大象传媒

NAVAL HISTORY OF G.T.H GREEN: GOOD TIMES & BAD IN TARANTO & ITALY

I did not know it when we landed at Taranto that the next few months were going to be the'best of the war for me, although at the time of landing depression had set in. It did not last long, in next to no time I was installed in the Petty Officers mess (an old Italian school house) and told to report to the Port Wireless Officer. There was no organisation, we had only recently landed there, and it was all pretty chaotic. The Germans had vandalised all the power stations before they retreated, so we had no electricity. The wires had all been cut and pulled out, the main generators had been put out of action.

Us Wireless Operators were ordered to take over a very large building in the main promenade called Casa Fascista (House of Fascists). (There is a photograph of it which I shall put with this record for you to see). We stationed ourselves on the very top floors of this building. There was one big room, where we put the receivers and operators (8 of them). The transmitters were a couple of miles away in an open location worked by remote control. There was a large room alongside which the Chief Petty Officer and myself (Petty Officer) were able to sleep. However, all of that was in the future, we were concerned with getting the generators working and electricity for our receivers and transmitters. It was during this time that I was nearly killed, electrocuted; the mains I was working on were thought to be dead, but when I started to connect them to the auxiliary lines, there was a blinding flash, the force of it threw me backwards onto the floor, where I lay unconscious for a time, (the smell and heat was horrible). When I came round, I had still got the pliers in my hand (luckily they were insulated), the metal part of them had just melted. It took me quite some time to recover completely.

The next day however, was one of the worst days for us, the Navy and the men concerned. The fast minelayer HMS Abdiel had been ordered to ferry troops from Malta to Taranto as she entered the harbour she hit a large mine which blew the bottom out of her. All the soldiers ready to disembark had all their packs and rifles, so had no chance at all of swimming or saving themselves. 90% of them perished by drowning or explosion. We formed a party of sailors to help. There was little we could do, apart from pulling bodies out of the water. It was a real tragedy, it took some getting over. They must have thought they were safe in the harbour and then crash. Soldiers and airmen always had such a lot of faith in the Royal Navy, the bulwark of freedom. Cannot say that us sailors felt the same. However, we carried on as best we could.

Our routine here in Taranto was very steady and quiet. The Chief Petty Officer and I were almost doing office jobs. We both took advantage. If I was away he did my job and vice versa. It was all very pleasant. I drove in a jeep to Rome and spent many days in the city looking around going to the Vatican and St Peters, St Angelo's and not forgetting the Coliseum. We met an English priest whilst there. He offered to show us round St Peters. We were enthralled by it all. There is a chapel that is covered in 22 carat gold! The dome depicts Christ鈥檚 last supper with his disciples, done in mosaic it is all quite magnificent.

On the way to Rome we came via Naples. We spent two or three days there. We went to La Scala to see and hear an opera. What a thrill to see the red blaze over Vesuvius as we drove towards it in the night. We stayed in the Governor鈥檚 Palace in Naples (it had been taken over by the Navy). We had a bath in the largest bath I have ever seen. We felt rather special. A sight I can still recall in my mind, is the view of Capri, it looked so lovely with the blue sky and sea. Would have liked to visit but were not allowed.

Another sight which I will never forget was the carnage which we saw as we drove through Monte Cassino. The abbey on the mountain top had been bombed to rubble. There was not a building left in the village below. Everywhere you went there were lots and lots of crosses, soldiers of all nationalities buried where they fell, it depressed us a little. During our stay in Rome we were blessed by the Pope. However, as neither of us were Catholics it was not all that important to us. It seemed incongruous to us, all that carnage, death and destruction and these beautiful buildings to the glory of god, we enjoyed it in a way.

Our last days there were rather spoiled by a heavy fall of snow and extremely cold wind. However, we managed to move round in our little' jeep. During one of our trips the gasket on the engine broke its scal and was blowing steam everywhere, so we went to the Ferrari workshops. They gave us the use of tools etc but we had to do the work ourselves. Even in those days the Ferrari name was the tops in Italy, but as usual the Italian workmen were lazy. Their only interests were wine and women and food of course!

We repaired our jeep and set out for Taranto, a very long drive ahead of us. The jeep was open to the weather. It had a canvas top but the sides were open. What a drive it was, freezing cold, snowing and raining blowing into the jeep and covering us with snow. It was a little grim, to say the least. However, we eventually made it to Taranto.

As Petty Officer, second in command to the Chief P.O, I did very much what I wanted. The Chief and I got on very well with each other. After what we had both been through, this seemed like a holiday. We took it in turns to be on duty, so that one of us could go swimming, sunbathing or sight seeing. It was turning out to be a lovely war for us. We had an occasional visit from the German Air Force but the war seemed a long way away.

This story was submitted to the People鈥檚 War site by Anastasia Travers a volunteer with WM CSV Actiondesk on behalf of George Green and has been added to the site with his permission. George Green fully understands the sites terms and conditions.

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