This is an excerpt from my father's memoir, Marcel E. Sammut. He was an interpreter in the British Army. He was Maltese and Malta was a British colony at the time. His mother was Italian. He was born in Cairo, Egypt and was drafted into the British Army from that county.
Instead of Catania, we were diverted to Vizzini, Militello, then to Sferro. Here, we encountered resistance and the real fight started. We were at the center of Sicily. I was not far behind the combat zones, but it felt like we were in the middle of the fierce battles at Vizzini and Sferro. Only a few German tanks were left but they had retreated to well entrenched strategic positions and wouldn’t move. I think they wanted to delay our advance toward Messina and Catania so as to permit the evacuation of their main force as it retreated to the main land. My regiment advanced to the south of Mount Etna, around Paterno, Centuripe and Adrano.
I have to mention that, while we were at the foot of Mount Etna, I was informed by my officer to be prepared to go on patrol at night with one of our platoons. When the time for action arrived it was already dark. We were informed of our task. We had to climb Etna after crossing near a wooden bridge. The scope of our mission was to climb the mountain by moonlight to an undetermined height and find the position of the enemy. We were supposed to remain there for a few days if necessary. We were also warned that we could expect to meet a German patrol and that we should be ready to fight. My role was to interrogate military or civilian Italians who could inform us of the enemy position.
Once we arrived at the bridge, we had to wait for two mules that would carry our food, water and blankets. At last, a man came with two animals, a horse and a donkey! What a choice! It is well known that horses and asses are bad mountain climbers. However, the man told us that he couldn’t find mules and that we had to accept what he could find. So we loaded the horse and the donkey and marched toward the bridge. The horse crossed the bridge but alas, the donkey refused. We tried all sorts of stratagems to no avail including the use of a baton to induce the donkey to cross the bridge. On the contrary, the use of the baton was a mistake. The donkey kicked left and right and disappeared into the darkness taking away part of our food and water. We had no time to waste. The mission had to go on. The first phase of our march was not very difficult as we walked on an almost flat path. But more and more, the slope increased rapidly and we encountered many rocks. From time to time we could hear the clicking of the horseshoes as the horses scrambled along the rocks.
It was midnight. We were exhausted. The leading officer told us to have a rest. I laid down my haversack and the rifle and sat on the rocky ground. We found ourselves surrounded by a wall of silence. We were all sleeping or half-asleep under the approval of a smiling moon. Even the horse was sleeping. Suddenly, we heard a rifle sliding over the rock and then a very loud gunshot. The horse, kicked many times, stood up on its front legs and ran down the hill, carrying away our precious food and water. Fortunately nobody was hurt, but could the enemy have heard the shot and were we now exposed to a cross-fire? We felt that we were on the verge of being caught. Fortunately, nothing happened. The surrounding silence remained silent.
Our rest didn’t last long and we continued on with our climb. I believe we reached a flat area, supposedly the spot where we would see action. In our group we had a signaling man with his wireless apparatus. He was preparing the ground for some communication. Suddenly, an athletic officer appeared from nowhere. He took the phone and with a commanding voice said, “I am general (I don’t remember his name), give me headquarters . . . the line is occupied? I don’t care, free the line immediately . . . I must talk to . . . , it’s urgent.” The general got his free line. “Allo, Sir! Can you hear me?" he said, " I am at the observatory, there are no tanks, they have all escaped, I believe they are directed toward Messina. Hurry up.” Then, the general spoke briefly to our commander and left. He was like a magician because he seemed to come out of nowhere. We were back at camp within twenty-four hours.
Invasion of Sicily - a day in the life
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