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XX
The 11th Bn The Lancashire Fusiliers
With acknowledgement to Capt Barber, Capt Sawkins MC, Capt
(QM) T Broc MM OBE and CQMS K Pritchard.
W Taylor
Chairman
XX The 11th Bn The
Lancashire Fusiliers OCA
In dealing with the
history of the 11th Bn, I have endeavoured to be as factual
as possible, but after almost forty years things are not always
as clear as one would wish them to be; so if errors have crept
into the narrative, I can only ask for your pardon.
The 11th Bn The Lancashire
Fusiliers was formed out of the 50th Holding Battalion in the
dark days of 1940 and the unit was in companies at Rochdale,
Littleborough, Stakehill and Lowercroft and was under the command
of Lt Col R C Harris with Major Heap as second in command.
The early training
days were spent in the Rochdale area until September 1940 when
the Battalion (now formed into the 11th Bn) was moved to Dursley
in Gloucestershire, where it remained in training until December.
when a further movement order found us once more on the way
to new ground; this time at Shirehampton, Bristol, where we
became a civil defence unit and had our first taste of the blitz
during the intensive bombing of Bristol and the surrounding
area.
After those terrible
blitz days, we were once again on the move and this time found
us attached to the 51st Highland Division in eastern Scotland
with units on detachment at Cruden Bay, Fraserborough and Peterhead
in a combined effort to change the coast line by daily digging
of trenches against a possible invasion.
We left this task in
March 1941 and proceeded to Pollockshaw where we were supposed
to be ready for overseas. but it was decided that further training
was needed and we left for Duns in Berwickshire for Brigade
Training and then it was back to Greenock to board the Louis
Pasteur for destination unknown.
After many days at
sea, we eventually docked at Gibralter and in the early hours
of the morning, transferred to HMS Edinburgh (cruiser) and HMS
Manxman (minesweeper) for what proved to be the most hectic
days and nights under constant bombardment as we crashed through
the Mediterranean under the command of Admiral Summerville and
we shall ever remember his order of the day: "This convoy
must and will get through" and with gratitude for such
marvellous seamanship.
We landed in Malta
in July 1941 to take over defence duties on this tiny island
and just in time for what was to prove the greatest blitz ever
with over one thousand air-raids. One of our greatest problems
was food, and strict rationing was the order of the day. We
were constantly occupied in manning defence posts, working on
the airfields, building bomb-proof shelters for the spitfires
and those horrible coastal patrols on army cycles. During this
period the following members received decorations for bravery:-
Capt Lister won the
MC
Sgt Gallagher a bar to his MM
CSM Marsh the BEM
Capt (QM) T Broc and Capt Jack were both mentioned in despatches
With the invasion of
Sicily, Malta returned to more peaceful times though not to
plenty, and restrictions on petrol and food continued. Lt Col
Marks assumed command of the Battalion and limited training
schedules were put into action.
In May 1944 the Battalion
left Malta and landed in Naples and from there proceeded to
Afrigola for a few days before proceeding to San Martino. This
again was only a stopping off place and after several days we
were again on our way down to Brindisi for a further spell of
garrison duties at one of the main distribution depots. In July
we left Brindisi for the staging area at Taranto where, after
a brief seven days and a pep talk from Major General Ayres,
we left for the Guards IRTD at Cervanaro, where the Battalion
was split into two companies, one to the Welsh Guards and the
other to the Coldstream Guards as a reinforcement unit.
We sweated it out here
doing intensive field training until the end of August when
to the surprise of everyone we were again united as a Battalion
and became a fighting unit of the 1st British Infantry Division
and were soon on our way to the Italian Theatre of War after
Capt (QM) T Broc achieved the impossible by equipping the Battalion
in seven days.
August found us at
Greave, overlooking Florence, and on the night of 29th/30th
August we crossed the Arno and onto the outskirts of Florence
where we had five killed and 18 injured on the first day and
one killed and seven injured on the second day, which proved
that sheer guts was not enough. The Brigade was now in position
on the northern bank of the Arno, patrolling against the Boche
who had mined everything possible, and the official report stated
that the Fusiliers' first efforts were creditable but costly.
At the end of August
the move forward began and the Battalion's confidence increased.
The first major action of the Battalion was the attach on the
Gothic Line, that endless toil of mountain after mountain coupled
with the horrible conditions underfoot. Rations, water and ammunition
had to be transported by mule train and man pack to the very
summit of the Appenines under conditions which were almost impossible
at times. This was a loosely knit battle in which manoeuvre
and endurance paid big dividends. The cry was "push on"
and the Battalion certainly did just that. On the southern slopes
of Monte Cazzolano the Battalion got caught on a bare ridge
and suffered heavy casualties but even this was not without
profit as a flanking advance by another Battalion of the Brigade
was helped to success by their action.
Day by day as September
and October passed, the weather became colder and wetter and
man and mule crawled their way up the mountain sides composed
of liquid mud. On the way up Arrow Route towards Bologna, the
Division was held up by the enemy holding two peaks commanding
the axis. The first of these, Monte Ceco, was captured in a
very gallant attack by another unit. To the 11th Battalion fell
the task of completing the success by taking the second half
of the feature. North of Monte Ceco ran a knife-edge ridge that
ended in a pinnacle called Pt 734, and this was the objective,
but there was also a subsidiary spur running east of Ceco which
had also to be cleared of the enemy. During patrols, heavy enemy
opposition had been encountered, and it was known that it would
only succeed if completed with the greatest dash and courage.
Just before dusk, after a short but intense artillery concentration,
the Fusiliers went over the skyline of Monte Ceco. The distance
of the objective was little more than 400 yards but every yard
was a death trap and casualties were heavy. The leading company
got most of the way but were left with insufficient strength
to complete the task, so the reserve company, led by Major Walker,
went in behind them and in the gathering darkness rushed the
last position.
The Battalion had lost
the equivalent of a company in this action, almost a third of
the men employed in the attack. For this action, Major Lister
was awarded the DSO, Capt Sawkins and Lt Wilcox the MC, Sgt
Latcham and Fusiliers May, Denton and Gill received the MM.
Three more months of
Italy in awful weather were proving a tremendous task, and in
January 1945 the Division was pulled out of the line and left
for Palestine for a so called rest and retraining. but this
had not to be for shortly after arriving we were hastily despatched
to Syria, to a camp outside Damascus. to keep an eye on possible
insurrection in the capital, but as things quietened down, we
returned to Padres Hannah in Palestine to keep a watchful eye
on the Stern Gang.
After over four years
abroad, the Battalion left Haifa for home on the troopship SS
Franconia and four hundred officers and men arrived safely at
Liverpool in September 1945.
After leave, the Battalion
was stationed for a period at Guisley and Greengates near Bradford,
and here the time-expired civvies went back to home and families,
whilst the younger members of the Battalion were posted to Germany
to join the ranks of the CMP.
In summing up, I must
say that there is such a lot more that could have been said
but sufficient to say is that we each have our memories of the
XX The 11th Battalion which will forever live in our minds.
sent in by
Janice Crossley.
Daughter of Lesley Hill
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