A few years ago I posted a story on the BBC WW2 Peoples War (as it was then known). For those of you who are not familiar with the site, it is now a sealed archive and the stories can no longer be edited or comments added
The original story;
BBC - WW2 People's War - Diary Entries 11th April 1945
described a period lasting about two weeks prior to what was virtually the last battle in Italy, namely the break-through of the Argenta Gap.
When I first wrote the article, some sixty odd years after the event, I had yet to discover the 4th Queen's Own Hussars Regimental Diaries. So, while the dates in the story were factually correct, i.e. taken from my own personal diary, I had no confirmation as to the geographical features of the area.
My diary, still with me today, said this:
Wednesday 11th. April 1945
Woken at 4 am to go into Lugo area with Recce party. Stood at X roads for a couple of hours. Area lousy with mines. Late breakfast when tanks arrived.
The story on the BBC site, based entirely on my memory of the day, said this:
On April ll th I went with Lt. Walmsley by jeep to Lugo, the fortified town that is surrounded by water and to which access is made by many small bridges. We stopped the jeep on the outside perimeter and looked across one of these bridges at the town that we could see in front of us.
The trouble was that the bridge had obviously been hit by shell fire and was in a bit of a mess. It did, however, look as if we could get across on foot through the rubble.
With its back to us a notice board had been fixed in the centre of the bridge and Walmsley said to me: "Nip over there and see what it says." Without any further thought I did this, and after I had reached the spot and read the notice I called across to Walmsley in what I hoped was not too shaky a voice: "It says 'Achtung Minen!'. I had, in fact, just walked through a Jerry minefield and was now faced with the unpleasant task of trying to remember exactly where I had placed my feet on the journey in. The fact that 58 years later I am able to write about the incident means, of course, that at the time I must have been blessed with either a good memory or good luck.
Now this is my problem and my reason for posting this article.
My memory, on which I relied upon to describe the scene, led me to believe that the bridge was one of many, that Lugo was surrounded by water and that it was necessary to cross the bridge to gain access to the town.
However, when I now use modern maps of the area plus GOOGLE EARTH it soon becomes painfully obvious that Lugo is not surrounded by water and that the bridge to which I refer must have been purely one over the Santerno river and this is confirmed by an excerpt from the Regimental Diaries shown below.
April 11th - 0600 - B Sqn joined North Irish Horse in sweep northwards to area 3345, during which 30 PoW were taken. Own casualties 2 ORs killed and 1 wounded. 1400 - Tac HQ and A Sqn moved to outskirts of LUGO. 1630 - A Sqn 2Tp and 4Tp carried Gurkha Rifles, 1Tp and 3Tp carried RFF Rifles in an advance to the banks of the river SANTERNO. 2Tp and 4Tp went extremely well, unfortunately after 1Tp and 3Tp dropped their Infantry and were turning around they encountered A/Tk mines. Six carriers of 1Tp were damaged and one of 3Tp. No personnel casualties. C Sqn still in reserve.
The question then is this.
Having now done some belated research on my story I realise that my description of Lugo is patently incorrect but, because the BBC site is now sealed, there is no way to edit the story.
Should I be like Kathy Tate on TV and just say "Am I bovvered?" and am I forced to let the story stay for evermore for the future confusion of researchers in years to come ?
Comments please
Ron