大象传媒

Message 1 - 21 year old on D Day with the Royal Engineers.

Posted on: 23 April 2005 by pam wyer

I read your page with great interest, as my late father was with the royal Engineers in Italy, his name was Leslie John Nott. he was a P/BDR in 1944. his number was 947911 and passed away in 1977.aged 57.

He told me during my young days many stories and one that was very similar to your fathers story was to do with wine. Apparently he and a few colleques found a vineyard that had been damaged where upon, they found that a vat had been left intact, so they decided to get some wine, I dont know why but they decided that it would be a fun idea to go paddling in the vat of wine, and as my father was 6ft.3 he lent them his waders, the first chap went into the vat, but unbe-known to them the plug in the bottom had been left open, so of course when the chap went across the hole he fell straight down, fortunitly due to my fathers waders he popped up and they grabbed him by his braces and saved him.

My father said that although it was dangerous it was still very funny and they drank the wine anyway.

He also told the story again, during the time he was in Italy, of the day they came across a farm and in the back yard they came across some chickens and one of them decided that they would be very tasty as they hadnt had chicken for so long, so they decided to kill some of the chickens and then had the cheek to knock on the farmers door asking them if they could cook the chickens, but they were invited to eat with them. so the farmers wife cooked them a lovey meal and they all sat round the table and enjoyed their meal, but they nearly died when the farmer passed a comment that if he didnt know better they tasted like his chicken in the yard.

Dad said that they moved like stink to get away from the farm before the farmer and his wife realised that a number of their chickens were missing.

My father told me other storys but again like your father he was also called a D Day doger, but what they didnt know was they were holed up and couldnt get through the Germans. unfortunitly I didnt take down the details of where he was holed up, but he did say they were there for several months.

Pam Wyer, ne Nott (daughter)

Message 1 - 21 Years Old on D-Day: With the Royal Engineers in Italy

Posted on: 08 June 2005 by Peter - WW2 Site Helper

Since this story will now be placed permanently in the archive, I must point out (and I am absolutely certain that Mr Farrar would have agreed with me, as will any soldier that fought in Italy) that on 6 June 1944 the front line barely included Rome, stretching across Italy in a loop to Ortona on the Adriatic coast. This was several hundred miles south of the river Po.

It took many months of bitter fighting even to reach the Gothic Line, the main German defensive line, which stretched across the Apennines from La Spezia in the east to Pesaro on the west coast, many miles south of the Po. After the Gustav Line was breached in November 1944, the front line on 8 April 1945 was still some 60 miles south of the Po. The IV Corps of the US 5th Army were the first to cross the Po, near Gustalla on 23 April 1945.

Message 1 - the war in italy

Posted on: 09 July 2005 by 大象传媒 @ The Living Museum

we have a house in italy near Ancona. Did anyone fight in that area?