大象传媒

I often wondered what my father did in the war. He never spoke about it when I was young and died when I was 19 years old, before I thought of asking. Just recently my cousin gave me the third volume of 鈥淭he 鈥楽un鈥� at War鈥� dated December 1944. Inside was an article written by my father, answering some of my questions. His report, as it was published, follows.

Since I left the shores of home, 18 months ago, I have seen a fair amount of action. Firstly, in North Africa, where we saw the Hun off, to the final rake-in of prisoners at Cape Bon, after the battles of Beja, Long Stop, Medjes-el-Bab, and Tunis. Then came a period of salvage and battlefield clearing 鈥� an ironmonger's paradise. This came as a very welcome rest, which was made more enjoyable owing to our camp being nearly on the sea's edge.
I am sorry to say, through reasons that cannot be divulged, that I had to leave my old regiment. The parting was made harder, having to leave behind a very good pal, an old workmate, J. Camp, of the Office Staff. However, I have high hopes of seeing him in the near future, as he is now over in Italy. I joined, the Sherwood Foresters, who were the first to land in Salerno. There we bore the brunt of the German attacks when he tried to push us back into the sea. After standing up to a terrific counter-attack, we finally broke through, to carry on and help take Naples.

Our next big battle was for the Volturno River, where the battalion formed a bridgehead against big odds. There we faced some of his Tiger tanks, our only anti-tank weapons being the P.I.A.T., and he kept out of range to shell us with his 88 m.m. Under very heavy fire, the battalion held on and waited for supporting weapons and fire, which did not come. In the end the order came to withdraw back over the river, which was spattered with machine-gun bullets, and full of treacherous currents and holes. Our losses were not light: the C.O. was gone, also the M.O. and padre, but our aim was achieved; the rest of the division were over and the crossing was successful.

Our next jobs were at Monastery Hill, and another river, the Garigliano. Our patrols were some of the first over, and the final crossing was made under better circumstances. The battalion spent the winter months in the mountains, enduring some of the toughest kind of warfare, the conditions at times being very trying 鈥� mud, rain, snow, and frost. Our days were spent in sangars; one couldn't dig, and in the hours of darkness supplies were brought up several miles over tortuous mountain tracks, by the only means possible 鈥� mules and man-power.

We have since had a welcome rest in the land of real sunshine. While there I was able to visit many places of interest, among them Cairo, Damascus, Beyrout, Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, and Bethlehem, and I also had a few pleasant swims in the Sea of Galilee. Now we are back again, ready for the next job which may come our way. Whatever my experiences may have been in the lands I have seen, nothing can compare with good old England. Roll on the happy day when I can return to the Sun Warehouse and all the old faces!

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