Take Post
18 km NW of Caserta, Italy, October 18th.
The last few days have put new meaning to the word blitz for me. I’m significantly ahead of my schedule and to-night feeling very much that way. The next couple of days will be much slower and probably involve touristy things more than anything.
To begin…Caserta is just north of Naples. Yes…I’m now on the other side of Italy. I’ll explain but it’s all related to history.
We have to begin in December, 1943 when the Canadians were tasked with crossing the Moro River as part of the attempt to breach the German Gothic line. While 10 Bty did provide significant fire support in these efforts the real work fell to the PBI (poor bloody infantry).
The Moro River crossing was just one of 3 major events the Canadians were involved in that December of 1943. I can’t begin to provide the full story in this blog but suffice it to say that after a deadly struggle to cross the Moro in weather that was appalling, the Canadians were faced with another barrier called “The Gully”. After a quick tour of Ortona itself, I spent much more time wandering around “Cider” and “Casa Barardi” two of the major points to be taken 
before moving on to Ortona. It was at Casa Berardi (the Berardi family home) that Paul Triquet won the Victoria Cross for his staunch defense of the building and a key point in the taking of the cross roads codenamed “Cider”. The taking of “Cider” was critical to the move on Ortona where the Canadians earned a reputation for street fighting that has set the standard for house to house combat.
The Moro River, the Gully and the battle for Ortona significantly reduced the combat effectiveness of 1st Div through a combination of KIA, wounds, sickness and battle fatigue. My father and the rest of 10 Bty spent the winter of 1943/44 just east of Casa Barardi recovering from their efforts.
They were still there in April, 1944 as the War Diary shows. It is rather rare to have the exact location of an Observation Post but since 1st Div had gone into a winter defensive position it was a daily occurrence to be changing the FOO’s and signallers. One specific location is given at N 42 22.367 E 14 22.800 for the FOO for 10 Bty. It just so happens this was about 1 km from where I was staying so I went there to see for myself. This is the only building at th
at particular road junction and I suspect this may have been the OP. If you were on the top floor of the building you would have an unobstructed view up the coast as well as inland to the west…thus securing the right flank of the entire Canadian position.
After all this rambling about the Ortona area it’s time to head towards Cassino. It was in May of 1944 that 1st Div moved south west across the Apennines to support the attack on Monte Cassino. Cassino was pivitol to the success of the American 5th and the British 8th Armies in breaching the Gothic Line and moving up the Liri Valley.
I won’t bore you with the details of my own travels over the Appennines accept to say that I had a friendly chat with an officer of the Carabinieri who wanted to know why I was going so fast downhill in what appeared to be an unmanned construction site. He took pity on this old canadese who was heading to Cassino, after thoroughly checking both my and my cars documentation.
My Dad recalled a bit of what happened for 10 Bty at Cassino and it is recorded in Daniel Dancocks book “The D-Day Dodgers”. (Note…they didn’t actually get that name until after June 6th, 1944 for obvious reasons). As Dad describes and as I heard the story, 10 Bty was on the reverse slope of a hill facing Monte Cassino. The entire allied effort was to be kept a secret so movement only occurred at night and every effort was made to hide tanks, artillery and supplies. 10 Bty’s guns were dug into the side of the slope to allow for high registry fire. In front of them was an olive grove or trees of some sort obstructing the line of fire. While this helped to obscure activity from prying German eyes, it also meant that the trees were in the way of the rounds to come. Over night a number of gunners moved forward with saws to cut part way through the trees. They supported them with timbers so they would not immediately fall. When the order to fire was given, the trees were knocked down quickly giving and unobstructed field of fire.
I can tell you that today that same little valley is lush with olive trees and other vegetation. So much so that I had an “obstructed” view of Monte Cassino itself.
Cassino is also where Gunner Edward Thomas is at rest. The Battery was moving up the Liri Valley to new positions that had just been taken by the infantry. As they were laying their gun platforms they come under fire from one of the Allied medium battery’s. Edward was killed by “friendly fire”.
I have one more thing to add before retiring for the night. I’ve just been in touch with Pasquale at Castello Lancellotti in Lauro and I’m to meet him tomorrow at 10:00 and he will accompany me to the “Castle Lauro” of my Dads photo.
Wish me luck.
Stand Down.