A New Divisional Flash Appears
With the
Adriatic front gripped by Winter, Allied High Command proceeded with plans on
the other side of italy. Preperations were made for a landing at Anzio, 30
miles south of Rome, in conjunction of a drive up the Pontino Marshes along the
Tyrrhenian Sea. For this operation, 5th Army was strengthened at the expense of
8th Army, and certain formations took the roads to the west. 8th Army in turn
drew from other theatres. Early in January a new but very well known Divisional
flash apeared in the Adriatic sector. Fourth Indian Division had arrived from
Egypt and had moved up to enter the line near Orsogna.
This veteran
formation, The victors of Sidi Barrani, Keren and a score of battles in Western
Desert and Tunisia, had earned world fame. In four years the Red Eagle division
had suffered 25,000 casualties, had taken over 100,000 prisoners and had
travelled `more than 10,000 miles. Certain of the the older units had
disappeared, but it was pleasing to note the arrival in Italy that 11th Indian
Infantry Brigade, which had been destroyed at Tobruk, had been reconstituted
and that the longstanding association with British gunners remained unchanged.
The battle order for the division was as follows :-
G.O.C Major
General F.S. Tucker. CG., D.S.O. , O.B.E.
5th Indian
Infantry Brigade
(Brigadier
D.R. Batemen D.S.O.,O.B.E.)
1/4th Essex
Regiment
1/6th
Rajputana Rifles
1/9th Gurkha
Rifles
7th Indian
Infantry Brigade
(Brigadier
Q. de T Lovett. D.S.O.)
1st Royal
Sussex Regiment
4/16th
Punjab Regiment
1/2nd Gurkha
Rifles
11th Indian
Infantry Brigade
2nd Cameron
Highlanders
4/6th
Rajputana Rifles
2/7th Gurkha
Rifles
Divisional
Reconnaissance Regiment
Central
India Horse
Machine Gun
Battalion
5th Machine
gun battalion Rajputana Rifles
Artillery
1st Field
Regiment R.A.
11th Field
Regiment R.A.
31st Field
Regiment R.A.
149th
Anti~Tank Regiment R.A.
57th Light
AA. Regiment R.A.
Engineers
4th, 12th
and 21st Field Companies (sappers and Miners)
11 th Field
Park Company.
5th Bridging
Platoon.
Medical
Services
17th. 26th
and 32nd Field Ambulances.
15th Indian
Field Hygiene Section.
The Orsogna
battlefield, where Fourth Division relieved the New Zealanders between January
15th and 17th, had yielded little gains after months of heavy fighting. Orsogna
stood on a high ridge above the river Moro, with the main road from Central
Italy to the Adriatic running along the crest. The town had been fortified to
fortress strength, and had thwarted the utmost efforts of the New Zealanders to
secure it. When Fourth Indian Division faced this formidable position, it was
in anticipation of a stern struggle. High Command however willed otherwise.
After a fortnights seasoning in the forward positions, during which 4/16 Punjabisof
7th Brigade showed that they had lost nothing of their old art of worrying the
enemy, Fourth Division was relieved and warned for transfer to Fifth Army.
Eighth Indian Division, which had had little more than a glimpse of its famous
comrades, continued to man a two-brigade sector in the centre of Eighth Army.
The front was static, but the monotonous B.B.C. announcement, “Little to report
from the Adriatic sector. Patrolling continues- often did less than justice to
the situation. Nearly every night fighting flared up, as patrols clashed or
raiding parties overran outposts. The following despatch from an Indian Army
Observer describes routine conditions: “Most of our front-line troops-British.
Indian and Gurkhas-Iive in farmhouses on the hillsides. When dusk comes,
patrols go out to investigate houses opposite, where movement has been seen
during the day. Many small bitter encounters occur in the darkness when our men
surround suspected enemy strongholds, sometimes only a few hundred yards from
our line. A number of prisoners have been taken in this nerve- racking
business. The operations are reminiscent of the ‘No Man’s Land’ patrols of the
last war in Flanders. Since the enemy operates in much the same manner as
ourselves, houses on our side of the line are constantly guarded against German
‘rustlers, who swoop out of the darkness to snatch prisoners. Several such
‘cutting-out parties have been beaten off with loss.
“Two of the
stealthiest peoples in the world-both expert woodsmen and trackers- roam nightly
in No Man’s Land, giving the Germans the jitters. They are Gurkhas and North
American Indians from the Canadian Rockies. The other night two patrols went
out together. The Gurkha hillmen carried tommy guns and their dreaded kukris,
The Canadian scout patrol, consisting of four trappers, two cowpunchers and two
North- American Indians, were armed with automatic weapons and hunting knives.
One of the North-American Indians-who looked very like a Gurkha himself except
that he was taller-said to me in a broad Canadian accent: ‘This is the first
time that we have seen the Gurkhas, and boy, are they good! I thought I knew a
bit about tracking, but I can’t teach those boys anything. I’m mighty proud to
be associated with them.’
“So near to
one another are the German and Indian troops in this sector that they have
taken to conversations, The other evening a German called out, ‘Hallo, lndians!
Why don’t you go horne? An enraged V.C.O., who spoke English. shouted back. ‘1
did not come all the way from El Alamein to go home. It is you who will go!’
The Germans went next day, driven back by this Subedar and his men.”
On the night
of April 18, Fourth indian Division returned from Central Italy and relieved
their comrades between Orsogna and the Maicilas. Next day, German artillery
fired broadsheets into Fourth Division’s lines, which read, “It wasn’t much of
a rest you had, was it? You need not think you will be allowed to complete your
rest in this sector,although you may have been told it was quiet here. This
rapid identification illistrates the difficulty of maintaining field security
in a countryside lately liberated from the enemy.
On April
22nd, when the relief of the Canadians had been completed, Fourth and Tenth
Indian Divisions held the entire Adriatic front between the sea and the
Maiellas, a distance of 30 miles, All SIX brigades were in the line. The left
flank of Fourth Division rested on the haunches of Monte Amore, whose
snow-covered summits and even contours gave the mountain the appearance of an
inverted pudding basin. Here Central India Horse was the chief component of
Dawnay Force, a detached group whose mission was to patrol the uplands and to
worry the Germans. Dawnay Force entered fully into the spirit of this
enterprise, and established itself in the ruins of a number of XVth century
robbers’ castles on commanding crests. It sallied out to relieve the
countryside in a manner not unlike that of the original owners of these
habitations. An incident early in April recalled classical history, when a detachment
of German ski troops cut off an Indian patrol on the lip of Monte Fara Gorge.
Using their greatcoats as the Romans once used their shields, the Indians
tobogganed to safety at the bottom of the canyon.
“The
bleak-looking farmhouses, which dot the countryside, are the scene of many
quick, murderous encounters. Both Indian and German detachments live in much
the same fashion. Downstairs, in the toolsheds and cattle stalls, the infantry
platoons are quartered. The cellar serves as a bolt-hole in emergency. The
upper storeys, reached by outside staircases, which give excellent observation,
house the machine-gunners, signallers, and other specialists. Everyone moves
discreetly during the day to avoid unwelcome attention from enemy guns. When
darkness falls, the danger mounts. These farmhouses nearly all have blind
walls, behind which a raiding party may approach unseen. Throughout the night,
therefore, sentries are stationed on all sides in slit trenches. Alarm wires
are strung and likely approaches are mined or booby-trapped. The technique of
surprise, like the precautions against it, demand courage and resourcefulness
of a high order, as well as skill in battle tactics which are a mixture of
gangster and Red Indian practices.”
From May
onwards, raids and “cutting-out’ parties were features of the day’s work on all
sectors of the Indian front. At first the enemy was in the ascendant. During
the first week in May, 214 Gurkhas of 10th Brigade were attacked twice. On the
second occasion two platoons were overrun. A counter- attack by their
neighbours, 12 Punjabis, chased back the enemy. Next night 2/3 Gurkhas on 20th
Brigade front, were similarly raided. Stubborn hand-to-hand fighting ensued
before the Germans withdrew. On Fourth Division’s front, 1/9 Gurkhas and 3/10
Baluchis likewise were attacked. The assault on the Gurkhas was particularly
severe, the raiders being estimated at the strength of a half- battalion. At
dawn on May 14th a sharp shoot descended on 11th Brigades front between Arielli
and Orsogna, where the right forward company of 3/12 Frontier Force Regiment
was stationed on a neck of land between three convergent valleys. Emerging from
these valleys, a substantial German force, supported by tanks, overran the
Frontiersmen. A counter-attack by a reserve company failed to eject the enemy,
and it was not until evening that the intervention of the 2nd Camerons restored
the situation. In this fighting, 11th Brigade suffered 150 casualties.
Under this
pummelling the aggressiveness oozed out of the enemy. Intelligence, reports
showed German commanders to be jumpy. Wireless intercepts from isolated posts
were couched in plaintive key. British and Indian soldiers, in the idiom of the
battlefield, told each other that there was a flap on over the way. An officer
in an Indian observation post sent this characteristic message:
“A white
flag has been seen waving frantically in the area C2791 34. Later a man began
to crawl towards our lines. He has not yet arrived, but tea for fifty had been
laid on.”
In view of the
possibility of an enemy withdrawal on the Adriatic front, both indian divisions
undertook to pin down their adversaries and to keep them under strict
observation. During the last days of May, heavy German transport movements to
the north were reported. Attempts to explore enemy positions, however, led to
clashes which proved the enemy still to he holding in force. A combined patrol
of Manchesters and Central India Horse was cut up on a risky expedition among
the foothills of the Maiellas. Royal Sussex, on 7th Brigade’s front, and both
Carnerons and Frontier Force Regiment on 11th Brigade’s front, ran into trouble
when they attempted to probe too intimately. At the end of May, a regrouping of
forces in the. Adriatic sector occurred. The Italian Utili Division arrived to
relieve Fourth Indian Division on the Orsogna front. Their advance parties came
forward with bands playing and with flags flying. The German artillery greeted
such advertisement of intentions with a heavy shoot which interfered to some extent
with the relief. Fourth Indian Division side-slipped on to the coastal sector,
and on June 4th relieved Tenth Indian Division, which left at once for Central
italy. Fourth Divisional Artillery remained behind Orsogna in support of the
Italians, while the guns of the Third Carpathian Division covered the Indians
on the coast. A few of the old hands still remained who remembered the
Carpathian Brigade which served beside them on the drive into Cyrenaica in
1941.
On June 7th
a deserter from Two Hundred and Seventy-Eighth German Division revealed an
enemy withdrawal to be imminent. At dawn next morning a Baluchi patrol reported
Germans to be marching out of their positions carrying full equipment. At 0800
hours pursuit groups on all three brigade fronts advanced on the trail of the
enemy. Simultaneously the Italians on the left discovered their sectors to be
open and took up the chase.
Except for
minefields along the river Arielli, no obstacles were encountered in the first
stages of the pursuit. On the outskirts of Polo, 1/2 Gurkhas mopped up an enemy
strong point which included the rather unusual defence of dug-in flamethrowers.
Next morning the same battalion drew an enemy counter-attack when the hillmen
pressed too closely in the chase. The Germans suffered a number of casualties
in this futile enterprise. Thereafter the pace of the advance quickened. The
partisans were up all over the countryside, and on more than one occasion these
avenging irregulars chased Germans into the arms of the Indians. The Utili Division
on the left kept edging across into the east, constricting the communications
of Fourth Division until something like a bottle-neck resulted. With only two
main roads on which to advance, 7th Brigade covered the entire Divisional
front, and 11th Brigade were pushed on to the beaches. There amphibious craft
awaited them. 2nd Camerons, with detachments of pioneers were ferried up the
coast and landed north of Francavilla.
On June
10th, 1/2 Gurkhas entered Chieti, a sizable market town, where they received a
delirious welcome. here 7th Brigade received the news that 11th Brigade, having
taken to the water, might claim the exciting prize of Pescara. Two Cameron
officers had set off on bicycles in order to add this important seaport to
their ‘game book’. 7th Brigade countered by despatching its reconnaissance
squadron and a Sherman tank, with instructions to hurry. The result of the race
was close, and is still a matter of dispute. Pescara was found to be looted and
deserted.
The last of
the Indian divisions now prepared to leave the Adriatic front. On June 13th,
£rd Carpathian division took over from 4th Indian Division, which withdrew to a
training area at Campobasso in preperation for transfer to Central Italy