大象传媒

The follwong two stories are from Charles Denton's A Troopers Story, Memories of World War Two and have been added to the site by Anne Wareing of the Lancs. Home Guard.

ALEMIEN

I now found myself in H squadron, as a gunner, in a Stewart (Honey) tank. My troop officer was Lt. Cooper. He joined the regiment not long before the battle We were in a group tanks, 25pounder artillery and infantry. We were The August Column", sent out to disrupt Rommel's supply lines, while the army regrouped at El Alemien.
We had just lost one of our troop's tanks, knocked out by an 88 half track. Since we outgunned, the crew of the knocked out tank climbed onto ours and we beet a hasty retreat. We finished up on the edge of the Libyan plateau. I remember looking down on the Africa Corps from the edge of the escarpment. I was out of the tank, peering down at the mass of vehicles below. The radio operator shouted "the 大象传媒 news is on, Charley". I grabbed the headphones he handed down to me from the turret.
The reporter told us that hand to hand, house to house fighting was taking place Stalingrad. I said "Thank Christ somebody is knocking them back鈥�.

The following day we were recalled We rejoined the regiment at Alemien and we were given Crusaders in place of the Honeys. The higher command had learnt the lesson that tanks were not cavalry. As a consequence they were now used correctly, to fight in the Hull down position from cover and destroy the enemy. Tanks and Artillery were drawn up behind the dunes on the edge of the Quattara depression.
I was in Three Troop. H Squadron. The night before the battle we discussed what we would do if we survived the war. My tank commander was a sergeant who had worked it factory making two stroke engines. The driver, John Collins was a Gloucester farmer, just wanted to go home and get on the golf course, He and Lt Cooper agreed to play golf together on their return to England. The radio operator, Bob - 'I forget his name was also a Terrier. Like me he just wanted to survive and go home.
We were given the task of moving around in front of the Africa Corps and luring them onto the guns of the Artillery and tanks, which were behind the dunes. This we did. We then took up hull down positions and joined in the turkey shoot. They were now on the receiving end. This was the last time Rommel took the offensive. The first battle of Alemien was over. Our Troop leader, Lt Cooper was killed in the action A shell from a knocked out half track landed a few yards from him, when he was walking to report to the squadron command killing him instantly. John Collins our driver was later killed in Normandy. During the battle my bedroll was shot off the back of the tank. I managed to scrounge blankets and a ground sheet from my comrades in the troop The Squadron drew back. I was then transferred to the Squadron leaders tank.

FROM NAPLES TO CASSINO

The winter of 1943 was wet and muddy from my recollection. We seemed to be constantly moving. The Germans were dug in on the Gustav Line. Rome was an open city but to get to it we had to get past Monte Cassino. For a short period we were holding positions in farmhouses down below the Monastery. Our Colonel had volunteered our services to hold infantry positions. We were out of range of their machine guns, but could be reached by Mortars and shells. When they shelled the first one we were in, we moved to another close by and then again a couple of days later. In the third one we were relieved by a company of Guards. They came at night, when we had got into our slit trenches. There were German positions in front of us. The Guards told us that they expected a raid on our positions. We were glad to climb out and let them take over.
We then moved into houses close to the river. We had to guard a Bailey bridge. During the day it had a Jeep parked on it. This was supposed to fool Jerry into thinking that it was out of use. At dusk we had to move it off, to let the ambulances through, to pick up the wounded. I climbed into the driving seat to steer it off; while the others pushed it off. As soon as we started, a shell landed alongside the bridge. I was clouted on the side of the head by a piece of rock and knocked out. The other lads thought I had bought it, "Dennys dead" one of them shouted, "no I'm not I shouted back.
The following evening at dusk, a Batman and a Cook from H.Q. arrived to make our numbers up. We walked out of the house, to get into the slit trenches by the bridge. The batman was four yards ahead of me, the cook was four yards behind. A mortar shell landed alongside the house. The batman was screaming in pain, with his calf muscle twisted round his leg, the cook was down with shrapnel in his back. I was untouched. That was there first time away from H.Q. probably the end of the war for them.
I was looking out of a small window when they first shelled the Monastery. Walter Coop had seen it first and shouted "come and look at this Charley. The shells didn't seem to have much effect. We could not know that the monastery would be destroyed.

We then went up into the Mountains, to the village of Pesca Penetara above the river Sangro.. From there we went on foot, with mules carrying our gear down into the valley to the river. We had to cross over a foot bridge. Women from the village of Pizaferata were there to meet us. They took hold of the heavy radio batteries, slung them onto their heads and started off up the hill as if they were no weight at all.
The village had not been occupied by the Germans. Apparently they had sent patrols, but the partisans who lived in the village had fought them off. I suspect they thought it wasn't worth losing men to take the village. We were made welcome and gave them our cigarettes. We spent the night in the village and then they guided us to the nearby town of Gambrali. On the way we passed the bodies of six men in khaki. Probably a Polish patrol. They had been there through the winter. The partisans took their boots. We had no time, so we asked the partisans to bury them. We entered Gambrali, the Germans had slaughtered all the animals and we saw no civilians. We then went back to the village.

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