Page 26 - The Royal Lancers Chapka 2019
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REGIMENTAL JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL LANCERS (QUEEN ELIZABETHS’ OWN)
red wine or white? What is an Aperol Spritz and why on earth are some Officers such a fan?
Wednesday saw a move north towards our next hotel location of Perugia. This picked up the movement of the 12L from their position to the east of Cassino as dismounted infantry during the winter of 1943-44, through to them leading the advance north in armoured reconnaissance vehicles after the successes in the Liri valley. Castel di Sangro, overlooking the Sangro river in the midst of the Apennine mountains, was the ideal place to study the difficulty of conducting dismounted operations in moun- tainous terrain. Beautiful scenery – a nightmare to operate in.
The long coach trip that followed from Castel di Sangro to Pe- rugia was broken up by a stop at Liberation Bridge in Folignio. Here the actions of Lt Wale in capturing the sole viable bridge across the river and fighting off all counter-attacks were used to discuss mission command, how to seize the initiative, and how to have a quicker ‘Observe, Orientate, Decide, Act’ tempo than an enemy. Speed of thought and action in 1944 won the day – it will win it again in the future.
Once we arrived at the hotel in Perugia the welcoming drinks, the stunning view from the rooftop terrace, and the fact that it is
a lively university town, made up for the long drive. Thursday saw us study the slow Allied advance north, the failure to exploit the situation in order to capture Rome, and the capture of Peru- gia itself before discussing how an armoured cavalry regiment could aid offensive operations in an urban environment. To fully understand this, most selflessly chose to use their free time after the end of studying to further explore the streets of Perugia un- der the cover of darkness...
Friday saw a somewhat ‘sleepy’ coach make the drive north to Arezzo for the final stands of the study where we discussed the moral component and how to maintain morale during a long campaign. A visit to the Commonwealth War Graves cemetery to pay our final respects to those Lancers who made the ultimate sacrifice finished the battlefield study and we headed back to Rome and the flight home.
After a week of mental and physical wrangling, the team re- turned to Catterick tanned, well fed and completely in awe of their forebears. The fortitude showed by their elders during the Italian Campaign posed the implicit question of how each one of us would stand up to a similar trial. We can only hope that, if the time comes, we are found to be made of similar stuff.
GPCS