大象传媒

This story was submitted to the People鈥檚 War site by Norman Wigley of the 大象传媒 Radio Sheffield Action Desk on behalf of Mr George Martin, and has been added to the site with his permission. The author fully understands the site鈥檚 terms and conditions.

This edited account is taken from the book 鈥淐assino to the River Po. Italy 1944-45. A personal account of life and action in a tank troop鈥� written and published by George Martin.

Other parts to this story can be found at:

Part 1: A7832441

Part 2: A7832702

Part 3: A7832964

Part 4: A7833152

Part 6: A7833710

Part 7: A7833837

Part 8: A7833972

Part 9: A7834043

Part 10: A7834179

13th June 1944, we were setting off early, once again in the lead, and were heading for Narni. There was some light and none too accurate shelling, and some mined diversions to contend with, but we negotiated all this without incident (perhaps more by good luck than skill), and arrived at the entrance archway to Narni, some 400 yards to our front, at about mid-day. There was no sign of the enemy but we could see crowds gathering. Some waved flags, others their hands, but there was no mistaking the jubilation and cheering as we drew near. We were ordered not to stop, but to push on to our next objective which was Terni.

We were trying to keep a lookout for lurking enemy troops who might still be about, and at the same time, try to keep moving and keep the cheering throng away from our tank. We were told that the Germans had moved out about half to three quarters of an hour ago. One picture I shall always remember is that of an elderly white haired couple standing outside the doorway of their home, arms round each other; tears of joy ran unashamedly down their lined faces as they smiled and waved handkerchiefs to us. I gave them a special wave back. As we left Narni the troop on our left checked a farm as they passed and found a grief stricken family. Apparently only a short time before our arrival the Germans pulled out and shot their son as they left; he was dead when the troop found him. The run to Terni was not arduous 鈥� mines, diversions and some sporadic shelling but no serious opposition. From Terni we headed for Todi.

By late afternoon, we were ordered to hold our position. Nothing stirred in the warmth of the afternoon as we kept watch on the road ahead. 鈥淪urely,鈥� I thought, 鈥渢he Germans must, by now, be well away from the area.鈥� But they, like ourselves, occasionally took the wrong road! Suddenly, I noticed a saloon car in drab grey, coming along the road to our right front. My ever watchful gunner had spotted it too, the turret moved and he shouted, 鈥淥n target.鈥� I ordered him to load H.E. I watched through binoculars as the car continued towards us; I observed two occupants 鈥� a youngish officer who was talking earnestly with the driver, a soldier some years older and most probably his batman. They had no idea what lay ahead of them in the shade of the trees at the top of the hill. 鈥淚 just can鈥檛 bloody believe it,鈥� said the gunner, his foot hovering over the firing button. Some twenty yards away the car jerked to a sudden halt as the occupants realised they were not alone! I鈥檒l never forget the look of horror on their faces as they stared in utter disbelief at out tank with its 75mm gun pointing straight at them. For a few seconds they sat as though hypnotised, waiting for a shell to blast them to eternity.

I signalled for them to come in as prisoners and the driver came first, hands held high, followed by the officer about a yard behind. When they were about two yards from the front of the tank, the unexpected happened. The officer gave his driver a good push and as he stumbled forward, the officer dashed across the front of the tank and into the trees and bushes to our left. Momentarily we were caught off guard. Quickly, I dropped back into the turret, ordered the soldier to the rear tanks, covered as he well knew by their guns. From there he was sent to Squadron HQ for interrogation by intelligence staff. As the officer dashed across the front of the tank, I ordered the front gunner to fire, and, at the same time the turret gun was to traverse left on to him. The gunner however could not see his target; then the turret machine gun fired just one round and jammed; the 75mm would not fire at all! In sheer desperation I grabbed a German machine pistol I had picked up in one of our actions, firing it into the bushes where I had last seen the officer disappearing. By now the jammed machine gun had been cleared by the gunner and he with some relish, took over the firing, covering a wide area of woodland, but to no avail. Looking back over the incident, I had to give the officer credit for a well thought out escape, but he did not know how lucky he was that one gun jammed and the 75mm would not fire at all. I have never been able to explain this as not long afterwards we had occasion to use both guns and both fired first time!

We tried to retrieve their car, as it would have made a good addition to the squadron vehicle pool, but the wide awake officer had ripped the leads from behind the dash board. We did however retrieve all their papers and boxes, which turned out to contain red wine, which we stored away for further use later. The papers, maps and sketches we had found were passed on to the Intelligence Corps. By late afternoon we were suffering quite accurate shelling and had to abandon thoughts of retrieving the car; we put a shell through it.

Perugia was to be our next objective and once again we found ourselves ordered forward and out on to the left flank. Our orders were to cover the main highway out of Perugia, to position ourselves on high ground where we could engage anything that moved west along the road out of town. It was now Tuesday 20th June 1944, and we were reserve squadron moving in behind 鈥楢鈥� Squadron as they pushed up a narrow dirt road, through a 鈥榖ottleneck鈥� gap before descending into the small village of Corciano on the far side of the valley beyond the gap in the hills. At least that was the intention. As 鈥楢鈥� Squadron reached the gap, they lost three tanks in quick succession; all hit by armour piercing shot, either from an 88mm anti-tank gun, or more likely, a Tiger tank. There was no room for any movement other than forward along the road, rather like a string of sausages 鈥� sitting ducks, I thought! Ere long the order came: 鈥溾�橞鈥� Squadron will take over from 鈥楢鈥� Squadron, force the gap and take the village.鈥�

Once again, we were to be the leading troop. We slowly moved forward towards the gap, which was about 600 yards ahead when an A.P. round landed between my tank and my Sergeant鈥檚. At the same time, we saw a spurt of dust rise in the gap ahead. This often indicated an anti-tank gun firing; our return shots went off immediately and added to the dust in the gap, and we saw a red glow as though we had hit some armour. We could not see anything definite, but pushed on without further trouble until we were about 60 yards from the gap. At this point, the road started to drop beyond the gap to the village and we could see the problem in all its stark reality. The enemy were not, as I suspected, holding the gap, but the village on the other side of the valley, anything on the road through the gap was a perfect target for an 88mm or Tiger. HQ wanted us to push on through the gap, but I was in no doubt that it could not be done, and I decided to climb to a wooded crest, which might give a viewpoint of the enemy position. We were soon spotted and machine gun fire filled the air, but we were able to get back to our position without injury. HQ then decided to send 2 troop through but we knew they would not make it without smoke and covering fire at least. They didn鈥檛.

The Sergeant鈥檚 tank was hit by A.P. shot, the crew baled out, one with clothing on fire. I decided to go and get the Sergeant whose leg appeared to be smashed. On reaching him, he was conscious but in great pain, the solid shot had gone through his thigh and almost severed his leg. I gave him a shot of Morphine and pulling him up on to his one good leg, I hauled him on to my back. Bullets went unheeded as I dragged him back to my own tank, where we laid him down and awaited transport to get him to safety. HQ then decided to send 3 troop through but they got bogged down in soft ground trying a different route. It was a shooting gallery and there was no way through, unless we could blanket the village in smoke or use a high explosive barrage to keep their heads down. HQ said this was not available, but then said that a lightly defended road to the west had been captured and was a much better route! We eventually reached Perugia where we spent about a week making up losses in tanks and crews, and even got a Regimental football team together to play a local Italian team 鈥� who unfortunately won!

Pr-BR

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