- Contributed by听
- Trooper Tom Canning - WW2 Site Helper
- People in story:听
- Tom Canning
- Location of story:听
- Italy
- Background to story:听
- Army
- Article ID:听
- A3300788
- Contributed on:听
- 19 November 2004
Dear Ron MacGill
In response to your query of 鈥渨as there a cover up at Ortona鈥 鈥 possibly the words cover 鈥 up is a bit strong as it was a bit embarrassing to the upper echelons of both divisions, and of course the Corps Commander. There is a mention of it though in Lt.Col. W. Nicholson鈥檚 book 鈥 The Canadians in Italy 1943 鈥 45 !
The way we heard of it was thus :-
The 1st Infantry Division had been fighting hard since landing on the beaches of Sicily in July, and were particularly well thought of by Gen Montgomery as a first class fighting unit. By December the 1st Div were exhausted at Ortona and were pulled back for a rest. On the way back, they were overtaken by some unit of the 5th Cdn Armed Div who had recently landed and had taken some time to be outfitted as they had rejected the Tanks etc left by the 7th Brit Armed Div who had returned to the U.K to prepare for the Normandy landings.
Some idiot of the 5th Armed Div stuck his head out of the back of a truck and yelled at some Seaforths (2nd Bde) that the 鈥 Mighty Maroon Machine鈥, would now show them how to fight !
During the1st Divs. two day rest, the 5th Armed had come upon the 4th battalion - 1st German Para Div. who proceeded to show the 鈥済reen鈥 5th Cdn Div how to really fight. The 5th Cdn Div then pulled back only to be met by the fully rested 1st Div who then concluded their baptism of war! It apparently took some time to separate them as there was more than just a little animosity between the two Divisions.
When Gen Montgomery was informed of the true facts of this skirmish
he 鈥榝ired鈥 the 5th Armed Div. and after the small battle in which they were occupied , sent them over close to the US 5th Army sector.
That left the 1st div without Tank support and so the British 21st and 25th Tank brigades were 鈥榲olunteered鈥 for the task.
The first time in battle together was at the Hitler/Gustav lines in which all suffered tremendous casualties with the North Irish Horse losing some 14 tanks in a few minutes with 30 crew members killed while half a mile away the 51 st RTR were losing the same !
The 5th Cdn Armed then blundered into the British 6th Armoured , who were returning from the Battle to refuel and losses were mounting and so they joined us on the left in a reserve position, when they finally took over the lead were severely mauled at Frosinone.
-- 2 --
The 21st Tank bde then took over the lead for the subterfuge towards Sienna, before back tracking to Fabriano and Jesi for the Gothic Line Battle on the 25th August, with both 25th Tank Bde and 5th Armed in reserve, we were then supporting the 2nd Cdn Bde of the PPCLI 鈥 Seaforths and Loyal Edmontons with the 1st bde over by the coast and the 3rd bde on our left towards Croce and Gemmano. We all took a beating at Coriano and the 25th Tanks with 5th Cdn Div plus the 46th 鈥 56th and 4th British Divs joined us along with the 78th Div. and elements of the 4th Indian Div and a Greek bde. the battle concluded at Rimini on the 23rd September 鈥44.
If you, by any chance read Lt. Col. Nicholson鈥檚 qccount of that Battle you will find a tremendous tribute to 21st Tank bde. by Corps Commander Tommy Burns and others for鈥 unselfishly sending in squadrons of tanks regardless of the cost鈥 鈥 the costs were high as we lost some 306 with many more wounded, including myself !
All of my regimental dead were buried at the Cdn cemetery at Riccione on the 1st October 1944 with your padre and our Fr.鈥漃op鈥 Higgins of the Newcastle Diocese leading the prayers and the 2nd Bde Commader T.G. Gibson giving the address, the lament was played by the Seaforths鈥 piper and the band was from the 2nd New Zealand Div.- they say it was beautiful ceremony but this is hearsey as I was in hospital from 18th September until January 鈥45. My 35 friends have since been moved to Coriano Ridge where we had a great deal of bother with the German 1st paras once more. The 21st Tank bde continued to support the Canadians until they were moved to NW Eruope to join the other Canadian Divisions fighting there in early 鈥45.
I visited the Coriano War Cemetery last September and it is a truly beautiful and peaceful place to-day where 2000 men are buried, just one of seven cemeteries in the area, including many members of both the 1st and 5th Cdn divs who are finally at peace !
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