78th Division

[Gerry Chester]

78th Divison

Part of an ongoing process, the 78th Infantry (Battleaxe) Division's report on the capture of Longstop Hill, the gateway to Tunis, in April 1943.

[Owen]

I have the 78th Divisional History.
Any queries, I'll have a look, feel free to ask.

[Niccar]

Originally Posted by Owen

I have the 78th Divisional History.
Any queries, I'll have a look, feel free to ask.

any information concerning the landing in Bari of the 78th divisions there in September 1943

many thanks donald

[Kieron Hill]

Hi Gerry,

Just seen this post and remember that a veteran
of the 78th Division had given me a copy of a
BBC broadcast Titled "Battle Honours" "The 78th
Division" In this broadcast there is a little bit that
I thought you'd like

"And Longstop Hill fell...not because of tanks or guns
....not because of the terrific Artillery barrage which
I watched creeping up the slope of the Hill... No, it fell
because a few hundred men with rifle and bayonet forced
its surrender...because they charged up those death-
swept slopes not once - but four times."

Gerry this BBC broadcast is 3 pages in total if you would
like a copy for your records send me a e mail.

Cheers
Kieron

[Owen]

Originally Posted by donald

any information concerning the landing in Bari of the 78th divisions there in September 1943

many thanks donald

Hello Donald, this is what it has to say about Bari.
No mention of a landing.
Did you mean the landings at Termoli on October 3rd?

[Niccar]

Owen your reply was greatly appreciated, as I have seen referances to the 78th landing at Bari several times by other veterans and was wondering how I missed this
as my recollection was I landed at Reggio de Calabria and was never seaborne again until it was all over incidently my regiment was the Kensingtons as mentioned on your
page and was aware of the other landings at Taranto many thanks again donald

[Owen]

Donald,
Am I reading your post correctly?
You are a Veteran of 78th Div.
Please tell us more.
How long were you with them?
From what dates?
Ever been back to any of your former haunts?
I'm off to Italy soon, any of your mates still resting there?

[Niccar]

Originally Posted by Owen

Donald,
Am I reading your post correctly?
You are a Veteran of 78th Div.
Please tell us more.
How long were you with them?
From what dates?
Ever been back to any of your former haunts?
I'm off to Italy soon, any of your mates still resting there?

Owen

You were reading correctly and I am a 78th div veteran I joined them in North Africa after the fighting there had finished and met my older brother who was in the East Surreys and had seen action there at Longstop Hill etc he asked a stupid question like what the ******* hell are you doing out here? he didn’t know that I had joined the army but knew I was slightly under age like many thousands of others that did the same thing of course from there to Sicily then on to sunny Italy and eventually Austria the campaigns are all well recorded and do not need any description by me
not that I could anyway . In 2004 we went on holiday to Sorrento and I hired a car
and we visited Cassino Cemetary the day was beautiful sunny and peaceful and
there was nobody else there as we went up the steps I started to tremble and couldn’t
get much farther than the first few rows of beautifully kept markers as my wife walked away to take some photographs I got to the end of the row and the tears came
at the end of the different rows on the last marker the simple words just got me
“A soldier of the second world war known only to God” our Battalions marker for no known graves is on the last colonnade on the left side of the ornamental lake
At the top it simply reads 1st Battalion Princess Louise Kensington Regiment as we left my wife asked if I wanted to visit my cousin’s grave at Minturno Cemetery he fell
crossing the Garigliano with the Royal Fusiliers he was an only child and it devastated my Aunt and Uncle I replied no I’ve had enough emotion for one day and during the whole day I refused to look up at the Monastery hope this doesn’t sound to depressing

donald

[Owen]

Donald,
We'll be going to Minturno, do you want us to visit your cousin's grave?
Can you tell me who he is?

Thanks for your reply.
So the Monastary at Cassino still haunts your memory?

[Ron Goldstein]

Hi Donald

As another 78 div man may I give you a hearty welcome to the site.

I started off in North Africa and joined the 49th Light Ack Ack. They were eventually disbanded in December '44 when I was retrained in Rieti to be a "tankie" in the 4th Queen's Own Hussars, but that's another story

We will talk more when we both have time.

Cheers

Ron

Moderators.....a question...... Where is Donald's Veteran status ?

ps
Have just returned from six days in Prague and am catching up on my e-mails and numerous postings on various WW2 websites.