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At about 11pm we arrived at the area that was to be battalion and platoon HQ. It was a group of houses and out buildings formerly used by Italian troops as a QM stores. In their hasty retreat, they left behind spring beds, piles of sheets of rather course cotton, boots and other ARMY kit. Just forward of these buildings was a large concrete bridge over which ran the road to Catania Via Gerbini. It was under this bridge that our platoon made its HQ, and the RAP was in one of the houses. My detachment and Sgt. Riley's were sent forward to take up gun positions in a farmyard about 200 yards from the main road. This time we were attached to D Company. Also in the farmyard with us were two detachments of machine gunners from the Highland Division and one anti tank gun and crew from our company. Each morning before daylight an officer of the Royal Artillery came up to take up position in the loft of a farm building which was used as an OP. He had to remain there until after dark as it was in full view of enemy positions. We were on the left of the road and could see the airfield at Gerbini through field glasses. German defenses were very strong in the Gerbini area. To observe enemy movements, we had to crawl into a slit trench, which was completely surrounded by cactus bushes, and keep very still. Just forward of us was a field which was mined. On the right of the road were the D Company sections, and just forward of them was a ‘Standing Patrol.’ This standing patrol had to be in position before daylight and remain until relieved by a section from D Company after dark. Each day a different section or detachment took a turn at this standing patrol. Apart form having a rather sore throat for three or four days, I enjoyed it in the farmyard. We had plenty to eat, Pete Kirk knocked off a chicken or goose if he could catch one and there were plenty of fresh tomatoes to supplement our usual rations. The machine gunners and anti-tank crew helped us out each night with the guard duties. Each morning and evening a few enemy shells and mortar bombs came over but they seemed to be directed at the main road and not us.

There were four Italians living in the farmhouse. We saw very little of them except when the shelling started, then they came out and got into a dug out where they slept. One was a boy of about 12 or 13 years, we saw more of him than the others as he was always up early and on horseback. He would drive the cattle to a field on the other side of the road in the morning and return them to the farmyard before dark. One day he picked up what looked like an ordinary fountain pen. He unscrewed the cap to look at the nib; there was a big flash and explosion like a 12 bore cartridge. He came running over to us, his hand was bleeding badly and he was very shocked, but he did not cry. He had picked up a German booby trap, it could have happened to any of us. We wrapped his hand up as best we could and took him back to the RAP for proper treatment.

Two days later we went forward of D Company to take our turn on the standing patrol for one day only. One day was enough; we arrived before daylight, and all day we lay in a deep gully or dyke. We were tormented by swarms of flies and mosquitoes, and by nightfall some of the lads were in a pretty bad shape with masses of red swollen lumps on their hands and face. The mosquitoes never bothered me much although they were annoying, and so were the flies. The scorching sun made us very thirsty, but we had no shade apart from a ground sheet or gas cape. We couldn’t have a nice brew up of tea as fires were forbidden, so we had to be satisfied with a few swigs of rather tepid water from our water bottles. After dark when we were relieved, both the carriers which were taking us back to the farm got ditched, so we had to walk back the remainder of the way. The Germans must have heard the high revving of the carriers’ engines as they tried to get back on to the road, because they sent over a barrage of shells. It made us all curse and dive for cover, but no one was hurt.

During one of the usual evening enemy shelling periods, Archie Pitt of the Pioneer platoon was on guard at Battalion HQ, when he heard a shell coming and made a dive for the nearest slit trench. Before he could reach cover the shell exploded and he was terribly wounded. He was given a blood transfusion and taken back at once to base, but he died on the way.

Just before we moved on again, a unit of the 1st Division put in an attack on the Gerbini airfield. They received heavy casualties, including their Commanding Officer, who was killed. We moved forward after dark, and as we approached the airfield, we saw an enemy Tiger tank upside down in a crater. One German was crushed under the turret and several more lay dead in the road. There were some British troops too who were dead. I saw the crew of a Mortar carrier, all very young lads, they looked as if they were all getting out of the carrier. Their eyes looked out upon the world, but they saw nothing for they were all dead. In all those young faces, I saw expressions of surprise, pain and fear.

We stayed the night at a railway yard that had been bombed and shelled by both sides. In the morning we crossed the airfield and met up with two more of our detachments who had crossed over during the night. The airfield had received a bashing from the RAF and our artillery, and it was littered with damaged enemy aircraft and burnt out trucks and guns. All around the field were pits full of aircraft bombs. There were dead Germans everywhere. They must have been lying there for days because the smell was terrible, so we were glad to move on.

We left the airfield in our carriers and passed through a deep stream. We stopped in a field and had breakfast. While the remainder of the battalion grouped in the area, our detachment and St Rileys, moved on again to a little farm a few miles ahead on the road to Paterno. We stayed only two hours and then went forward with a rifle company and caught up with some Canadian tanks. We did not put our mortars in position that night and we had a good nights sleep. We stayed at Company HQ, and they provided the guard duties. Breakfast was early the next morning and we got back on the road while the tanks rumbled on ahead. While we were waiting for the company lads to take up new positions, we had a look around an old wine store, but of course, there was no wine. What we did pick up was a load of fleas. The little buggers must have been hungry, because they soon started making a meal of us.

We took up positions in an orange grove, but only Sgt. Riley’s mortar was called on to fire so we stayed back in a lane to brew and put some meat and vegetables on the fire to cook. The tanks were pouring shells into targets in Paterno, especially into a churchyard that was being used by the Germans as an OP and gun position. A lot of Spandau fire was coming from there too, and holding up our troops on a crossroad just below the town. A German shell blew up an ammunition truck, killing the crew of two. Three Royal Engineers RECCE cars were also destroyed and one of our battalion carriers was knocked over by blast from a shell. Sgt. Rogers and Cpl. Goodway went forward under intense Spandau fire and were able to retrieve it. Sgt. Rogers was later awarded the Military Medal and Cpl. Goodwin was highly commended.

After a bite to eat and a mug of tea, I decided to try and get rid of all the fleas before they got rid of me. I striped of all my clothes and got into a stream that ran along the roadside. I had a lovely refreshing bath, washed all my clothes and hung them on the hedge to dry. The other lads in our gun crew all did the same. While I was waiting for my clothes to dry, a sniper's bullet hit into a tree above the stream. Five more followed before my clothes were dry, but no one was hit. A dispatch rider came by and put his motorcycle at the entrance of the orange grove while he went to deliver a message to the Tank Commander. The sniper fired on his motor cycle, but did not hit it. Having enjoyed the refreshing bathe and the relief at getting rid of the fleas, we put on our clean clothes which were now quite dry. We decided to have a last brew up as it was now late evening. It was nearly ready when the Germans started to retaliate against the tanks, and bloody hell broke loose!

It was three shells at a time, all the time while it lasted. Sgt. Mullins, Sgt. Riley and his gun crew took cover in a pit behind a wall near their mortar. Wenty crawled into a large concrete drain although water was still running through it, and I went with Pete Kirk and our driver Tim Farley. We got down behind a concrete irrigation channel in the orange grove further back down the road. The shells seemed to be creeping up on us all the time, and lumps of shrapnel were flying overhead and into the orange trees. Each time a shell burst on the road, it really shook the ground. Eventually the shelling stopped and we went back to see if everyone was OK. Only the Tank Commander was slightly wounded by a small piece of shrapnel. It was nearly dark by then so we put out the fire, loaded our carriers and returned to the field that we had left that morning. The tanks remained forward with the Rifle Company sections.

On the following morning of 4th August 1943, we entered Paterno. The Germans had pulled out during the night after putting up stiff resistance. Paterno was the most damaged town of its size that I had seen in Sicily. Nearly every building had been hit, some by American and RAF dive-bombers, and some smashed by the heavy shelling. Many civilians had been killed and just left where they had fallen. Their bodies were in such a terrible state when we arrived that petrol had to be used to cremate them where they lay. An Italian military hospital under canvas had been burnt out and many had lost their lives in it. We had only been in the town about four hours when some of the civilians who had left during the fighting began to trickle back, looking for friends or relatives. They were trying to salvage a few items from the rubble of their homes. They started to bundle themselves into any room, house or shop that had not been totally destroyed. Often four or five families tried to get into one large room. Children were crying, men and women were shouting and waving their arms about and others were huddled up, tired and weary. We stayed in Paterno for two days and moved out in the morning of 7th August 1943. By this time bulldozers had begun to clear the streets of rubble and Royal Engineers were pulling down any very dangerous buildings. Some civilians were working too in return for food.

We passed through Bel Passo in the evening, but did not stop. We pulled in by the roadside a few miles further on for a few hours sleep. On 8th August 1943 we arrived at Zafferano on the slopes of mount Etna and took up positions just outside the town. A few German shells came over as we moved up, but most of the German resistance in Sicily was nearly over. Their forces were pulling back rapidly to make their escape over the Messina Straits to the mainland of Italy. We went into the town next morning, and had our breakfast outside a convent school. The children looked out and asked us for biscuits and chocolate, so we gave them some from our rations. That day the Inniskillins put in an attack on a hill and were driven back. They retook it, but were again driven back. They regrouped and made a third attack, this time they held it and the Germans withdrew rapidly. We stayed in Zafferano until 10th August 1943 and by this time the fighting in Sicily was nearly over. We moved back to a rest area between Gerbini and Paterno. The battalion was spread over a large area in Olive, Almond and Orange groves. Reinforcements joined us here, and we had a slight change round in our platoon and detachment. Pete Kirk became DR to the Platoon Commander, and in his place we had a new chap as number 3 in our mortar. His name was Ernie Haywood, and he was such a nice chap, he soon got settled in with us. I very soon had many new friends in the new intake, and my best friends were Lofty Burgess, Geordie Bisset, Danny Chapman and L/Cpl. Stacey, but of course, I always got on well with any one in our outfit. We rested in this area until 2nd September 1943 then we left for Catanie to board LC1’s. We were ready to invade the mainland of Italy on the following morning of 3rd September 1943, the fourth year of the war.

To sum up the invasion of Sicily, I would say we had our moments of drama and excitement. Fighting and roughing it, and always pushing on, driving the enemy steadily up and out of Sicily. At first we only had a few poorly equipped Italians to cope with, but the real enemy were the German Luftwaffe, tanks, artillery and well-trained troops. My last glimpse of Sicily was from the deck of the LCI. It was getting dusk when we pulled out from Catania. We had been at sea for about fifteen minutes, when four or five enemy planes flew over. I thought they were going to attack us, but they flew on to bomb Catania. The AS barrage was terrific, and soon some Spitfires came up to engage the Luftwaffe. I saw two enemy planes crash in the sea, one exploded as it hit the water, the others turned towards Messina. This was the grand finale to our victorious campaign.

At about 3am on the morning of 3rd September 1943, we were awakened by two of our NCO's and told to get dressed. I knew then that it wouldn’t be long before we made our invasion on Italy itself. As I jumped down from my hammock I noticed that the engines of the LCI were stopped. We were not yet off the Italian coast, but still out at sea in the Messina Straits. A terrific barrage of navel and land based guns opened up. I stood on deck for a while and when it got light we were ready to land, and we were not far from Reggio Di Calabria. We made our landing at Villa Giobvanni, the nearest point to Messina. We had expected to meet very stiff resistance to this landing, but it was very easy. Apart from a few demolitions from the Royal Engineers who were making a good road in for tanks and transports, and a few rifle shots and Bren bursts in the distance, it was quite a picnic. Our platoon carriers were landed almost as soon as ourselves, so we hadn’t far to carry our kit. The rifle companies were always less fortunate as they rarely had any transport. They had to march through clouds of swirling choking dust churned up by the lorries, tanks and carriers.

We passed through Scilla and Bagnara Calabria the first day and apart from a few enemy planes which flew over, we met no opposition at all. Until 7th September 1943 we had followed the coast road and passed through Palmi and Gioia Tauro when we pulled into a wood about two miles from Rosano. It was evening, but still light. We washed some of the thick dust from ourselves and were preparing for the night when German 88mm guns started to shell the area. We were taken by surprise as we had not had time to dig any slit trenches, so we just took cover behind trees or under the carriers. Some shells fell quite close in the woods, and there were a few casualties, even the Commanding Officer was cut on the cheek by a small piece of shrapnel. A few trucks were hit and burnt out. The shelling went on well into the night and a heavy mortar joined in after dark. We dug ourselves in as soon as we could, but we got very little sleep that night.

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