Life in the Army- Chapter 18

This story was submitted to the People’s War site by Roger Marsh of the ‘Action Desk — Sheffield’ Team on behalf of Arthur Ward, and has been added to the site with his permission. The author fully understands the site's terms and conditions.

Refer to Chapter 1-- A4345544 -for links to other chapters.

LIFE IN THE ARMY

by
ARTHUR WARD

Chapter 18 — Catania, Sicily

August 12, 1943
We came out of action and moved to a rest place near Regalbuto. We had 2 days rest at LAD for repairs to the priest and usual parades, cleaning equipment and tools and of course inspections.

August 17, 1943
Moved 30 miles to a camp just outside Catania where we erected bivvies etc.

August 20, 1943
Went to Catania and had a swim in the Med. Catania is a pretty large town which had hardly been bombed except for the dock area.

At night I was on Regimental Guard which was mounted at RHQ flagpole by the RSM and Lt. Melville. This was a 24 hour guard and we were turned out at 01:25 hours. This was normal practice in the army for the guard to be turned out by the orderly officer just to make sure that everyone was awake and on their toes.

On 13 August 1943 the subsections had been changed round and I was No.1 on ‘D’ Sub and I was promoted L/Sgt.

‘D’ Sub:
L/Sgt. Ward
Bdr Russell
L/Bdr Chandler
Gunners:
Stewart
Beaumont
Driver Morton

Then it was changed to:
‘D’ Sub:
L/Sgt. Ward
L/Bdr Kearney
L/Bdr Kelly
Gunners:
Stewart
Beaumont
Partington
Driver Morton

We stayed near Catania until 13 September 1943. We were able to go down to town nearly every day after duty.

On one of our visits, we visited a barber's shop and were amazed when a German plane flew over, the sirens sounded and the Sicilian hairdresser ran down into the cellar, and left the clients in the chair with their hair half cut. After a short time the all clear sounded and they sheepishly returned to the salon and finished the haircuts.

We visited the cinemas which showed American films (and British) and I saw Vera Lynn in "We'll Meet Again", The Marx Bros. in "Go West", "Gambling Ship" and "My Sister Eileen". We also saw a Sicilian variety show with girl dancers and singers.

September 10, 1943
Had my photo taken in Catania in KD shirt and shorts and tinted with colour.

I bought several presents and sent them home.

September 12, 1943
I had a blood test and was Grade 04 and for the first time gave a pint of blood.

Lecture by the Colonel on "Rumours of the Invasion". He told us we were going back to North Africa to join up again with 1st Armoured Division.

We had a rehearsal at 4th Armoured Division Brigade HQ near Misterbianco for an inspection by Gen. Montgomery. It was a shambles as we were marching on grass which is practically impossible, as it is not possible to hear all the footsteps of the other men.

We were pleased when told that the inspection had been cancelled.

We went to the Odeon Cinema and saw Tommy Trinder in "Sailors Three".

Sgt. Patterson came to Don Sub. He had a higher rank than me, but I was in charge as he was not trained as a field gunner.

September 13, 1943
Preparing to move. I received a cable from Nessie.

Whilst at Catania we visited the airport which was a level grass field and a cricket pitch had been laid out, so we had several games with other units, but I have not kept details of scores etc.

We moved via Catania, Lentini to Syracuse which is a town on the coast.

We stayed for 3 days (near Syracuse) and in the town one day had a meal of eggs and steak which cost 4/- (20 pence).

September 19, 1943 Approximately
We boarded a boat named Marigot which was French.

MEMORIES

We didn't enjoy the close up views of men of both sides burnt to death when tanks were blown up, Sicily was not good terrain for tanks, we did not like the sight of many hilltop villages which had been flattened by bombing and shelling from both sides, the terrible sight of many farm yard animals killed by shell fire, and laid in the sun covered in flies, and a terrible smell. We enjoyed the towns which were more modern than what we had been used to for a long time. The water which came from wells was cool and drinkable, better than the warm water from water trucks which we had in Africa (and in short supply).

Then the fruit, our camps were usually among the grape vines although some of these grapes were sour and not ready for picking. We had no trouble with our bowels in Sicily. Most of the fruit grew in orchards in the sunshine, such as tomatoes, oranges, apples, pears, almonds, lemons and grapefruit, so these all helped our rations.

We did not like Mount Etna as we always had at the back of our minds that we could be observed by OP's with powerful binoculars from near the top. Also the lava had a sulphur like smell which we could smell all the time.

After the fighting finished, organised trips to the top of the volcano were made, but I was never able to go on one.

The local people, while never making us really welcome, were not too unfriendly, bearing in mind that Italy at this time was fighting against us.

The weather was very good, except when the Sirocco winds blew. They were very hot and sticky, almost unbearable and even at night it was still hot.

In these battles, we had used a lot of air burst shells which helped to keep the enemy heads down in their slit trenches whilst our infantry advanced.

When the fighting finished, Major Morris of ‘E’ Bty captured 2 very large World War 1 guns and had them towed to the straights of Messina, where he fixed them up and he intended to fire them over into Italy, but this did not last long as the enemy withdrew out of range.

Another plan was to send a platoon of infantry with 2 priests in a ship over to Italy, land on a beach to find out the strength of the enemy, also to find out how the Italian people would greet the allies. Most of our priests were nearly worn out so it was decided that the best 2 in the ‘A’ Battery would go.

I was very pleased when this scheme was cancelled, as my priest was one of the two chosen.

We heard later that Italy had surrendered to the Allies so there was no need for our miniature invasion.

Pr-BR

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