大象传媒

I served in the 6th Batallion Grenadier Guards; the 6th Batallion was raised in October 1941 and embarked overseas to Syria in June 1942 as motorised Infantry; the Batallion travelled some 2000 miles by motor transport in three weeks and were thrown into a desperate attack to open the Mareth Line. Known as the "Horseshoe battle", it was the batallions forst engagement, a night assault on the 16th March 1943. Of 24 officers, 14 were killed, and there were 255 casualties amongst the other ranks.

The 6th batallion was the first to land in Italy, fighting at the Salerno beachhead. The batallion endured a terrible four day ordeal on the heights of Monte Camino and on the 12th of November when the batallion came down from the top, it could only muster 263 men for duty. It was never committed to a major battle again.

After Camino, it continued fighting in its reduced form on the river Garigliano, and at the village of Minturno. The batallin was formally disbanded on the 4th of December 1944.

At the time of writing (April 2005), only 17 other ranks who fought at Mareth are still living in this country, with three living in Australia. Every year, as many of these veterans as possible gather at Wellington Barracks where the Mareth Cross is sited, for a service of Remembrance.

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