´óÏó´«Ã½

War Stories — World War 11
Mr Arthur Springett. Army Number 1602309
Sergeant Royal Artillery Light Anti Aircraft - 26 Light AA Regiment 115 Battery

Overview
August — December 1940 Deepcut Aldershot and Penhale Firing Camp for practice. Then leave for Southend 26 Regiment 115 Battery ready for Overseas Service. Then sent to Scampton Lincs for gun sight practice, then Leeds as the final embarkation centre.
August 1941 From Liverpool with the ship Andes on aircraft defense to Greenock where the convoy assembled. Then via Greenland to Freetown Sierra Leone and from there with a destroyer as escort to Durban.
The convoy then split with some to Singapore. I joined the New Amsterdam to Ismalia and the Red Sea and remained in the desert near the Cairo because 103 battery had to go to Nova Scotia. Traveled across the Sinai by train reaching Palestine where they stayed until Christmas 1941. There I was taken into hospital with suspected scarlet fever. Traveled to Beirut Lebanon and then to Cyprus aboard a mine layer for training in preparation for Italy.
In May we traveled back to Palestine and I heard that my cousin Rodney of 1st Regiment RAF was on leave in Tel Aviv and I was given 7 days holiday to visit. Then we were told to move; Rodney went to Kos and was taken prisoner. My plans were changed and we traveled to Taranto Italy. Together with the 8th Army and the American 5th Army and with the 25lb artillery unit for extra protection the whole group moved up through Italy to the southern edge of Milan in two years.
Towards the end of hostilities in Italy I went to Pescara on the Adriatic on POW guard duty in Rimini and back to Pescara Sailing for home on the troop ship Devonshire in 1945

Freetown
When the boat called at Freetown Sierra Leone the natives came out wanting the army to throw money into the sea and they would dive for it. The army wrapped copper coins in silver foil however the natives were not fooled and the army discovered that they knew a great many English swear words.

Durban
In Durban we came across a black soldier troop with a white sergeant, some money was again thrown on the dock, the troops broke ranks to chase it and the sergeant went ballistic.
Also it was discovered that the Lord Mayor’s wife was a North Country lady and a good singer. She would put on concerts for the troops.

Middle East
While in the desert on training the army stayed in tents for several weeks. If any looked unoccupied the Arabs would drive their camels up to the tent, cut the guy ropes and take the tents. The tents made excellent sails for their canal boats. A community grew up, there was an open air cinema, which caught fire, and there was a watchmaker and mender, this was very useful as watches were badly affected by the sand. In local families the husband walked ahead with the donkey and wife walked behind.
Fruit was plentiful, I particularly remember Melons and Oranges, however there was always someone in charge of the crop. We did not have extensive funds so we would send one or two out with a small amount of money, their task was to negotiate hard and most importantly to keep the guardian of the crop engaged in conversation and fully occupied while the others took a large sack to the other end of the field and helped themselves to supplies.
Traveling up the Red Sea unfortunately someone died, they stopped the boat held a short service and threw him over.
We also saw the ship the Devonshire which has suffered serious damage.
It was amazing that it took 1 ½ days on the train to cross the Sinai Desert but every time they stopped Bedouin would appear within minutes. We left Alexandria aboard the Monarch of Bermuda, a cruise boat for Taranto, Italy and on leaving we passed the whole of the Italian navy on its way to Alexandria to surrender.

The Italian River Crossings
The Regiment remained in Taranto for a few weeks getting equipped and then moved up with the 8th India division up to the front, crossing the Trigno River. The Germans were on the high ground above the river. The Essex infantry were sent to take the bridge but they were caught and so virtually annihilated that only a captain was left in charge.
The whole Italian campaign was a series of river crossings, with each crossing being heavily defended. On moving up to the Sangro river area we had to travel by night with no lights and only one lorry was allowed at intervals as the Germans occupied the other side of the river and were from time to time firing across the river. At these times we had to lay flat on the floor of the lorry. The sides of the lorry did offer some protection except to the driver, however one chap from 116 regiment lost his life because he did not lay down and the bullet pierced through the canvas. Also the ration trucks had to make this hazardous journey until we could take the other river bank. I recall there was one awful section of river wher a shell had landed previously and the ground was rough. On one occasion our ration truck was halted there because the truck in front of them had been hit and was on fire. Ainsworth got out of his truck and drove the burning lorry off the road into the ditch then he returned to his own lorry and drove off, however this action was seen by an officer and it was reported and eventually he received the military medal. As we arrived on the other side of the river the gun that was being towed behind partially slipped down the bank and there followed quite a careful operation to drag it back. A major came along, he was Major Hitchcock ex Suffolk Territorials and his quartermaster was Ted Holden, a good friend from home. The day ended in a farmyard with some Indian troops, there were lots of chickens and guinea fowl, they were stored after wringing their necks, a trap door was also discovered with hams hidden behind which they took.
Later I saw Ted Holden, Montgomery also came giving away cigarettes to the troops and we advanced slowly and uneventfully.

Cassino
Cassino was next, we joined the American fifth Army and the Flying Fortresses came in all day, and night, long reducing the place to rubble. We moved to a position above the 25lb guns and to a deserted cottage, after the constant bombings we felt the Germans had been subdued. Then a 110lb gun barrage started across the river, there was also one unit firing tracers with infantry running in between.

I recall one of my most vivid memories of my service in Italy, it was at Cassino where we had moved up with Eight Indian Division taking over from the American Fifth Division. Our role was Bofors Anti Aircraft; we always went with the Field Artillery 25 Pounders as protection for them against German Stuker Dive bomber aircraft. Our position was below a small mountain overlooking the Field Artillery and the river to the right looking across Route Six which was the main road to Rome, high up above that was the Monastery. After being in position for a few days the American Air Force started a massive air bombing raid on the monastery. This went on most of the day by relays of planes which almost reduced the monastery to rubble, this was not apparent for some time as the dust that it created was like a fog.
A short time afterwards our artillery barrage was started at midnight. In all some eleven hundred guns it was the biggest artillery barrage after Alemein in the desert. In that assault a naval gun was also used which sounded like a train going over. Our 103 battery was in position at the river to fire tracer shells across to indicate a safe passage for the infantry to cross to attack the Germans on the other side. Our position was in a small house above the field artillery and we could hear distinctly at the time the barrage was due start, the officer in charge started the countdown from ten to zero but when he reached ten instead of the ten he said ‘Let the bastards have it’ once all hell broke loose. The operation was the breakout from Cassino leading to the capture of Rome after which the Germans were unable to make any more real resistance and finally brought the war in Italy to an end.
The reason the monastery was such a problem was it commanded the view because it looked down so the whole area was under their observation.
I also recall that the house we were using had also at sometime been used by the Germans and there was a grave marked by a cross a few yards away, also two of the boys going up to higher ground discovered some German soldier bodies so there must have been some action just before we arrived.

Food and Accommodation
Our journey continued towards Florence we only had a tarpaulin beside the wagon to sleep under unless we could find an abandoned house. We would sleep on petrol cans to be off the ground. We had a rum ration due to the cold but I did not drink mine usually. At night we used a metal barrel that we filled with wood and set alight to keep warm, we sat around it on planks raised on more petrol cans. One soldier, Andy, sometimes had the News of the World sent to him, but he could hardly read.
Some other soldiers came across a pig, they bought the pig and brought it back. We shot the pig the tied its leg with a rope put the rope over the branch of a tree, hoisted up the pig and slit its throat. We then dropped it down into a barrel of hot water and everyone got out their razors to shave the pig.
On another occasion a soldier turned up with a lamb, but he became attached to it and we had to wait ages before we finally got to taste it.
For cooking we used a 4 gallon jerry can with a few inches of petrol in the bottom, we then punched a hole on either side above the petrol, then directing fire with it, whereupon it acts like a blow lamp, then you put the can of bully beef, or other tin, directly in front of the blow lamp to heat up. Care needs to be taken not to explode the blow lamp. We usually had a spare and as it got hot and started to buckle we would swap over. One evening someone forgot to swap over and he blew the pudding up a tree!

One day we came to a farmhouse with a Barn, the barn only had a single door and inside was a cart. We went to he farmer and asked to stay in the barn, he agreed but first went to the barn asked for our help in moved the cart back and took out many of his possessions which he had hidden below the floor of the barn under the cart. He told us that the Germans had taken things from everyone.

Another farm had the living accommodation above the stables where the heat from the animals kept the place warm. It was deserted, then the owner turned up, he was a fascist supporter, and on meeting us he disappeared again.

The Wolf Man
One of the soldiers in our regiment was employed by the Shell oil company when he was called up and Shell made up his army salary to the full amount of his Shell pay. This meant that he was always flush with funds and over time he spent more and more of it on booze and was drunk every evening. Every evening there were wolves in the surrounding hills and they would howl and howl. He was very afraid of the howling. One evening a few of the men hid behind a bush and made howling noises as he came staggering down the road, he was terrified, so much so that they laughed and gave themselves away. His drinking got worse and worse and eventually he was taken away for treatment. After being dried out he was resent for training, amazingly in the bomb disposal squad.

Torre di Largo
We arrived at Torre di Largo where we had been sent to protect a US Artillery spotting unit which was trying to find aircraft, a gun had been located in the middle of a smallholding, the owner was reluctant to have us there and became even more so when we asked for a place to sleep. Then we discovered the old man had a bad leg, we sent for the medic who was known as Godspeed, he dressed the leg, the leg got better and after that we could do no wrong.
They did not have very much firewood, however on an excursion we discovered that the nearby railway had been blown up, so the army unscrewed some sleepers. They burnt well on the fire but the problem was the sleepers contained tar which caught the chimney alight and then we flooded the kitchen putting it out!
The farmer took two soldiers to the village with him, the three of them returned very drunk, his wife was cross and made him sit outside continually drinking water until he was ill, the old man never lived it down.
He invited me for Sunday lunch with the family. Then the little boy next door became ill with a bad bronchial cold, Godspeed was needed again to cure him.
Initially the family were afraid of the black American soldiers but eventually they warmed to them as well, I remember the black Americans telling me they were amazed how well they were accepted.
Troop headquarters was Puccini’s house on the lake and they would organize for the local girls to be collected in a van, all with chaperones, and attend the local dance.
When we moved on the old man had tears in his eyes and the mother was very upset.

Towards the end
The Tuscan hills were occupied by Germans and at night we would position troops who would fire on set points, spraying the area. One day we came across a German who jumped swiftly into the ditch, we treated him like a rabbit but let him go.

At one stage in the later part of the Italian campaign the Germans lacked aircraft and our unit was redeployed in various other activities. One of these was Bailey Bridging, we did our first bridge under instruction and alongside Indian Sheik engineers and then we actually erected one of our own, a small one which had a plaque put on it reading ‘Gunners Bridge’ Our other job was to lay some canisters to prevent any activity or movement by the infantry from being observed. Also our own gun was fully mounted and incorporated with the wagon. We would move forward to a position which was being troubled by enemy mortar fire, then we would fire a great many rounds and dash off again before the enemy could spot our position, which they found easy because our trajectory was low, however we were not so popular with the infantry as they were left to receive anything the enemy could manage to throw back.
During short rest break, I went to meet up with Lanny who was my brother in law, he was in Florence. I returned to find we on the move fast, the Germans had broken back through the line and we and the 8th Army were sent to stabilize the situation. As we crossed bridges the Americans were putting charges under them. There followed a big push as we felt the Germans were making a last stand. All units were sent word that from that time on they would have to collect their own dead, the infantry was piling them onto trucks. We were moving position to 2-3 times a day.
By now the Germans were retreating, fast and we pushed forward finally stopping about 3 miles outside Milan, waiting on the side of the road with our gun. Then came the surrender and the whole German army were marched down the same road past us, it took days. We heard that Mussolini was dead and been strung up on a lamp post.
We pulled back to Pescara and were sent on prisoner of war duties in Rimini. 103 were sent on interrogation duties and the order went out that anyone taking local currency as bribes would be punished. One soldier was worried about this and put some money in a tin and buried it, the problem was a hut with a concrete foundation was built on exactly that spot.

We were given various choices of how we would like to return home, I chose to travel home on the refurbished Devonshire.

© Copyright of content contributed to this Archive rests with the author. Find out how you can use this.