Page 9 - ABA Salvoes 1999-2024

sunshine, my only sunshine”, which up to that time had been a wartime favourite. After a few weeks in Sousse, we were put on a tank landing craft, which was a big landing craft capable of carrying several tanks and their crews, and we headed across the Mediterranean, once again for Italy. About halfway across we ran into a violent storm, and the ship shook and trembled so much that we were afraid it was going to split and sink. This had happened to several of the so called ‘Liberty’ ships, which had been made up by prefabricating the various parts inland in America, sending them to a Naval shipyard and sticking them together, prior to launching. We were very glad when the Italian coast came into view, and the peak of Vesuvius was prominent on the horizon. The volcano had been erupting but appeared to be quiet when we arrived in Naples harbour.
A large fort called Fort Delloro projected into the harbour and was linked to the mainland by a long causeway. We collected all our gear from the ship and marched into the fort. Sentries at the gate examined all our identity chits and paperwork, then let us pass through to take up quarters in what appeared to be a semi-dungeon. We were allowed out the fort the following day and took a walk in to have a look around Naples. The main street was very busy and looked impressive, but this was just a façade. The back streets were filthy, and the houses mostly appeared to be run down or derelict. We spent several more weeks at the fort, and then one day we were told to be ready to leave at short notice. This meant checking all our equipment, writing any letters that were due, and getting our smalls washed. Marching orders came, and we were taken to the docks to embark on a troopship, where we found we were going to serve with the Scots Guards. I wandered around the permitted parts of the ship and I found two lads whom I knew, both from Kelloholm, Kirkconnel. They were called Andrew McMinn and Jimmy Boyle. I had been at school with Jimmy’s younger sister Lizzie, and Andrew’s younger brother Jim. The McMinn family were keen bagpipe players and we could often hear them being played in my family home, particularly by the father who was in the local pipe band.
The troopship stopped a few miles from the coastline and we were told that our landing was going to be at a place called Anzio. We scrambled down the nets into the landing craft, and set off for our destination When we got to the beach everything was silent, and in the darkness it appeared to be completely deserted. We marched a few miles inland and then were told to dig ourselves in. Fortunately, the ground was fairly soft and soon we had a foxhole that no fox would have been ashamed of, made by using a trenching tool with which we had been supplied. This was on 22 Jan 44. We learned that this beachhead had been made to try and get the Germans to leave Monte Cassino, which was an abbey on top of a mountain further south, so that we were now behind it and the Germans’ line. The Germans had made the abbey
into a fortress, and despite repeated bombing raids by the RAF and assaults by the Allied troops, held grimly on. They were not dislodged from this position until 18 May 44. It was an American general who was in charge of the Anzio beachhead, and instead of dashing north to take Rome a few miles up the road, he decided to stay in the beachhead and build up supplies of men and arms before moving any further. We spent a few days in the comfort of our foxhole waiting on our orders to make our way triumphantly up to Rome, when suddenly there was a mighty big thump, and earth and grass flew all over the place. So did I, down the foxhole. This was the first of many. There was a range of hills overlooking the place where we had stopped, and the Germans had brought up their heavy artillery and now were going show us what good gunners they were. Somebody took pity on us, gave us a jeep and told us to move down to the town of Nettuno, which was also in the beachhead. We found a big house, mostly occupied with American military police, but there were two rooms spare on the top floor that they let us have. We very soon found out why the rooms had been left empty, as Nettuno was also being blasted by the11 German artillery, and it was safer on the ground or first floor than on the top floor. I found a single bed on the top floor, abandoned by its owner, and it was luxurious to get on it at night, securely wrapped in my single blanket – even if the house did shake occasionally. We were ordered to use the jeep and get ourselves and equipment up to a two- story farmhouse, which was on the front line, and use the upstairs as an observation post. The captain gave us map references that we transmitted back to the supporting warship, and soon the shells were screaming over our heads towards the Germans. They must have realised that the farmhouse was being used as an observation post because they started shelling it with great fury, and everything started to shake and rattle, including my knees and teeth. We hurriedly made our way downstairs, and there was a unit of the London Scottish, newly arrived in there as well. We did this intermittently as required using different observation posts, and eventually contact was made by land with the 5th Army on the 25th May. The frigate HMS PENELOPE was sunk off Anzio on 18 Feb 44 by a radio-controlled bomb from a German airplane, and some of the survivors stayed at our house until taken back to Naples by sea.
We were allowed to keep the jeep, and used it to travel south, back to Naples. We went to the fort in Naples harbour but were redirected to a big house on the outskirts of Naples, which was to be our unit’s base. As the drinking water was obtained from wells, we had been given a supply of tablets to put in the water before it was drunk. The tablet gave the water an unpleasant taste, but most of us followed instructions. One of my friends, John Liggins, wouldn’t use them, and to my sorrow I heard that he had been taken in to Naples hospital and died of typhoid fever. Living in the house was good, but it meant that we had to assume greater responsibility for our safety
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