Gary Lineker traces his grandfather’s military service

Some excellent television last night and a very thoughtful Gary Lineker visiting scenes of the 1943-44 Allied invasion of Southern Italy, resonant of my father’s own experiences, talking to old veterans whose eye-witness accounts, delivered with dignified humility, gave insight and ample evidence as to why old soldiers seldom talked about their battlefield experiences once they were back home in civilian life. Unmissable.


Gary Lineker: My Grandad’s War
BBC One Monday 11th November 2019

Gary Lineker, the nation’s premier football highlights anchor and crisps salesman, has a familiar story. A grandfather who fought in the Second World War and who didn’t talk about it. And now that Stanley Abbs, Lineker’s maternal grandfather, has died, Lineker, like so many of us, wishes that he had asked him more questions.

All he knows is that Stanley served in Italy and was in the Royal Army Medical Corps, so, after a quick lesson in dressing wounds under fire, Lineker heads to Salerno, where the first British troops made land in Italy in 1943. Here he learns that despite braving heavy fire to make landing on the beach, Abbs and his comrades who served in Italy were labelled “D-Day dodgers” and were immortalised in a song that made their gruelling war effort sound like a Tuscan holiday.

Lineker, understandably, is keen to put that right and to properly recognise the offensive in Italy, perhaps the most overlooked theatre of the Second World War. He meets several veterans who served in the same wave as Stanley, including William Earl, 104, who was also a medic, and who would have patched up soldiers on the same “Murder Mountain” as Lineker’s grandfather. “You forget the danger,” he says. “You’re dedicated to saving lives.” Lineker calls him a hero. No, no, no, he says, “I just did a normal job.”

It is an emotional journey for Lineker, whose anger you can see growing as he learns the troops in Italy fought just as hard and suffered just as much as any D-Day hero. “I’m proud to be a D-Day dodger,” says one former infantryman. By the end, Lineker is proud that his grandfather was one too.

 

I enjoyed the program. As Owen says it is important to hear more about the Italian theatre of WW2. Lineker covered it well, nice to see him outside of football and talking about events without pontificating.

 

I totally agree. An excellent program that properly paid tribute to the Italian Campaign and all those who fought in it.

 

I thought it was nicely done...indeed, there were a few minor quirks in the narrative/fact re-telling but hopefully it stimulates many more to reflect on their father's, uncle's, granddad's, great uncle's, great granddad's experiences in Italy during the 663 days or so from July '43 to May '45 - not forgetting those waiting at home for news.

 

Like Owen I applaud the programme for raising awareness of the Italian Campaign. Gary Lineker summed it up brilliantly when he said that it is 'Important we give as much respect to those who were here as we give to those in other places.'

I thought that Gary Lineker was superb and he mastered his brief very well and came across as very genuine.

Some of the factual stuff was poor and the researcher needs a kicking.

As the two Armies pushed up passed Naples, we were told that seven Divisions were withdrawn from Italy. That did not happen until after the fall of Rome in Jun 44 - some seven months after when we are told. At the fall of Rome, we had a lot more Divs in Italy than the Germans, not less.

The programme gave the strong inference that Stan was on Monte Camino - which William called 'murder mountain', but that was very much a 56 Inf Div battle - which William's 214 Fd Amb RAMC supported. 46 Inf Div came in on the left of the feature during the Second Battle of Camino in Dec 43 but were certainly not on murder mountain. I am not sure why Monte Camino was never mentioned even though it featured heavily in the early part of the programme. Terms like Bare Arse Ridge and Razor Back Ridge give a strong clue as to the hardship.

The filming that showed Lloyd Clark and Gary Lineker describing the 46 Inf Div/128 Inf Bde assault over the river to Sant Ambrogio on the night of 19 Jan 44 was all filmed much further up river on the Rapido where the 36 US Inf Div and ultimately 4 Inf Div crossed. Lloyd Clark carefully explained how the troops crossed the Rapido - which was actually the Gari at the point that they were filming, to reach Sant Ambrogio whereas in reality 128 Inf Bde assaulted across the Garigliano - at a much wider and deeper point. He also explained that a 'couple of thousand' men made the crossing which is not correct. Only two battalions of Hampshires got anywhere near the river and, if each of their four Rifle Companies were full, 880 men would have made the crossing. None of the Rifle Companies were full so my estimate is that not more that 600 attempted the crossing. He did not seem to understand that the majority of an infantry battalion provides support to its Rifle Companies and would therefore not have been included in the initial crossing.

It was wonderful to see Fred Mason. I am not sure why he was interviewed up on Point 593 at the Carpathian monument because he was in 2 N STAFFS at Anzio for the Cassino battles. The programme would have been more accurate if he had been interviewed in the wadis at Anzio or below the Flyover. The programme was quite clever because Anzio was never mentioned in the interview so the viewer would not be aware that he had no direct link to Cassino.

I thought that the programme missed a really important point that was directly relevant to what Stan and his fellow medics in 185 Fd Amb endured. 185 Fd Amb supported 46 Inf Div from Sep 43 to Mar/Apr 44 but, unlike the Div who were withdrawn to North Africa for rest and rebuild, 185 Fd Amb stayed behind in the Sujo hills beyond the Garigliano and took responsibility for 28 Inf Bde in 4 Inf Div who went on to fight in the Fourth Battle. 28 Inf Bde had recently arrived from elsewhere - Gibraltar I think, and came without a Fd Amb of their own so 185 Fd Amb had to stay behind. No rest for these men. In effect, they were in the front line from Sep 43-Jun 44 which is quite something.

I would have liked to have seen a bit more of how 185 Fd Amb supported 28 Inf Bde in the Fourth Battle - because 2 KINGS and 2 SLI had a really horrible time on 11-13 May 44 and 185 Fd Amb would have been in the thick of it.

I was particularly disappointed that there was no mention of Clark's decision to turn 90 degrees to the left and march on Rome instead of blocking Route 6 and destroying the right wing of the German Tenth Army. That is the key moment for Cassino/Anzio and created a lot more work and pain for 185 Fd Amb during the rest of their time in Italy.

Gary seemed to have a lovely time driving around in his jeep but he was doing it on the road up to Hove Dump which was never in the 46 Inf Div area of operation. Whilst it made for great photography, the programme would have been more accurate if he had driven around the Sujo hills where Cheshire and Harrogate Dumps were - and 46 Inf Div operated from. The scenery up there is equally impressive.

I would like to have seen a bit more on how the medical evacuation plan worked from injury on the front line to treatment at the Casualty Clearing Station in Sippiciano. It would have brilliantly illustrated what an amazing job the Fd Ambs did in this part of Italy.

I thought that Lloyd Clark was an Anzio guru so I am not sure what he doing talking about the detail of Cassino sitting outside the Doctor's House on Snakeshead Ridge.

Call me a pedant but if a story is committed to film, it is forever and needs to be correct.

Regards

Frank

 

Owen.

You are right. I really meant the Wall to Wall researcher not the band of enthusiasts - a lot of whom are on this forum, who do know their stuff. I was involved in the early stages and got quite frustrated. I soon lost interest as a result.

Regards

Frank

 

Hi

It is always good to get a personal perspective of any conflict. Especially as living witnesses are getting fewer every year.

Just for info:

As 46 Inf Div were supposed to be resting after all the fighting in Italy, 139 Inf Bde, including 183 LFA were sent to Athens in December 1944 and had a really rough time of it defending the ports of Piraeus and Phaleron with the help of some minor/support units and a squadron of RAF Regiment.

When ELAS fled the city in the early January 1945, 'Blockforce', named after the CO of 139 Inf Bde was then sent to Patras to help the beleaguered 11 Ind Inf Bde who were surrounded. 'Blockforce' drove ELAS out of the area in just a week. ELAS suffered many casualties. 'Blockforce' suffered none.

The rest of 46 Inf Div, including 185 LFA arrived in Greece in late Jan/early Feb 1945. Calling themselves 'Brewforce'

Greece is even lesser known campaign than Italy.

Gus

 

As pointed out by Frank, it wasn't the presenter that may have aroused viewer concern, it was the anomalous matching of some of the visuals with facts and, of course, the occasional "misstatements".

updated comment - and not totally facetious.. if I get 8 people to watch the films that myself and my brother have been making about my Dad's/his comrades' wartime in Tunisia/Italy, then I would be perfectly happy... Parts 4-6, Termoli to the Moro to Castel di Sangro to Monte Cassino to Rome to Lake Trasimene coming soon..Spaudro to Argenta to the Po to Villach next year.

 

I'm rather cheesed off. If i had known that Fred Mason was going to be on, then I would of watched it. Just my luck this year.
R
Stu.

 

If you pay your licence:

BBC iPlayer - Gary Lineker: My Grandads War

 

I thought he must have been following Forum advice as he said he had 1) got hold of his grandfather’s service record and 2) the unit war diary

 

If only everyone took this advice!!

 

I think its really great that the knowledgeable members of this forum are able to correct the errors & misinformation in programs such as these.

But allow me to play devil's advocate for a moment. This program needed to be attractive and entertaining to be shown at the BBC's 9pm prime-time slot. If it had been dull, it would have gone out at 1am, or been sold to "Yesterday" for a knock-down price.

I hope the program attracted a large audience, and that a small percentage of viewers may have been curious enough to dig a little deeper, take more interest in this important period of history, and maybe even research a relative's wartime experiences.

Although not a football fan, Gary Lineker has always appeared to me to be a relatively straight-forward celeb, and I thought he did a good job fronting the material that he was supplied with by the story developers. I just hope the 'tears' were not a requirement written into his contract.

 

I'm currently circa 75% of the way through transcribing "Quis Separabit - The Journal of The Royal Ulster Rifles - November 1944" regimental history and there is quite a bit about the 1st and 2nd Battalion of London Irish Rifles in Italy - see scanned copy at 2nd Battalion Royal Ulster Rifles in WW2: Documents - but there is also a lot of redacted references to L.I.R. units and locations so would welcome any expert input once I finish and post the searchable text version as I'm clueless about this campaign....

Will hopefully be complete before the end of the month and will post once available....

 

Good job.. of course, and as you know but others wouldn't be, it was two battalions of the London Irish Rifles not the Royal Ulster Rifles who were in Italy from July '43 to May '45

 

Drat, well, I guess I won't be able to watch it (being in Canada). Even if there were errors I think I would have enjoyed watching this.