大象传媒

We backed the breakdown lorry partly down the lane, attached the winch cable, and slid the lorry back up the lane until there was sufficient space to right it. It was scratched a bit, but no serious harm done. All this in the dark!

This was taking place towards the end of October 43, and shortly after this, the allies reached the Gareliano River. Crossing the river proved very difficult and the infantry in my brigade took a beating, resulting in a withdrawal for 鈥榬est and refit鈥�

So far it has been fairly easy to remember the journey, and the places where we made camp. Next year, we were to visit Nola, Foggia Bari, Toronto, take leave in Alexandria across the Mediterranean, join the 8th army on the east side of Italy, and Dubrovnik, in Yugoslavia, all this happened nearly sixty years ago, and so perhaps I can be forgiven if I do not get the sequence exactly right! And the story will not end there.

One outstanding event leads me to believe that, after leaving Caserta we went back to Naples and then across country to the NE side in support of the eight army, near Ancona. There was snow on the ground, and one morning when we turned out the snow was black with dust. The reason for this turned out to be that Vesuvius was erupting! It must have been in excess of one hundred miles away, and the dust was carried on the wind!

Now this must have been near Christmas time, and we spent the following Christmas in Yugoslavia. I would agree that it meant a lot of travelling, but there seems to be no other explanation.

Operation Shingle, Churchill鈥檚 title for the Anzio landing, was about to take place, and we were called back to the west side again to re-join the fifth army. We left everything but our personal belongings near Naples and embarked on a LST (landing ship tank) and landed on Anzio harbour on the 4th of Feb. 1944. The main landings had been on the 21st/22nd of Jan. We were replacing the 46th division, and they handed all there vehicles over to us. I thought at the time that they had not lasted very long!

To digress briefly, there is a Bedford QL lorry at the Weybourne Tank museum with a Black Cat (56th Div) sign on the front and an oak tree (46th Div) sign on the back!
Could this be one of our old vehicles?

We disembarked and were taken away from the harbour to the north; we entered a field by the roadside with strict instructions to keep to the outside because the field was mined. I don鈥檛 believe it was, but I though wheel marks would be too obvious to enemy aircraft. But I did obey the order!

After having a look round the vehicles and sorting out the equipment, we moved off the field and drove a couple of miles to the North West along the coast road and pulled in to our left where there were some very big and scattered pine trees. This would be our camp for all the time we were on the beach-head, and our vehicles were nicely hidden under trees. Across the road from the entrance to our camp was a farm house where our company headquarters was set up (we had never been so close) Outside the door of the farmhouse was a steel pillar box affair which looked like a sentry box, and this was where our company sergeant major, to the embarrassment of the major, spent most of his time while we were there. He completely lost his nerve!

Knowing we were within range of enemy artillery, we made our own arrangements for protection. I dug a hole about 7ft by 4ft and five feet deep, put a big log across the top and supported it with a post, covered it with whatever I could find, finally laying my bivouac on top. I felt safer there than in any other bolt holes. I used to visit the other platoon sergeants in their holes with only a tent for cover, but I never felt secure.

I acquired a fairly big steel ammunition box which I had by my camp bed, and I had brought with me my primus stove. Before I turned in at night I prepared a cup of Nescafe and had a nice drink every morning before getting out of bed!

Across the road just past our company HQ there was a battery of 25lb field guns, and every night they would take the guns forward to poop off at the enemy, and then return to their hide-out for daylight. Thank goodness they did not fire in daylight鈥�
Plenty has been written about this campaign, but we did not realise how near to disaster we were. We were soon to experience the power of Anzio Annie! Apparently, the campaign commander had called up the navy, and a battle cruiser arrived off the shore and started firing over our heads to try to silence Annie, she was a big gun, a 14 inch railway gun, which was mounted on a railway truck and they kept her in a tunnel, bringing her out to fire a few rounds an then hiding again. I was to discover after the war that the RN Cruiser was the Aurora, the ship which had been our main escort on the way to Capetown! Not only that, but on board was my school friend and neighbour Frank Cox!

Now this should have been reassuring, except for the fact that the shells were screaming two ways over our heads. Occasionally one would fall short! The major had been on one of his frequent visits of inspection, and was walking along our muddy road-way when a shell came screaming over. He dived into the mud, and when the shell had passed he stood up and furtively looked round to see if anyone had seen him. I was looking the other way!

Johnny Johnson came to see me one day and told me that Brigade were getting short of ambulances, would I go and recover some. I asked where they were, and he told me there would be a guide at the ADS (advanced dressing station). I rounded up the crew and we set off, picked up the guide, and off we went. We passed through where the railway bridge had been, and out into open country, heading towards the hills, clearly visible in the distance. Therefore, we could clearly be seen from the hills!

If our vehicle had been clearly marked ambulance I鈥檓 sure we would have been ok, but it was a big military vehicle, in daylight, a legitimate target. Suddenly there was an almighty bang, Sammy looked across at me and grinned and I told him to get moving, and suddenly he called out, 鈥渙h, my legs鈥�, he slumped over the wheel and started sliding off his seat. There was no protection and no doors on these old vehicles, and he was in danger of falling off the lorry. I climbed over to his side, pulled him back on board and then stopped the lorry.

We got Sammy down and carried him across the ditch and away from the vehicle, he was obviously in a bad way and I sent the medic back to get an ambulance. We got Sammy on board and he was taken away. I walked back with the crew; I wouldn鈥檛 risk trying to move the lorry. We eventually got a lift and called at the field hospital and there was Sammy, as large as life, and laughing his head off, and covered with bandages from the thighs down.

We eventually arrived back at the camp and we walked in from the road. We had just reached the pine trees and again there was a bang. A shell hit the top of one of the trees and there was shrapnel everywhere! Johnny Keith got hit in the ankle, and was calling from someone to knock him out, but otherwise we were very lucky. Johnny was taken to hospital and so far as I know survived, although I never saw him again. Sadly, the following morning we heard that Sammy had died. He is lying in the war cemetery near Anzio.

Later in the afternoon Johnny Johnson asked me if I was going to fetch in the breakdown lorry. I told him I was not keen, so he said he would go. I said, 鈥淲ell for Christ鈥檚 sake wait until after dark!鈥� he took my advice, and drove the lorry home with five tyres out of the six flat!

Although we had an occasional visit from enemy aircraft when we first arrived, the allied planes soon put a stop to that. But the most spectacular sight was the American daylight raids. They used to come over in formations of about 20 aircraft, sometimes with a straggler limping along behind. We saw several of them shot down, sometimes the crews parachuted down but where they landed it was not certain. We were very pleased to see them, and our fighter aircraft were welcome too!

In mid-march 44, we were withdrawn from the beach-head and replaced by the 5th division, again leaving all our equipment for the newcomers. And they were welcome to it! We boarded a LCT In the harbour, and then hung about for what seemed ages. I said to one of the crew, 鈥淵ou had better tell the captain to get a move on. We are in military range here鈥� 鈥渨e鈥檙e alright鈥� he said. At that moment a shell landed on the deck of another ship standing out in the harbour. Both that ship and ours were on the move before they properly weighed the anchor!
We were soon out of the harbour to everyone鈥檚 relief, and on the way back to Naples.

After we had disembarked, we collected the vehicles etc. left by the 5th div. And I think we went to Sorrento. The location is not important, but we could eventually arrive to camp near Foggia airfield. We spent quite a long time there and got to know some of the RAF boys through visiting their sergeants鈥� mess. One evening one of them told us that they were going on a practice bombing mission tomorrow and asked if we would like to join them.

This sounded too good an opportunity to miss, and the three of us said 鈥測es please.鈥� We arrived the following morning and eventually climbed aboard and took off. The bombing would be done from 7000 feet, and we circled around for ages, gradually gaining height until the required altitude had been achieved .The plane was an American liberator, a four engined plane and very popular with the RAF at that time. When we reached the required altitude, the second pilot, or engineer, got don from his seat to see to the bombing part of the mission. I had been standing behind the cockpit up to this point, and the pilot invited me to get up on to the vacant seat.

After the bombs were away and they were tidying up behind, the pilot suggested that I should take over. I told him that I had no idea what to do. He pointed at a gauge on the instrument panel and said, 鈥淭hat is the artificial horizon, keep it level.鈥� I waggled the wings a bit, and over-corrected, to cries of alarm from behind, the pilot took over again and all was well!

Eventually we were on the move again and to our surprise we travelled south! After a long journey we arrived at the port of Bari, on the southern Adriatic coast, and went into the army rest camp. The next move was to the port with all our vehicles and equipment, and this time we loaded them on a LST and set sail across the Adriatic to Dubrovnik, or rather to the port of Gruz, near Dubrovnik.

Our camp was to be in an industrial site up the hill form the port, and after an uncomfortable night in draughty conditions, the W/shop sergeants decided that was not good enough. Jock Henderson went to a house across the road from our camp and fixed up with an oldish chap living there for us to hire a room. Stephan was very amenable and did shopping and other jobs for us, including a constant supply of the local booze, Rakia. Unfortunately, we were to discover that he liked our whisky better!

Soon after we had the W/shop in working order, a civilian came along and offered to help with vehicle service. Mainly in sign language, I told him he could repair the radiator on a Ford Truck. He set about it with urgency not matched by our chaps, and did a very good job.

This chap spoke passable Italian, we had picked up a bit in our travels, and I thought we had better have a chat with him. He was a Czech. Who had been a prisoner, had managed to escape and had been on the run ever since. All he asked was that he would help us a far as possible, in return he would feed and bunk with the boys. His name was Leo. He also said that he would like to go to Italy with us when we left Yugoslavia! I told him that we would give it a try, but not to bank on the trip to Italy.

The old city of Dubrovnik was something very special. It was walled all round and built on rock which jutted out into the Adriatic, it was also closed to motor traffic. There were people living in the town, although there could not be many, and in the main street, most of the shops to be found elsewhere.

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