大象传媒

TO ITALY

To get events in sequence, the landings on Sicily had taken place whilst
we were ploughing our way back and forth along the North African coastline. It was clear now that the intention had been that we should go to Sicily as part of the invasion force but orders had been changed at the last minute. Hence our return trip to the staging area at Setif. The present atmosphere. however, was very different. The campaign in Sicily was practically over and the regrouped 1st. / 8th. Army as we were now called, would cross the straits of Messina for the invasion of the Italian mainland..
We were again under orders for a major move. During the first few days in September we packed up completely and as had happened in England, our heavy vehicles left ahead of us.
Then the big news broke. On 8th September Italy surrendered. It was very difficult to make any sort of assessment at that time but as far as we could judge the War was going on. And it certainly did, right through to 1945 and later before we would see home again. However, with Italy out of the War, the issue was much clearer. It was us against Nazi Germany and the battleground was the Italian mainland.
The first leg of our journey to Italy took us to a staging area near Bizerta then down to Houston Camp near the dock area to await embarkation. Between 20th. and 24th. September 1943, after two days at Houston, we embarked for Italy. We had a small landing craft going over and it was a bit rough, especially the first morning, when practically everyone on board including some crew members suffered from sea sickness. The crossing took just under two days and strangely enough was almost uneventful. We did well on the whole for each man had a bunk and meals came up at regular intervals.
We beach landed near Salerno and didn't even get our feet wet. The craft pulled straight in and the gangway was sufficient to get us straight on to the beach. The crew were obviously nervous, however, and lost no time in pulling
out after we were ashore.
We cooked our evening meal in a nearby field, then moved to our concentration area which was in an orchard. That night we slept in the open as no tents with their protective mosquito nets had arrived. We woke to discover that we had been attached by all sorts of insects, including mosquitos. Soap and water was the only available remedy. It also helped to get rid of some of the sweat after the journey over from Biserta.
So we had arrived in Italy. We were not all that far from the front as the sound of gunfire could be heard all too plainly. It was all to plain that after landing on the Italian coast below Salerno that we were once more 'going to War. That didn't please me at all but I took comfort in the thought that Italy, at least, was a civilised country and as such ought to be an interesting place.
We had to wait around for our vehicles in our orchard concentration area and we only discovered later that things had not quite worked out according to plan. It had proved relatively easy to land us on the beaches from our small landing craft as the area had been cleared by the first waves of infantry. Our heavy guns and vehicles, however, could only be disembarked at the port of Naples and it took much longer to dislodge Jerry from that area than had been anticipated, and allowing the guns and vehicles to get ashore. However it was done eventually and between 25th / 26th September the familiar 25 pounders and supporting l5 cwt.. and three ton trucks rolled into camp. It was like a reunion with old friends.
The next few days were marked with rain and mud. Somehow the mud of an Italian orchard was much more soggy and uncomfortable than anything we had encountered in North Africa; and the mosquitoes were having a field day. If we had only known, this was only the beginning of the mud bath. We lived off and on with the Italian mud for a very long time.
The results of mosquito bites, rain and mud had more than a damping effect. I was really ill for the first few days ashore in Italy. Strangely enough I never did develop malaria, possibly because I swallowed tons of mepacrene tablets but most of the chaps did go down with it at one stage or another and several had to be evacuated to the nearest field hospital.
We messed around putting our gear in order and awaiting events. We managed a visit to the nearest small town of Leonardo where I purchased a cigarette wallet for 1/-. Our orchard had almost become home, in spite of the fact that we had a few enemy shells and the odd aircraft overhead to contend with. But these circumstances could only be temporary and by 4th October we were once again on our way.

ACTION IN ITALY
At this point I can do no better than quote from the diary

5th October 1943: "This has been an eventful day for us. About 4 o'clock this afternoon, 60th Battery, 23rd. Field Regiment RA came into action on Italian soil. Our route to this gun position was an extremely interesting one. We passed through Salerno, Noicera and Pompeii where we had a very good view of the volcanic Mount Vesuvius. We travelled round the mountain on three sides, then to the outskirts of Naples and on to Pertice, Cercola, Grumo, Attella de Napoli and Cesa. The area was very thickly populated but the people as a whole seemed to be very poor and the towns very dirty with narrow, foul - smelling streets. There is evidence of religious life everywhere. In all the main squares there is a shrine and crucifix and many sombre clad priests and nuns.
Our reception in those towns was almost embarrassing. People ran to meet us and if we stopped they crowded round the vehicles offering us fruit and nuts. It was an amazing experience and makes one wonder if Europe has really been subject to many hardships and if our role of liberators is now taking effect. (It should be remembered that those lines were written on 5th Oct. 1943, long before we really knew the full facts of the Nazi atrocities )."

So once more we were 'in.' Our present position is a little north of Cesa, near Fertilia, and I can scarcely imagine what a War in this thickly populated country is going to be like. I'm afraid it may have its very grim moments. '
Over the next week or so we really came to grips with that Italian mud. We had orders and counter orders for moves forward and this made things very hectic in the Command Post. Where we did move, it meant digging and winching the heavy vehicles through that Italian mud.
To move a Gun Battery to a new position meant that as No. 1 in the Command Post it was part of my job to go forward on the advance party and survey in the ground positions for the guns. There was nothing terribly difficult in the work once you understood the mechanics of it, but it involved going forward to the Infantry areas to do the survey, whilst the Infantry were holding the ground they had recently gained and preparing for their next move. On some occasions you could be in no mans land between the Infantry and the German lines. As someone said at the time, 'This could be bloody dangerous.'

It was a sort of concertina operation. The Infantry would hold a sector with the supporting artillery possibly 1500 to 2000 yards behind them. The Infantry would advance and in the process the guns would be 'left behind.' Before they could be out of range, a new position had to be surveyed and the guns brought up. That was why we got those odd quiet spells I mentioned earlier. One day the battle would be raging; the next morning there would be a strange quiet - the Infantry had moved on.

It was exactly this type of exercise that kept us very busy during the first weeks of action in Italy and it was all leading up to the first major assault which was the crossing of the Volturno River.

The Battle of the Volturno was timed to start on the night of 12th October. It went badly, at least in our sector, where the assault troops whom we were supporting, failed to cross the river at that particular point, although other crossings were made in adjoining sectors. One of the major obstacles was undoubtedly the mud which kept bogging down both men and vehicles.

We were temporarily halted and when things did begin to sort themselves out, we had to go forward and do more recce's. We were supporting the
Queens Regiment at this time and their movements were restricted but we did succeed in doing the survey and shot back to base as quickly as we could.

When we did get a move forward, we occupied what had been a German AA Post as our Command Post which was ready made and complete with camouflage and sandbags. It was a very safe 'hide' indeed.

It was in this position that we lost another of the original Redford squad. Bob Petty, who was from London, was killed at one of the OP positions. The story had it that he was hit by shrapnel from one of our own shells falling short. We never did get confirmation or otherwise but we were all sorry to get the news. Bob was a very likeable chap.

The battle progressed and eventually we moved on. We passed through the town of Capua and over the River Volturno by the baillie bridge built by the RE's Our next Command Post was in a farmhouse and north of Capua, and we made several and similar moves over a period at this stage. Jerry was not giving up easily in Italy and was, in fact, rallying his forces to stop our progress at every opportunity. It was a bit of a ding - dong battle and more was still to come as events will show.

It was at this time that the Battery was struck with an epidemic of malaria. We lost seven Officers in a week evacuated to hospital and quite a number of other ranks. As usual I didn't get it. Instead, due to the shortage of commissioned ranks, I found myself doing CPO and giving out orders from the Command Post. I rather enjoyed that.

MOUNTE CAMMINO

By the beginning of November we were well into the 'slog' which was
typical of the type of action, and our consequent way of life, during the early part of the Italian campaign. Move, get to gun position, get Command Post organised, sort out fire plan stop, start, and stop again.
Then hang around in the mud and try to keep some sort of order on the domestic front. Somewhere to clean up, the luxury of a bath at one of the mobile units, a place to sleep. In its own way it was a lop - sided War.. You did your job as best you could then when you did have some time off there was always the urge to clean up and try to keep some sanity. If you lost that urge you were in trouble and that mud did not help.
At this time we were in action near a small village called Viapinana near Raccamontina which was at the head of a very beautiful valley. At that time, however, the valley was fairly bristling with guns.
This concentration of hardware had as its immediate objective the taking of Mount Cammino ( or Monte Cammino as the Italians would say ). This battle was a prelude to much bigger game, the famous Monastry of Monte Cassino itself, and that battle was not so very far away.
November dragged on but towards the end of the month there was a silver lining in the shape of a spot of local leave to the rest camp at Amalfi on the shores of the Adriatic. This was great stuff and the thought of being away from all that mud, even for a few days, was enough to inject new life into us. We set off for the rest camp early in the morning of 24th November and by seven o'clock that night we were installed in our new billets. We even had dinner in the Sergeants Mess and slept in a real bed for the first time since leaving England. This was civilisation indeed.
During that leave I visited the famous Amalfi Grotto which is only accessible from the sea ( and that was rough ) and all of 317 steps down from the cliff face to sea level. There were other visits including a trip to Solerno and the time passed all too quickly. By the 28th. the leave was over and we were
heading back but it had all been worth it. This was not the only visit I made to Amalphi. It became a permanent short stay leave camp and I was lucky to make several visits to the resort during the Italian campaign; each was better than the last.
Back at the gun position, things had hardly changed at all. The slogging war continued. Early in December there were reports that Mount Cammino had been taken and we were moving forward again. In line with this there was talk that we were due for a minor refit and short rest behind the line.
This is how it worked out. We went back into billets at Grazzinese near Aversa. This move meant that we were able to spend Christmas out of the line and to celebrate in traditional style.
This we did. On Christmas morning, the Officers, Warrant Officers and Sergeants served rum and coffee to the men in bed, then it was back to the Sergeants Mess for a bacon and egg breakfast. No parades that day. Then at midday we served Christmas dinner to the men in mess hall and two hours later we sat down to our own meal in the Sergeants Mess. We might be in the midst of war, but that meal had everything, turkey with all the trimmings and Christmas pudding by the barrow load. There were cigars from home to round it all off.
The following day, Boxing Day, I spent in Naples with a visit to the Opera House and a performance of 'La Boheme '. We saw the afternoon performance from a box on the fifth tier.
On 31st December 1943 we were still in billets in the rest area. The Christmas period had been good but for us with true Scottish blood in our veins, the approaching New Year was threatening to become an anti- climax. On Auld Years Night we had an impromptu party of oranges, chocolate and stale beer. At 12 o'clock someone woke me up and offered me a drink., I had no idea what it was but I drank it anyway and went straight back to sleep. It was a perishing cold night with snow on the hills. I was glad of my four blankets and greatcoat and to be in a building with a roof that, for once, did not leak.
The first few days in January 1944 were uneventful, except for the incident

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