Personal Diary Monday 30th. April 1945 Still in same field. Small parcel arrives from home containing 'Dr.Goldstein's Medicine'. Strawberries & Cream for dinner. Film show in barn was George Raft's "Follow the boy". Regimental Diary 4th QOH April 30th 1945 C Sqn moved to PADUA.A, B & HQ Sqns still in area 155904 awaiting to cross the river PO. (The "medicine" mentioned above referred to the medicine bottle full of Kummel that my Dad used to send me every so often) Ron
Regimental Diary 4th QOH May 2nd 1945 - C Sqn moving to PADUA. Personal Diary Wednesday 2nd. May 1945 Jerry threw his hand in in Italy & Austria. Fired all our 2" mortars, phosphorous bombs & verey lights & had bonfires all over the shop. Cease fire about 11 pm. Ron
Monday 14th. May 1945 Moved off at 8 am. Stopped for night just North of Udine at small village that had been bombed by us. Partisans swarmed all over the place, one with Robin Hood beard. Ron
AS is to be expected- numerous errors are being hawked as truth and will become objective History before they can be corrected - such as "Africa Corps " captured Egypt in 1941 - NO WAY as Rommel and his Africa Corps only showed up from El Aghiela in early 1942 - and never did get deep into Egypt - Monty saw to that at Wadi El Halpha in September '42 First MAIN battle of El Alamein was in July '42 when Auchinlek stopped Rommel there after the Gazala Gallop- second was at Wadi El Halpha - third and most well known is the 23rd October battle when Rommel turned away on November 4th…..then another about the Air Force Regiment leading the Armoured Cars into the Gothic Line Battles on 18th September '44- The Gothic line started on August 25th- and finished on September 23rd with the capture of Rimini so by the 18th it was virtually finished with the capture of both San Martino and San Fortunato……by the 19th September It is very easy for so called historians and book writers to take these errors as Gospel and so it goes on into History so we have to be very careful of what we write - all the time … Cheers
Wednesday 16th. May 1945 At Ferndorf. Nothing to do but wait arrival of (German) prisoners. Griff is very confused. Am not on guard list. Billets crowded but quite O.K. Ron
As I have mentioned many a time, my personal diaries for 1942 & 1943 went missing presumably when I went into dock from Cassino. Fortunately my friend Lew (Larry) Fox managed to save his diaries and I re-printed his efforts for this day in May 1943; Lew's Diary. MEDJES EL BAB 23/5/43 We finally arrived at the Reception Camp where we were told to wait until the Regiment called for us. The camp was quite good, it was in Medjes El Bab. I really saw war for the first time as nearly all the fields around were mined, also the graves were filled with dead. Ron
I still get much pleasure from reading old diary extracts, both Regimental & Personal Personal Diary Wednesday 16th. May 1945 At Ferndorf. Nothing to do but wait arrival of (German) prisoners. Griff is very confused. Am not on guard list. Billets crowded but quite O.K. Regimental Diary May 21st - C Sqn tracks arrived MOLZBICHL. May 26th - A Sqn tracks arrive FERNDORF. May 27th - Regt came under command CRA 78th Div. The Div Comdr, Major General RK Arbuthnot CBE DSO MC, took the salute at the Victory Thanksgiving Service. The Regtl Band was in attendance under the direction of the Bandmaster CH Jaeger. I see by my Personal Diary that although by the 16th of March we had arrived at Ferndorf (Having got their by trucks & armoured cars) it took a few weeks before we were joined by our tanks Ron
17th June 1943. Pte. Arthur Leslie Howney died in Block 6 of Rangoon Jail, suffering from malnutrition and exhaustion, the result of his exertions whilst on Operation Longcloth. http://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/2260105/HOWNEY,%20ARTHUR%20LESLIE
Monday 18th. June 1945 On last relief in P.O.W. cage. Loudspeakers have been fixed up in the camp. False alarm about Jack being safe The diary entry referred to a letter I received from home telling me that there had been a false alarm about Jack.having survived the crash of his Lancaster.. It is too long ago for me to remember what was written in the actual letter but my diary entry reminds me of the chaos that could be created by unconfirmed reports.
Canadian Casualties on this day - all wars: http://www.veterans.gc.ca/eng/remembrance/memorials/canadian-virtual-war-memorial/honour-roll
Excerpts from 4th QOH Regimental diaries: 20/8/1945 Frontier posts of B & C Sqn began to handle large influx of AUSTRIAN soldiers bearing American control form B2 and allowed to disperse to their homes pending general demobilisation. 21/8/1945 Nothing to report. 22/8/1945 A Sqn main party left for ULM to relieve a Sqn of 17/21st Lancers in admin of camp. Rear party commanded by Lt Balfour remained at TRIEBEN to guard ACs.
Rgtl Diary 49th LAA Rgt RA On 8 Oct RHQ moved to Scarperia and occupied a farm. Personal Diary Sunday 8th. October 1944 Moved off at 10 am. Rain all the way. Through Scarperia 30 miles from front. Ditched at location entrance, billets cramped.
My old friend Lew (Larry) Fox kept a diary and I hold a transcribed version on my PC. This was the entry for today date in 1943 Lew's Diary:TERMOLI 9/10/43 Things were going along lovely when they broke the news to me that I was to go with the three tonner up the line with ammo to the 132 Field, on the way to collect the ammo saw 4 Jerries bombing & strafing the road. When we arrived on the other side of Campo Marino where the 132 were it was dark and on our way back we took the wrong turning and finished up about a half of a mile from Jerry. Did we turn round fast!
Interesting diary for 9th October 1945 regarding Age and Service Groups. 56 Recce War Diary Sillian, 09.30 hours C.O's conference ref. inf. and instrs. received on 8th. Details: a) Regt to be disbanded; date to be notified later. b. 113 O.R's with Age/Service Group over 30 and with not more than two and a half years service abroad to be posted to 12th Lancers, date to be notified-probably 13th or 14th. c) All stores and equipment to be ready to be handed over by the 18th to the North Irish Horse. d) The remainder of the Regt., less A/S Groups 24 and 25 will be posted to N.I.H. ** Groups 24 and 25 will be posted to R.A.S.C. and Transit units until release. e) Pending the visit of the C.O. of the N.I.H. to discuss the handing-over and transfer, no arrangements or plans for which are known. N.T.R. from Sqns. ** According to his service records, my father was A/S Group 43 and posted to N.I.H. on 19/11/45. Lesley
Sunday 22nd. October 1944 Through Firenzolia, roads murder as it had rained all night & was still raining. Had to evict eyeties out of house for Major Mouland. Carried set up mountain to try & contact Batteries. Near Div cemetery. The entry in my diary brings the scene back immediately to mind. At the time I was still being called upon to act as an unpaid interpreter. We had arrived at this small farmhouse complex and Major Mouland decided it would do nicely as B.H.Q and sleeping accommodation for himself and the other officers. He told me to explain to the very belligerent looking owner of the property that it was being commandeered by the British Army and that he, the owner, would have to leave forthwith. I tried to sugar the pill as nicely as I could by explaining to the farmer that he would be re-compensed in due course but that leave he must. The Italian wasn’t having any of this. “Spara!” he said vehemently, “Shoot me!” ..."Spara! Non posso far' più!" or, in other words “You can’t do any worse to me!” and he demonstrated this by tearing open the front of his shirt and offering his broad chest to Major Mouland. The O.C. turned peevishly to me and said “What’s he bloody talking about Goldstein!” I explained what the farmer had said to which Mouland replied, equally vehemently “ I don’t want to shoot the bloody man! ....tell him not to be such a stupid bloody idiot!”. Somewhere along the way reason must have prevailed and I vaguely remember that the house owner was allowed to stay in his house by keeping two rooms upstairs, from where he was able to keep an eye on his property, while BHQ remained down below. With reference to my use of the word 'eyeties', this was common parlance in the days in which it was written, were I writing it today I would have used a less offensive word. There is a final postscript. As a result of posting this story on the BBC WW2 Archives I was contacted by the late Major Mouland's son who had seen the relevant article. I was immediately concerned that I might have painted his father as being too brusque and offered to add an addendum or tone down my description. "Not at all" was the reply, "that's just how he was" and so my description stays as I originally recorded it ! Ron
Interesting story Ron. You mention in your diary telling the farmer "that he would be re-compensed in due course". I was just wondering how this actually worked. Who was responsible for providing compensation to civilians and what did they have to do to get it? Cheers, Shaun
Just in passing,I have been observing the reporting of the attempts to break through the Siegfried Line which went on for 10 days until Aachen fell,70 years ago,last Saturday. Apparently the SS defended the city to a standstill,the result being the first German city to fall to the Allies being reduced to rubble.News of the fall of Aachen was not released to the German public..."we are holding on as before" claimed Berlin radio. Aachen,once possessed by Napoleonic France and named Aix la Chapelle was the scene of the murder of the US appointed German Mayor shortly after its occupation...said to be the work of the Werewolf organisation which proved to not be a threat to Allied occupation of Germany as Goebbels had forecast. Interesting background to Aachen.It was an early HQ for the Kaiser's army before it moved the Spa in Belgium.Then after the Great War,it was the HQ of the Belgium Army for their allotted sector of occupation,west of the Rhine from 1918 to 1929. As regards "Eyeties",I remember the term well, used frequently by the civilian population,arising from the British derision of the proficiency of the Italian forces,especially their performance in the Western Desert.We had Italian POWs working on farms in the locality..... brown overalls with yellow diamond patches as I remember....as my mother used to say,they are harmless, all they want to do is to whistle at the girls.