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Our stay in Tunis was short lived. Whilst in Tunis following the Victory Parade, our time had been spent in drills and the routine of Battalion parades. News had come that reinforcements were arriving at the Battalion. This could only mean that preparations were being made for future action. Nearly everyone was of the same opinion that it would be Sicily, or after that Italy. Towards the end of May, we heard that the island of Pantelleria had been heavily bombed. From Cap Bon to the nearest shores of Sicily is about eighty miles. Some miles to the South, halfway, lies a group of islands called the Pelagic islands, the most important of these being Pantelleria. A volcanic island rising at its highest point to about 2,700 feet. At its north west corner lies a small harbour and a town of about 4,000 population. The natural defences of the island had been heavily fortified by the Italians. The few places where it was possible to land were covered by guns in emplacements cut into the rock and blasted out of the sides of the cliff faces. A garrison of about 10,000 of the enemy guarded its lofty shores. There was also a small airfield on the island. The island's tactical value was undeniable but taking it by troops would mean losses so the Royal Air Force had been called in. Bombers from their bases in North Africa had plastered the island with bombs, day and night, for the past week or so. Just as the bombing seemed to be wiping the island off the face of the map, the bombing ceased. It was now the month of June and on the 12th, assault troops escorted by Royal Navy ships, landed and took over the island. Much more now south lay the island of Lampedusa, which also underwent severe bombing by the North Africa Air Force. Also ships of the Royal Navy heavily bombarded the island day and night. During the bombing of both of these islands, we had been preparing to move off but on the 11th June, About mid afternoon, I saw a troop landing craft approaching the small jetty at the end of the harbour. Within fifteen minutes of the boat tying up, we had got our kit together and were marching up the small gangway to the deck of the landing craft. I was not looking forward to the trip wherever we may be going as I was a very poor sailor but as it was only an infantry landing craft, I knew that our journey could not be very far. We all settled down in the hold of the boat and made ourselves as comfortable as possible. An iron ladder led up on to the deck. One of our officers was on the small bridge with the captain of the boat. As well as our troops on the boat, there were also three or four navy sailors. A small medium size machine gun was set up in the bows of the boat which was manned by one of the boat crew. I heard the sound of the boat's engine start and we were under way. Where to? this was the question we were all asking ourselves. Then the other officer came below and standing on the ladder leading up to the deck addressed us and informed us of our destination, Lampedusa. It appeared that after Pantelleria fell to our troops, the Air Force and Royal Navy had concentrated their attack on Lampedusa, where the garrison of enemy troops were now ready to surrender. Our job was to occupy the island and take charge of administration and the job of rounding up all enemy troops. It was estimated the enemy garrison consisted of about four thousand men, mostly Italians. We were fifty strong and I only hoped the Navy had done a good job and that the statements were true that the island garrison of 4,600 men wanted to surrender. After about an hour on the water, our officer informed us that we now had an escort, which was a Royal Navy destroyer named H.M.S. Trowbridge. We were allowed on deck, a few at a time, and when my turn came I felt slightly seasick. This was due more to the stuffy atmosphere below deck because on deck I found my head cleared and I felt much better. On deck I sat on a box of rations which had been loaded and placed all along the deck sides. Looking over to the starboard side, I could see the destroyer cruising about one hundred yards away. I could see the ship very plainly and the captain was shouting orders to our boat captain through a loud hailer. Over to the left I could see the coast of North Africa very faintly in the distance. Overhead a squadron of bombers were just returning to their base on the Cap Bon Peninsular. From the cruiser came the orders to our captain that bombing of Lampedusa had now finished. We stopped about half hour after and with our engine silent, we just lay there tossing in the sea which was not too rough but rough enough to cause me slight discomfort. Then I heard the engines start again and we were heading through the waves again, the cruiser still keeping on our left and escorting us to the island. Suddenly the captain on the cruiser made a turn and I saw the cruiser going round and eventually it was on cur left and much closer to our boat. The voice of the cruiser's captain was then heard through the loud hailer "Leaving you now A Company, good hunting Coldstreamers". I could see the crew of the cruiser very plainly as she sailed close to us before she turned again and made off into the open sea. Most of the company were on deck now and waving to the cruiser's crew as she disappeared away from our boat. Now we seemed all alone but then towards our front, we saw the island of Lampedusa in the evening sunlight. It looked a flat island with only a high ridge running from the north end down to the sea. As we neared the island, the officer informed us that it was understood there would be no opposition but to be on the alert in case the report could be wrong. We would be the first allied troops to land on the island. As we approached the island, we could see a small rowing boat coming out to meet us. As it got closer, I could see it contained an Italian civilian and another figure in uniform but one I did not recognise, who eventually turned out to be a Garibaldi policeman. They were gestulating and making signs to our captain to steer the boat around a small wreck that lay in the entrance to a small harbour. Our captain seemed to understand and made for a part of the water which seemed clear. Then suddenly the civilian in the boat started to ware his arms about, giving signs that we were to stop which we did. It appeared there were still mines around the harbour and the small boat would steer us through clear waters. We slowly followed the small rowing boat and as we approached the harbour, I could see hundreds of Italian soldiers lined up along the harbour road. On the front of the steps leading down to the water's edge a few figures who appeared to be officers were assembled, amongst them an elderly man with a white beard. As our small craft approached the harbour wall, several willing hands helped to throw down a large plank which stretched from the wall to the deck of our boat. Our officer was the first person to walk up on to dry land where he was greeted by the bearded civilian. We all followed and were very soon formed up on the tiny square that ran from the harbour wall towards a group of buildings over on the far side of the square. Our officer went off with the civilian, who later we found out, was the Governor of Lampedusa. In the middle of the square was piled all sorts of weapons including quite a lot of Italian hand grenades, or little "devils", as our troops had knicknamed them. These were still primed and our first duty was to make them all safe. As we had never had the chance to inspect an Italian grenade at close quarters, we had to get one of the Italian officers to instruct us how to make them safe. Before very long, we were working alongside some of the Italian prisoners making the weapons and grenades safe, piling the weapons in one heap and the ammunition in another. The rest of the prisoners were formed up by the rest of the company and taken to a large area behind the buildings where a guard was put over them until they could be fetched and taken to a P.O.W. camp in North Africa. Whilst we were sorting and guarding the huge pile of weapons, another craft came into the harbour with two or three war correspondents on board. Several photos were taken for publication in the papers back home, many of which eventually were printed in my local paper back home.
As I was taking stock of some of the ammunition, the platoon sergeant called me over and I saw he was carrying a Union Jack. Looking up at a large tower that rose above the rest of the white buildings, we saw that the Italian flag was still flying. The sergeant and I climbed the steep stone steps which led to the top of the tower, we reached the roof and made our way to the flag staff. We hauled the Italian flag down and tying the Union Jack on to the rope, hauled the flag up to the top. As we did so, we saw the photographers below taking more pictures. I have often wondered if the platoon sergeant and myself were the first allied troops to raise the Union Jack on captured enemy territory in Europe, the only other place could have been Panterleria. I never did find out if this was so, and I should still be very interested to learn that ours was the first to be flown. The photo of this occasion was also sent back to my local paper and it still holds a place in the scrap book of the last war. Lampedusa itself was a dull and dreary island. There were no trees, no vegetation of any kind. The ground was hard and stoney and dried up with the fierce heat of the sun. There were very few buildings and even these were more like stone built hovels with dirty stoves for warmth in the winter and rickety tables and chairs. The larger buildings where the garrison had lived were not much better although the Governor's house near to the harbour was slightly more comfortable, with soft easy chairs and a huge table that stretched nearly the whole length of the huge dining room. I had an occasion to go over the building with the officer and other N.C.O's and during our, inspection or rather curious concern, we came across a large trunk filled with Italian paper money. There must have been about £100,000 compared with English money, perhaps even more. This type of Italian currency had been taken out of circulation by the British authorities and replaced by Allied Currency, so although the amount in the trunk would have been a fortune in Italy, it was worthless on Lampedusa and Panterleria, also in Sicily, which had now been invaded by Allied Forces.
I still have a few of the notes, which I kept as souvenirs. When on holiday after my return to civilian life, I tried to pass these at Lake Come, with plenty of comments from the bank clerk as to where I had obtained these out of date currency notes. During our look round the island, we found a large building on the far side of the island which was filled with huge stacks of tins of tomatoes, these supplemented our iron rations whilst on the island. Our company cook had managed to erect a cookhouse of some sort which enabled him to supply us with hot stew and tea, and also hot rice pudding, which was produced by one of the prisoners who had shown us where the food store was. This store also held quite a lot of bottles of nice white wine and vermouth which supplemented our tea supply. Our daily routine on the island was boring and uninteresting. Our main duties consisting of weapon cleaning and sometimes drills in the cool of the early morning. Section positions were given and times of watch detailed out. I always seemed to get the night watches but at times these were best as in the day we could relax and sunbathe on the rocky shores. The water around the island was clear and very blue, although it was deep and in parts could be very treacherous when one was swimming, the currents seemed very strong. We were all advised not to go swimming except for those who were very strong swimmers, unfortunately I did not come into this category. The days went by slowly and it was now about the middle of August; we had been on the island for nearly two months. During this time, our troops along with the Americans had nearly over run Sicily. Troops under the command of General Alexander and General Paton were within striking distance of the Italian mainland. By now the prisoners on the island had been taken off by the navy and landed in North Africa. It was during a visit from a Royal Navy vessel that we were lucky to obtain fresh supplies of food which consisted of white bread and a wider variety of tinned foods. Another month went by and we began to wonder if anybody knew we were here. Then on the first week in September, we learned that the 8th Army had landed in Italy. On the 9th September, Taranto fell to the troops of the let British Airborne Division. At practically the same time, landings were made at Salerno, amongst the troops landing were the 3rd Battalion of our Regiment. By the end of the month we were all miserable and fed up. Although no one craved for action, this sitting around became boring and just as I felt as if I was to spend the rest of the war on Lampedusa, orders came that we were to move. |
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a Company was formed up consisting of about forty men, two officers, four sergeants and four corporals, I was on this selected A Company. We were not informed of our destination although we knew we were going on something which did not include the rest of the battalion. A small convoy of two T.C.V's and one jeep conveyed the Company to a small port on the east coast. A little port nestled in a bay surrounded with golden sands. The name of the town was Monistir. Here we eventually landed and after a hot meal, awaited on the quay-side of a small harbour.
