XX The 11th Bn The Lancashire Fusiliers

With acknowledgment 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