大象传媒

22 May 1944
The push to Rome
6th South African Armoured Division

We left Frasso at three o'clock in the morning and proceeded to the concentration area a mile from Cassino where we had our first view of the new division which we had just joined. We stayed here for a week during which time we learnt the intricacies of a Sherman tank and also formed a friendship which was to prove invaluable in the days ahead of us. On the afternoon of 1 June we were ordered to prepare to move and after traveling all night we climbed a big hill during the hottest part of the day and occupied a small place called Rocca d' Arce without any opposition. During this time Jerry was being chased back fairly fast and at last Rome was in sight and on the night of 4 June we were off again and after being dive bombed and strafed we reached our next objective at half past eleven, which was an agricultural college about five miles North East of Rome and as everything was fairly quiet we began to wander what the reason was until we were informed that Rome was in Allied hands, and then we began to wander what was coming next and we knew by next night for we had to pack up in a hurry and at eleven o'clock set off and after crawling along the road finally passing through Rome at three o'clock in the morning, but I was too sleepy to take much notice and at seven o'clock next morning finally arrived at our destination where we got down to it until breakfast was ready.

8 June 1944
Civitta Castellana

At two thirty in the afternoon we left our rendezvous and proceeded North until we were brought sharply to a halt by the terrific fire of our own M. 10's firing at the town of Civita Castellana which could be plainly seen, so we hurriedly debussed and pushed on up the road on foot and after a patrol had informed us that the town was occupied only by a hospital full of German wounded we walked in and took up positions about a mile outside the town. It was here that Kesseling had his Headquarters until the fall of the capital and so various patrols were sent out to look for anything which would be useful. We stayed here for two days and the only excitement was the capture of a German ENSA party who were wandering about looking for something or other.

10 June 1944

Today we received our orders for the next part of the drive up Italy and our next objective was Florence which was two hundred miles away and early the next morning we left on our long and arduous journey. Already the tanks were miles ahead and unable to gain contact with Jerry and it wasn't until 20 June that we finally bumped into him.

20 June 1944
Bagnorreggio

During the last two days it had become fairly obvious that we were at last gaining and at about 4.30 p.m. we embussed and dug in just outside the town and owing to the fact that it was strongly held we stood to all night in case of a counter attack. At eleven o'clock next morning the tanks left to make a flanking movement of the town and we proceeded to the starting line to make a frontal attack. We stayed here until 1.30 p.m. when word came through that the tanks were held up by an escarpment so the plan was cancelled for twenty four hours so as to allow the 11th S.A. Motor Brigade to work around the left and clear the way and we retired to our normal positions less number 3 Company who stayed at the starting line in case of a counter attack. Early the next morning the tanks left once more and at 8.30 the Battalion moved off and contrary to expectations we walked straight in the place without encountering any opposition whatsoever, and so we proceeded to establish ourselves in the town which was a good size and we had plenty of food and wine given to us by the civilians.

23 June 1944

For the next five days we kept on advancing, being held up here and there by small pockets of resistance and we discovered the enemy in front of us were the famous Hermann Goering Regiment, and during one small action a great friend of mine, Albert Sessford, was killed by Spandau fire and we captured three prisoners, from one of whom I took the fountain pen with which I am writing, my need being greater than his.

28 June 1944

On the night of 27 June we pulled into a concentration area on the side of a hill and from here we could see the tanks engaging the enemy on a hill about a mile away and we knew that before we could have another ride we should have to take the hill and the surrounding features and at 8 o'clock we moved off through Ciancanno where we took a heavy battering from Jerry artillery and round about ten o'clock we dug in just away from the bottom of the hill, but no sleep came to us that night owing to an all night barrage by tanks and artillery and at 4 a.m. we started to climb and all went well until the leading platoon appeared over the top when they were immediately pinned down by two Spandous. My platoon were then ordered to work round the left and after fifteen minutes crawling on hands and knees we finally came in view of the Spandous which were immediately wiped out by Darkie Parker and his Bren gunner and then we discovered a couple of snipers were firing at us from a farmhouse so after another quarter of an hour fun?!! with the 2" mortar we cleared the house and took up a position all around the house and started digging in. Just as we finished three tanks of the Pretoria regiment arrived and things certainly looked a little bit brighter because we were nearly three hundred yards in front of the rest of the Company so the tanks did give us some feeling of security. At three o'clock in the afternoon the leading section was counter attacked and two of us had the job of collecting the spare ammunition and taking it forward and although it was a nerve racking job we got the O.K. When darkness fell we all stood to and there was very little sleep for us that night owing to the sound of tanks being driven about, but contrary to expectations no further counter attack came and on the following day a patrol was sent out but found out that the enemy had broken contact, so we advanced to the town of Sarteanno where we stayed for four days, during which time we were visited by Field Marshall Smuts.

2 July 1944

Today we packed up once again and boarded the Troop Carrying Vehicles and drove on for about fifteen miles when we came across five carriers of the Grenadiers which had been knocked out by a Tiger Tank, and here we embussed and carried on our journey by foot and after a five miles march took up positions at the bottom of a hill which we were ordered to capture owing to the fact that it overlooked the town of Montepulciano and at first light on the morning of 3 July we started to climb yet another of Italy's mountains but luckily the only enemy troops on it were two snipers who were both captured after causing a bit of trouble to the number 1 company killing two and wounding one and needless to say after passing through number 1 company lines both were worse for wear.
On reaching the top we dug in and as we had just finished and getting the brew on we were shelled pretty heavily by 155 mm mortars which Jerry had brought from the Russian front, and No. 3 Company had three killed including Len Bean from Hull and Les Howard from Aylesbury also eight wounded. The following night the Scots Guards passed through us and we were able to sit back and take things easy for a while, and we made the best of it, although we were on top of a big hill. One day two of the lads Ginger Brough and Jack Russon went out and came back with one turkey, three chickens and five pigeons and it wasn't long before the lot were in the pot and just as they were boiling nicely orders came that we were to move to a small village about a mile away, but when we did move the pot was slung on a pole and carried by two of the lads and as soon as we got settled in they were soon boiling again and we had the best food for many days because owing to the rapidity of the advance it usually was late when the Q arrived and consequently our dinner consisted of either cold meat and veg. or cold bully.

6 July 1944

Another short advance today to a place named Castellina in Chianti and a stay for two days during which we did a long distance patrol to Castle Brolio which we found occupied and returned on the night of the 8th to find the Company had moved to Radda in Chianti the next village up the axis, and on the night of the 12 July we moved to Castle Brolio to strengthen the Scots Guards who had suffered fairly heavy casualties capturing the castle.

13 to 19 July 1944

During the time mentioned we stayed at the same place owing to the fact the S.A. Division and the French on our left had travelled very quickly and were so far ahead of the 8th Army that a halt was called to enable the 4th Br. Division and the 6th Armoured on our left to come up and straighten out the line before the final push, which would take us to florence, and most important the possibility of a spell out of the line.
20 July 1944

Mount Domini and Strada

After a weeks lull we set off once again this time on the last lap and during the past week the French on our left had been relieved by the 2nd New Zealand E.F. and the race began as to who should be the first to enter Florence. On the night of 21st we embussed amidst a slight German Stonk and proceeded on foot up the hillside where we dug in and just as we were settling down for the night in the dimness of the last light we observed a number of troops coming up the hill, and it turned out to be a Company of Jocks Guards and we had only dug in just behind their position and when all turned out we were only on the wrong hill, so we had to pack up and walk to the correct objective where we didn't bother to dig in. Early next morning the Company were ordered to make a left flanking movement and capture a hill overlooking Mount Domini where no. 1, 3 and 4 Companies were having a tough and costly time of it and after a three hour march we arrived at the hill which was our objective.
The villagers told us that there were some Germans half way up the hill, so after five minutes rest we set off through a vineyard, No.4 Platoon with Major Crichton leading, and just as we left the shelter of the vines a terrific burst of Spandau fire rang out, killing Lieu. Gardner and wounding Ken Renshaw and Ron Booth. We lay down behind whatever we cover we could find and we were unable to move for half an hour when we observed the Germans running up the hill and although we fired all we had they got away. About half past three Major Crichton thought it safe to carry on so we set off up the hill, knowing that the sooner we captured the hill the easier it would be for the lads in the other Companies. We reached the top alright but as we entered a small copse we were fired on and so we took cover just below the brow and Jerry was lobbing hand grenades over the top, one of which burst between George Cowling and myself, wounding him in the shoulder but luckily I was only scratched in the shin. This went on for about an hour when silence fell, and after half an hour we began to get shelled, and Purple, Quiney and Charlton were all wounded pretty badly and it was beginning to get on my nerves. Anyway at half past eight we were relieved by No. 5 Platoon and half of No. 6 Platoon and we went to reinforce the rest of No. 6 Platoon on the main road in the village. Next morning we moved off up the hill again and this time straight over the top and down the other side to join the rest of the Battalion who had a fairly rough time and No. 2 Company was the strongest Company in the Battalion with 68 men. We stayed in the area of No. 3 Company Headquarters until half past seven in the evening when we took up a position on the left of No. 1 Company who were only about forty odd strong, and during the night a prisoner gave himself up and we discovered instead of the Herman Goering Division being our foes it was the 29th Panzer Grenadiers. We were now only about 12 miles from Florence so after a slight reorganisation in the Companies, making them two Platoons and a fairly large Company Headquarters we boarded the tanks early in the morning of 27 July and after passing through Greve we were fired on by a Mark VI (Tiger) which was later observed trundling away up the road, and we set off again, and we were proceeding up the road nice and easy when a terrific explosion took place, and my immediate thought were that we had been fired on and hit by the Tiger tank, but we had gone up on a mine instead and as the tank was "brewing up" we hurriedly jumped off and carried on up the road on foot to the top of a ridge where we stayed until nightfall when we carried on to the cluster of houses about a mile from the town of Strada. During the night we were doing various patrols and in day light stayed in the houses, and owing to the impossibility of walking around in daylight we knocked holes in the walls of the houses so as to make it possible to walk the length of the village unobserved. We stayed here for three days during which time we received eight hundred shells, Dusty Smith and Ted Drakes being killed and three lads wounded. On the second night here a great pal of mine Knocker White went out on a recce patrol with Dutton and Wade and failed to return. During this period No. 3 Company and C troop of the Pretoria Regiment were cut off for two days and the tanks having quite a lot of spare food on board fed the lads for that period.

30 July 1944

Owing to the fact that the Grenadiers had appeared in front of us we pulled back to the Troop Carrying Vehicles and proceeded to Impruneta which had been cleared by the Grenadiers the same day, and we stayed there for the day. That night at half past eight we proceeded on foot up the road to Florence and after two hours walk reached our objective round about midnight where we dug in midst very heavy shell fire and two hours later No. 3 and No. 4 Companies passed through us and just as the last man went through another heavy stonk came over and the two companies suffered fairly heavy casualties. For the next two days we were unable to move about a great deal, and on the night of the 3 August news came through that the Scots Guards were in the outskirts of Florence. That night five explosions were heard and we knew that the bridges had been blown and on the morning of 4 August the Platoon Commander and myself had a walk around and found two bodies of the Guardsmen who had been missed, one with both his legs off and a great hole in his side in which wasps were building a nest and the other lad had all his clothes blown off and the barrel of a 2" mortar twisted round his neck. a bit higher up we came across a sheet over a body and on investigation we discovered the naked body of a young woman of about twenty two who had been tied to the floor whilst the Germans had satisfied themselves of the sexual lust, and finally tired of her shot her through the head.

The following afternoon Canadians appeared in our midst and we knew that we had finished for the time and at three o'clock we left for a rest at Sienna having been relieved by the Canadian Seaforth Highlanders and we traveled back to Sienna leaving behind us many of our comrades who would never see England again.

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