Recollections

The following are the stories of the people who served in the Italian Campaign.

Click on the name to open a separate page with the full account.

This extract is from a book of his experiences written for his family by Jim Aston, beginning with his arrival in Taranto, through to arriving in Rome. Following this passage, as the Germans were pushed north, Jim also moved on maintaining communications

Tony Pittaccio was a ten-year-old boy staying with family in Cassino when war broke out in Europe in September 1939. Tony, his mother and sisters were stuck in Cassino when the frontiers closed, and his account gives a unique insight into the plight of the civilians caught up in the Italian campaign of World War 2. It is a fascinating tale of a young boy’s experience of the war.

Robert Randall, 2nd Battalion, London Irish Rifles

Edward Carr, 1st & 2nd Btn Somerset Light Infantry

Ivor Cutler, Details of my movements whilst serving in the Northamptonshire Regiment 1943 to 1946.

Ivor Cutler, 5th Battalion, The Northamptonshire Regiment

Henry McKenzie Johnson, 6th Black Watch

Major Geoffrey Piper served with the 5th Battalion, The Buffs.

Frank Beckett of the 12th Artillery Company, 6th Armoured Division writes of landing in Naples on March 14th, 1944.

Captain William I.F. Brown MM, 1st Battalion, The Royal Gurkha Rifles. “Exercise Medicina Kukri”, Italy 14th –20th April 2005

Major D.A.T. Wilson, ‘A’ Company, 12th Frontier Force Regiment, 8th Indian Division. Fifty Years Ago: The Fog of War

Francis Bull, 2788 Squadron, The RAF Regiment

Jim Angell, ‘D’ Platoon, 495 Company, American Field Service

John Snowden, 12th Bde REME, 4 Br Infantry Division

John Snowden served with the 12th Brigade, Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers (REME) in support of the 6th Black Watch, 1st Royal West Kents and 2nd Royal Fusiliers. He wrote this poem about Cassino.

The Reverend E.W.C. Bale, 2788 Squadron, The RAF Regiment

Ray Wells was a squad leader in ‘H Company’, 2nd Battalion, 141st Infantry Regiment. The following is an excerpt from his 1991 interview with Milton Landry, Commander of 2nd Battalion, 141st Infantry Regiment, recalling the battle of San Pietro in December 1943.

Ray Wells, Company ‘H’, 141st Infantry Regiment, US 36th Infantry Division

Major Milton Landry, 141st Infantry Regiment, US 36th Infantry Division

Bill Fitness served with the 2nd Coldstream Guards. This account appeared in the February 2004 issue of the Wartime News.

David Galloway MC, 2nd Battalion, The Queen’s Own Cameron Highlanders

James Morgan, Royal Corps of Signals, 4th Indian Division

D. F. Hunt, The North Irish Horse

James Falck, 3rd Battalion, The Welsh Guards

Roland Dray was a seventeen year old gunner with the 5th Northamptonshires when his battalion relieved the 2nd Cameron Highlanders on Snakeshead Ridge. This is an excerpt from a series of emails he sent us.

John Williams was Captain in 328 Battery, 99th Light AA, Royal Artillery. This is an excerpt from “The Cassino Front” from his account, Beauty in Hell.

Wally Smith served with the Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry as a Private and Stretcher Bearer in the Sicilian and Italian Campaign. He writes about the Liri Valley and the Hitler Line.

John Elliott, 2nd Coldstream Guards. Beauty is Everywhere

Raymond Ward Lawton, 132nd Welsh Field Regiment, Royal Artillery

John Hodgson, 1st Royal Natal Carbineers, 6th South African Armoured Division. Monte Cassino and the Inferno Track

Les Wenham, The Royal Sussex. A Minutiae on Monte Ornito, March 1944. The Cassino Front

Stan Pearson, son of Sergeant John Pearson, The Lincolnshire Regiment. Stan Pearson’s account of his research into the death of his father, Sergeant John Pearson of the Lincolnshire Regiment, on 5th January 1944.

The following is Chapter 1 from Lt Col Brian Madden’s account of the 6th Black Watch in Italy. It covers March 10th to April 16th 1944. Our thanks to Henry McKenzie Johnston for his editorials and photographs, and for obtaining permission from Black Watch H.Q. for the society to publish Mr. Madden’s account.

Les Pattison, 72/22 LAA Regiment, Royal Artillery. The first part of Les Pattison’s reminiscences of North Africa appeared in the supplement to the Fall 2006 newsletter.

Benjamin Spreadbury, 2888 Field Squadron RAF Regiment

Lt Col Russell Darkes, 143rd Infantry, US 36th Infantry Division

Gordon Dobson, 4th British Infantry Division. In September 1943 Gordon Dobson was posted to the 4th British Infantry Division as clerk to the Divisional Provost Marshal (DAPM). On Boxing Day he sailed from Algiers to Egypt for Landing Training. He landed in Naples on March 22 1944.

Charles Kennedy, RASC, Allied Liaison Unit, with 3rd Algerian Division and 4th Moroccan Mountain Division. Letters Home

Geoffrey Winter, 1st Battalion, The York and Lancaster Regiment

Tom Wigley, 3rd Battalion, The Grenedier Guards, 1st Guards Regiment. Extract from Tom’s memoirs – ‘A 20th century Shropshire Lad’. Both Tom’s parents died within a week of each other and Tom, aged 19, had little time to decide his future. This extract follows Tom’s years as a Grenadier.

Harold Brand, 6 Platoon H Coy 1/4 Batt Essex Regt. The following is an extract from the diary of Harold Brand, submitted by his son Sidney Brand.

N.W.”Bill” Hutchinson, Duke of Cornwall’s Light Infantry.
When I was 17 and for reasons that do not concern us here, I decided to enlist as a soldier. I presented myself at the recruiting office in Worcester. The recruiting sergeant wasted little time on pleasantries and as I had no preferences apart from wanting to get as far as possible from home, acquainted me with the DCLI. I lived in rural Worcestershire. Someone had to!