大象传媒

Major Sydney and the V.C.

For years I have bottled up my memories.

Like most of the lads. But what made me go public, was a book, written in the fifties by Wynford Vaughan Thomas, called 鈥淎nzio鈥�.

I remembered him from when we were marching to Aprilia, or 鈥� The Factory鈥� as we called it, a model town designed by Mussolini.
Wynford took our photos, and had a few words with us.

Reading his book, I came across his account of Major Sydney鈥檚 V.C. action, which I realised weren鈥檛 strictly true as I had taken part in it!

So I wrote to Wynford, and he sent me a nice letter back to say he got his information from a copy of 鈥� The London Gazette鈥�,and he was sorry he didn鈥檛 know about my part earlier, or he would have included my version.

What follows is my version...

When we arrived in the Carroceta Gully, half of us in the Pioneer Platoon, myself included, were detailed to go out into No Man鈥檚 Land to lay a protective belt of anti-tank mines. The order was that the other half would take the mines up, while my half rested.

Unfortunately, the whole platoon was called out the next night to take the mines up, as we had decided to attack.

But the Germans had forestalled us by attacking us first! Mayhem ensued! My platoon officer, Mr Freeman, was wounded for the second time, so we became leaderless.

Drill-Sergeant Armstrong took over, and we started digging trenches all around the perimeter of the gully. Suddenly, Major Sydney appeared amongst us. His first order was to get us to connect our trenches together like the First World War ones.

Then, he ordered us to go back into the gully where we had previously been digging.

Before I went down, I asked, 鈥� Could I do anything to help, sir?鈥�

He said, 鈥淵es, have you got any grenades?鈥�
I said, 鈥淵es, sir, I have a boxful in my trench in the gully.鈥�

鈥淩ight,鈥� he said, 鈥� bring me as many as you can.鈥�

He remained outside the gully in the open, so while my partner stayed in the gully and primed the grenades, I filled my pouches and anywhere I could with the grenades, about 14 in all. I then proceeded up the ramp out of the gully where the sheep came down to drink, to where Major Sydney was lying, off-loading my grenades.

He started throwing them immediately, as I believe he had run out of ammunition for his Bren gun. He said, 鈥� Keep them coming!鈥� which I did for a second time.

Then, as I was approaching the ramp for the third time, suddenly, on the loft high gully, appeared three Germans!

The outer two had rifles, but the middle one had raised his arm with a stick grenade in it about to throw it at Major Sydney!

All this was taking place about 12 feet behind Major Sydney. I had my rifle at trail. How I did what I did next I don鈥檛 know. Maybe my guardian angel told me what to do, but I whipped my rifle up and fired from the hip.

The bullet hit the German in the stomach. He doubled up and fell backwards. As he did so, he dropped the grenade into the gully about 8 feet from me. I saw it explode in the mud. The shrapnel went forward up the ramp and killed Major Sydney鈥檚 No.2 on the Bren, and wounded Major Sydney in the legs.

About that time, a bugle sounded. Apparently it was an order to withdraw, so we made our way to the rear of the gully, where we had a first-aid post, commanded by Drill-Sergeant Armstrong. Realising Major Sydney had been wounded, he ordered me and a signaller to take him out of the gully. We took him about 250 yards along, where we laid him down behind a flood bank. On the way out, our 25 pounders started firing smoke shells to cover our exit. When one landed too near for my liking, I flinched, and Major Sydney said, 鈥� Don鈥檛 worry, they鈥檙e our shells.鈥�

I replied, 鈥� Yes, but do the 鈥淏----y鈥� shells know that!?鈥�

Whilst the signaller went for a stretcher, I went back towards the gully to pick up my rifle where I鈥檇 left it in the first-aid post. As I neared it I stopped, hearing voices and laughter. I thought, 鈥淗ello, they鈥檙e Germans in there, laughing no doubt to find they鈥檇 inherited 200 boxes of American K- rations!鈥� So I had to forget about my rifle, even though I remembered from my training that the worst thing I could have done was to lose my best friend 鈥� my rifle.

So, creeping back to where the Major was, I asked him if he was alright. He thanked me, and asked my name.

I replied, 鈥淚鈥檓 from the Pioneer Platoon,鈥� thinking that if I told him my name, I would quite possibly have been put on a charge.
As I was going back to my position near the gully, suddenly a figure dropped down on me. I had no rifle, so I was just about to put my hands up, when a voice said, 鈥淗ave you got any cigarettes, buddy?鈥� It turned out he was an American Ranger! To me, in the darkness, he looked like a German. I was so relieved, I gave him every cigarette I had!

From then on, we retired back to the flyover, where shortly afterwards we were pulled back from the front to regroup.

On the way back to the flyover, we became pinned down in an open field by a Spandau machine gun from a farmhouse. Lying flat on our faces, I had no rifle, no entrenching tool. All I had was my trusty little pennknife,3 and a half inches long. I managed to scrape a small ridge in front of me to protect my head. Then Mr. Christopher Hodson, who was at my side said, 鈥淎fter you with the penknife Wright!鈥� And he did the same.
All these encounters and many more will remain in my memories to my dying day.

厂颈驳苍别诲鈥︹赌︹赌︹赌︹赌︹赌︹赌︹赌︹赌︹赌�
(ex-Grenadier Guardsman, 5th battalion, 2617491)

We eventually got back to the flyover. And I still have that penknife. I also managed to pick up a rifle afterwards.

Then, we pulled out of the line to regroup. We pulled back possibly a couple of miles, digging around a farmhouse, sleeping under olive trees. In the dead of night, one of our chaps saw someone go into the farmhouse. It was reported to an officer, who took several of us into the house. Coming upon a locked door, he ordered it to be broken open, only to find the poor old farmer and his wife, terrified out of their wits! So we apologised and withdrew. In the meantime, in another room, was their daughter, who had been visited by her German boyfriend. He had escaped through the back door. Poor lad, he must have been really in love, to come through No-Man鈥檚 land and back again. At least it proved that some of the enemy were human.

(Please include this little human story if needed or not)

厂颈驳苍别诲:鈥︹赌︹赌︹赌︹赌︹赌︹赌︹赌︹赌︹赌︹赌︹赌︹赌︹赌�
(ex-Grenadier Guardsman 26174)

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