melhuish correspondence

7/27/2019 Melhuish Correspondence

1/8

Melhu1sh Correspondence (Seq. beginning 15 March 4,)17 March 4,:

6 April 4,

25 April 4

29 April 416 May 4,

2 June 4n.d.

29 July 4,1 July 4

(Viei t to Lewes) "I ws t to Anne of Cleves house, which was f i l ledwith antiques and old English oddi t ies , etc 1 had tea and sconesat the Bull House, an old shop of 1768 vintage,"Divisional inspection on. General said"'Thank you very much toseveral privatee who saluted h ~ during the scheme we had th i s af ter -noon."Letter to John McLean at 1 OIRU took one month to t ravel the 50 milesfrom the field unit . Reports ",000 Anglo-Canadian babies in Sussexalone. 12 girl . , in Brighton married per d i s , they do ny."How did I spend my birthday? Got ~ p at 0720 brs , h ad a platoon booinspection, got t icked off for one of my men having a dirty r i f le , lain the sun and dozed af ter lunch, went to I'l show, met Don Colquhounand ~ Budd and we went to the Pelham Olub for a couple of hours whwe played bi l l iards of a sort , drank brown ales and l ight ales and dales , met some jol ly English off icers and finally found ourselves in

the i r mess. Ate and sang and drank and told stories unt i l 12,0 andf inal ly beetled home. IOhruchill has l i f ted ban on church bells Mertions Eastbourne and my arr ival at bn, with John i ~ c stone OrA Sunday, and records night pranks which lost me my tooth which placth is a t Inverarry. "Robbie McD was picked up, bed and f lea bag compland rushed outside into the darkness of the night. Someone l i t thundflashes and tossed them her and tossed ths th,ere. Dickie Wilson,feeling Robbie was missing some of th is ' fUn, obligingly slipped out tblow him up. Jim Budd t ipped up some other jokers bed to a 9 deg.angle, while Johm McLean calmly produced a whacking loaf of bread plucream cheeee aad carved sl ices off with a horrible looking commandoknife of sorte. By th is time a window had l ~ n gown and people camestreaking acrose from a l l directions to have a lookOsee. Bordon Oameron found hi complete ki t , bed. etc. beneath a t ree somewhere in thddstanoe, while Les Pronger played sleepy poseum with smoke pouring funder his bed from ye thundeflashee."Nr G1lI.8gow? Mention evening in town with John and me pub crawl whome to the racetrack?On board? Th'e men are real ly amazing They beef' about the moet t r ivial matters, such as breakfaet being 5 minutes la te , b,.t when conditare frightful and "everyone hilS been having a poor time they show theamazing spir i t and morale. For instance, the other day one scheme wwere up a l l night and then e t ~ o around in the pouring rain for 6 hoWhat do these boye do but organize Iln impromptu etreet show, dancingsinging and laughing amid i t aU We had quite a bit of entertain. en t l ae t night a big e1ng-song around the piano in the off icers loan acoordion with the men later orm, the radio for a while, and bridgand pokeBr and cheu ." Quotes me on IILife' e a checkerboard of nighand days/ Where Fate, with men for pieces plays.""the average rental for most Sici l ian bouees (?) lC)uld be about 12.50month' on Oanadian levelsIn hospital- with sprained ankle. "Paul, get used to long, tough, fool e u marches and learn to dig l i t trencges."


2/8

Miscellaneoue.,. from OMlQ Report No. 126.

A. F. H. II. Ei aen} x) wer18 Army Group. A l e x a n d e ~ (Force 141)Eastern Task Foroe. Montgomery (Forec 545)West ern Task Foroe. Patton (Force ~ ~o eoo

1 Oan Div replaces Brit Div.o 0 0 0 O

1 Odn Army Tk Bde turn in Ram II s for ShermansOOOO_ O O

Discussion of withdrawal of 2 pdre in favour of 6 pdre 2 pdr ammo woulds t i l l be available from Middle east p19O ooo

Oan tps put u/c Brit ish 'fGrmations by use of Visiting Forces Act Odn commanderretains right of reference to Odn government. Major-General Salmon killed in air orash 0900 brs 29 Apr 43 nr Barnstaple, Devon

0

Olearly Monty' s decision to fight main batt le on the Catania plain , This s the8th Army way 0 f f ight inf and i t will either be done that way or they w111 getsomebody else to do i t . Lieut.-General Sir Oliver Leese, G.O.C. 30 Corps. . . . . . . . . . .Lt.-col . Gilbride notes special needs for K1SKY. Waterproofing Shermans; conformto Br. equipment.; 4 X 4 ~ e h i c l e s for crossing sandbars, cutting out water t ra i l e rsand using watertrucks instead , No shipping from U unti l D 42. Immensely comoated arrangements to make sure right stores, right men, on right vehicles were onappropriate oonvoys. A Oan Section G.H.Q. 1st Echelon authorized at General Alexander'e HQ. Also aseparate Can Section G. H.Q. 2nd E c h e l ~ n To conform with M i d d l ~ E a s t establishments, the Oanadian Infantry bns were mobilito the former W.E. of 4 Rifle Ooys rather than Reinfs to be held lion the basio f two months at intense rates . II -'96 offre and 5 7 ~ Ors p ~ Nos 1 and 2 Bns,oaRD - Infantry; Nos. and 4 - al l arms. No.4 Bn 117 offrs and 1'38 ORs to bebrought along on D t ~ (folloW -up) convoy. (These proved useful unloading munitiontat ions, stores, on beaohee and later available as ready reinfs . ) Not enough ORrelnfs from re inf unite in U so drawn from other Oanadian f ield formations 2,3,4,5 divsj Lorne Scots Trg Bn, etc. p40.


3/8

CMlQ Reort No. 126 (2)5 and 15 Gen Hesps allocated 2 Canadian Field Surgical Unita Est i n i t i a l caeualt ies as D - 1 0.. 1 - 600; 0..2 ... 500, etc . p 41.Arrangsnents aleo for 1 Can Debtal COl; A Canadian Graves Reg1etr a t ion Unit; 1 an2 Can Line of Communications Provost Section; Det 1st Can Army Base Poet Office.No.1 Canadian public Relatione Detacl'Jnent. Historical Recorder; War Art is t . TlCcompl et e Bde Worksmps 0 0 0

TMOs taken because stene not used in the Middle East. Inf 2pdr rejllaced by 6 pdrp 4 Saek LIe received new weapons, 4.2 Mortars and oerlikons. New type o>f respiator issued an d new m rk of anti-gas ointment PlAT. e ~ oEx-cavalr'y offr and muleteers attached to Div and 1 sets of pack tiadlery. -dOOO OO OE.F.I . s tores proved on ful l scale for 0 days incl beer and spir i ts .45,000 mosquito net a provided; special camouflauge paint; rope eo 1 ed ahoes; t inteshields and glasses; wading stretchers for motorcycles; Everest carr iers ; fly swaf l i t guns.0 00 00

Importanoe 0 f the D.U oK W.8 though not eap to 2 CIB 0

General Simmonds told thia was to be the beat found Expedition which ever l ef t tUnit ed Kingdom. p45 0 .Ratione: m e r g ~ n c y (Chocolate) Ration -

8 hr Mess Tin RationCOMPO Pack ( 14 men)Tommy Cookers (1 per Meee TinRation). Self-Heating SoupO Bread

1 per man1 per manFor al l tps and Ps Wunt i l D 24

1 per manone gallon of water per man per day al l purposea. s+;aerl l izat ion tablets iesued . . . . . . .Oivil Affairs, to look after the early resumption in the te r r i tory of law andorder and the normal l i f e of the cibi l ian population . . . . . . . . .Intell igence: Tremendous detai l avaiable on Sici ly. Inter Servioe InfbrmatlonSeries issued special report as supplement to the velume Resources in 41closely printed pages l i s t ed 21717 springs to be foun' in the I l a n ~ along witilffin on location, their yeild per second, etc. p52. History pol i t ics geog,topog, economic s. etc. Pol i t ica l apathy 0 f Sicil ians; 40 per cent i l l i t e ra t e .

Almoet the whole island i s occupied by mountains and hi l l e which fal l eitherdir ect ly to the sea or to res t r ic ted coastal plaine or terraces. only substantpiece of low ground i s south of Mt Etna lower courses ot: R. Simeto, R. DittaiR. Cornalunga Catanian plain.


4/8

C.M.H.Q.. Repor t No. 126

Enemy DispositionslMilitary force of island coneiderably increased during last 2 months precedinginvasion. I ta l ian tps , Sixth Army Command, est 'd at 229,000 X1I and XVI ArmyCorps . making up 4 field and 2 coastal dive. Eastern part of ieland had 4

Livorno Div, 54 Napoli Div, 2 6 and 2 1 ~ Coastal dive. 4 Livorno div in Oaltagirarea. GermanI Hennan Goering Div to be conoentrated in Sic11y by June. Latelearned that 15 Panzer Grenadier Div aleo l o c a ~ e d on leland.BeachelU

Beach No. 57, BARK WEST extending along the eouthweetern side of the PachinoPeninsula. Divided into ROGm and SUGAR; fUrther divided into RED, AMBER, andaREEN seotions. Total length of beach 8 ~ yards; width 86 to 145 feet 4 MTexits. Limestone ridge behind beach; salt -lakee or marshes not known whatstate these would be in in the summer. p 56 Sanbars.Expected immed. oppositions (Securi ty lost D - 1)

Air and submarine attacks on convoys; arty f i re from '8 to 12 ~ n s as LOe approbeaohes, plus MG f i rej sandbar s and underwater mines; wire entanglements on beacperhaps mines and booby t raps , f i re from MG poste and plllbozesa Heavy casualwere to be e x p e ~ t e d i f ~ h e enemy put everything into their defence. p58. Lee.equote.: I tal ians not strong on cia roles; may fight stubbornly in defence; butgreat point about the I ta l ian i s tha t he do ee not hang on and f ight , once theleading troops have by-passed him, as ie the custom with the Germans - - a cuatomthat makes the German such a diff icult eustomer to mop up. p58. Most diff ioulchallenge would come from o/a by German batt le group assisted by tanks. Expecthost i le air act ivi ty over beaches for f i r s t few days.Intentions

original ly just to seize and hold Sici ly ; but (Leese) The objeot now is todominate ... s soon as possible and to get a footing in the South of the mainland o

I t a l y ~ h e Mesaina Stra i ts 10 JuneOur Own Tps:

,0 Oorpss 1 Can Inf Div; 51st (Highland Div); 2 ~ 1 Inf Bde. Role of ,a Corpspr


5/8

Sicily section, miac ,llaneoue: from Loyal Edmonton- War Diary, Voke's battle-creed:good scalping division. On the eve o f our baptism of f i r e for which we have a l lt-rained so hard and so long, I wish to issu,e the creed which will govern al l ofus throughout th i s campaign. end any subsequent one. f i rs t ly we are free men,f ighting for a just cause; therefore , we are invincible. Secondly, we will seekout and destory the enemy whereever he may be found. Thirdly, we must be hard andruthless; we must never re lax or relent unt i l the victory i s ours. Fourthly, wemust never ask for quarter; therefore i t will be our prerogative to grant i t . Fifthonly cowards Burrender. I am presenting each unit of the Brigade herewith a copyo f the second brigade pennant, to be kno\ 41. as the George Baker. We will carry themwith us through I ta ly and Germany. Final ly , good luck, and good scalping to youone and al l . Signed, o. Vokee, Brig. Dated July, 1943.From Appendix to Seaforth WD Let ter from O.J. Egan, Oapt. No.1 Oan. FDS, ROAMO,dated 28th July, 1943. To t ~ c o l B.M. Hoffmeister, SH o f o. Sir: I t i s with def lpr 'gret ' that 1 write th i s le t te r . Unfortunately i t brings bad news. Art French dieth i s afternoon, and was burried th i s evening. He was with for just about a week,and although everything in the power o f oursurgeons and s t a f f was done he just dickmake the grade. Hie body is burried About 150 yards south of the school in VALGUAR,NERAj He i s not alone in th i s small cemetery, there being f ive other Seaforthethere as well; they are Opl. King, ROO, Pte Obrien, Pte Morrison, wa, Pte Warnica,and Pte. Doyle. Quite a number o f Seaforlhs passed through our hands, but exceptfot those mentioned above, a l l have been evacuated from here to OOS and other formations. Bil l i'-Ierritt was one of the las t to go and was in quite good sp i r i t s infact a lo t , bet ter than when he came in. Well Sir I thalllk you again for the associa t ion I had with the regiemtn, and wish to say in clsoing that i f there is anyformation 1 Can give you concerning, members o f the battal ion: who have passed througour hands 1 will be only too glad to do so. Wishing you and al l under your ~ n dthe best of luck, I remain, s i r you onetime ,dental off icer Jack Egan.


6/8

From Seaforth 's WD 1 July to July 4 ~ : Quotation from the Red Patch, Divisiopublication, Vol. 1, No.1 , Sici ly , dated 29 July, 4 ~ . On i t s masthead there i s .th i s quotation: The English are good, and the Canadians are good - - but the boyswith thA Red Patches - they are devils . Attributed to veteran German Sgt. Agira.

Issue contains war-correspondent dispatches to Canada re: storming of Agira. TheMontreal Gazette W-C says, MThis batt le waa the most gl i t ter ing victory ~ f the Can-adians in the Sic i l ian camgaigno I t was here tha t the Germand elected to halt along ' re treat from the south coast and to turn and fight in careful ly prppared positThe enemy bolstered the a l ien t withttoopa rushed from t,he I ta l ian mainlalhd dur.ingthe l as t eight days, but they callapaed completely under the merciless bombardmento f our artillery and ai r support , followed hy infantry charges.

In issue No. &ted July 4 ~ : the Montreal Gazette corres. says: Figures are noyet complete, but during the las t eight days the Oanadians have ki l led approx. 900Nazie, taken 550 PW and wounded many more Germand. MAppendices to Seafroth WD July GERM N RMY ORGANIZATION. The German InfantryRegiment is the same as a Brit ish Brigade. German infantry battal ions consist o fBHQ info coys, and 1 Jl.fG coy. -Rifle coy consists o f approx. ~ O O t 220 men. 4info platoons and 1 A/tk pl . Each of these info ph . cons4:iets of 4 info sect ionsof about 40 men in to ta l . Pl. ~ Pl comd., Pl sgt . , bugler, medical order ly , orderly with bike, mortar sect ion. Inf . sec. consists 0 f, 1 cpl and 9 men. 2 8K K 1General descript ion of Pachino-Ispica rd. This road i s unmettalled, approx. 5 m.wide. There a r ~ stone walls al'img most o f i t s length, not higher than 1 m. Oert a in proprietors have used carefully planted prickly pears , 1 to 2 m. in he;ght instead o f walls to pravent t respassers . The surrounding countl y is cul t ivated almosentirely with vineyards in the Pacrino area, while towards :rspica cereals , olives ,and e?lmonds a e pr adominant.


7/8

Appendix to Seaf we July, 194,The bat t le of GRIZZLY HILL. The bn will captu.re the report Une GRIZZLY.Right A coy obj the equare-topped feature overlooking AGIRA. on r ight of mainroad. Lett D ( , ) ooy obj. the wooded hi l l beyond and overlooking the te r r i tor

on the lert. of main road. B and 0 coye in support will follow A and B coyar ~ e p e t i v e l y a good tac t ica l bound behind. Div arty in eupport will f i re concentrations l a id down. PDOs will move with each fwd coy to provide f i re suppoand observation. MMGs will cover advance trom present local i t iea . One tp tankwill aupport advance on each flank, moving cloee behind fwd coys. Zero 1400hra. ,A coy crossed the s tar t l ine a t 1400 hre picking up Lt. Harling s fwd patroand the ~ carr ier on the way over. The advance progressed rapidly with 7 plr ight fwd, 8 pl l e t t fwd, Ooy Q in oentre followed by Wire (T) pl in reserve.The tanks behind the coy were heard f i r ing to begin with, but th ie died downand they d i ~ a p p e a r e d Firs t contact occurred in the veh p ~ beside the main rd.The enemy withdrew af ter f i r ing a few rounds beafer the coy attack plan wascompleted. The original formation waB quickly regained and the coy made goodthe feature opposing the obj. Further advance down the fwd .elope quickly brou8 pl under f i re trom ridge of GRIZZLY feature. Terraced orchard and vine,ardtraversed by several sunken tracka produc.d excellent cover and allowed immedand sapid progreas. 8 pl committed to fir;e support inf i l t ra ted quickly to basof hi l l and were able to enagege the enemy s attention moat sa th fac to r l ly . OpTerry, with ptes Webster, Montgomery and Nixon actually reached the top and toover a heavy MG; they held th ie position unt i l forced back by counterat tack Whthey took two prisoners and threw the hun gun over the c l i f f . In .the meantimethe r ight flanking mov_ent was under way; 7 pl with the 00, followed by Wirepl and OIQ worked round to the r ight southern end fof the feature in excellentcover. The south end proved to be narrow and so steep that it was not coveredby f i re a t a l l . Ilements o f the ooy quickly carried the top and the advanceinto the enemy a r ear and flank began. Tactical surpri8e had be,en achieved ana firm footing was established on the southern end of the plateau. 1 PW wererounded up, too , young to ki l l , and they smwed gratifying terror of their ownuiortar bombs. The plateau was t ravened diaginally bya rocky ridge terminatinga t i t a northwest end on a .oasa, with the ueual outbuildings. South of the ridthe plateausloped aently to the BOuthward with ol ive treesbut no underbrush.North of the ridge the ground wae open meadow with heavy cover a t the ex t . , . enorth edge. The en_y quickly foreook his ridge position and took up a l inecovering aU the opert ground to the north with aome elements further fwd. 8 plquickly joined the coy and together with Wire pl gained the NW ends and ends othe rocky ridge. 7 Pl in reserve and coy HQ Wook up positions in the ol ivegroye south o f the ridge. Having been continually engaged in hard fighting fo24 hra the coy was getting thin on the ground, and very t i red. Oonsolidation ahowed up th i s weakne88 and i t was decided to combine 8 and 9 pls under Lt.Harling to mld theoasa . Lt Robinson i / c 7 pl had been wounded and Lt Wilaoni / c Wire pl had been kil led in the previous night s aotion. The combined forceunder Lt HarUng numbered 21. 7 pl r_ained in reserve under the wing o f coy

~ Before the poaitions ,were properly occupied the f i r s t wirele contact waestablhhed with the bn, and the adjt . reported tha t mortar f i re was to bebrought down on the north end of the feature as 100nnas the troops had beenwithdrawn sl ight ly BOuth for the mortar f tre. The div arty opened a concent ra t ion on the hi l l ; t h i s las ted for th i r ty minutes, and provided quite an experience, tmugh no cae. As soon as the arty conc l i f t ed poaitions wer e takeup under in termit tent hevy enC llly mortar f i re . HE shel ls tmught ot have blten


8/8

p p ~ d i x to Seaf ~ July, 194,

tank f i re were iKdentified as HUn r i f l e grenades, and these were a psychologioalnuisanoe unti l found to be comparatively harmless. With 8 and Wire pls concen-t ra ted a t the . asa the ol took cpl Terry around the right flank to prevent any,enemy count erattack around the southeast end o f the rocky r i ge . Un'ortunatelyOpl Terry was shot by a sniper as soon a,s the ridge was passed. He di ,ed t , MSl a ter under morphia. Ipl Terry, t'he only fatal cae of the action died fu l f i l l ingthe finest t rad i t ions o f hiB regiment and coy - - a job ,to be done and he did i t .Except for constant mortar f i r e things qUietened down as dusk fe l l . Sentr ieswere posted and a l l possible men told off to sleep. Dark.nlUls brought much needesccess to I IDIO __ the exposed drinking water well; the radio h a ~ lasted longenough to ask for food and water, and then petered out completely. Midnightbrought a show o f the counterat tack, an increase of mortar f i re , preceded by IMGf i re and a few grenades. rhe coys lim1ted supply of ammo p e r m i t t e ~ only res t r ic tedefensive f i r e , but the Han quickly shue up and went a t bed. At 0500 in t aemorning the real cia camein; advancing infantry were supported by very heavyM and r i f l e and grenade f i re; the fort i tude and f i re discipl ine of Lt Harling'sforce wae too much for the HUn The ,6 mills G proved most effective; the Hunsyelled as they came in and screamed as they went out. The melody was providedby the s t rains o f Okla Luka lurka (?) from Lt. Harling a t the top of hie lungsand the rhythm by burst ing grenades. At 545hrs t McLean arrived on the southernend with 14 pI o f 0 Ooy, the f i r s t reinfB to come. He was immediately orderedto round the l e f t edge and exploi t the cia o f 8 and 9 pls ( few ~ r d s mhBing)

melhuish correspondence

Documents