大象传媒

GOTHIC LINE

We are now at the end of August 1944 and events were moving on to
one of the major confrontations of the latter part of the War in Italy the Battle of the Gothic Line.
To start with, it meant for us a series of long journeys from one assembly area to another whilst the various units tried to sort themselves out. At an early stage we ended up at Porto Recanati on the east coast of Italy. By contrast, I had been bathing at Cecina on the west coast only days before. We occupied gun positions but we never did any firing. We accepted this quite philosophically and it was only later that we realised that this was a clear indication that Jerry was beginning to split and move back. It was a pattern that was to persist, with a great variety of variations, until the end of hostilities.
When we did move on we went to the area of Fabriano. I spent some time rescuing equipment, mainly broken down trucks, and for good measure had two nights 'camping out' first to find the trucks and then to shepherd them back to the unit.
After an all-night move we came into action near Fossombrone but there was no firing. We moved on to the area of Marciano where we occupied an underground Command Post abandoned by the Germans. It was marvellously built with traditional German skill and in spite of rain and mud was absolutely dry inside. And just to remind us that Jerry was still around, there were quite a few shells on our area that evening. Clearly we were moving now to a break in the Gothic Line positions; it had to come fairly soon.
Over the next few days while we remained in our underground bunker, big things were being planned. Then we moved north to the village of Saint Clemente. This was open ground and we were heavily shelled coming into position. I was in a small gully at the time he started dropping them and I spent quite a time flat out in the mud. We eventually got things straightened out a bit
but now we had a new enemy, rain and mud. It rained heavily during the night and our bivouac tents were flooded out.
And so it went on. We made several moves in the same area and there was a good deal of shooting. Eventually we reached a point where we were getting orders to move only to have them cancelled within the hour, and then it would all start up again. The rain and mud continued to give us more trouble than any action from Jerry.
Eventually we found ourselves near Bibbiana and from there we went back into action, this time beyond Mercato. Again, however, it was a quiet action with very little firing. The War seemed to be moving away from us.

MOVING TOWARDS THE END

It was about this time that things started to change. In retrospect the reason
was obvious; the German army was steadily being forced to retreat and the end of hostilities could almost be predicted, although it was still not at all clear just when this would happen.
It was a curious time for us. We pulled back and occupied billets near Pergia. I found myself doing Instructor on 'Ack's' classes which was rather like going back to school when the War was almost over. For recreation I got involved with a local dance band of Italian musicians from a near-by village. They were very keen to learn some of the hits of the day. We had no music but I was able to write down the melody lines for some of the war time tunes and it was amazing how they picked them up. They played for several dances for the boys with yours truly conducting and they also entertained us in the Sergeants Mess.
Another highlight of that period was a weeks leave to Rome. Reading the diary of these events years later, it was truly amazing all the things we managed to do with a War still raging.
We had proper rooms in a small hotel which had been taken over as a Sergeants Mess. There was a Sergeants Club for our use and organised tours throughout the city. Dinner at the Alexandra Club was a hot favourite followed by a cinema or ENSA show. The titles of some of the films are interesting, 'In Which we Serve' 'The Dictator' with Charlie Chaplin, and 'Thousands Cheer.' For good measure I was at a broadcast by the Rome Radio Symphony Orchestra and a visit to St. Peter's and Vatican City included an audience with the Pope, along with thousands of others.
The leave over, it was back to duty. We are now talking about November / December 1944. We went back into action and after several moves we were in the area of Faenza. There was still a war going on but our main concern was again rain and MUD. It was the wet season and the mud was appalling. Add to
that the fact that Jerry rarely stayed in one place for more than a few hours and that meant continuous movement for us as well. We were not too bad in the Command Post where we normally occupied a building of some sort. Nevertheless, the conditions were pretty dreadful.

CHRISTMAS 1944

The period of Christmas 1944 deserves a short chapter on its own for it
demonstrates the 'breaks' that can come along even in the middle of a War. About a week before Christmas 1944 we received orders to proceed to Benevento to act as a training Battery. Benevento was four hundred miles south of the battle line and it was clear that we would be out of action over the Christmas period. By 24th December we were fully installed. The journey south was cold, wet and miserable and on arrival we found that we were under canvas. Not the best of accommodation in the middle of winter. However, the Sergeants Mess was comfortable and well heated, so that was some compensation.
I remember that Christmas vividly. It was quite miraculous that for three days prior to 25th December, we had been travelling in battle stained vehicles down the heel of Italy in weather almost guaranteed to give you pneumonia, yet in a short 24 hours after we arrived, and in spite of the not too comfortable billets, we were able to sit down and enjoy a full Christmas dinner with all the trimmings. Granted by this time we had had ample practice in trying to maintain the elements of civilised living even in spite of War and to their credit the Army always came up trumps at times like Christmas. How they did it I don't know but it truly was an excellent job of work and they deserve all credit for it.
So that was Christmas 1944. The camp was pretty miserable with wet snow everywhere. I took a bad bout of tonsolitis and landed in hospital. I was only there for about ten days but that was another bonus after the Christmas dinner. I actually had a bed to sleep in with sheets !! sheer bliss. After I had thawed out and my temperature had dropped a bit, I began to feel better. However, more was to follow. Whilst I was in hospital the Battery moved back to the line near Forli. When I was discharged I found myself in charge of a small rear party left behind to clear up the camp. We had some transport and after a
delay of several days, we set off to rejoin the unit. There had been a heavy snowfall in central Italy and the road conditions were pretty grim. It took us about three days to make the journey and we eventually made it to Forli. It was still snowing.

THE LAST BATTLE

The last battle was not much of a battle at all. We kept moving from one gun position to another; Jerry was continuously on the move and so were we. We did very little shooting. It was what you might call the 'phoney' War all over again.
On the 9th of March, the news reached us that the Allied Forces in Europe had crossed the Rhine. This was great news but our immediate reaction after almost three years of slogging up the heel of Italy was ' how much longer.' Just how much longer was this wretched War going to drag on?
The action at this time was based on the river Senio which Jerry tried to hold. However, after a series of typical false starts, we crossed the River Senio on 13th. April. We were told to stop everything and stay in a 'hide.' We would be off again in a matter of hours.
So it went on. Gun position after gun position. sometimes quite a bit of firing and then nothing at all. It was typical of the last stand on Jerry's part. Then on 20th. April we crossed the River Po by pontoon bride. The river Po was the last major obstacle in the Italian campaign. However, it was not yet over. We made a successful crossing and occupied a gun position a few miles ahead. We found a scrupulously clean farmhouse which we used as a Command Post. It was clear that we were rapidly catching up with real civilisation.

ARMISTICE

There is an entry in my war diary at 28th April 1945 which, for the first
time, mentions Pauda. That is significant for it was at Padua in north east Italy that the 60th Battery, 23rd Field Regiment RA eventually pulled out of action for the last time in the Italian campaign.
However, I go too fast. On 28th April we were still an overnight journey away from Padua. I was sent on ahead to help organise a hide for the guns and vehicles and I was besieged by civilians shaking hands, whilst I waited to guide the guns into the hide area.
However, we were soon on the road again and by daylight the next morning we were just short of Padua. The whole Regiment of guns and vehicles were strung out, stationary, on the road.
The entry for 29th April 1945 reads ' daylight this morning found us just short of Padua. We had slept fitfully during the night in the back of the trucks. Fom 4 o'clock onwards we were stationary on the road. We didn't quite know what to make of things. They were bringing odd prisoners out of buildings and there was a few bangs in the distance. Apart from that, nothing. We were to occupy Padua and go into action whilst the infantry mopped up. As we entered the town we were welcomed by the population who thronged every street. It was all very exciting. We occupied a gun position in Padua but never fired a shot.
The entry for 30th April continues the story..... 'It looks as though we are staying here. We are out of action and waiting for whatever is to happen. The question is 'Is it the end? ' ..............
......... and the entry for 1st. May completes the picture. 'Last night General Mark Clark announced that all German military power in Italy had ceased.' Whether that means that the war in Italy was completely over ..... nobody seemed quite to know. Anyway, we are out of action and reverting to billet life at Padua. And revert to billet life we did in double quick time. The Command Post we had set up was a classroom in the local school. On the morning of 30th

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