大象传媒

This story was submitted to the People's War site by Paul Trainer of Torbay Library Services on behalf of Benita Cumming, daughter of Ben Cumming and has been added to the site with her permission. Ms Cumming fully understands the site's Terms and Conditions.

Going back to Perth after my leave we then moved on to Gourock, a Port on the Clyde, where we embarked on the S. S. Karanga and set sail in convoy. We steamed to Mid Atlantic to avoid lurking U. Boats, then turned South toward Spain and through the Straits of Gibraltar to reach our destination the Port of Algiers, in Algeria, which was a French Colony in North Africa. It was a joint invasion force, British, American and Free French and there was not much resistance as there were no German and Italian forces there at that time, only French troops who were loyal to Vichy France; the government of Vichy France having collaborated with Nazi Germany. It was not long before the French forces came over to the Allies. I was with the 24th Independent Guards Brigade when we landed and I remember we spent the next few days in the Football Stadium there.

Passing through Algiers we then occupied a Brickyard which was a few miles from the city. We then regrouped and became part of the First Guards Division of the First Army, commanded by General Anderson. My Battalion, the 6th Grenadier Guards, were suddenly ordered back to the port. Waiting there were three Royal Navy destroyers; we were put into three groups and each group boarded a destroyer. I recall they were of the Hunt Class. We were ordered below and were not allowed on deck. Off we set at full speed through the Mediterranean, our destination being the Port of Bone on the coast of Tunisia. There was a panic on as the Axis Powers had landed at Bizerta and were advancing through the mountains toward Algeria to attempt to stop the Allied forces pushing forward to Tunisia. The idea of getting the Battalion to Bone was that once there, we were to push inland and reinforce the troops already there and try and stem the enemy advance. It was the quickest way to get reinforcements there, as the roads (what there was of them) were impassable owing to heavy rain. It was evening as we approached Bone, the sailors had cheered us up by saying that Bone was a "Graveyard of Ships". I realized that we would be landing in a short while and I thought I wouuld use a proper toilet whilst I had the chance. As soon as I made entry, I heard the guns open up overhead. I tried to get on deck but was prevented from doing so by the seamen, who were engaged in passing ammunition up chutes from the magazine. I peered from a porthole and saw we were being attacked by Italian torpedo seaplanes. I saw a torpedo skimming across the sea toward the ship, but fortunately the destroyer took evasive action and it sped by; if it had not I wouldn't be writing this now.

It was dark when we landed but there wasn't any opposition and we pressed on through the night and following day and took up positions with the Kings Own Yorkshire Light Infantry (the K.O.Y.L.I.S) on the side of a steep hill overlooking a wide valley. The Germans were entrenched in the hills on the opposite side of the valley. They also held the strategic railway town of Medjez EI Bab around which violent battles raged. We went out most nights on patrol with the aim of apprehending German units and taking prisoners to gain information and try to gauge what the enemies' intentions were. The terrain of the valley was very difficult to traverse as thick elephant grass grew there which reached chest height. Situated in the valley was a place called Guzigrad (I've probably spelt it wrongly) and Jerry, we observed, seemed to be very active around there; during the night of March 26th-27th, 1943, a patrol of which I was a member set out to find what they were up to. My assignment was what was referred to as being a "bomber". I had hand grenades strapped around my waist, but when we reached the first building at dawn I found I had lost them all in the elephant grass! There were no Germans there but they had the place pin-pointed for their mortar bombs to drop, and they opened fire as soon as they were aware of our presence. We were advancing in single file when word was passed down that the whole area was mined. I had just turned to tell the man behind me to be aware, when he stepped on an antipersonnel mine of the sort we called a "Bouncing Baby"; it flies out of the ground about two feet and then explodes spraying shrapnel. The poor bloke caught it in his stomach and I was hit in the face and leg. Those of us who were able to took cover and later in the day some armoured cars managed to reach the place and evacuated the survivors. We were taken to a Casualty Clearing Station to receive first aid before being sent to the rear. I recognized two of the stretcher bearers from my school days, Jack Tucker and "Jammy" Fragell - its certainly a small world!

I was taken by ambulance to an airstrip and put aboard an American Douglas plane and flown to Maison Carree, a large town close to Gran, where there was a Military Hospital under the auspices of the Americans which was formerly the French Police Headquarters. I was very lucky to have been picked up by the Yanks because everything about them and their equipment was first class. I was put into a ward and underwent an examination and they decided to push a copper wire up my nose into my head so that an X-Ray would show the proximity of the 'foreign body' as they called it, to the wire, and an operation would be carried out to remove it. The surgeon operated on me through the roof of my mouth and successfully removed a piece of metal which had lodged in my head. A few days after when I was recovering, an American General visited the Hospital to award Purple Heart medals to the personnel who had been wounded in action. The Purple Heart is a beautiful medal, purple in the shape of a heart with the profile of George Washington superimposed in white on it. Those men able to walk were paraded before the General to receive their awards and the patients who were incapacitated had theirs placed at the foot of their beds. My head was swathed in a bandage, and unbeknown to me I was given one. Afterwards it was discovered I was British and I had it taken off of me! I would have loved to have been able to keep it, it would have been a magnificent souvenir. I heard an amusing tale about a Purple Heart. One of the patients in the same ward as me was in there with a broken leg and it was said that he received his injury by falling down the steps of a certain house of ill repute, one which the Yanks called a 'Cat House'. Anyway he was apparently awarded the Purple Heart!

I had a great time in that Hospital, the American nurses were like film stars, and I had never had such meals before. I used to get parcels and money from the American Red Cross and an allowance of 200 cigarettes a week (Lucky Strike or Camels). But all good things come to an end, and when I was fit enough to travel I was flown, with others, to a place called Fort De Lue which was an Infantry Returned Training Depot (I.R.T.D) where I was to be reassessed. I arrived there wearing an American uniform which was quickly taken off me! I was granted leave and as Algiers was not far away I set off to see what it had to offer.

When I got to Algiers I made my way to the Docks; when I reached them I noticed a soldier leaning over some railings looking into the water and I thought to myself, "I recognise that figure." When I got nearer I saw it was Charlie Lear who was married to my sister Mary. I gave him a kick up the behind (gently) and he turned and stared at me aghast; when he had recovered and we had greeted each other he explained why he had been shocked to see me. He had had news from home and apparently the War Office had informed my folk that I was missing, I had been wounded in action and my whereabouts were unknown. He was therefore greatly surprised at me turning up out of the blue, but overjoyed that I was alive and kicking. He was in the Royal Engineers and a carpenter by trade and he was with a Port Construction Company, endeavouring to get the Docks back in working order after the fighting there. His Company was stationed on the Docks, and after having a meal with him in his Mess, he said he would show me around. We made our way to the Kasbah, the Arab quarter of the city which was out of bounds to all servicemen, but Charlie, being an 'old solder', knew his way around and we visited some very odd places, drinking vast quantities of 'vin blanc', and we both got very drunk. At a late stage in the evening, we ran out of money and Charlie took off his shirt and flogged it to an Arab. It was a wonder how we got out of the Kasbah with all the dubious characters that were around us, and also how we managed to find our way back to our respective billets, evading the Military Police and Charlie being shirtless. When I eventually got back to Fort De Lue, I tripped over a guy rope trying to find my tent. I couldn't get up again and I lay there all the rest of that night and got bitten all over by mosquitoes. However, their bites never bothered me, I never caught malaria all the time I was abroad, I think I was immune on the account of the amount of alcohol in my blood! I did not meet up again with Charlie in North Africa, but about a year later I saw him in Ancona, a town in Italy where he was stationed. He had charge of an Army football team when he was not on any duties; he had always been a keen sportsman playing both football and rugby.

On one occasion when I visited Algiers, an amusing and embarrassing incident occurred. I was on my own and I decided to visit the N.A.A.F.I. for a tea and a wad (sticky bun). Next door was an establishment which went under the name of "The Black Cat". I joined a queue that had formed and when I got to the head of the queue I found I had entered "The Black Cat" and in the foyer I was welcomed by a Madame; too late I discovered I was in a bordello - what a shock for an innocent Englishman abroad!

By the end of April 1943 hostilities had ceased in North Africa, the British 8th Army under general Montgomery had driven Field Marshal Rommel and the German Afrika Korps out of Egypt and Libya, and had broken through the Vasserine Pass, at a place called Hamman. The Germans were trapped and surrounded and duly surrendered, all 266,000 of them. The Allied Forces casualties for the North African campaign were 70,000. Rommel himself was not among those captured as he was flown out before his Army capitulated.

My sick leave had ended and I had to have a medical to see if I was fit to be returned to duty. I was duly downgraded medically and it was decided that I should be transferred to undertake other duties. I still belonged to the Grenadier Guards but I, with others from all different Regiments in the same category as me, were to join an establishment which consisted of both British and American personnel which was to be attached to a General Headquarters that was being formed to plan the invasion of Sicily and then Italy. It was being formed at a most beautiful location near Blida, North of Algiers. The place was called Chrea L'Ete, 1,500 metres up the Atlas mountains and it was a Ski Resort (although at the time of the year we were there, there wasn't any snow). There were luxurious chalets which belonged to wealthy French Colonists - they were similar to the ones in the Swiss Alps - and they were requisitioned by the Military Authorities.
The Yanks had control of the area's administration, rations, etc., and we Brits were duly grateful to be able to partake of the 'chow' the Americans served up. The Chalets were named after American cities and were occupied by Officers. One named Miami had as its resident a Brigadier General MacSherry (a Yank). I was on guard there one night and rooting around the grounds came upon two small outbuildings; one was a toilet, the other was full of bottles of champagne! It had been left behind when the occupier fled. I was very popular with my comrades during the time we stayed there! The aftermath of this discovery turned out to be daring but rather comical when we decided to shift the champers to our billet lower down the mountain. It would be difficult, as the road down was patrolled by Military Police. One of the blokes, a short dark welshman, scrounged a donkey off an Arab and a white cloak, put the bottles in panniers and set off. When he was stopped by an M.P. patrol he jabbered away at them in Welsh and they let him pass. You may believe this or not, but it did really happen!

There were many conferences of the key personnel who were planning the forthcoming invasions of Sicily and Italy; on one occasion there were gathered together the top brass, the ones who were to make the final decisions; among those present were (I have a good memory for names) Generals Eisenhower, Patton, Mark Clark (American), Generals Alexander, Montgomery (British), Air Marshal Tedder, Admiral Cunningham and a whole host of British and American Staff Officers. The Yanks administered the area and catering for all personnel, and had charge of the Officers Mess, and in the afternoon, tea was to be provided. Now the Yankee method of making tea was to put the dry tea into a copper full of water and bring it to the boil. They referred to it as "Goddam Limey Juice". It was decided that a Brit should make the tea and I was roped in to do it, and it went down very well. It was, and is, my only claim to fame - the day I made tea for the Generals!

After a period of time when presumably all the plans were made, we were on the move again, firstly to Algiers, where we boarded a train and set off across North Africa and headed for Tunis. The journey took days as the train only crept along, and every now and then coming to a complete stop, stopping long enough to be able to get out and have a brew up by the side of the line. We eventually arrived and were billeted in a building that was previously a University for Arab students. It was an excellent place to be staying in, we were very lucky. Whilst in Tunis (a very cosmopolitan city), the unit to which I now belonged were informed of the function we were to undertake. The organisation (or unit) was to be designated as the Allied Military Government of Occupied Territories, or A.M.G.O.T. as it was to be known.

A.M.G.O.T. was to occupy the areas or provinces that enemy forces had been driven out of, take over the administration of them and weed out Fascist Officials and sympathisers and retain control until suitable Italian citizens came forward who were considered to be able to control their own affairs. The Officers had total authority over the civilian population, ordering what they could do and not do. They were mostly of Italian extraction, able to speak the language and had knowledge of their customs; they were of course American. The rank and file of the ordinary soldier, such as I, were to provide back-up in case of any hostility or possible trouble. As I have previously stated, the fighting in North Africa ceased on April 8th, 1943 and only mopping up remained. There were some air raids but on the whole the Allies had control of the skies.

For the next couple of months we had an easy time of it, swimming in the
warm Mediterranean Sea, and finding out what Tunis had to offer and sampling the fleshpots of that city.

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