大象传媒

I had always wanted to join the Army and was in the Army Cadets at school, and during the war I was in the Infantry, known as PBI. I was only 19 at the time of this story which is about Monte Cassino and Monastery Hill, Italy. .

On the 11th May, 1944 we crossed the River Rapido at midnight to try to capture Bridgehead from the enemy. Many of our boats were lost due to the fast flow of the curren. Others were riddled with bullets and some sank. We had to scramble to the bank on the other side which was very steep and muddy. There was a German minefield on the embankment and unfortunately we lost many of our men there.

Then 2 Units crossed over to try to capture the small hillock known as Point 36 on the side of the road leading towards to the town of Cassino. Eventually, with a bayonet charge, we managed to take this hillock, and we captured both Germans and their machine-guns. We had to fight our way through to Cassino but we finally reached there. Cassino fell into our hands on the 18th May after 8 days of continuous fighting. In the meantime, the Poles had reached the top of Monastery Hill.

While I was in Italy I was wounded 3 times. Strangely, it was my right side each time and never my left. My right leg got hit twice, first by a grenade explosion and secondly because of a mortar bomb, and my right forefinger was hit by a bullet. However, I think I was very lucky as I saw many of my comrades killed but I survived.

By the time the war ended, I was with my Regiment in Greece. I remained in the Army after the war ended and was based back in England until I left in 1947

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