3 Coming of Age
After Salerno the battalion’s next major operation was at the crossing of the Volturno river in October, another relatively unknown affair glossed over in most campaign histories. After establishing a bridgehead, the Foresters once again faced ferocious German counterattacks, and were eventually forced to fall back across the river with heavy losses. But their resistance had ensured the success of the main crossings, and this represents the battalion’s first real battlefield success against veteran opposition.
Secondary sources on the Volturno crossing are very limited. There are brief accounts of operations in general histories of the Italian campaign particularly Linklater [1951], Jackson [1967], and Moloney [1973], and a rather fuller one from an American perspective in Blumenthal [1993], none cover the Foresters’ action in more than a few sentences. Therefore this chapter is almost entirely based on primary sources, mainly the battalion (WO 169/10296) and brigade (WO 175/225 and WO 169_8950) war diaries. Especially important is Lieutenant-Colonel Hefford’s official account of the battle in the battalion war diary. Additional personal material has been included from Wally Binch collections in the Nottinghamshire Archives and from the IWM sound archive. The 46th Division history and Stringer’s history of the 16th Battalion DLI, both written in 1946, can be regarded as primary sources, and Garrett’s unofficial history None But the Brave also has an account.
Notes
p. 58 The use of the phrase ‘soft underbelly’ by Churchill is well verified, including by Mark Clark, though it does not appear in his written work. See The Churchill Project, Hillsdale College, ‘Were “Soft Underbelly” and “Fortress Europe” Churchill Phrases?’ (1 April 2016),<https://winstonchurchill.hillsdale.edu/soft-underbelly-fortress-europe/> [Accessed 20 February 2021].
p. 60-61 The state of the Volturno river is attested to in Martin Blumenthal, Salerno to Cassino (Washington: Center of Military History, US Army, 1993), p. 203.
p. 61 Block’s background from ‘Brigadier A.P. Block’ <http://www.queensroyalsurreys.org.uk/colonels_and_co/commanding_officers/queens_west_surrey/brigadierap-block.shtml> [accessed 11/08/2021]. His DSO was gazetted on 25/11/1943.
p. 62 Forces engaged in the Foresters’ front from the Hefford Report and The Story of 46 Division 1939–1945 (Graz: n.p., [1946]), p. 45; German forces from Brigadier CJC Moloney, The Mediterranean and the Middle East Vol V The Campaign in Sicily and the Campaign in Italy 3rd Sept 1943 to 31st March 1944 (London, HMSO, 1973), p. 442. Moloney also describes the assault boats, ibid p. 439 and p. 443. Although Moloney states that some limited practice was carried out on canals and lakes, there is no evidence for this in any of the Foresters’ accounts.
p. 63 Casualties in the patrols calculated from WO 417. Wright’s story is in OAS, pp 119 and IWM Tape #19987, Reel 5. Wright stated in the written account that there were two sappers, but said six in the interview, as well as the Lieutenant.
p. 64 Phil Plowright, in IWM Tape #15590, Reel 8, says that Morris’ injury was suspected to be self-inflicted. Major. Keith Davenport had been C Company’s commander at Salerno but had returned from hospital a few days before the battle; which probably explains why Morris was in command on 13 October.
p. 66 Warsop’s account (OAS, p. 128) appears to say that Crews’ arrival at the Battalion HQ was during the afternoon assault on the battalion’s position, but Crews’ own account (OAS, pp. 98–100; Crews, IWM Tape #19987, Reels 15–16) seems to place it in the morning.
pp. 66-67 Wright’s patrol is descibed in OAS, pp. 119–120. Garrett, None But The Brave p. 153 appears to confuse this with the earlier A Company patrol, Hefford’s report indicates that Wright’s patrol was the one in platoon strength. Wright incorrectly says that McKerrigan was the MO who treated him.
p.67 C Company 2/4th KOYLIs lost one officer and one OR killed and fourteen wounded ferrying ammunition to the Foresters on 13 October (WO 169/10245, 2/4 KOYLI WD).
pp. 66-67 Walker’s patrol appears in the War Diary and in Warsop, OAS, p. 130, but not in Hefford’s report. It is possible that it was either the earlier morning patrol at 08.00 or the A company patrol at 11.00 that Hefford does describe, but the details do not appear to correspond with either.
p. 69 Stan Corby, OAS, p. 53, names the wounded medical team member as George Mitchell. There is a Henry George Mitchell reported wounded on 14 October, but as belonging to the Queen’s Regiment. In his roll of battalion members Wally Binch lists Mitchell with this Queens’ service number.
p. 71 Peacock died in German hands on 15 October and is buried in the Cassino War Cemetery. His headstone incorrectly identifies his battalion as the 2nd Sherwood Foresters.
p. 71-72 The 80% figure comes from John Ellis, The Sharp End of War: The Fighting Man in World War II (Newton Abbot: David & Charles, 1980) pp. 162–5. The battalion casualties are from the Hefford Report, verified and corrected by my research in the official Casualty Lists in WO 417. Fifteen other rank casualties included in Hefford’s numbers cannot be identified from the Casualty Lists – these may include George Mitchell (p. 69 and above).
p. 73 Blumenthal, Salerno to Cassino, pp. 196–203 describes the US attacks and is the source for the casualties quoted for the two.