Route of 1 York & Lancs. 14 - 18 Jan 44

Royal Artillery and the Coldstream Guards 22 Jan 44

 3 Coldstream Guards War Diary

22 Jan 44 – 0630 

Commanding Officer, Lt. Col. W.A.G. Burns MC and his group left the Assembly area. They went to the Battalion HQ of 1 Green Howards which were in slit trenches behind Tremensuoli. The HQ was under intermittent shellfire and aerial bombardment.

98 Field Regiment Royal Artillery War Diary

22 Jan 44 – 0650

SOS Category continuous: 471 Battery report strong counterattack making progress coming up road 781969 and at 780968 [Santa Maria Infante road, a kilometre North of the Cemetery]

Major G.H. Peile Adventures of 392 Battery, 98^th Field Regiment (1945 IWM)

“On January 22 after a long and exhaustive recce by the Commanding Officer, the position of the Observation Posts, which had been obscure, had ended by Capt. Palmer manning the Observation Post with the Battery Commander, with the Battalion Commander of 3 Coldstream Guards, as the Regiment had now taken over support of 201 Guards Brigade, then under command of 5 Division..  

The position was extremely unpleasant.   The Coldstreams had their Battalion H.Q. in Tremensuoli, which was being subjected to constant shelling and mortar fire, and the O.P. was in a very muddy slit trench rather than in advance of the Front Defence Lines.   This O.P. was manned alternately by Capt. Palmer and Capt. Stride.   During the next four days some excellent shooting was done both by the forward O.P. and the rear O.P., the latter being able to engage hostile Batteries which could actually be seen firing.   The whole of the forward position was overlooked.”  

 

German Position 17 Jan 44 as they saw it!

 German Position 17-23 Jan 44 as the Germans saw it.

German tanks coming from Santa Maria Infante. 22 Jan 44

 22 Jan 44

The German tanks were coming down this road from Santa Maria Infante. 40 Royal Tank Regiment had to stop them getting to this corner of the Cemetery. (Photo John Strafford)

Ortona, Italy. December 1943.

 

Ortona, Italy.   December 1943.   1 York and Lancs. were based just west of here at this time.

Michael Pare:

The artist was Major Charles Comfort, an official Canadian war artist and member of the Group of Seven. He painted this in London from his sketches in November 1944. It is part of the war artist collection of the Canadian War Museum.

It shows tanks of the 14th Canadian Armoured Regiment (Calgary Regiment) passing through Piazza Plebiscito in Ortona.

Grenadier Georg Duscher was killed on 22 Jan 44 at Solacciano

 

NEW INFORMATION RECEIVED SINCE BOOK PUBLISHED.

Book: Battle For Monte Natale Page  133

Translation of the German Text

Grenadier Georg Duscher was killed on 22 Jan 44 at Solacciano which is one kilometre West of the (Minturno) cemetery and two kilometres North of Tremensuoli.   He was with the 361 Grenadier Regiment.

**In pious remembrance of our dear

Senior Grenadier

Georg Duscher

Farmer’s son from the Basen farm in Achleiten,

Parish of Schardenberg,

who, in his 20th year of life, met a hero’s death in the heavy fighting in southern Italy.**

 

Poetic Verse

You left us with a courageous heart

And hoped for a reunion.

But now our pain is greater,

Since this can no longer happen.

Yet when the bell from the tower tolls

That death has been ordained for me so soon,

Then do not weep, my loved ones—

You must be where I am now.

I went with two of my brothers

As a hero to the homeland of heaven.

Grid HQ 5 Infantry Division

 Map of the Minturno area, each square is one km in width and length. this is the grid used by HQ 5 Infantry Division. Some units used slightly different grids. (Map TNA)

5 Infantry Division Revised Plan of attack 18 Jan 44

 XBR Corps War Diary.

18 Jan 44

5 Infantry Division Revised Plan of Attack showing 15 Infantry Brigade moving ahead to take Tufo and Minturno. 13 Infantry Brigade are to the right of them. No area was safe from mines.  (TNA)

dd

Between 18 and 22 Jan 44 X Corps had lost almost 1,500 men.

 

NEW INFORMATION RECEIVED SINCE BOOK PUBLISHED

Book "Battle For Monte Natale" Page 128

From Norway to Burma by Roger Holgate

22 Jan 44 

Between 18 and 22 Jan 44 X Corps had lost almost 1,500 men.

13 Brigade was in the area between Tufo and Minturno, when the counter attack began on 20 Jan 44 and 15 Brigade was moving forward to take the ridge behind Tremensuoli.   For two days 1 KOYLI, with 1 Green Howards and 1 York & Lancs., stood firm against Kesselring’s counter attack, which surged along the boundary of the bridgehead, and on towards Mount Damiano, Mount Castiello and theSujo valley.   The front line on the right of the attack moved back and forth, as the Germans fought to throw it back to the river.   As the casualties began to mount, the entire front started to stabilise into na position that was roughly the same as had existed when the German counter attack had been launched.

Jan 17 1944 2 Royal Scots Fusiliers amphibious assault on Monte d'Argento

 

Gelsomino Rossi

Jan 17 1944

On the night of January 17, 1944, the 2nd Battalion, Royal Scots Fusiliers (2 RSF) took part in a daring amphibious assault on Monte d'Argento (Scauri, Italy). The operation was part of a larger amphibious assault during the crossing of the Garigliano River, aimed at breaking through German defensive lines during the Italian Campaign. The attack, launched as an outflanking maneuver, saw the 2 RSF land from the sea near Monte d'Argento to capture the high ground. The objective was to clear the way for the Seaforth Highlanders' inland advance. However, the operation encountered serious difficulties and navigational errors; most of the landing craft failed to reach the correct beaches, and many misjudged their landing sites and ran aground too far south. Those who landed at Monte d'Argento found themselves immediately trapped.

2 Royal Scots Fusiliers War Diary

The battalion's landing plan failed completely, and the unit was brutally disorganized from the start. Many of the drivers strayed too far from shore, making it impossible to use the guide lights placed at intervals along the beach or to see the mouth of the river, which would have been the safest guide.

"Not one of the boats carrying the Royal Engineer assault companies found the right beach."

Major Sandilands, second in command of the 2 Royal Scots Fusiliers, reported:

"Before the bombardment began at 9:00 PM, we had no idea where we were. It was already clear that the third wave was lost in any case. They found themselves trapped inside an unmarked German minefield, which caused significant losses and disorganized the battalion. Many of the landed riflemen were blocked, and several men were wounded or captured; unfortunately, there were also deaths. The infantry troops, such as the Royal Scots Fusiliers, found themselves under incessant fire close to the beaches. The German soldiers, barricaded on the heights and protected by vast minefields, machine-gunned the Allied positions and, on several occasions, the enemy units exchanged shouts and taunts during the violent clash. I was able to understand and empathize with the horror and brutality of war when I read the diary of Captain Anthony Courtney, who was part of the  2 Royal Scots Fusiliers:

 

“From the shoreline under fire from the 88s and the German MGs, they could hear in the distance the megaphones of the PK units. German propaganda, literally shouting at them:

"Come forward, you bastards, we're waiting for you!"

The minefield trap and the landing of Company B at Marina di Minturno. The beach and slopes of Monte d'Argento had been heavily mined by the German defenders. Captain Courtney and Private Chamberlain found themselves trapped under enemy fire right inside one of these dense minefields and were separated from the rest of the company.

Casualties between 18 -22 Jan 44

 

NEW INFORMATION RECEIVED SINCE BOOK PUBLISHED.

22 Jan 44 Page 128

Official History

Brigadier Molony’s The Mediterranean and Middle East, notes that between 18-22 Jan 44 inclusive, the start of the Garigliano Offensive, casualties in the whole of X Corps (which included 5, 45 & 56 Division) were 1,312.

Just three battalions of 5 Division lost about 565 men that week: The Royal Scots Fusiliers’ casualties were approximately 140, including seven officers, to which a further 53 casualties had to be added on 23 Jan 44 - a total of 193.

Field Returns of Jan 22 44 for 6 Seaforth Highlanders show a complement of 27 officers and 608 ORs, against a War Establishment of 36 officers and 815 ORs. The battalion was forced to reorganise into three Rifle Companies, so it must have lost in the region of 100 men. 

1 Bn York & Lancaster lost 256 men during the week ending Jan 22 44.

The Wiltshires, also from 5 Division, lost 195 men during the Garigliano operations (two weeks) .

According to 56 Division ADMS, divisional troop casualties for the week ending 22 Jan 44 were 40 officers and 659 ORs.   Eric Morris, in Circles of Hell, gives the figure of 4,000 British casualties in the first battle of Cassino (22 Jan – 13 Feb 44).

56 Division ADMS Medical Diary for Jan 44 records 76 officers and 1311 OR casualties in January - a total of 1387.

The Gustav Line where many battles were fought over many months

 The Gustav Line where many battles were fought over many months including the Battle For Monte Natale which was part of the first Battle for Monte Cassino.

Map of Southern Italy 1944 – The Gustav Line. (United States Military Academy)

Main dispositions of Regiments at midnight 21 Jan 44.

 Main dispositions of 1 York & Lancs. 1 Green Howards and KOYLI at midnight 21 Jan 44.

1 York & Lancs. on Monte Natale. 1 Green Howards around Tremensuoli. 1 KOYLI. At Point 172. 

Tremensuoli from the top of Point 141, Monte del Duca.

 

Tremensuoli from the top of Point 141, Monte del Duca. (Photo Peter Strafford)

Minturno Town 16 Oct 2012 (Photo John Strafford)

 

New Information since book published!

Book Page 120 

98 Field Regiment Royal Artillery War Diary 

21 Jan 44 – 1830 

Hectic hour in which 392 and 471 Batteries each received urgent SOS’s and 391 Battery alternated from one to the other in support. Meanwhile Division asked for six Stonks [artillery bombardments] which had to be refused. Ammunition running low. 

NEW Information!

T. B. Davis "The Surrey & Sussex Yeomanry (98 Field Regiment)" 1980

"Enemy reaction had now reached a peak and six targets were engaged by the whole Divisional Artillery before 5.15a.m.   Two hours later the guns were firing a barrage in support of a 15 Brigade attack eastwards on Tremensuoli.   Resistance was fierce and by evening the leading troops were still only half way to the village; two days later after a series of savage counter attacks they were not even as close as that.   The Germans fought with great tenacity,  and there is no doubt that their counter-attacks, supported as they were by armour, would have had a far greater success but for the crippling fire which the Regiment was able to bring down upon them.   The guns were seldom silent and in these two days alone they fired over 11,000 rounds."

1 York & Lancs. Route through Italy. 16 Nov 43 to 14 Jan 44.

 1 York & Lancs. Route through Italy. 16 Nov 43 to 14 Jan 44.

 

Crossing the Garigliano - South West of Minturno 21 Jan 44

21 Jan 44 

Crossing the Garigliano – South West of Minturno

   The slow but strong tank-raft is putting the Sherman Tanks on the North bank.

On its retreat towards ROME the German Army is leaving not one of the many road and rail bridges intact.   The railway spanning the main road and RIVER GARIGLIANO completely demolished by Sappers of  572 Field Company Royal Engineers to free a passage for heavy traffic.   An oxyacetylene cutter breaks up the fallen bridge structure, Sappers remove the rails suspended  in air, while behind them runs the river and a thick smoke screen to hide the bridging operations from German observers in the hills beyond.   The rubble is loaded into trucks and tipped into nearby shell craters which are further blocking the main road, and one of many Bofors Guns guards these operations, and the newly won town of Minturno is in the background.        

With the taking by British forces on January 20^th of MINTURNO, hundreds of civilians began pouring home again.   Most of them were ill clothed and on foot, little children and the aged, all in a long almost unbroken line from dawn until dusk.   They are passing a Sherman tank on its way forward, the demolished bridge, and the ever alert Bofors gun crew.

Army 5 Division

21 Jan 44

Video 643 1-4

Cameraman: Sgt. Weber

Copyright Imperial War Museum

 

16 Jan 44 Seaforth Highlanders of Canada

 

16 Jan 44 Seaforth Highlanders of Canada

On the outskirts of the town of ORTONA, the Canadians have made several small Cemeteries, and this film shows one made by men of the SEAFORTH HIGHLANDERS OF CANADA in memory of their comrades who were killed in the fierce fighting that took place in this area.

Crossing the River Garigliano Jan 18 44 onwards - no sound.

Click on below:

  https://youtu.be/TrmJcd4RAJk?si=v4s3wHsxGzjWhmzY

Bostons aircraft in formations fly thru flak. Night shots of barrage in Garigliano valley, barrage continued all night. 4.5 guns firing at night, silhouettes of guns as they are fired. Tracers thru the air, all the above is night shots. Castelforte in valley being shelled by British. Germans shelling road. Several shots of 4.5's firing in daylight. smoke screen in valley. Order of "Fire" given. Smoke screen over Minturno. Piper Cub aircraft flying target spotting. Pontoon bridge over Garigliano river artillery being towed across. our guns firing, Minturno background. British troops cross pontoon bridge followed by despatch riders. Formations of Boston's aircraft flying thru German flak. Minturno dive bombed by Germans. explosions & smoke screen over target. Aerial shot Piper Cub spotting.

Above is P. Wyand's B.416/D1-2.

Following is A.F.U.:- Village of Suja, ambulances & stretchers take away wounded troops. Jeeps assist. MLS. of village dive bombed, shows village enveloped in smoke & dust. bomb burst. railway bridge wrecked this did span roadway & river. Royal Engineer's use oxyacetylene cutters to demolish iron girders of bridge, smoke screen background. Rubble emptied into shell holes from Army trucks. Bofors guarding operations. The bridge is S.W.Minturno. Various shots of Italians refugees pouring back to town, Bofors with smoking & burning Minturno in background. Refugees pass Sherman tank on road. pontoon bridge & rough road, British troops along same. Crossing bridge, Bren Carrier, armoured. cars, gun limbers, followed by crew of Bofors gun. In Castelforte & Lorenzo sector, Sherman tanks & British troops move up, British troops along wrecked railroad. Sherman tank moves at speed across open ground. Sherman tank in fore with battle in progress in valley, smoke, shell & mortar bursts rise from ground. Sherman passes infantry across railway crossing, receives near misses as it approaches Castelforte. Patrol supported by six tanks set out from scarred village of Lorenzo, various shots of their approach. Various shots of Castelforte during shelling of town, by both sides, Shot of shell burst near Observation Post. Shot of shellhole with smoke from same. Various angle shots of Castelforte undergoing shell & mortar fire.