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Our Christmas celebrations were to be held in the local school. We decorated it with fir pines and other evergreens. Christmas was really a great success considering it was spent under active service conditions and the short time we had to prepare for it. The food was very good with an excellent dinner and two bottles of beer for each man. We were given free fags, a bar of chocolate, packets of sweets, oranges and apples to take back to our billets. I know for certain that apart from the fags, many of the lads gave all the rest away to the poor little bambinos who were waiting outside the school when we came out from dinner. I don鈥檛 suppose many of them had known a real happy Christmas and anyway I know I could not have eaten mine after seeing the pleading longing look in those kids eyes and the way they sang and danced around us, hugging and kissing us as we gave them the chocolate, sweets and fruit. It gave us such a wonderful warm feeling inside and far more pleasure that if we had eaten them ourselves. A good batch of mail came up for us on Christmas Eve, so in all we had a very good Christmas.

Our Christmas break was shorter than we had expected because on Boxing Day we were told to get everything packed up and prepared for a move on the 27th December 1943. It was bitter cold when we left Celenza at 5.30 am and the heavy clouds still clung to the hills hiding everything except objects within a yard or so of our carriers. I was glad not to be driving our carriers that day, as it was very cold in the front. We in the back were kept warm by the heat from the engines. Our old bovino complaint set in that morning, we had no fags left, so we tore up some lettercards or other very thin paper and put some pipe tabbacco of Tim Farleys in it. Not quite so elite as Craven A or Players, but never the less most welcome. The only fault was they would keep going out unless you kept puffing at them and made sure no air got in the side of the paper. It was a very long journey that day and it was 7pm before we arrived at Palombaro. The battalion, with the exeption of D company and our platoon, stayed at Casoli about four miles back from us. It was dark and very cold when we arrived and I was looking forward to something nice to eat and a good hot cup of tea. It was agreed that our company cooks would send food up for us that night from Casoli and then we would come under D Company for rations. The first night our four detachments managed to get into a large room in a house already occupied by Italian civilians. The other two detachments were in reserve at BHQ in Casoli.

As soon as it was light Cpl. Compton and Sgt. Charlwoods detachments moved out and took up gun positions at a farm about half a mile from Palombaro. Jobber Brown鈥檚 detachment and ours moved into an empty house in the centre of the town. The winds were bitter cold and we kept a fire going all day, but our billet was quite a treat. Lofty, Ern and myself had a little room of our own with a table chairs and cupboards and a real toilet in the hall nearby. In the early morning and evening we had to "Stand To" in positions overlooking the valley facing Ortona. During the days we sometimes saw our planes attacking enemy positions and the RA shelling targets near Ortona. At night we worked out the guard duty so that each of us did one turn of about an hour, this included the NCO鈥檚 . Each night the turns were changed around so we were not on guard at the same hour each night. They were very lonely guards and apart from the howling winds, creaking doors and windows, it iT was very eerie. On New Years Eve it was very cold with a gale force wind howling round the house and near the church and old sign kept grating and screeching on its rusty old hinges. While I was on my hour鈥檚 guard it started to rain and then turned to sleet. I kept walking up and down the road at a brisk pace to keep warm and I was very glad when Lofty came out to do his hour on guard. When lofty came back in from his turn, he said it was snowing hard.

In the morning the snowdrifts were the deepest I had seen. They completely covered our trucks and carriers. The two detachments up at the farm were cut off so Sgt. Gilb Mullins asked us to group with him and take their breakfast in sealed containers. What a job it was, it blew a blizzard and the snow made one side of our faces quite numb. We stumbled along, sometimes sinking into deep drifts and often coming up against a huge towering bank of it. At one time we sank into a hedge completely covered in snow until at last we arrived at the farm. Popeye and Bill Blackett were shoveling and sweeping a path from the house to the road. The others were inside by a big fire. The room was rather smokey but it was warm and the civilians hurried to thaw us out. They took our wet coats and gloves to dry by the fire and made room for us to sit by it, and they kept warming balaclavas to bring back the warmth to our hands and faces. We stayed a while until our clothes were dry and we had thawed out. Meanwhile the other lads had finished their breakfast and we picked up the empty containers and made our way back to our billet. We took the mid day meal up too and Jobber Browns detachment took up the evening meal. On 2nd January 1944 the Germans threw some shells over into the town and two enemy planes came over and machine-gunned Casoli. We had to Stand To nearly all night in case the Germans were going to counter attack our positions. With all the snow about and the freezing conditions it was very miserable. I was glad when we were able to Stand Down and get curled up in a blanket. Earlier on that day we helped the civilians to clear the snow through the town.

During the week we were there I became very friendly with the Italian family. They thought a lot of us lads, and did some washing and ironing for us. In the evening I sat by the fire with them and tried to talk with a lot of signs and a little English from their daughter who was a student. I always had to stay and have supper with them, and they insisted that I should sit at the head of the table as Papa Adolpho Gravano had to have his meals in bed as he was suffering from a severe liver complaint. At one time I think that family must have been quite well off. They were spotlessly clean and set the table as if I was an Ambassador or VIP. They would not let me do anything for myself. After we had eaten they would refill my glass with wine. They would peel fruit or crack nuts for me while they talked, and their daughter Antonette, would come and sit by me and sew. As she talked and laughed, she would try to teach me a few words of Italian. She was such a lovely girl, so full of fun and energy. She even loved to join in when we were kicking a football about. Every time I went into town I would buy her some Sugar Almonds or other candies and she would laugh and hug and kiss me.

On Sunday 16th January 1944 the commanding officer got the whole battalion together in the cinema and gave us the final briefing on what was to be the battalions job and what opposition to expect on the following night. We were very busy all the next day packing and checking all the Kit. We drew 48-hour individual rations, strapped mortar bombs on to 鈥淓verest Manpacks鈥� and fixed our equipment so that it would be fairly comfortable for a long march. I said goodbye to my dear friends Mania and Adolpho Gravano and to my beautiful darling Antonette. There was a lot of hugging and a lot more tears as I left them.

At 4pm on 17th January 1944 we marched through the town, got on to TCV鈥檚 and moved away from Mondracone. We traveled to a concentration area about eight miles from the river were we had a cooked meal. It was about 8pm and very dark, we sat on the ground resting and smoking after our meal until we were told to get ready to move on again. We had a long march ahead of us, and as we moved forward slowly the barrage opened up. The sky was lit up by a mass of red tracer shells from the Bofors, heavies, mediums and 25 pounder guns as they poured shell after shell into targets near and beyond the river. The enemy were well prepared too as we could hear shells and mortar bombs exploding on our side of the river. After we had been marching for some time, we saw two military red caps at a railway crossing and one of our lads asked them how far it was to the river. They said it was half a mile; it was the longest half-mile I have ever walked. Some of the rifle company lads who were carrying bombs for us dropped out for a little rest but eventually caught up with us before we reached the river. After a while we came to a high grass bank with a narrow path running along the top of it. Over the other side was a low wall and then a steep drop down to the river Garigliano.

The barrage had eased a little but the Germans were still shelling and mortaring the area. They had spandaus firing onto the track at irregular intervals. When a burst came over it seemed to tear the very air asunder. Bullets skimmed the track and hit into the wall below. We waited for a break in the Spandau fire, then about eighteen of us would dash like hell over the track and down over the wall to the river below. The assault boats were ferrying men, equipment and ammunition over to the other side of the river. How many were killed or wounded crossing the track that night, I do not know. Fortunately, I think casualties were few. I did know one young lad who was killed and three who were wounded. Down the bank we scrambled and waded knee deep out to the assault boats. I was not in the first bunch over, as I jumped into a boat there were others unloading on the other side of the river and some boats on their way back to ferry more men over. The river was not very wide at this point and we were on a slight bend. When our boat was full we pushed off and enemy mortar bombs were falling quite close all the time. Some exploded on the bank above, and near the track, and one or two fell into the river. We were not in the boat very long but it seemed like an eternity. As each of the mortar bombs exploded we ducked instinctively but no shrapnel hit us.

As soon as we landed we hurried as fast as we could to some cover further on. As I was dashing over this area with Sgt. Mullins and Ernie Hayward, we nearly trod on a Tellher mine. Peter Kirk spotted it and yelled to us. It was nearly uncovered, so we marked it with some sticks and passed the word back for the pioneer platoon to deal with it. We did not stay long behind this cover, just long enough to sort ourselves out. We had to make another big dash over an open field with occasional dives to earth when a shell or mortar bomb exploded nearby. I could hear pieces of shrapnel whizzing by, some hitting a fence or landing on the ground around us. Eventually we came to a little brick footbridge over a deep water channel, and crossing over to the other side we spread out in our proper extender battle formation. Our company at least had a long, long wait here while the rifle companies were mopping up small resisting enemy groups in isolated farmhouses or buildings. It was comparatively safe here as the river was the enemy鈥檚 chief target for shelling and mortaring to hold up the crossing and cause as many casualties as possible. My own platoon commander, Lt. Moore, was killed when a mortar bomb exploded as he was about to get into an assault boat, and two other lads were wounded.

The moon was up but it was not very bright and over the whole valley was a cloud of smoke from shellburst. The flashes were vivid and the air was heavy with the smell of cordite and gunpowder. Most of us lay down and rested, we were not allowed to smoke openly but we did have a few crafty drags by covering our heads completely with our gas capes. It was too cold to sleep even if we wanted to. A few chaps did doze off but the cold air soon woke hem up again. We only had our gas capes and ground sheets, no great coats or blankets. I got up several times to stamp my feet which were like lumps of ice. While I was sitting down I saw a section of a rifle company mop up a Spandau nest in a house. When they got close to the house, they set fire to some straw outside and I caught glimpses of them occasionally firing their Tommy guns and rifles into windows and doors. By the light of the blazing straw I saw two chaps each fling a grenade into one doorway and then run back into the shadows. There was a blinding flash as the grenades exploded followed by some muffled shouts, but only one German came out and was captured.

About an hour before dawn we started to advance slowly towards the foothills behind a creeping barrage put down by the RA. A few chaps were wounded by shells falling short. Several times we halted to let the barrage lift a little and as it became daylight we saw the foothills just a little way ahead. Then the barrage ceased and the RA fired on other targets. At the bottom of hill 105 two Germans were waiting to be taken prisoner, they were both very dazed and shell shocked. D company passed us and went on up the hill to take Tufo. A and B companies also went up. Our company dug in positions at the foot of the hill and eventually we were able to brew up some tea on the table burners and to tap into our 48-hour rations. All day long we were mortared and shelled and our RA kept up firing on enemy positions. I could hear the rifle companies in the attack on Tufo. Brens, Tommy guns, rifles and grenades and enemy Spandaus were kicking up hell, and the prisoners and wounded kept coming back down the hill. In the late afternoon we had to 鈥榮tand to鈥� as three enemy armored cars tried to infiltrate our lines and get behind us. Spandau and heavy machine gun bullets flew everywhere and at first it was impossible to ascertain which direction they were coming from. Then there was a rumble of engines nearby on our left followed by a loud explosion, and the machineguns ceased. A Piat gunshell had hit the turret of the leading armored car killing all the crew, the others turned away and escaped. We 鈥榮tood to鈥� until dark, then after sorting out our times for guard duty we got into our slit trenches and tried to sleep. It was very cold so most of us dug our slit trenches large enough for two and gathered some dry grass and leaves to put in the bottom. It was a bit warmer like this and we had the benefit of two gas capes to cover us.

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