'Stretcher-bearers': (16) Sicilian Advance - How others fared

Advance Catenanuova - Centuripe - Adrano- Bronte - Randazzo
How others fared.

The following extract shows how the wounded were evacuated by Regimental stretcher bearers and transferred to Field Ambulances along the only road that could be used. This was subjected to both shelling and mortaring and ambulance drivers from 11, 217 and 152 Field Ambulances, as well as others, helped to save many lives.
The young officer, a member of 17th Field Regiment, RA, wounded at and evacuated from Centuripe, wrote in his diary;
"An awful lot seemed to happen during the next five or six seconds and, looking back, it all happened in apparent slow motion.
As the machine gun started firing, the file of infantry in front of me went to ground and I saw the bullets striking the stone wall of the terrace on their right, a foot or so above them...
The machine gunner was sweeping the terrace with fire from left to right and the bullets striking the wall were approaching me fast.
We were on the bottom terrace and glancing to my left I noticed that two or three feet below me there was a shallow hole - it may have been a hole caused by a shell or mortar.
I decided I would be safer there than lying on the terrace with everyone else, so I jumped towards it. As I was in mid air, bullets started to kick up the dust in this very hole and I can remember quite clearly thinking 'That place is no good - I have got to get out of it immediately.' I landed and took off in one movement and, as I did so, I felt a sudden pain in my left buttock - as though someone had jabbed me with a knife. I knew at once that I had been hit and I let out one hell of a shout - not because I had been hurt - I felt nothing after the initial pain - but because I was scared stiff. By this time I was in mid air again and landed five or six feet lower down the ravine, only to take off once more for another six foot leap. I came to rest, and instinct and experience made me lie completely still for several seconds until the bullets stopped flying.
The first movement I made was to put my left hand to my backside to ascertain the damage and, when I looked at my hand, it was covered with blood. I then noticed that there was blood running down my forearm from two bullet holes in my wrist.
How long I lay there it is difficult to recall, probably not more than twenty seconds, and I was beginning to wonder what I should do when Gundy came slithering down the slope and knelt by my side. I was still lying face downwards... He was followed by two of the battalion stretcher bearers who at once took stock and charge of the situation. I had no idea of the state of my buttock wound. There was no pain and I could move my left leg.
My wrist was bleeding freely and presumably the two bullets had cut through a vein - it was fortunate that it wasn't the artery - but again there was no pain.
The stretcher bearer said that I would have to be got back to a Main Dressing Station and I was really in no position to argue - not that I wanted to - it was suddenly a relief to have somebody else make a decision.
I had seen stretcher bearers in action in Tunisia and had always admired the way they had conducted their difficult and dangerous duties. Even before Gundy had left they were wrapping the shell dressing on my backside and to do this they had to cut away the left leg of my shorts. I found out later that this bullet had entered the back of my leg, nine or ten inches above my knee, and had emerged from my left buttock, leaving a hole about three inches in diameter. For my wrist wound they used my own field dressing which every soldier carried in a specially made pocket in battle dress or khaki drill trousers and which was for personal use only.
Having had both wounds bandaged, I was then helped on to a stretcher and lay face downwards. We started to descend the very steep slope of the ravine.
Trying to carry a wounded man in a stretcher down a slope steeper than 45 degrees was an almost impossible job and, after being moved about five yards, I said 'Stop. Let me get off and I'll try walking.'
I got off the stretcher and found that I could stand without difficulty and the three of us started making our way down the ravine with me in the middle. The downhill journey was very difficult. Every few yards I lost my balance and slithered a few feet , but I was steadied all the time by the man in front.
By the time we reached the foot of the ravine my wrist was giving considerable pain. We stopped for a breather and I had my left arm put in a makeshift sling to try to stop the bleeding which had already soaked through my field dressing.
Once again the two stretcher bearers asked if I could manage the uphill journey - if not they would carry me. It was a generous offer, but I declined and we set off up the 400 foot climb that would bring us on to the road.
If the downhill journey had been difficult, the uphill one was twice as bad. I could use my right hand only to steady myself and I had to lead the whole time with my right leg lifting my left one after each upward step. It was a slow and painful journey and by the time we reached the road I was pretty well exhausted and in fairly severe pain from both wrist and backside. I suppose the strenuous exercise which I had undertaken hadn't helped. How I would have managed without those two stretcher bearers I have no idea. .
We stood on the roadside waiting for an ambulance for about ten minutes. I could see Centuripe quite clearly about 500 yards away and it was being subjected to a heavy artillery bombardment...
An ambulance arrived and I climbed in and lay face downwards on one of the four places inside. From that moment onwards, until I arrived in Egypt, I was a stretcher case. I suppose the stretcher bearers told the Medical Orderly in charge of the ambulance the state of my wounds, and having handed me over they left. The first thing the medical orderly did was to give me an injection of morphine to ease the pain, and, as far as I can remember, this acted fairly quickly, although I was still very conscious of what was happening around me.
Three others were loaded into the ambulance - one a very serious case - and slowly and gently we made our way back down the twisting road towards the rear.
For his action described above this officer was mentioned in despatches as follows:
By the KING'S Order the name of
Lieutenant (T Captain) P. Royle,
Royal Artillery,
was published in the London Gazette on
23rd September, 1943,
as mentioned in a Despatch for distinguished service.
I am charged to record
His Majesty's high appreciation.

Certainly within a few days, if not on the same day, Driver R.F.A. Pye, RASC, then driving an ambulance for 217 Field Ambulance at Centuripe and, later at Bronte, made some 14 journeys along a road that was being shelled and mortared to evacuate the wounded. On one such run his cab was hit by shell splinters.
His devotion to duty was marked by the award of a Military Medal. The last sentence in his citation reads, "The speedy evacuation of wounded which resulted from his efforts was undoubtedly a factor in saving many lives.".

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