LEN’S WAR

Leonard, known as Len, Smith was born on 3 June 1922 in Northwood, Stoke-on-Trent.

He has lived and worked in the North Staffordshire area, frequently known as ‘The Potteries’, throughout his life, currently at Penkhull.

That is, apart from a period of enforced overseas service during The Second World War, hereafter WW2.

Len is my father in law. We have worked together on this article for the best part of a year now. He providing the reminiscences - me doing research, reading, and documenting. Inevitably there will be omissions and errors in this account, but at least we have made a start.

This illustrated narrative is an account of his war, Len’s War, in England, North Africa, Italy and Austria between 1942 and 1945.

INTERESTING BACKGROUND

One of the most iconic images of the Korean War is celebrated in the opening sequence of M*A*S*H, the hit film and very long-running TV drama. A helicopter, or two, sweeps down to the designated landing pad to off-load two, or four, combat injured soldiers for the immediate attention of Hawkeye, Hotlips, Radar and the rest.

The United Nations War in Korea from 1950-1953 was the first time that helicopter transfer of injured troops from the front-line to medical help was a regular, routine mode of transport.

Fast-rewind some 35 years, barely a generation, to the trench conflict of The Great War. Grainy black and white photographs record human labour and then horse-drawn ambulances hauling injured soldiers. Through lakes of deep mud to aid stations and back down the treatment line to base hospitals and, if you were lucky and had ‘caught a blighty one’ home to UK.

In that third of a century, the tactical and strategic management of injured soldiers evolved through numerous stages. But no more than a continuation of the work of Florence Nightingale and others from Crimea in the mid-1800’s.

Between these two wars, at the start of WW2, a key element of the evacuation chain was Motor Ambulance Convoys or companies. Abbreviated to MAC, manned by the then Royal Army Service Corps, hereafter RASC.

They would collect already initially treated wounded from forward points called, variously, Field Ambulances, Casualty Clearing Stations, Battalion Aid Posts. Then transport them away to Field Hospitals, Surgical Treatment Centres and General Hospitals. The difference between these names is not important, they were all part on an integrated scheme that, in reality, dealt with whatever arrived at the front door.

Each Motor Ambulance Corp (MAC) comprised;

84, ‘2 ton 4x2’ Austin ambulances capable of transporting 4 stretcher cases,

6, ‘3 ton 4x4’ Canadian Ford troop carrying vehicle able to carry up to ten or more walking wounded,

Thus 90 casualty transporting vehicles organised into 3 platoons each of 5 sections, each with 6 vehicles and a section motorcycle.

In addition the headquarters (HQ) of the MAC had 3 Bedford trucks for rations and general use, 2 Guy ‘Ant’ transport trucks, one used as a water carrier, 1 or 2 staff cars for the boss and at least 5 motorcyclists as despatch riders, one of these riders was Len.

Each MAC had attached a REME workshop platoon to maintain and repair the vehicles and a medical platoon of RAMC medical assistants, one for each ambulance.

Thus, to our calculations, each MAC totalled some 110 vehicles with at least 220 personnel, all under the command of a Major.

Len’s Major, Major Cummings, had a Humber Snipe as his Staff Car.

If operating as a complete unit, a MAC could convey anywhere from 350 to 450 casualties.

Functioning as Geneva Convention Protected medical personnel, the RASC ambulance company staff wore ‘Red Cross’ armbands and were regarded as ‘non-combatant troops’. But that did not stop them being involved in the fighting and having some ‘near squeaks’ of the armoury type.

What is unarguable is that the vital role of these convoys has been poorly recorded in the easily available military literature from WW2. Many happy hours of searching the internet has revealed almost no detailed mention. Even the published ‘printed media’ has to date (07/03/09) yielded little to my searches.

The RASC Museum, now subsumed into the Royal Logistical Corps, has located a single sheet of typed history about Len’s unit, 112 Motorised Ambulance Company, hereafter 112 MAC, covering the period 1942 to 1945. Produced by Major E Wood, MBE, RASC in December 1945 the details are sparse.

STRUCTURE OF BRITISH ARMY CORPS, 1943-45

FIGHTING DIVISION (INFANTRY /ARMOURED /AIRBORNE ETC) 3 OR MORE PER CORPS

FIGHTING BRIGADE (AS ABOVE, SOME MIXED) 2 OR 3 PER DIV

INFANTRY BATTALION/ARMOURED REGIMENT MIX OF BOTH, 3+ PER BRIG

INFANTRY COMPANY/ARMOURED SQUADRON 3-4 IN EACH BATT / REG

INFANTRY PLATOON/ARMOURED SABRE 30+ MEN / 3-6 TANKS

EACH BATTALION ABOUT 750 MEN TOTALEACH REGIMENT SOME 120 TANKS

DIVISIONAL SUPPORTING ARMS INCLUDING

RECCONAISANCE FORCES ARTILLERY GUNS OF VARIOUS TYPE CLOSE SUPPORT MACHINE GUNS COMBAT ENGINEERING OR SAPPERS TRANSPORT AND SUPPLY OF ALL NEEDS MEDICAL FIELD AMBULANCE POLICE, SPECIAL FORCES ETC ETC

CORPS SUPPORTING ARMS INCLUDING

ARTILLERY GUNS OF LARGER BORESPECIALIST ENGINEERING SUCH ASBOMB DISPOSALSPECIALIST TRANSPORT SUCH MEDICAL AMBULANCESSECONDARY HOSPITALS, DENTALPERS RECORDS, POST, BATHS ETC

RECRUITMENT AND BASIC TRAINING

By May 1942 the war was going very badly for the British and her Allies with huge losses of military and civilian casualties, industrial products, equipment and shipping.

‘Cometh the hour, cometh the man.’

Or to be more exact T1070296, Smith, L was conscripted on 07/05/42, not yet 20 years old, along with perhaps as many as 200 others across the UK on that day.

INSIDE FRONT COVERS OF LEN’S ARMY BOOK 64

PARTS WERE LATER DELETED IN CASE HE WAS CAPTURED

Len had hoped to be a rear-gunner in an RAF Bomber Command aircraft. Perhaps it is as well that this did not happen as less than 1 in 3 of all bomber aircrew survived the war; some 59,000 died by 1945.

Instead, after a call-up medical examination at Bethesda Hall in Hanley,

The sad and neglected Bethesda Hall frontage in 2006

Len was sent to Sutton-in-Ashfield, Nottinghamshire (some 50 miles away) for basic training. This lasted from 07/05/42 to 16/06/42. Len recalls being given a palliase to stuff with straw for his bedding and that they slept over a “boarded over swimming pool”, then being drilled to march to the instructor’s satisfaction. During this 6 weeks Len incurred the wrath of the Army by not carrying his gas mask at a designated time, because he had gone to the dentist. He was charged and given ‘7 days CB’ as punishment. This meant Confined to Barracks for one week, scrubbing floors and parading in full kit whenever called.

His passing out parade was attended by then girl-friend Emy Lines who lived in Joiners Square, Hanley.

Len was sent to Mansfield where he was given a driving test. As he had previously been employed as a driver for a number of years, he passed, but then had to “wait around” whilst others were taught to drive. He recalls “chopping wood” during this time for want of other war work.

Len was then sent to Rochdale, Lancashire (again about 50 miles from home) to learn vehicle maintenance and qualify as a ‘proper’ Army Driver on 28/06/42 at the age of 20 years and 3 weeks.

Len recalls that all local bus rides were free They were paid for by Gracie Fields, she was renowned cinema star wartime singer and troop entertainer.

A rather grainy view of a Rochdale bus and people, 1942’ish

He also remembers ‘leaping into the cab of a runaway Bedford lorry that the driver was pushing… stopping it using the handbrake.’ He received thanks but no medal!

Sometime in July 1942, Len was posted to a depot at Brymore House, near Bridgwater in Somerset where 112 MAC was being formed, under the command of Major H E C Cummings. Captain E Wood was officer in charge of HQ platoon with Company Sergeant Major Hawkins as the senior non-commissioned officer (NCO).

Around this time the unit personnel were given shoulder insignia badges to sew onto their uniforms. The white Viking looking boat was said to represent Mercy Ships. However, other sources say that the insignia came from V Corps’ abortive service in Norway, home of the Vikings, at the start of WW2 in 1940.

Len recalls the unit training in convoy driving across the South of England, including Taunton, Somerset and Newmarket horse racecourse in Suffolk - here the troops slept in the stables during an exercise.

Len was riding a motorcycle as a despatch rider, initially a Norton 16H, seen here.

Later in his adventures Len rode -

Velocette, BSA,

and Matchless machines.

Len tells me that the riders 'accidentally damaged' the exhaust baffles so that the machines made a 'sportier' sound!

DESTINATION NORTH AFRICA

In December 1942, 112MAC moved to Gourock in Scotland, near Glasgow, to embark on a very large troop ship, the requisitioned P+O cruise liner SS Strathallan. This 23,772 tonnes vessel, only built in 1937, normally carried 1011 passengers on luxurious cruises but was converted to carry over 4000 troops in WW2.

When they sailed on 12/12/42 the ship was full and carrying female nurses as well as other units which would form V Corps of the British 1st Army.

As convoy KMF-5 sailed south through the Atlantic Ocean, Len remembers one of the crew chefs being scalded by hot fat in the galley and being buried at sea “just a body in a blanket over the side.”

Having passed through the Straits of Gibraltar into the Western Mediterranean the ship waited in Algiers Bay and had “Bren gunners on the deck to attack any low flying aircraft.”

Strathallan was attacked with a torpedo from German submarine, U-562 in the early hours of 21/12/42. Len recalls that 16 people were killed but that the ship remained afloat for quite a while so that all the survivors were taken off by other vessels.

PICTURE OF A RESCUED U-BOATU-534 AT BIRKENHEAD, ENGLAND, MARCH 2007

U-562 WAS ITSELF SUNK WITH LOSS OF WHOLE CREW ON 19/02/43 ON ITS 9TH PATROL HAVING SUNK 5 OTHER SHIPS.

MAC112 was landed at Bougie, Algeria. Len wasn’t injured and says that they marched “for about 1 hour to a transit camp where the rain was flooding through tents on a hill.”

Next morning the unit returned to Bougie and was taken by a Dutch ship to Bone, now called Annaba further along the Algerian coast. Len clearly recalls his Christmas dinner for 1942 being a slices of “bully beef” and a dry cracker eaten overlooking the sea.

Whilst waiting for their equipment to arrive on other ships, Len and his colleagues were detailed to “chop logs and haul ammunition in the docks” From this vantage point he watched Luftwaffe ‘Stuka’ aircraft bomb the port.

THE JUNKERS-87 KNOWN AS STUKA DIVEBOMBER

Over the first half of 1943, 112MAC provided medical evacuation to 97th General Hospital which was treating casualties from the battles as Allied forces fought eastward to link up with Eighth Army attacking from Egypt. Eventually the desert war was concluded on 13 May 1943 and 112MAC moved into an abandoned orphanage at Aryana near Tunis. Whilst there Len met up with his older brother Syd at Enfidaville. Syd had been serving as an artillery gunner with 4th Armoured Brigade, part of 8th Army. Their meeting was noted in the Potteries newspaper.

Photographs from Len’s time in Tunis

Left, GLYN DAVIES from Mountain Ash, Wales Centre, ALLAN SMITH from Anstey, Leics Right ? WATLIN “worked in the office”

Len seated

Back from left, Jack Stamp, ? , Charlie Morse, ?

The French sailor and the two local children were waifs, names unknown.Names of others all known, but not who's who.

Back second from left LENOthers, B.LEVY, B.JONES; L/CPL KELLY, NCOI/C HQ PLATOON MOTORCYCLES, E.ADAMS

On 10 July 1943, the Allied Forces invaded Sicily in a combined attack by US and British Commonwealth troops this lasted until 17 August. 112MAC remained in Tunisia but Syd went with his Brigade.

SICILY IN RED BY ‘TOE’ OF ITALY

Commencing 3 September 1943 the Allies started to invade Italy, crossing from Sicily and directly from the North African coastal bases. Initially it was expected that the Italian forces would abandon their Axis partners and help to drive the predominantly German troops out of their country. By a complex sequence of misunderstandings this did not happen and the Italian Army was mostly disarmed by the Germans who then took over their positions to resist the invasion. Thus a 600 day campaign commenced.

LEN’S PAY BOOK AND RED CROSS ID CARD

MAP OF ITALY

SHOWING MANY OF THE PLACES NAMED

COLOURED LINES AXIS DEFENSIVE LINES

THE MOVE INTO ITALY

The Allied landings were in 3 distinct places, directly across the Straits of Messina, (the tip of the toe), onto open beaches at Salerno (high on the arch) and into the natural harbour and city of Taranto (the heel).

Taranto, seen left, apparently gave it’s name to the tarantula spider, properly know as the wolf-spider seen right.

Landing directly from Royal Navy ships at Taranto on the 9 of September 1943, 1st Airborne Division (1 Air Div) rapidly moved out and occupied Bari port (on the achilles tendon). Through there V Corps landed its units from late in the month, initially 78th British Infantry Division (78 Div) and 4th Armoured Brigade (4 AB) who moved up the east (right hand, or Adriatic coast) as far as Termoli by early November under the temporary operational command of XIII Corps.

Len and the rest of 112MAC were shipped from Bizerta in Tunisia to Bari or Taranto in early November 1943. Len is sure he landed at the former, the officer’s record says the latter. It is quite possible they came on different ships. They moved forward to a base at Foggia after V Corps went operational on 15 November 1943 with 78 Div, 1st Canadian Infantry Division (1 Can Div) and 8th Indian Division (8 Ind Div). The multi-national nature of V Corps remained a feature for the next 2 years.

Len almost didn’t travel with his colleagues as he was in hospital. He ‘bashed’ the knuckles of his right hand when a wrench slipped whilst he was servicing his motorcycle. He quickly brewed up an infection and was admitted to an adjacent US Army hospital for treatment. This he enjoyed because they served ice-cream and had a cinema!

Len was injured in a number of accidents and in this picture of HQ platoon his left elbow is bandaged. Far right of group.

Len was ‘rescued’ from the hospital by his Officer Commanding, Capt Wood in time for the crossing as 112 MAC didn’t want to lose him. Had he remained behind, Len would have been placed into a transit camp and posted to wherever he was required, losing contact with those he had trained and lived with for the previous 12 months.

Len recalls that in Bari he stayed near to a graveyard that had been bombed. The ground was broken up with human bones visible.

Only 6 weeks after he was in Bari, a Luftwaffe attack sank a US ammunition ship there which was carrying chemical bombs. Mustard gas was released and many, possibly into the hundreds, people were killed. The affair was kept a complete secret until 1959. Len knew nothing of this until we found this information recently.

MODERN BARI, MANY RESIDENTS DIED IN THE GAS LEAK IN WW2

Casualties amongst the attacking units further north had already been high. With around 50% killed, wounded, and missing (KWM) in many of the battalions fighting with 5th Army on the left or Tyrrhenian Coast between 9 September and 31 October 1943.

The personnel cost of the battles on the Adriatic Coast were such that 78 Div had to be rested in early December to refit and regroup in the Foggia area. Their place was partly taken by 5 Div who had initially landed ‘on the toe’ as part of XIII Corps of 8th

Army.

THE MODERN CENTRE OF FOGGIA

At this time 112MAC was split with HQ at Serracapriola, A, B and workshop platoons at Vasto and C Platoon at Termoli. The later two on the coast, the former about 10 miles inland in the foothills of the Apennine mountains.

This mountain range runs down most of the length of Italy, dividing the country and forcing the Allies to have separate Armies on the two coasts. It is about 600 miles long, averages about 60 miles wide and rises to around 4000 feet with higher peaks. The Apennine Mountains, and the rivers running off them, were a very major factor in the progress of the invasion.

CURRENT VIEWS OF THE APPENINES IN THE CENTRAL AREA

During December 1943, V Corps and its Divisions attempted to progress northwards but ran into determined German resistance and foul winter weather. The Army medical services were very busy as shown in the evacuation figures for 112MAC. C Platoon reached a total since landing of 4045 and 259 on just one day, 16/12/43. This was the equivalent of one third of a division and battalion respectively through just one part of one MAC. Obviously, many of the less sick and injured must have been repaired and sent back.

At some time in that month 112MAC moved to Casalbordino and remained there for the next 10 weeks or so. Relatively little fighting took place after late December 1943 as 8th

Army reorganised with the main war thrust switching to the left hand side of the peninsula.

FIRST WINTER IN ITALY

The weather in Southern Italy during the later part of December 1943 into February 1944 was, according to the official war history the “most abominable… suffered for many years”. Heavy rain, snow and high winds combined with cold to cause frostbite and deaths from exposure in soldiers on the more exposed mountainsides. So, “tired soldiers found little comfort and no gaiety in such places as Lanciano, Vasto and Campobasso.”

The official history, “The Campaign in Italy”

Len has rather fonder memories of this period staying in Casalbordino, in a large house about 700 feet above sea level, three miles inland, and about 8 miles south of Lanciano. The premises had been “…left by retreating fascists… and had a concealed room which was spotted by the HQ cook/butcher when he realised that one of the outside windows did not have an inside door.”

The room was forced open and various ‘trophies of war’ removed as keepsakes, including two tablecloths that Len acquired, my wife and her sister have one each now, some 65 years later. Len also recalls this same cook ‘frying eggs sunnyside up’ his favourite way of preparing them.

Len purchased a postcard showing the town centre before the war, with the Caffe Umberto plain to see. The house he was billeted in was down the left hand side of this, and the HQ vehicles were parked in the street.

The building remains intact and is still used as a café in this photo from a 2008 tourist online guide to the town.

THIS FINE LOOKING CHAP IS EDGAR WOOD,

STANDING IN FRONT OF HIS 3-TON TRUCK, HQ PLATOON L512543 CASALBORDINO

THIS PICTURE TAKEN IN THE SIDE STREET MENTIONED IN PREVIOUS TEXT

NOTE ‘MERCY SHIP’ FLASH ON FRONT BUMPER

Len tells me that he and his mates used the local football pitch for it’s intended purpose, and played games against local and military teams.

Though he also recalls that they took their motorcycles onto this pitch and colleague Jack Kelly taught them a grass track riding technique of ‘tail sliding’ so that the bike slid to face back the way it came!

Just as we were later to Steve McQueen in the film “The Great Escape”!

Major command changes took place within 8th Army with Montgomery returning to England and Leese taking over; V Corps remained under the command of Alfrey from 09/03/42 to 08/08/44.

General Oliver Leese General Charles Walter Alfery

Numerous of the combat divisions were also moved in preparation for the 5th Army amphibious landings on the left side of Italy at Anzio on 22/01/44. This led to huge battles including those known latter as Rapido River and Monte Cassino.

Because of this, HQ 112MAC moved in February 1944 to Vasto with platoons at Pollutri, Torino di Sangro, and Compobasso. But, this move was temporary as HQ, with Len, returned to Casalbordino on 15 March 1944.

VASTO TODAY

The combat divisions remaining in V Corps were 1 Can Div, and 8 Ind Div until early May 1944 when both were redeployed further west to assist in the attacks on Monte Cassino and Rome.

Before they departed, Allied military targets at Lanciano were heavily bombed by the Luftwaffe on 18 April 1944. 112MAC had 50 of its ambulance cars on site within an hour to aid the casualties.

LANCIANO AS IT IS TODAY

In mid-June 1944 V Corps went into reserve and all it’s units, including 112MAC, moved to assemble around Compobasso and prepare for the major offensive due in August 1944.

They were replaced by the Polish Corps commanded by General Anders whose troops advanced about 100 miles in 2 months as the German forces retreated northwards after the capture of Rome on 6 June 1944. That day also saw the launch of the Normandy landings in France and far more publicity was given to the later than the former. This caused much resentment amongst the troops in Italy who were accused of being ‘D-Day dodgers’ despite having sustained so many casualties in fierce fighting over the previous 12 months.

Whilst at Compobasso for the 2 months of rest, training and refit, Len had a couple of more pleasant experiences. He had ‘passed the age of majority’ (then 21 years old) whilst in Tunisia but without any celebration. Subsequently, three others in HQ platoon achieved the same mileage point. The cook baked them a joint birthday cake which they consumed with some proper Italian wine.

MODERN CAMPOSBASSO

On one night time motorcycle despatch run, Len rode through a valley covered in glowing light, from glow worms. He arrived back with lots of them squashed onto his uniform and bike. On this night trip he also recalls that it was the only time he fired his pistol, to scare off a dog which was “after” him!(He didn’t aim at it!)A GLOW WORM CALLED LAMPYRIS NOCTILUCAONLY THE FEMALE GLOWS, AND IS UP TO 1 INCH LONG

A progressive series of individual attacks were required across some 14 rivers in the 110 miles from south of Pesaro to Fabrenza on the River Po. This responsibility was given to Eighth Army, with V Corps now commanded by; LT GENERAL C F KEIGHTLEY

They all followed a similar pattern. Concealed, by night or smoke cover, approach to the ‘friendly’ bank of what varied from large streams to decent size rivers. Crossing under enemy fire from machineguns, mortars and artillery; by small boat, riding on a vehicle or wading. Capturing ‘enemy’ bank, with support from own artillery and ground support aircraft. Pushing them back far enough to clear the way for temporary bridges to be built and bring across heavier vehicles including tanks, self-propelled artillery, reinforcements, supplies and eventually the LOC troops. Also withstanding and repelling frequent counter-attacks against the ‘landing’. Not surprisingly, Allied casualties were high.

The multinational Eight Army was lined up on 23 August 1944, the day before Paris was liberated, with Polish Corps on the ‘right side’ Adriatic coast, Canadian Corps inland, then V Corps covering the land up to and including the Apennine ridges. XIII Corps and II Corps completed the line ‘over the tops’ to join up with Fifth Army on the left or Adriatic coast. V Corps had the most of the assault troops with four infantry divisions, including 4th and 10th Indian and the equivalent of two armoured divisions plus large numbers of artillery and engineering, often called sapper, troops. Direct LOC support of medical and logistics included Len and his unit.

112MAC moved to Fabriano on the day the first of the assaults started, with two platoons allocated to each of 4 Div and 46 Div, two of the infantry divisions. The former had returned from the fighting for Monte Cassio, the latter from rest and refit in Egypt. Thus, 112MAC provided some 50-55 ambulances to each division, capable of carrying 200 plus casualties in one go. Were other MAC’s attached?

Fabriano has a long history of making hiqh quality writing and printing paper and a museum to celebrate this.

THE PAPER MILL MUSEUM

As the advance went ahead, the travelling conditions were increasingly difficult due to the thousands of vehicles using soft road and track surfaces. In the 46 Div routes 112MAC had to borrow jeeps to operate a shuttle service across otherwise ‘impossible’ roads. In one 24 hour period 962 casualties were transported between the advanced dressing stations and more rear positioned medical facilities.

JEEP, ITALY, SOMETIME IN 1944

Despite all these difficulties 46 Div reached the third river, Ventena by 7 September 1944 by which time the whole of V Corps had sustained some 8000 KWM, about ¾ of a division, or one sixth of the assault forces. Further attacks along the 8th

Army front brought the Allied troops to the seventh river, Marrechia by 21 September when Rimini, a large coastal port was abandoned. Within a couple of weeks Len and 112MAC were based in Rimini evacuating 46 Div and 56 Div.

TIBERIUS BRIDGE IN RIMINI

AND AUGUSTUS ARCH

The heavy cost of the fighting is found in the bald statistics of 150 killed each day and 600 wounded between two armoured divisions. The infantry battalions were reduced from 4 to 3 companies to maintain efficiency as there were few reserves to bring forward. Artillery was restricted to just 5 shells per gun per day.

THE GURKHA (INDIAN) MILITARY CEMETRY, RIMINI

Further advance along the right coast was placed in the hands of Canadian and Polish Corps whilst V Corps regrouped and went back on the offensive in late October 1944. 112MAC followed to Sant’Arcangelo di Romagna , Cesena and eventually Forli, on the eleventh river, Ronco by late November.

SANT’ACANGELO CESENA FORLI

A halt to offensive operations was dictated by the winter weather and delays to 5th Army on the left coast. This allowed a general rest and refit. For the motorcyclists, there were maintenance tasks to be done everyday, as detailed in;

Len and Syd met up again in Forli and the event was recorded in a photograph. In fact, Len tells me that he did meet with his brother a few times as he was “free” to take “detours” and seek him out!

NOTE SNOW ON THE GROUND and TENTS FOR SLEEPING

At this time Syd and Len sang at a concert. Their version of ‘Paper Doll’ as recorded by the Mills brothers in 1942. (Later recorded by Frank Sinatra)

– written by Johnny S. Black, 1915- lyrics as recorded by The Mills Brothers in 1942

–

–I'm gonna buy a Paper Doll that I can call my ownA doll that other fellows cannot stealAnd then the flirty, flirty guys with their flirty, flirty eyesWill have to flirt with dollies that are real

When I come home at night she will be waitingShe'll be the truest doll in all this worldI'd rather have a Paper Doll to call my ownThan have a fickle-minded real live girl

I guess I had a million dolls or moreI guess I've played the doll game o'er and o'erI just quarrelled with Sue, that's why I'm blueShe's gone away and left me just like all dolls do

I'll tell you boys, it's tough to be aloneAnd it's tough to love a doll that's not your ownI'm through with all of themI'll never ball againSay boy, whatcha gonna do?

I'm gonna buy a Paper Doll that I can call my ownA doll that other fellows cannot stealAnd then the flirty, flirty guys with their flirty, flirty eyesWill have to flirt with dollies that are real

When I come home at night she will be waitingShe'll be the truest doll in all this worldI'd rather have a Paper Doll to call my ownThan have a fickle-minded real live girl

THE SECOND WINTER

The battle weary and exhausted armies in Italy had time to recover during the winter months of 1944/5 when organised fighting was quite impossible. Morale is said to have become low in some troops who had been away from home for too long in prolonged lethal conflict and appalling weather.

Len remembers that men were allowed to take military vehicles for cultural visits. He and others went to Rome overnight, sleeping in one of the 3-ton troop carrying vehicles and touring the city the next day. He kept the souvenir guide provided.

Later, after the fighting stopped, Len also had a pass to Vienna.

In January 1945, Len was granted a weeks ‘holiday leave’ in Florence. He and 3 others from 112MAC travelled in a V Corps 3 ton truck with other troops from the Forli area. They stayed in a recreation camp close to the city centre and spent much of their time practising and playing soccer under the guidance of a man who ‘had been coach to Wolverhampton Wanderers’ (a very senior English team).

The troops were taken to see the city sights and Len recalls the inside of the Dome of the Cathedral.

FLORENCE AT DUSK WITH THE DOME OF THE CATHEDRAL TO RIGHT

Major changes were made to 8th Army order of battle with the Canadian corps being transferred to NW Europe and the reallocation of expected reinforcements including 46 Div. To replace the former, 112MAC moved to Ravenna just north of the eleventh river in mid-February.

DANTE’S TOMB IN RAVENNA

HQ Platoon, 112MAC EARLY 1945. Len seated left of their platoon board.

The Canadians and Polish Corps had managed to move the front to just short of thirteenth river, Senio. The Polish troops were disgusted by the loss of part of their home country in the political dealings done at the Yalta conference.

By late March 1945 V Corps comprised it’s most culturally diverse mix of the campaign with 56th British (London) Div, 78th

British (Battleaxe) Div, 2nd New Zealand Div, 8th Indian Div, Italian Partisan Cremona Group.

The Italian war recommenced on what was Easter Sunday and April Fools Day, 1 April 1945

• About 1 week after Mandalay in Burma was recaptured• Two days after Soviet Troops entered Vienna • and the same day that American forces landed on Okinawa.

I note with interest that Wikipedia makes no mention of the Italian event in its review of 1945. The Italian conflict had truly become forgotten.

Very large battles ensued over the next 3 weeks for what became known as the Argenta Gap and Commachio lagoon.

Len was detached as a despatch rider for V Corps HQ and came very close to ending his war early. He was ordered to deliver a message to a Captain at the head of a convoy. The column was delayed in tight roads with wide ditches and under enemy fire. Len opted to ‘cut across the field to one side to reach his destination.’

When he got there the Captain he was to see had just been killed when his command caravan was hit by a shell. An official told Len they were glad to see him come across the field, they could now plot the land mines he had managed to avoid in the field! He delivered his message to the second in command and returned to HQ by the road route!

Len also recalls crossing rivers on pontoon bridges that went under the water as lorries pushed the support boats down. Success came on 18 April 1945 when the Allied forces reached the flat and dry approach to the final river, Po and the capture of crucial cities of Bologna (20 April) Ferrara (24 April) and Venice (29 April).

Len visited Venice on 7 May after the formal cessation of war in Italy was declared on 2 May 1945. He recalls ‘a trip in a gondola through The Bridge of Sighs and the clock tower in St. Mark’s Square.’

The Second World War in Europe was into its final phases. Rapid progress was made in northern Italy, tens of miles a day instead of hundreds of yards. 112MAC moved to Rovigo, then Padua and then across the border to Klagenfurt, Austria by early June 1945.

ROVIGO PADUA GARDENS

Control of Klagenfurt was disputed between the 8th Army and their erstwhile Allies from Yugoslavia for a week or two. The local Austrians were very afraid of reprisal by the Yugoslavian troops. One asked for 2 British soldiers to sleep at his house to protect his family with daughters. Len and Jack Guest were delegated the job and slept there for about a week, even though they broke the double bed on the first night!

Eventually the Yugoslavian forces took refuge in the Town Hall and declined to leave. They were persuaded to do so by a large British tank pointing its gun at the building and threatening to fire.

THREE VIEWS OF MODERN KLAGENFURT

This is the Former City Hall where the Yugoslavians took refuge

Above Left, Lindwurm Fountain Above Right, State Assembly

Len’s war finished in Graz, Austria where he and four others, all NCO’s, were supervising locally surrendered German troops.

Len, right, and Jack Guest, with whom he broke the bed! Here seen in US style uniforms fresh from laundry

PANORAMA OF GRAZ OLD TOWN

Because Len had worked in the building industry before the war he was able to get early release to return home on 2 September 1945, the same day on which the Japanese surrendered in the Far East. Len crossed Europe in 2 days in a train with only slatted wooden seats. He was demobbed ‘somewhere’ in Yorkshire and returned to Stoke. He used the local bus service, the Northwood circular, carrying his demob suit in a box.

8th Army had taken 600 days to travel the full length of Italy, sustaining 59 THOUSAND killed.

Eighth Army Thanksgiving Service

Badges of all formations which had served with the Eighth Army, either in North Africa or Italy or both, used to decorate the cover of the Order of Service of the Thanksgiving Service for their victories.

Left Right

1. 5th Army Corps 1. 2nd Canadian Infantry

2. 10th Army Corps 2. 30th Army Corps

3. 2nd Polish Corps 3. 13th Army Corps

4. 78th Infantry (Battleaxe) Division 4. Airborne Division

5. 3rd Carpathian Rifle Division (Polish) 5. 1st Infantry Division

6. 4th Infantry Divsion 6. 8th Armoured Division

7. 51st (Highland) Division 7. 8th Indian Division

8. 9th Australian Division 8. 1st Armoured Division

9. 1st Canadian Infantry Division 9. 10th Indian Division

10. 50th (Northumberland) Division 10. 1st South African Division

11. 5th Canadian Armoured Division 11. 8th Armoured Division

12. 48th (Midland) Division 12. 4th Indian Division

13. 44th (Home Counties) Division 13. 7th Armoured Division (Desert Rats)

14. 56th (North London) Division 14. 5th Infantry Division

15. 2nd New Zealand Division 15. 5th Indian Division

16. 5th Kresowa Infantry Division (Polish) 16. 2nd South African Division

17. 6th South African Armoured Division 17. 6th Armoured Divison

18. Free French Forces 18. 6th Division

19. Jewish Brigade Group 19. 3rd Greek Mountain Brigade

20. Folgore Gruppo (Italian) 20. Cremona Gruppo (Italian)

21. Friuli Gruppo (Italian)

THE AFTERMATH FOR LEN

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Len was able to gain employment very quickly, no doubt assisted by the excellent reference he was given by the HQ platoon officer, Captain later Major Wood.

In a number of such jobs he drove ex-military vehicles, of which there were hundreds of thousands available.

He recalls collecting his then girlfriend, and subsequently wife of 54 years, Joyce, from the Lewis’s department store in Hanley where she worked. He was driving a canvas topped 3-ton truck, very similar to the one pictured earlier, as the local bus company was on strike.

It was then called Potteries Motor Transport, PMT, for decades before the initial acquired another female meaning.

As Joyce came out of the store staff entrance she was followed by quite a few other female staff who then ‘begged’ Len to give them a lift home, sitting in the back of the old truck. He fondly recalls obliging on a roundabout return to Butt Lane, where Joyce lived.

Len also received his ‘war medals’, in the post, with the above letter of thanks.

He kept contact with his particular friend, Jack Stamp, for many years by Christmas cards. Sadly, Jack and his wife, and Joyce have now all passed away.

In Autumn 2008, Len was pleased to receive his UK Armed Forces Veterans Lapel Badge in recognition of his time in WW2.

Len in later life

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This author was also proud to receive his badge for service with the Royal Air Force from 1976 to 1989

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Leonard SmithDave and Hazel Hambidge

SOURCES OF INFORMATION AND PHOTOGRAPHS USED

INTERNET

The major source for almost any factual information is wikipaedia;

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page

and then type whatever you want in the search box and stand back!!

Another site heavily raided by us is the BBC History pages at;

http://www.bbc.co.uk/ww2peopleswar/

For general details on The British Army in The Second World War, try;

http://www.unithistories.com/units_british/units_british.html#Army

For specific officers of The British Army in that conflict,

http://www.unithistories.com/units_index/default.asp?file=../officers/personsx.html

To learn more about the Royal Army Service Corps, go to;

http://www.rascrctassociation.co.uk/index.html

For anything you want to know about U-boats, an awesome site is;

http://uboat.net/boats/

For a very detailed account of the SS Strathallan, try;

http://www.thestrathallan.com/index.html

To discover more about the various military formations mentioned, go to;

http://www.ordersofbattle.com/

SOURCES OF INFORMATION AND PHOTOGRAPHS USED

PRINTED

If you can find a copy, the 'Popular Military History of the Second World War, 1939-1945' by Her Majesty's Stationary Office from 1951 is based on official records and prepared immediately after the war. 'The Campaign in Italy' by Eric Linklater concentrates very much on the fighting end of the period with very little reference to the medical services. I found my copy in a Hay-on-Wye second hand book shop for £7 in 2008.

A much more up-to-date and balanced account of the whole conflict is given in 'Eighth Army in Italy 1943-45; The Long Hard Slog' by Richard Doherty, published by Pen and Sword in 2007 under ISBN 978-1-84415-637-5. Although not cheap at around £20 for a new copy it is ideal for a comprehensive review of the battles and their background.

An American author, Edwin P. Hoyt gives a summary of the whole Italian campaign from an American perspective in 'Backwater War' published by Stackpole Books in 2002 under ISBN 978-0-8117-3382-3 at about £15.

For a consideration of the experiences of different British Commonwealth armed forces in the Second World War, 'Our War' by Christopher Somerville gives a very readable account published in 1998 by Cassell Military Paperbacks under ISBN 0-304-36717-6 at about £6-£10.

The only account I have located, to date, of a medics experiences in Italy is 'Medic!' by Robert 'Doc Joe' Franklin who served with the U.S. Army. Published by Board of Regents of University of Nebraska in 2006 under ISBN 0-8032-2014-6 at about $20 or equivalent.

If you know any different, or wish to provide comments;please email us at hambo@doctors.org.uk

Thanks for reading this memoir.