大象传媒

Keep Fit!
One evening as I was having a snack with the other sergeants Yorkie said we were in need of some exercise and we were to go for a run before breakfast the following morning. He said he was too busy to come and so we would have to go on our own. I think he only did it to try to show a bit of authority.
There were only four sergeants at HQ at the time. The rest were out on attachment. But still next morning we started off. After we鈥檇 slowly jogged two or three hundred yards we sat down in the bottom of a sand dune and had a fag. After we thought we had been out for long enough, we started back at a steady pace. Yorkie was in the mess tent and asked us how far we鈥檇 run. One of the sergeants, like a fool, said we鈥檇 been as far as the bridge site. We all knew that was so far away it would not have been possible.
I think I鈥檝e already said that Yorkie was tough, not very tall but very muscular. He said we鈥檇 do it again next morning and he would come with us to see if we could run that far. So again the next morning we set off knowing full well we鈥檇 be lucky to make it to the bridge site. Yorkie was determined we would. By the time we got there we were all pretty fagged out apart from Yorkie. Before we were half way back to the camp we鈥檇 had enough and had slowed down to walking pace. When we got back to camp Yorkie said that would teach us not to lie to him 鈥� and I think it did!

Yorkie Looses His Temper
After a while it was time to move on again. This time it was into Egypt to a place called Ismailia by the Suez Canal. As we were only going to stop there for a week or two we didn鈥檛 set up the full camp but instead just put up a few large tents. My mate Harold Sills and I had to share with Yorkie which at the time we didn鈥檛 think seem much fun. Yorkie was strictly tea total, he would not even drink a small shandy. The Staff Sergeant and his mate did however like a drink or two. One night after they finished work they went for a drink and came back a bit wobbly. Just as we were trying to settle down for the night they came to our tent and shouted, 鈥淵orkie 鈥� do you want to buy a battleship!鈥� Yorkie took a right dim view of being disturbed and told them in no uncertain terms that they should go and get sobered up. Next night they were back again shouting, 鈥淵orkie 鈥� do you want to go to the toilet!鈥� (but in a slightly less polite way). That got Yorkie really mad and he said if they came again he would not be responsible for his actions. The next night it was really late when they were daft enough to come again. This time it was, 鈥淵orkie 鈥� do you want to buy an aeroplane!鈥� That was the last straw for Yorkie. He jumped up and grabbed the two of them, took them outside and started to give them a right good thrashing. Harold Sills and I rushed out to them and shouted to Yorkie that they had had enough and pulled him away. I don鈥檛 know what would have happened if we hadn鈥檛 been there. The Staff Sergeant got the worst of it and his mate had to take him to the Medical Officer to be patched up.
That was the only fight I ever saw in all the years the company was together. There was an enquiry but the Staff to his credit said nothing about Yorkie but made out he鈥檇 fallen over.

The Pyramids of Giza
Ismailia is only a few miles from Cairo and we were given the chance to go and have a quick look round. What surprised us was that the Pyramids are only a few miles outside Cairo and there was a bus service. So we went and had a look at them.

Taxed for the Privilege
Whilst we were in foreign parts we didn鈥檛 get regular pay. That wasn鈥檛 a particular problem as there was not a lot to spend it on anyway, just a few fags and a can of beer if you were lucky. Anyway one day when my pay did arrive I said I was short by about ten shillings. I was told it was right as I had been stopped Income Tax! That really annoyed me and it upsets me every time I think about it even to this day. Fighting of your country and having to pay for the privilege!

The Desert Rats v. The Desert Fox
The reason we were at Ismailia was so that we could have a complete check of our equipment before we followed the retreating German Army further into the desert. The Italian Army at that time was fighting on the side of the German鈥檚 under the leadership of the German General Rommel. He was the one who first called us (the 8th Army) the 鈥楧esert Rats鈥�. We retaliated by calling him the 鈥楧esert Fox鈥�. We were under the command of Field Marshall Montgomery (鈥楳onty鈥� to his friends).
General Rommel commanded the German Army all the way from Eygpt, right along the North African desert and then across to Italy. It was during the retreat up Italy that Rommel was posted to central Europe to take charge there. Germany had invaded Russia but the tide was turning and the Germans were in retreat there as well. It was while we were in Italy that the news came through that Rommel had been killed in action. Strange as it may seem, when we got the news a lot of the men in the 8th Army felt a little sad even though a large number of our lads had been injured or lost their lives whilst fighting Rommel.
It was not very long before the Italians had had enough of it and they threw in the towel and surrendered. This left the Germans to try to continue the fight on their own. Whilst we were in the desert a German girl was singing over the radio to the Germans to try and cheer them up. The 8th Army picked up this broadcast. Of course the song is still known today as 鈥淟ili Marlene鈥� 鈥� 鈥淯nderneath the lamp light by the barrack gates, etc鈥�. At the same time we had Vera Lynn singing to us. And of course she was singing about the 鈥淲hite Cliffs of Dover鈥� - 鈥� There will be Blue Birds over the White Cliffs of Dover when the world is free, etc鈥�.

Pursuit into Italy
The Germans did retreat far into Tunisia. The only way they could then go was over the Mediterranean into Italy. The 8th Army of course had to follow them and a little later our company crossed over to Italy as well. We landed at a small town called Bari, which is on the Adriatic Coast and then proceed to do the Grand Tour of Italy. We first went right across country to Salerno, Naples and up to Rome then on to Perugia and Arezzo in the centre. Then it was over to Ancona on the Adriatic Coast before going back to the centre to Florence and then up to Bologna. Then it was over to Ravenna, Padua and Venice finally finishing in a town called Udine after the Germans at last surrendered in Italy. They were still fighting in mainland Europe. Anyway, our company was then sent back to Ravenna. We only stayed there for a week or two before moving right back to Naples. It was there that Harold Sills and I said goodbye to No.1 Heavy Bridge Company.
I must say that all the towns and places of historic importance were by-passed by all the troops and where therefore left undamaged by all the fighting. So we didn鈥檛 actually go through any of the towns I have mentioned above but like everyone else, we went round them.
I will tell you about a few of the things that went on in the midst of the turmoil of war. Italy, with its mountains was an entirely different place to the Middle East with its mile upon miles of desert sands. The lorries were still under a lot of strain and we did suffer a number of mishaps with them. In the middle of one afternoon when we were all getting rather tired and in need of a bit of a rest we pulled into a large field. As there were so many vehicles on the roads, each section of the Army was given a time when they could move in an effort to keep this large volume of traffic flowing. I asked our officer when we had to move. He told me six o鈥檆lock the following morning. As it was only mid-afternoon we all made the best of what was for us a really good break.
After a quick check of the lorries we had a bite to eat and a mug of tea. Along the edge of the field where we had parked up ran a stream. I jumped into it and had a really good clean up and then put on some clean clothes. After that I got settled down with a book. I hadn鈥檛 been reading for long before someone shouted, 鈥淪arg. 鈥� lorry on fire!鈥� On an impulse I shouted back, 鈥淟et the b... burn.鈥� That was the end of my little rest. I had to go and see what was happening. By the time I got there the lads had put the fire out. Some of the electric wires had shorted out. One of the lads had burnt his hands so I had to take him to get them sorted out. When I eventually got back, my officer asked if we were going to repair the lorry. I said as it was getting late we would see to it in the morning and then catch up with the rest of the platoon at our next site. So early next morning we re-wired the lorry then after a bit of breakfast we set off to catch up with the platoon. When we at last got to the new site there was no sign of the rest of the lads. So I told my lot to get something to eat and we would wait for them. After a while our officer, Henry Ward drove in. He told me the platoon was about ten miles back down the road. They鈥檇 been diverted but my two lorries had been allowed through and not had to take the diversion. By this time the lads had knocked a meal together. Big hearted me asked the officer if he鈥檇 had anything to eat. As he said no I offered him my bit thinking that I could cook myself something after he鈥檇 gone back to the platoon. When Lt. Ward did eventually set off back to the platoon, I set up a stove to cook myself something. I ought to have noticed it was getting dusk and a shout soon came to put the fire out. So not for the first time I didn鈥檛 get a meal that night.
As our platoon moved north, there was little chance of returning over some of the bridges we had crossed. At one point we were getting low on food so I asked the officer if I could take a motorbike which had panniers and try to get back to HQ who I did know would have collected our rations. So off I went. Fortunately I was able to go back over the last bridge we had crossed. When I arrived at the site where our HQ had been they had moved and another company was there. An officer came to me and asked what I was doing and where I鈥檇 come from. I told him my story and asked if he could tell me where my HQ had moved to. He could see that I was in a bit of a mess so he called for one of his men to take me for a bit of a clean up and a bite to eat, then report back to him. He then gave me direction to my HQ, which was not very far away. I soon found them and went straight to see the store men and asked about our rations. I was told that Yorkie had had them. I then saw Yorkie who said that as they were low on food they鈥檇 used ours. That was one of the few times during my army career that I was mad. I went to see Colonel Grant. After I told him what had happened he gave me a note to take to the Service Corps food supply where I did get some food which I thankfully took back to my platoon.
Monte Cassino
I have said that all the towns were by-passed and therefore left undamaged. However, there was one town called Monte Cassino, which was a monastery on top of a mountain where the Germans managed to dig in and stopped our advance into Rome. When we eventually dislodged them, there was nothing left of the town, not a wall left standing let alone a building!
Below is an article from Encyclopaedia Britannica describing the Battle of Monte Cassino:
鈥淒uring World War II (1944) Cassino was a key point in the German winter defensive line (Garigliano-Sangro) blocking the Allied advance to Rome. At the beginning of January 1944 the U.S. 5th Army won a position facing Cassino across the Garigliano River. Heroic fighting by Allied troops met heroic German resistance in three savage battles. On February 15 the Allies bombed and demolished the Benedictine monastery, erroneously believing that the Germans had occupied and fortified it. Actually, the Germans were able to remove both the monks and the treasures of the abbey; and, after the bombardment ceased, they in fact occupied and fortified the ruins. A month later Allied aircraft dropped 1,400 tons of bombs on Cassino, leaving the town so heaped with rubble that tanks could not operate until bulldozers cleared paths for them. Finally in mid-May the Allies did break through German lines and, joined a few days later by forces bursting out of the Anzio beachhead, were able to take Rome.
German and Allied war cemeteries, still visited by thousands annually, mark the scenes of the fighting.
After the war, both the town and the abbey were rebuilt on their previous sites, the town on a completely new plan, the abbey following substantially the lines of its predecessor. Little or nothing of the abbey鈥檚 decorative detail was recoverable, but the famous bronze doors, cast in Constantinople for the abbot Desiderius in 1066, were found and restored. The archives, library, and some paintings were saved. Of ancient Casinum the only monuments of note are the amphitheatre, the theatre, and the ruins of the Cappella del Crocifisso, a Roman mausoleum converted into a church in the 10th century. Of the medieval town little more than the site of the upper town, clustered around the ruins of Rocca Ianula, can be discerned.鈥�

We did eventually get through what was left of the town and carried on towards Rome. A few miles further North the road took a rather sharp left turn. Just on the bend was a farmhouse that had not been damaged - until one of our lorries took the bend too fast and ran into the side of the house. Although there was not a great amount of damage to the house or the lorry, the farmer was not at all pleased. To think that the house had not suffered throughout the fighting and then we came along! I did what I could to sort out the mess and of course I had to write a report but we never did find out if the farmer got any kind of compensation.

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