Old comrades
We four, Reub and Len, Bob and I, took a trip (cadged rides in Yankee jeeps, mainly) up the local mountain, about 3,000 feet high, on the north-west corner of Sicily, and there found the most delightful old-world village, Erice, (pronounced "Eri-chay) perched right on the top of the mountain. It had ancient cottages and civic buildings clustered together around a cobbled village square. On one side was what appeared to be a medieval castle, actually built or moulded into the sheer cliff face at its base. We had 24 hours leave, and stayed in the local hotel, a place full of charm but with very little to eat. We had some wonderful omelettes, for dinner and for breakfast the next day, washed down of course with plenty of local wine. Some of the locals were hostile, others were quite friendly, including one young man with the air of a student, who spoke to us in halting English in the cobbled street and then took us to his home, where we gently sipped the very sweet wine he served, and ate tiny, sweet biscuits.
Our flying continued as before. We did lots of convoy escorts into the Italian coast, landing troops in the Salerno area, where a bridgehead was being established. We rarely saw enemy aircraft, but we knew there was a great deal of activity in the invasion area. We were flying for long hours - one of my escort trips, including the journey to and from the convoy, was for 6 hours 20 minutes, quite a feat in a Beaufighter.
While we were in Sicily, the Italian Government capitulated to the Allies, and there was a sudden switch in affections by both sides. Officially, the Italians became our allies, and the Germans, furious at the change of heart, took it out on the Italians. The Italian army was rounded up as prisoners-of-war, "friendly" towns and villages were besieged by Germans, and there was a general air of relief by our side, although the long, hard slog northwards up the Italian mainland was still ahead.
We celebrated the capitulation very happily. We drank 'vino' in the local farmhouse with the family, and I toasted them in halting Italian, which I had learned from a school grammar picked up somewhere. To my embarrassment, none of them understood what I was saying, looking blankly at me and muttering "Non capita, non capito", but there was great hilarity from my mates!
Eventually, our little tour of duty in Sicily came to an end. I think we would all have liked to continue, by moving across to Italy and continuing northwards with the advancing armies. However, our presence was obviously required elsewhere, and we were sent back to Egypt, to be re-equipped with more up-to-date Beaufighters crated out from England and re-assembled in Egypt.
Soon we were flying again, from Libyan airfields in the vicinity of Tobruk and Benghazi, in Beaufighter Mark Xs, and resumed activities on escort duty for shipping, and on "strikes" across the Mediterranean in Greek waters, both adjacent to the mainland and in the islands north of Crete, where there were still large numbers of the enemy.
The reason for our frequent moves around the desert was mainly due to the weather that played an important part in where we could take off and land our aircraft. We were some time at El Adem, near Tobruk, where all the water was salty and most unpleasant to drink and wash in. We were also at Berka III, a landing ground south of Benghazi, when sudden rains came and flooded us out of El Adem. From these two airfields, we made our long sorties across that great ocean.
Each flight took between two and two-and-a-half hours each way - to reach the coast of Greece or the islands in the Aegean Sea. From the aforementioned habit of the Beaufighter of "hunting", or rising up and down at will, it was a very tiring job to fly right across the Mediterranean, attack a target, and fly back to base. Nevertheless, I think most of us enjoyed the experience, although sometimes fearful in the action that occurred over and around the targets. Only feet above the sea, we would attack airfields, stray shipping like gunboats and corvettes, supply barges making their runs between the mainland and the islands, bomb dumps and other likely strategic objectives.
Last edited by Walter603; 7th May 2016 at 06:37.
Reason: Title