大象传媒

My first aeroplane flight was in July 1943 when the American Air Force transported my Signals section 鈥� in a hurry 鈥� from Tunis to Catania in Sicily , in an airlift of a number of Dakotas . This was after the section had missed catching the sea convoy from Sousse in Tunisia .

The flight , in addition to being the first for most of the section , was not without some trepidation because in our handling of 15th Army Group ( now made up of the British 8th and American 7th armies ) communications we were aware that on earlier occasions these Dakota airlifts had suffered from the attentions of the Luftwaafe . The aircraft were merely transports and as such were not fitted with any armaments 鈥� apart from a 鈥渢ommy gun鈥� carried by one of the crew 鈥� at least that is how it seemed on my Dakota . We also knew that on one occasion, early in the initial assault, that as they flew back from one mission over one of our own convoys they had been fired on after being mistaken for German aircraft ,

Our flight , apart from being undertaken at low level , was without incident except that as we arrived over the Catania airfield we were made to circle around whilst some American fighter planes escorted in a light Auster aircraft 鈥� which we later discovered had brought General Montgomery from Tunis .

It was odd however that having undertaken three very urgent journeys , i.e. Tunis to Sousse by road and back again and then the flight to Catania , the section then camped on the slopes of Mount Etna for the next 6-7 weeks with little to do apart from some minor training , servicing equipment but mostly lazing about in the sunshine . We were not required operationally until the invasion of Italy from Messina on 3rd September 1943 .

On 4th September we were loaded into a Tank Landing Craft ( TLC means something far different today) at Messina and transported across the 2-3 miles of the Straits of Messina to Reggio Calabria. A calm sea and a short journey combined to hold back the seasickness 鈥� for which I was truly grateful . We commandeered a large empty house in Reggio for a few days where our only threat came from cockroaches 鈥� perhaps acceptable in ones or twos but not in hundreds or thousands!! On the second day we shovelled up into boxes as many as we could , loaded them onto a lorry and drove them out of town and threw them out onto the road into the bright sunshine 鈥� which they did dot seem to like at all 鈥� that was a bizarre experience!

After a few days we moved on along the coastal road, under the instep of the foot of Italy , and stopped at the small port of Crotone . There I developed a number of impetigo spots on my face .The port was under Navy control and the only 鈥渕edic鈥� in town was a British navy doctor .He diagnosed impetigo and on my half a dozen spots he daubed 鈥済entian violet鈥� ( apparently the only then available cure ) and instructed me not to shave again until the scabs fell off . I explained that Army personnel were not allowed to grow beards (as sailors were) so he wrote me out 鈥渁 chitty鈥� giving me permission not to shave . By the time we reached Taranto my beard was full and although accepted by my own officer and N.C.O鈥檚 it used to cause consternation amongst the Military Police patrolling the streets of Taranto . I lost count of the number of times that I was stopped by the M.P,s and obliged to produce my navy chitty 鈥� much to their dismay and my delight .By the time we reached Bari , up the eastern seaboard of Italy, my impetigo sores had dried up and I was able to shave again 鈥� although I did retain , for a while , a full military moustache .

As the front line pushed northwards , Bari became a major supply port for the Army Group. On the first day of December a convoy of about 30 ships arrived and anchored in the harbour , some alongside others. Before dawn on the following day the berthed convoy was attacked by a number of German bombers . The attack reaked havoc in a raid that lasted less than an hour and seemed largely unopposed. Two ammunition ships blew up and fifteen other merchant ships were damaged and sunk. At least 1,000 people , including civilians , were killed or injured .

I was on duty that night in the Signals office , which was housed in one of the harbour buildings . The sounds of the raid took my thoughts back to the London Blitz. I had a break from my telegraphist work so I went upstairs to the side of the building that overlooked the harbour and stood by an iron barred window (no glass)
to see what was happening . The quayside and the ships were on fire and there were explosions and smoke everywhere .Whilst watching I witnessed something that I will never forget .I saw an ammunition ship , whose bridge and superstructure I could see over the roofs of the quayside sheds , slowly for a second or two it raised itself higher above the shed roofs and suddenly it exploded into a massive ball of fire and flame ( like a sun , close up) and the blast blew me backwards . When I had recovered I made my way back downstairs for safety .

I subsequently learned that the story of this raid had , at the time , been withheld from the British public , It was however eventually released by the U.S.Secretary of War ( Henry Stimson ) and as a result created an uproar in our press .

Another secret from that same incident , which I read about in 1989 in a national daily under the headline 鈥淧oisonous War Secret鈥�, was a letter from a nursing orderly who had given first aid to many Italian civilians affected by gas injuries . The newspaper鈥檚 response was that a merchant ship , the John Harvey,
was carrying some 100 tons of mustard gas , in Bari harbour . The ship was destroyed in the raid and none of its crew survived to explain why they were carrying the gas . (I still have that newspaper cutting). More recently than that I have read that General Eisenhower had received intelligence that the Germans had gas and were prepared to use it in an emergency . As a result , and in order to be prepared for a suitable response , the mustard gas had been shipped from the USA on the John Harvey .

In the early part of 1944 , before we moved forward from Bari ,Mount Vesuvius , near Naples some 120 miles away on the other side of Italy, violently erupted. A day or so later the sky over Bari was a wonderful shade of pink . It looked rather pretty but was caused by the drifting volcano dust which slowly settled over Bari to the annoyance of us and the civilian population .

As the front line moved northward , in fits and starts , my unit followed it through Cassino(hardly a brick left standing) 鈥� Siena(home to the famous 鈥淧alio鈥� horse race over cobbled streets) 鈥� Florence (all kinds of art,statues and the Ponte Vecchio 鈥� Bologna 鈥� then Verona ( home town of Romeo and Juliette ) . After the holstilities had ended I had one detachment to Bolzano , up in the Italian Alps where the houses , people and lifestyle (beer kellers , not wine bars) were more Austrian than Italian because it had once been part of the Austrian Empire .

In October 1945 I was granted one month鈥檚 leave in the U.K. , my first in three years , which involved a train journey from Villach and Klagenfurt in Austria across Germany ( some terrible sights of war damage ) and France . Then a boat from Dieppe to Newhaven, with another uncontrollable bout of seasickness , and then a train to Victoria Station in London .

It was here that I realised a dream that I had carried with me throughout my overseas service . I caught a No. 16 red London bus to Kilburn High Road , where I lived . I sat upstairs in the front seat and watched some of my beloved London present itself . From Buckingham Palace Road , Grosvenor Place , Hyde Park Corner , Park Lane ,Marble Arch to the Edgware Road 鈥� past the Metropolitan Music Hall , Kilburn Empire and the State Cinema ( I was there when it opened in 1938 with stars from stage ,screen and radio )- to the end of the High Road and then a short walk to home . Although everywhere was dirtier and damaged in parts it was all that I had expected it to be and it lifted my heart . It really was my very own sentimental journey .

I was back in Italy a month later and six months after that I returned to the U.K. for 鈥渄e-mob鈥� in May 1946 .Oddly enough , my Post Office qualification as a Counter Clerk and Telegraphist which had originally kept me out of the forces until 1942 was then instrumental in qualifying me for early discharge .

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