveled northwards making for our old hunting grounds once again and we stayed the night at San Andrea and at last light moved up to within a mile of the Garigliano by T. C. V.'s and walked the rest of the way across the river, and through a minefield reaching the concentration area which was an orange grove about half past eleven where we dug in and went to sleep. After breakfast we packed up and just as we were moving off two Jerry planes came over and dive bombed us so I beat a hasty retreat back to my slit trench. We finally got on the move at half past ten and after a lot of messing about finally relieved the Green Howards at one o'clock, and as their slit trenches were only a matter of three feet deep I proceeded to make mine two or three feet deeper. The enemy in front of us were our old foes the 90th Light Infantry Division who we last saw on Monte Camino and since we had relieved the Green Howards in full view they proceeded to give us a very good welcome, with everything they had. This went on for twelve days and at times I expected the guns to come sailing over. By this time my slit trench was nearly seven feet deep and two feet under but I had just about had enough and although I tried my hardest to keep a hold on myself the climax came on the night of 2 / 3 February when I had to take a patrol out to a forward O.P. where three men were on duty and just as I started to speak to them Jerry started shelling so the patrol and myself dived in a nearby shell hole and when we looked again the other lads were buried and something seemed to snap in my head and the next thing I knew I was lying in the R. A. P. and the following day the Medical Officer sent me back to 'B' Echelon for a rest, and I stayed there until the battalion pulled out of the line, the casualties being 28 killed and 55 wounded. Pedlar being wounded in the right arm during this action.

8 February 1944
Minturno

After spending three days at a place called Casanova we went in the line again relieving the York and Lancs. we spent a further seven days in the line, during this time it was continually rain and the mud was three or four inches deep. Nothing spectacular happened the most exciting part was when a Jerry patrol approached our lines.

19 February 1944
Casanova

Another three days at Casanova during which time Ronnie was at the M. I. room at San Andea just down the road, and after a terrific argument with my platoon commander I reverted at my own request to a Guardsman.

Tufo

At half past six we boarded the T. C. V.'s and proceeded up the same old road and after a couple of hours walk we relieved the Cameronians midst mud and rain and after eighteen days we were in a static position and the most noticeable point was whilst I was on sentry duty on 21st. I was warned by Ron Booth that a German patrol was approaching so I woke up my mate Jack Russon who before coming on sentry duty would have a smoke under our blanket which was the normal thing to do ( unofficially of course!). about five minutes later I noticed a long line of figures coming over the skyline at the same time hearing someone walking up the pathway towards our dugout. I was in rather a quandary what to do but the unknown decided because the leading man dashed out firing a Scheiser and Jack up with his rifle and fired and the bloke went down and before the rifle could be reloaded the rest of the party disappeared. (Those who read this will probably wonder why I didn't fire, the reason being I had no rifle, my weapon being the 2" mortar). After five minutes quietness we had a good look round and discovered the dead body of a German sergeant Major so before it became proper light we carted him away and buried him. Jack Russon got a lovely wristlet watch which he has to this day and I took his binoculars away from him. After this incident the rest of our time in these positions were very quiet and on the night of 6 march we were relieved by the elements of the 91st American rangers and after a long walk back to the T. C. V.'s we set off on the long journey to Meta some seven miles north of Sorrento.

7 to 29 March 1944
Meta
24th Guards Brigade

During our stay here I witnessed a scene which I don't think I shall ever see again. This was the eruption of Mount Vesuvius and it is a sight really worth seeing, and although we were billeted fourteen miles away, bulldozers were employed to clear the streets of ashes and dust. Towards the second week the 24th Guards Brigade also arrived at Meta and as the 201 Guards Brigade were going home we began to smell something fishy and the next day the Brigadier informed us of the bad news. The 24th having been to Anzio had had a terrific battering and the Irish Guards were very low in strength and no hope of any reinforcements so the Irish Guards went to the UK with the 201, and the 3rd Coldstream stayed out here with the 24th. Quite easy as far as reinforcements were concerned but quite a disappointment for us Coldstreams. I was able to pay a visit to Naples and also the Isle of Capri but this was rather spoilt by rain. On the 30 may we left Meta and went to a place called Frasso Telesino which is situated in the hills about eight miles from Benevento and here we did extensive training until 7 April 1944 when the time arrived for us to go in the line again.
8 April 1944
Rionero
1st Division

We left Frasso at three o'clock in the morning and after a long and weary ride relieved the 4th Division of the 2nd Polish Corps, and at first we thought it strange that a brigade should take over from a Division but NO MAN'S LAND was twelve miles wide separated by the River Sangro and then began a long period of static warfare during which time we worked on defences from 10 p.m. each evening until 3 a.m. next morning and sleeping until mid-day and coupled with a few standing patrols and O.P. work it was more like a holiday and during the five weeks there we had three casualties, Jack Briggs killed and Carpenter and Frazer wounded. On 11 May the summer offensive opened and on the night of 13th we were relieved by the 9th Lancers and went back to Frasso to join the 6th South African Armoured Division.

漏 Copyright of content contributed to this Archive rests with the author. Find out how you can use this.