We were trucked to Bizerta and embarked on a LST (Landing Ship Tank) on 11/1/44 and disembarked at Naples on 14/1/44. The sea was calm and it was a good trip, porpoises swam beside and a little to the front of the ship. When the guns on deck were fired we had to stay below and the noise was deafening. As we approached Naples in the dark the sight of Vesuvius in full volcanic eruption was an awe-inspiring experience. After we landed we marched to the railway; the population appeared to be starving and an open railway truck stopped near us was filled with men begging monjari (food) or biscuits - we threw some biscuits over as best we could and they scrambled to catch them and eat them straight away. Our journey took us south via Taranto and across to the Adriatic Coast and south to the fairly large port of Bari. We marched to a school in the middle of the town and had to find a place on the hard (marble tiled) cold floor to sleep as best we could. We worked on the docks unloading all sorts of things but I didn't do much of that as I had Q.M./Pay/Rations etc. as Q.M.'s assistant to do.

The Company moved to more permanent accommodation in Bari, most including company office took over a children's nursery school - most of the toilets were very low as were many of the other fittings. A few minutes walk away, in the main thoroughfare, which was wide and straight, a private and I was installed in what had probably been a store and in another big room behind us was the Q.M. store with Private Tovey, the storeman. We had to go to the main building for most things such as meals, and one morning I noticed muddy spots on my hands and nice clean gaiters. I wondered where it came from and looked up and realised it was raining mud and it dawned on me that the westerly wind had brought the clouds of dust from Vesuvius in the rain clouds. Later the volcanic dust was everywhere, littering the streets and blowing into little drifts where it stayed for quite a time though Bari was quite a clean modern town. Old Bari however was a traditional Adriatic port, a part of a town within a town like the Casbah is in the North African coastal towns such as Tunis and Souse. The streets were very narrow and quiet and it seemed to me secretive.

Bari, opposite 502 (lt) Smoke Co. operations HQ, with Cpl Leask and Poppi, Italian Coy Office Cpl, on sea wall - the oil and petrol pipelines were below our feet.

We were fairly popular and in time some of the locals got to know us and a little boy used to bring his little sister who was only about four or five and we could talk a bit. Of course we gave them chocolate and in due course the children's parents invited us to their flat for an evening meal, it was quite nice and interesting but the language barrier made real conversation difficult. The Bari Opera House was well patronised, and I made the most of it - it was either very cheap or free, I can’t remember which. I often had a good seat in a Box and saw some of the best entertainment I have seen - Polish Ballet, The Merry Widow and many more I can’t remember; it also had a good orchestra. There was also a very nice small theatre called the ‘Puccini Theatre’, very ornate and well kept - I remember seeing 'The Importance of being Ernest' there - the others escape me now.

Self, Italian Lt and Capt Pendrill

One morning soon after we got to Bari part of our Company were transferred to the Tank Corps and one of them I met later confided confidentially as it was most secret that they were near the front acting as Tank crews with a lot of dummy tanks. (To fool the enemy and attract air attacks etc.).

We drew bivouacs and got our equipment etc. all up to strength for most of us to go to Anzio. We heard this with some dismay as the Anzio beachhead was known at that time as the worst possible place to be. However the situation changed and we stayed in Bari and heard that another company of Pioneers had gone there.

After a short time I was told by our C.O. that he proposed to recommend me to be Quarter Master Sergeant in a British Cadre to look after an Italian (Smoke) Company. I was taken by the C.O. and introduced to a British Smoke Company to be attached to them for rations and pay, temporarily as was the corporal also involved; I see by my AB64 that I was promoted P/A/Col.Sgt. (C.Q.M.S.) on 29/4/44 and the C.O. himself took me there in the Utility and introduced mi to the C.O. and Sgt. Major of the British Smoke Co. to which I was to be temporarily attached for accommodation and rations. There I met corporal Leask who was transferred from the other company and who thought he was going to be promoted. He was quite a bit older than I was and resented the way things were and it was not exactly a pleasant situation. This turned out to be a hard time in many ways - our Cadre consisted of Captain Mark Pendrill, Corporal Bert Leask and myself. Cpl. Leask   and I had accommodation in a block of the Italian barracks and the Italian Company was in the same compound on the other side of the large barrack square.

Capt Pendrill was a nice enough chap but was inexperienced and, as he told me much later when he had got to know me better, he thought I was inexperienced and young for the responsibilities we faced. I had many opportunities to prove myself - one I remember soon after we started as an independent Unit - 502 (It) smoke Coy. We got a circular from Group H.Q. among others to all units in the group. Of course the Capt. looked through all the mail and then passed them to me with appropriate comments. This time he said it didn't seem to affect us but in the text was the order that 502 (It.) Smoke Coy. Would provide two 3-ton trucks with drivers at 08.00 hours at ? Place. This was for some big movement where all units provided various vehicles and personnel and if our vehicles etc. had not turned up there would most certainly have been serious trouble for someone. I was given a Matchless 250cc motorbike to get about on and had to visit Group H.Q. every day.

That was one small thing - I had to obtain various forms and order our equipment and get it from the Base ordnance Depot - many batteries for 36 telephones etc., get everything ready for the job we had to do to comply with form G1098, I think, which lists war equipment for particular Units. I also had to learn as much Italian language as I could and try to communicate with our Italian colleagues - some of them became friends later and one or two in particular were very pleasant and we had some hilarious sessions explaining the meanings of some of the words not found in the only Italian/English ‘teach yourself’ book I could get. The Smoke Company we were attached to for training was smoking the docks and the oil refinery and other important targets for enemy bombs. One day the Brigadier honoured us with a visit and inspected the barracks etc. At the end he chatted a few minutes with the Captain and myself and asked me what I thought about our Company smoking in forward areas (i.e. in the front line) and I replied that I did not like the idea as they scurried about making a lot of fuss when there was a small raid on Bari (a mile or so away) a few days before and that I would rather go with a British Company. When the Brigadier had  left the Captain  said  he  didn’t  like what I had said and that he thought the Italian Company would be all right and that I should not have criticised them - we agreed to differ on this but there was a sequel a few months later.

The British Smoke Company moved out a month or so later and our Company assumed their responsibilities after we moved to the dockside next to the lighthouse in Bari. Our H.Q. Smoke was a nice 2 storey villa with four good rooms and a bathroom on each floor and a verandah overlooking the sea and a good part of the docks and quite close to the petrol and oil supply ship berth; the supply pipes ran from the berth and alongside the edge of the road opposite the villa. We set up our office with the large radio and battery of telephones in the larger room and part of the office next to it the window of which looked out over the lighthouse and the 9” coast defence guns. The Captain had the room across the passage next to the bathroom and Corporal Leask and I had the other room opposite the bathroom and these windows looked out over the docks. The Italians occupied the ground floor; they had a Captain and two Lieutenants, a Company office staff  - Sgt., Cpl. etc. We were attached to the Artillery next to us - on the lighthouse side for meals and we got on very well with them, one of them took a photo (which I still have) one lunchtime of most of us outside the mess door. Before the British Company left and were still using large Esso Smoke Machines towed by 3-ton trucks a tragic accident occurred directly in view from our balcony. As the machine was towed into position at walking pace children regularly jumped on it for a ride and were always being shouted at that it was dangerous, to keep away but children are the same everywhere and it was virtually impossible to keep them off. On this evening I was watching and saw a boy fall and the children screamed - the driver stopped immediately but it was too late - the boy had fallen between the wheels of the smoke machine and was trapped beneath the rear wheel - we rushed down and pushed the machine back off the boy  - the Italian Lieutenant picked him up and took him in our truck to hospital. When the Lt. returned he said 'I think he is morto' and in fact, as we found later, he was dead.

The British Company moved out soon after this and our Company, 502 (It.) smoke Company took over completely. Our telephones had to be manned 24 hours a day and a radio receiver plotted any enemy aircraft for us to follow on a large wall map so we could be ready for the order to make smoke immediately the order was received. The searchlight and coast defence and ack ack battery next to us did not often go into action but when they did we were warned when possible to open our windows on their side in case they shattered. The Sergeant in charge of the RADAR Unit invited me into his operations cabin one evening to see how it worked. We had to accommodate an Indian Company for a few days and I had to give up my bed to the Anglo-Indian C.0. who had his own batman - I had to see the troops were O.K. for bunks and was given a taste of the jupattees they were cooking.

One beautiful sunny morning about II a.m. Captain Pendrill and I were in our office when there was a huge  explosion  which  rocked  the building – I grabbed my tin hat - put it on as I ran crouching low to the door to the passage and the stairs. From the top of the stairs as I started to go down Bert Leask was halfway hesitating for a moment which way to go, he was stark naked and I thought at the time his hair stood on end, I carried on down as I naturally thought it was an air raid on the dock area, I looked cautiously round the corner of the villa towards the docks and a frightening sight met my eyes. There was a tall thick column of black smoke with huge solid objects, which locked like girders high in the air, and falling, the smoke was swirling black with a bulbous upper area. Looking towards the other side - the lighthouse and R.A. Battery I saw nothing unusual and assumed one huge bomb had been dropped and hit a ship or bomb dump. I went upstairs to see what damage there was and if Bert was O.K. etc. A few bits of ceiling were down but luckily the windows had all been open. It was the same on the ground floor but there was more ceiling down. The Italians seemed to be all right. It was almost 12 noon now so I had a word with the Captain and Corporal and could see from the first floor the Oil/Petrol ship had pulled out of the mooring near our villa and was hove to off-shore. The far side of the dock was not properly visible and there was a lot of black smoke. I went to the R.A. Sergeants' Mess for lunch and saw that the large window in the Ness was blown to bits and a large amount of the bits of glass were sticking in the wall behind the large dining table where we sat for lunch. We were lucky as if we had been at lunch we would all have been very badly cut about. I later also saw the three Special Boat Service men and they told me they had been on  the water in the dock  bay  when  the  explosion occurred and was in danger of being hit by heavy falling objects that fell into the water all around them. We learned later that a shipload of aerial bombs had exploded as they were being unloaded killing about 250 soldiers and naval personnel. The ship had been blown to pieces and part had landed on the Naval Officers' Mess - many dock workers, some on cranes, were killed by concussion. The Opera House in the town about a mile away was also damaged by the blast. It was thought it may have been a limpet mine or may have been a bomb dropped accidentally while being unloaded and causing the rest to explode. No certain explanation was ever given that I heard.

The Italian campaign was going well now and moving further north and it looked as though Italy would soon be free of Germans. The C.0. of the British Smoke Coy. came back from forward area duties and he told Capt. Pendrill what a rough  time  they had had - I heard him say that when shells began falling in their proximity some drivers panicked and in their hurry to get away from the immediate danger drove at perilous angles on the steep hill sides and at least one was turned over. I didn't hear that any of them were killed or wounded and I think I wasn't supposed to overhear as much as I had. We saw quite a lot of troops, I think they were Yugoslavs going from there to Split in Yugoslavia with their vehicles etc.

As the war front in Italy moved further north and the German Army and Air Force no longer posed a threat there was no need for us to stay in Bari and the British Cadre and some of our Italian drivers were transferred to Ponticagnano about 10 miles south of Salerno on the Mediterranean coast. We, and some others, were to be in charge of a large Prisoner of War German P/S Co. No. 1008 PICCIOLA Labour Camp, which supplied the labour for the Base Ordnance Depot there. Soon after we arrived the Regimental Q.M. Sergeant went to England on leave and as I was the Senior Q.M. Sergeant I had to be acting R.Q. for the whole camp. This was no easy job and I can remember a few problems - the prisoners complained about the maggots in the dried peas they were issued with to make their soup and I had to write to, I think, the Chief Medical Officer who said there was no danger to health and they should skim the maggots off the top - the food was from captured German stocks anyway. I had a German P.0.W. who could speak good English to help me; his mother was English and  the  family  belonged  to  the  Salvation Army. I also had a German P.O.W. storeman. I had a bit of trouble with one of the officers getting socks from the stores, and such things. I was told by the new C.O., a Major Jones, that he expected me to fiddle the ration figures so he could have more than his proper allocation of cigarettes - and as I did not intend to do so I began to think of putting in for a change.

I can’t remember the sequence exactly but just before the German P.O.W. Camp we, that is two or three other Q.M. Sergeants and myself, were in a war torn shell and bomb damaged tobacco factory and our various officers also in another part all waiting for allocations and at this time my Captain recommended me for a commission and I was interviewed by a Brigadier who among other things asked what school I went to and, at the end, would I be willing to serve in the far east after the war with Germany was finished. I did not want to continue in the Army longer than was necessary and would be pleased to go home when my release number cane up. That did it and I didn't hear any more about it of course. The date for my leave to home (LIAP) was fairly close now and I could think of little else as I had been overseas since 10th November, 1942, (my last leave was 13-22 October, 1942) and Mr. Churchill had promised long before that those in the African Campaigns would get leave to Britain/home on a properly numbered sequence to recognise the time they had served in the war theatre overseas. Captain Pendrill was to report to Rimini on the northern Adriatic coast and he asked me to go up with him and bring the truck back. As I was so anxious not to miss my leave voucher which I was expecting every day now I said I would rather not and anyway I was not really a driver - he was shocked and got someone else - another C.Q.M.S. to do it. When I held out my hand to shake 'goodbye' he refused to of course. I regret my action and I can only put it down to being over anxious that I should not miss my home leave  - the first for three years and after all the dangers and hazards we had all survived. Joyce had written to me about the ‘doodle bugs’ the VI and V2 flying bombs many of which exploded in the Wadhurst/Ticehurst area. It is a pity I upset him as we had a good relationship - he never made use of his rank and he never had to with me and we were quite good friends. My notice for leave No. 21LIAP came about two days later to report to Lammie Special Reception Camp, Naples, on 3rd September, 1945. My leave authorisation shows my period of leave from 8/9/45 to 12.00 hours 7/10/45 via Glatton, Peterborough, to Wadhurst, Sussex. When I reported to the 'X' Special Reception Camp I was given a blue card for Transit Sergeants' Mess Meal Card and Tent allocation and also found myself, as senior soldier, responsible for the plane load of other soldiers travelling with me. I had to change their liras into English money collect and issue various documentation. My leave card is stamped ‘3rd Sept. '45, Embarkation Naples.' There was tremendous thunderstorm in the early morning just before we went to the airfield. All our luggage was weighed etc, and we boarded one of the Lancaster Bombers. We were told - no smoking, only one person at a time to move, not to touch any wires etc, There were no seats, we just sat on the floor in two equal rows with our backs to the side of the fuselage. I was given a flying helmet and was told I would get information from the pilot - may have to pass on any orders. I could go up into the observation bubble (it had been a gun and lookout point) and I could let the others go up one at a time, as I liked when we were well up. We were well up over the Mediterranean and the sea was sparkling far below and I could see an island. The pilot asked me if anyone was smoking or touching any wires, we were wobbling and going up and down a little bit but it wasn't bad and it soon settled down to the steady roar of the engines. The cold air from the clouds we passed through now and again came through the cracks in the floor and it was surprisingly draughty and extremely noisy. To tell the man next to me anything I had to cup my hands round my mouth close to his ear and shout. Everyone got a look out for a short time and the time soon passed, the pilot told me everyone must be sitting down as we were landing. Then I heard him say “look at that!” And the engines revved faster and “we shall have to go round again, that girl's going to cop it - we were nearly on top of that one, fancy bringing these chaps here and nearly killing them all.” Anyway we landed safely at Glatton Airfield and all had to go through customs etc., get our rations cards etc. and passes stamped, go for a meal and to a hut for the night as all the documentation etc. couldn’t be completed in time to get away that evening. So some of us walked to a pub - I think it was in Sawtry. Next morning after a meal we were allowed to go. I was able to get a lift home to Huntingdon - then I went on to Wadhurst where Joyce was waiting for me. We had some walks round our old haunts and visited relations and friends and then went to Berrynarbor in North Devon to stay at a guest house Joyce  had  booked  for  a  week. It is close to Ilfracombe and we often walked over the hills by the sea - it was, I suppose, a belated honeymoon. The weather was good and we walked everywhere. The time went all too quickly and it was time to go back. We went to Huntingdon for a few days and then I got a lift to Glatton and reported in on 7th October.

There was some trouble in getting serviceable aircraft and crew to fly us back to Naples and we - that is those who had been flown from Naples on LIAP - were kept hanging about for two days and then were taken to Holme Station and got on a train which took us to Newhaven where we spent the night in a transit camp. Next morning, 11th October, we embarked on the Prince Charles Ferry to Dieppe - it was the perfect crossing, sunny and hardly a ripple. Another night in a transit camp - not too bad - not time to go far into the town. Then the long rail journey started via Paris and a meal halt and on to Switzerland with meal halts - through the Alps to Domodossola the first large town in Italy, another night and half a day in a transit camp. Then on through Italy with numbers on the train growing smaller as we went south. One more transit camp for the night somewhere north of Naples and the next day back to Salerno and truck to Ponticagnano.

Some little time later I got a transfer to another group at Falconara Alta near Ancona, a port on the Adriatic coast. When I reported to group H.Q. the adjutant, Capt. HA. Denny, welcomed me warmly and said if I wanted anything within his power I could have it. I should explain that he had been a Lieutenant in my old British Company 150 Welsh, and he was always thought well of by everyone. So I told him I would like a week’s leave in Rome before I was demobbed. He said 'leave it to me, you'll get it'. He also invited me to go to Florence with him for a week and he was going to meet his lady friend - I didn't take advantage of that offer as I would perhaps be in the way a bit - I now regret that hasty decision. However, I got my week in Rome in March 1946, and enjoyed it immensely, I made friends with another Sergeant and a Corporal in the Signals also at the Leave Camp and we visited some places together. The Sgt. had a camera and took our photos in the Colosseum, which I still have as well as one I had taken on the roof of St. Peters. I went everywhere I could.

Feb '45 on the roof of St Peter's, Rome

‘Cooks’ were running their famous escorted bus tours to places of interest especially for forces on leave; these could be booked at the NAFFI which had taken over 'Upims', a huge departmental store in the Centre of Rome; I also  walked along  the Apian Way, past the tomb of Caligula, and visited a church with alabaster columns and other unusual things, to the catacombs. The catacombs were tunnelled in the soft sandstone by the early Christians and is a labyrinth in which one could easily get lost and be unable to find a way out so people are told to keep up with the guides; there are little chapels here and there usually with candles lightening that area, It is certainly eerie. I also visited a church where there are large cellars underneath full of bones of Christians buried there during a plague because that was the only way they could be buried in consecrated ground. Over the years the ground became filled up so when the flesh had all gone they had to dig up the bones and make room for more; they are stacked high in alcoves, hundreds of skulls, leg, arm and finger bones etc. The Castle at de St. Angelo on the west bank of the Tiber is approached across a beautiful bridge decorated on each parapet with carved statues. We were shown a huge room with marvellous paintings, some of them rather rude, and on the ceiling. The carpet hid a trapdoor with a long drop to the Tiber (for easy disposal of unwanted persons). There were also dungeons some so small and round that once in one could barely move. The view from the roof, over Rome included St. Peter's and much more.

Feb '45 with two friends in the Colosseum, Rome

Too soon it was over and I was back at Falconara - we were busy sending the German P.O.W.s home and returning equipment etc. to the R.S.D. and then it was ready for home myself with my demob. papers etc. I had to spend a night in Milan. A trainload of us left in the morning passing through Switzerland where quite a bit of snow still lay in the mountains. The scenery from the train was worth the journey and the time soon passed. Straight onto the ferry at Calaise and though it was a fairly rough sea with a keen wind I enjoyed it and stayed on deck to see the white cliffs of Dover. We all got straight on the train waiting for us and went to Aldershot Barracks for the night. The next morning after breakfast we were taken by trucks to Woking where we had a minimal choice, like grey or brown, cap or trilby etc. for our demob. civilian clothes all in a cardboard box. Ration cards, clothing coupons, civilian identity card, railway warrant and various other documents and it was away from the Army and to Wadhurst and to Joyce.

...................5 Home Again..