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JAMES GLEW, Sapper, 248 Field Company, Royal Engineers
Pantelleria
Now that the whole of North Africa was in Allied control the next phase of the Mediterranean campaign was the invasion of Sicily. But before Sicily could be tackled, the islands of Pantelleria and Lampedusa had to be captured.
Pantelleria is a small Italian island, lying almost midway between Sicily and the North African coast. It is 8 miles long by 5 miles wide, rocky and mountainous. The main port, where the landing was to take place, was at the north-west tip of the island. As there were no suitable landing beaches, the plan was for a naval and aerial bombardment to reduce to rubble the port installations and jetties. The landing craft would then be run aground on the rubble for disembarking the troops. The Italians had Naval and Air bases on the island, garrisoned with 10,000 men, and had to be taken by the Allies before the invasion of Sicily could be contemplated.
The British 1st Division embarked at Sousse (south-east of Tunis) in the afternoon of June 10th 1943. The sea was pleasantly calm as the convoy sailed slowly northwards. During the night, sounds of a bombing raid were heard, accompanied by anti aircraft fire from the escort vessels. No ships were hit. As dawn broke, the convoy lay amidst a massive naval fleet, including 4 cruisers and 8 destroyers. The cruisers fired many broadsides into the port area, whilst overhead, a constant stream of Mitchell鈥檚, Marauder鈥檚 and Wellington bombers dropped their loads.
The first wave of assault craft landed at 12.00 on 11th June 1943, with the rest of the Division landing in the following hours. 248 Field Company formed part of the assaulting force. By late afternoon, the commanding Italian Admiral had surrendered the island.
Jim recalled the following events
... 鈥淎s we approached the island, the twin boomed American fighter bombers (Lockheed P38 Lightning) flew low over us and attacked the port defences. We took the island fairly quickly, but Gerry planes from Sicily bombed us from time to time. During one of the attacks, I was working in the dock area, out in the open, and as the aircraft attacked, I dived for cover behind a stack of large pipes. It was only when the air raid was over that I realised I had dived for cover between two Italian torpedoes!鈥� ....
.... 鈥淭he Italians had destroyed almost everything of value on the island including the fresh water supplies. My section was ordered to find the main pump house and see what could be done. We located the pumping house up in the hills but the pumps had been sabotaged. The building had no windows and it was very dark inside. I was exploring down a steep flight of stairs, couldn鈥檛 see where I was going, when a dog ran straight past me. Made me jump. But then, within a few seconds, there was a splash as the dog fell into some water. Well, I didn鈥檛 go any further. Gerry had started to bomb again and perhaps that鈥檚 what had frightened the dog.
Outside of the pump house one of the lads was letting loose at the Gerry planes with his Bren gun. But then the gun jammed and the planes had gone anyway. The bloke with the Bren then came into the pump house and stood by the door trying to clear the jammed gun. All of a sudden, the gun went off and the rest of the magazine sprayed the wall. Everyone scattered. We were lucky that no one was shot鈥� ....
Hit-and-run raids, by German Focke-Wolf fighter bombers based in Sicily (only 70 miles away), were occurring every hour or two, but no attempt was made by the Germans to re-take the island. The bulk of 1st Division was moved back to North Africa within 2 or 3 days.
The final phase of the Tunisian campaign had now been completed. The way was clear for the Allied landing on occupied Europe starting with Sicily. On Wednesday June 30th 1943 the 1st Army ceased to exist, although the divisional elements stayed together.

After the successful capture of Pantelleria, the 1st Division returned to North Africa where they were held in reserve and trained for mountain warfare. Everyone was given 5 days leave. Various rest camps had been set up by the Division on the coast, where men could relax, bathe, enjoy canteen facilities and the occasional film show.

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