During the month or so that my unit (the 49<SUP>th</SUP> LAA Rgt. RA) was at Monte Cassino my sleeping arrangements was a dugout covered by a bivvie tent. The unit was being used for all different jobs, so that apart from its normal role of protecting the 78 Div from aircraft attack, some of the men were being loaned out as stretcher bearers and others were employed in controlling the smoke cannisters that kept the Div hidden during daylight hours. On the night of the Allied Forces major attack on the Monastery we were surprised to find that the Germans were shelling our lines in strength during the night. I awoke in the early hours to find that the bivvie over my dugout was literally covered in earth caused by a shell that had landed some twenty yards away. It struck me that had the shell landed twenty yards nearer I would not have been here today to tell this story !
Thanks for sharing this, Larry. Oddly enough, our RCA unit here in Canada is the 49th Field. 49th (Sault Ste Marie) Field Artillery Regiment, RCA | Canadian Army | National Defence and the Canadian Forces cheers, phil