大象传媒

My name is Frank Ashworth and I joined up as a seventeen year old at the Oldham H.Q. in Lancashire, on 3rd September 1939, where I was then assigned to the 51st Royal Tank Regiment. I was transferred to Churchill heavy tanks when I was eighteen and then sent to the North Africa. From there we were sent to Italy and had a very bad time during the Monte Cassino campaign. In September 1944 we were near the little Italian town of Coriano, just a few miles south east of San Mareno. We had teamed up with the Scottish Regiment, the Argylles, to attack north at dawn the following day. We were to advance line abreast and as normal there was to be complete radio slience. The objective was the next line of hills a few miles ahead. As dawn broke and the sky became lighter at a prearranged time radio silence was broken by the order to advance. We started with our usual saying "Here we go again, shit or bust, driver advance". At this time I was tank commander and I remember very clearly that as we went over the ridge, the tune "Nimrod" by Elgar was going through my head, and as I swung the cupola left and right I could see the whole squadron of our heavy tanks advancing. I thought what a powerful sight they made and now whenever I hear the tune of "Nimrod" I remember that morning. We carried on at Infantry pace then to my right one tank simply vanished. He had sunk into the basement of a wrecked farmhouse and could not get out.The squadron continued advancing; things got really tough, and we were occupied with looking after ourselves and reaching our objective. The infantry were having a hellish time and they went to ground and stayed there for the rest of the day. With it being so hectic we lost all track of time and it took me a while to realise that my friend David Owen's tank and my tank were the only ones left out of the squadron.The others had been knocked out and by this time we were moving slowly uphill towards our objective.We were in a very unenviable and vulnerable position. Suddenly David called out to me on the radio "Watch out Frank there are Tiger tanks ahead". Just then a Tiger fired a shot at me but it hit the ground about three yards ahead of us.I had noticed a haystack to our left and I quickly told the driver to advance left behind this. Immediately after the first shot had missed me, another shot hit David's tank on the front of the turret, penetrating and killing David, and he dropped on top of the gunner, as I found out later. I saw the driver and co-driver bale out then David's operator pushed his flaps up to bale out but a shot from one of the Tigers hit the front flap and took half his face and his head off. I realised then that my tank Apollo was the only tank left out of the squadron of eighteen tanks, and I also knew that we did not stand a chance against whatever number of Tigers were waiting for us on top of the ridge. I made the decision to attempt to go back, and just then I glanced back at David's tank and saw his head and shoulders coming up out of the cupola. I knew then that he was dead, as it was the gunner with super human strength pushing David's body up out of the tank so that he could bale out, and the last I saw of him he was vanishing under a hedge.
While this was happening I had been trying to hide both our tanks with a smoke screen but there was a lively breeze that day and the smoke was quickly blown away. I ordered the driver to make full speed and headed for our own lines, but we found ourselves being chased by two Spitfires who had been supporting us. Unfortunately for us they saw a tank going the wrong way and thought the Germans were counter attacking, so they both attacked us, and I found out later that they had also radioed Divisional Headquarters, and a full division of artillery was ordered to blast the area. How we came out alive I have no idea, either our guardian angels were looking after us or the gunners were rotten shots, however they soon realised their mistake and the bombardment stopped. When we were some distance from the Tiger tanks, I radioed headquarters and explained what was happening, and I was promptly ordered to turn around and make my way forward again, this time through a wood to my right to take up a position at the northern most point, observe and report back. Unfortunately I was seen and their first shot blew my right track off. I quickly ordered "Bale out", and everyone except my turret gunner got out. The next shot penetrated the turret ring area and killed him. The same shot hit the hydraulic brakes and the tank rolled forward down the hill. Just to our rear there was a farmhouse and we made our way to this going down into the cellar out of harms way. The cellar was full of Italians sheltering, and we joined them, sitting against the wall to wait. During the night a baby was born to one of the Italian women.
In the morning there was no sign of the Germans about, and as we were hungry we thought we could recover some of our food from the tank. Not thinking I climbed onto the tank and pulled open the cupola flaps and was immediately covered with about ten thousand blue bottle flies. They poured out of the hatchway and stuck on my face. I was terrified and slamming the hatches closed; I beat a hasty retreat all hunger forgotten.
We eventually found our way back to headquarters, which consisted of only three tanks, two armoured cars,a radio truck and a few jeeps. We then found the remainder of A squadron and found that most of the tanks had been lost, also quite a number of men. In my own troop there were five dead, including David Owen who had undoubtedly saved my life that day.
In only a week the tanks and men were replaced, and we were sent again into action on the Corriano Ridge but a bit further east. Once again it was very heavy going and more tanks and men were lost. The infantry were pinned down and unable to move. As we went forward I became aware that I was the only tank in sight, we were about a mile in front of the infantry and the only tanks I could see behind us were on fire. A few minutes later something hit us on one of the front sprockets and although we tried to go forward the track came off putting us out of action. I ordered the crew to bale out and we all managed to get out of the drivers bale out door. We were then in view of the Germans so I ordered a trench to be dug under the tank, and then as you may guess we got our petrol stove out and made some tea! About two hundred yards to our right was a farmhouse, which was on fire, and as we sat drinking our tea watching it, the door opened and a German Officer and another soldier came out waving a white flag, so I cautiously waved them forward. The officer spoke good English and he said they wished to surrender,so I said "Very good, sit down and have some tea". He then asked if we were British, American or Canadian, and I proudly told him that we were English, so he then said that he wished to surrender his company to us. I then ordered him to send his soldier back to the farmhouse and return with his company, I also said that if he did not return I would shoot the officer. The soldier did return with about a hundred and twenty others. I apologised to the officer that I could not possibly make tea for such a large number, and we had a laugh about it.
I struggled back into the tank in order to radio this information back to H.Q.and was told to escort the prisoners with another member of my crew to Infantry H.Q. about a mile back and hand them over. I had a map reference for them, and I explained to the German officer that we would walk in single file, with him first and me behind and that if any funny business started I would shoot him, the rest of the prisoners were being covered by my crew member. We found the Infantry H.Q. and handed the Prisoners over. Just at that moment about five mortar bombs landed around us and I felt something hit the right side of my right knee. It was not too painful and when I looked down I saw it was a small piece of metal sticking out. Reaching down I pulled it out and threw it away, not realising the trouble this would cause me later. We left H.Q. to return to my crew and Apollo, but after about a quarter of a mile we walked into a field in which one of our tanks was burning fiercely and we heard a shout coming from that direction. Approaching towards the tank and in a deep furrow we found Arthur Egerton, another one of my friends. He came from Hollinwood near Manchester. He could not move and said that he had tried to bale out when the tank was hit but the snatch plug had not worked and the cord had pulled him up short causing him to fall on his back across the right hand track, before falling to the ground. We found out later that he had broken his back and was paralysed. Mortar bombs then started falling around us as we had been spotted, so I explained to Arthur that we had better go and made him a promise that we would come back for him after dark. We got back to Apollo and we were by then extremely hungry so after making all the guns useless in case the Germans came back, we nipped over to the farmhouse taking our machine guns and revolvers with us. We found some bread, potatoes and vegetables in the kitchen and someone found a live chicken. We chopped the head off the poor thing and put it in the pan with everything else. Providentially everything was burning except the kitchen, and we even found a tablecloth, which was ceremoniously put on the table. So we all sat round the table in a very civilised way and had dinner, we were only short of a bottle of wine.
We had radioed back to H.Q. that we were going to go back for Arthur and asked them to send an ambulance to the map reference I had already given. My driver and I then went on our way back to Arthur. We came to a ditch across a field and as I jumped across I heard a noise below and on landing the other side I noticed a hole in the ditch and out of this came three Germans, an officer, a soldier and a Red Cross man. The soldier put his guns on the ground and the officer gave me his Luger pistol and his binoculars. When I explained what we were doing, the Red Cross man interpreted this to the other two as he spoke some English. We explained that Arthur would need a stretcher, so the Red Cross man went off saying he would find something, and we told him where to find us. After we had found Arthur the Red Cross man arrived shortly afterwards with a door he had found from somewhere, and he showed us how to roll Arthur onto it without damaging him any more than he already was. It took us three hours to struggle back to Apollo where the ambulance was supposed to meet us. I got on the radio to see why they were not there and it appeared that three ambulances had tried to get through but could not make it. Eventually a Churchill tank was sent up the crew cursing because it had been so difficult getting through, and Arthur was lifted up onto the top of it. He was tied onto the top of the drivers' and co-drivers' positions, and the co-driver and the three Germans held Arthur in place. Before they left I climbed up to ask if he was alright and he asked me to write to his wife to exlain that she might not hear from him for a while. I promised I would and they went away vanishing into the dark. About a week later I learned that he had died. I did write to his wife, and she replied and asked if I would call and see her when I was next home.
It was over a year later that I managed to get some leave and finding her address I knocked on the door. A lady of about 25 years of age answered and I asked if she was Mrs. Egerton. She replied "Why do you ask?" and I explained who I was and that I had called as requested. She invited me in and then explained that Arthur's wife had died. The lady I spoke to was her sister and she had moved into Arthur's house and had adopted the baby daughter who was then about three years old, that as far as I knew he had never seen.
After my leave I returned to Italy and eventually when the war finished I was stationed in Austria until my demob, and was sent home.
In 2005 since the end of the war I had an urge to visit the graves of the men of my Regiment, but unfortunately they were scattered in may places in War Graves in North Africa and Italy.
My wife Maureen and I found out where the graves of David Owen and Arthur Egerton were through the British War Graves Commission on the internet. In 2000 we had tried to book a holiday with a Birmingham Coach company to travel to Italy on a Battlefield Tour which would have taken us to Cassino and the Rimini area. Unfortunately this was cancelled due to lack of support on that occasion. It seems as though it was meant to happen however. In 2004 we found a cruise on the ship "Discovery" was going round Italy and would call in at Ancona which was not far from Gradarra where my friends were buried.
We booked on this cruise with four other friends, and it was near the end of the cruise in October that we called in at Ancona. Maureen and I took a taxi to Gradarra which was further than we thought but nothing would stop us this time as it was too good an opportunity to miss after 60 years of waiting. The Cemetery is beautifully laid out, extending up a steep hill with lawns and trees. There must be about three hundred Royal Tank Regiment graves, but the main ones I wanted to see were easily found. David Owen, Frank Cook and Tommy Holsey were in the first row, and Arthur Egerton was on the second row. I had waited so long for this moment and it was extremely emotional. I felt very humble as these were very young men of great quality and I had been present when each of them had been killed. These terrible memories will always be with me. The memory of David Owen especially for he saved my life seconds before he was killed.
While looking at Arthur's grave we saw some faded roses and a small plastic card with a poem on it inscribed "To Dad" and signed from Judith. I concluded that this must be the three year old orphan I had met in 1945 and that she must now be 63.
On leaving the cemetery we signed the visitors book and noticed that a Judith and David Heyes from Manchester had been there only six days before us.
On arriving home in Jersey, I was in the library one day and looked in the telephone directory for Manchester to see if I could find Judith but there were so many Heyes it was impossible to try them all. I eventually tried the British Legion but they said they could not help me. The next week I found the Salvation Army number in Failsworth, and spoke to a Major Hancock who immediately said of course they would help.
He said it may take some time and when I gave him Judith's name he exclaimed that he knew a lady of that name. However it was unlikely to be her and he would contact me when they found her. That evening the phone rang and it was Judith, she was in fact his friend. She was too emotional to speak then, but phoned back two days later and said she would like to meet me. Judith and David then visited us in Jersey in January, and she was overcome to have found someone who knew her father and could tell her how he had died fighting bravely for his country.
It must be a million to one chance that the Salvation Army Major actually knew Judith and that we were able to be put in contact again after 60 years.

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