Same 'Anzio' photo - 3 Different Descriptions - Opinions Please

I've been generally researching the Allied campaign in the Med and Italy, and came across the attached photo in 2 different books with 2 different descriptions.

The photo was in Fatal Decision by Carlo D'Este and was titled 'The Terrible Gullies' with an additional description of
'British troops under fire in the gully country northwest of the Flyover. (Imperial War Museum)

The same photo (slightly cropped) also appears in Osprey's (Men at Arms) The British Army 1939-45 (2) with a description 'Italy, late May 1944: men of the 1st Bn, Green Howards (15th Bde, 5th Inf Div) cautiously move forward during the attack on Moletta River,......................' (R.F. Stedman Collection)

I eventually tracked down the photo (Ref: NA 15298) on the IWM website

http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205204642

and lo and behold, another different description, as follows:

'Men of 7th Cheshire Regiment, 5th Infantry Division's machine gun battalion, in a captured German communications trench during the offensive at Anzio, 22 May 1944.'

I would like people's opinions as to which description they think is correct (and reason why) and possibly any reasons as to where other desriptions originated from.

Cheers

Scott

 

Scott

I would tend to put my 2 cents on the one from the IWM as it was taken by a Sgt Radford of the Official Army Photo Unit two man team at Anzio at the time the action was thick and heavy....DeEste and Osprey possibly visited that area

after the noise had stopped......the other chap ...Oh Right ....chap called Whicker who just died this week

Cheers

 

Whicker makes the point in his book "Whicker's War " that their equipment was not even close to parity with the US photographers and from a unit of 40 men - 8 were killed and 13 badly wounded - but they sent millions of feet of film back to

London..one particular photo was an early shot of Mussolini and Clara Petacchi hanging from the Service station in Milan - before the US Tank regiment got there - which meant that they had to go through the sharp end to get into Milan...

Cheers

 

The same photograph appears in Wallis' 'A History of the 58th' (2nd Northamptons), captioned simply "Moving up to the forward positions in Anzio".

This one seems to have done the rounds in 5 Div. Although the photo is clearly posed, if several units were in the same area without insignia, the photographer probably couldn't have identified them all, leaving them all to claim it.

 

I checked the IWM site and found this:
http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205204643

It looks to me as if somewhere along the line somebody mixed up the captions. The two shots are probably from the same operation, but show different units.

 

Thanks Everyone for your replies.

I expected the IWM description to be most likely correct, but will view them and also any desriptions in books with a slight degree of skeptism from now on, unless i can verify them from an alternate source.

Has anyone come across the R.F. Stedman Collection previously or know anything about it.

Cheers

Scott

 

Hope this helps:





According to a relative, Mornington lost a leg (Sutton, Mornington Wisdom)

He was born on 25 Sep 1915 and died in 1992:



1939 REGISTER TRANSCRIPTION
Sutton Household (6 People)
34 Alfred Street, Hastings C.B., Sussex

Mornington W Sutton 21 May 1888 Furniture Porter (Heavy Worker)
Annie E Sutton 30 Mar 1887 Unpaid Domestic Duties
Mornington W I H Sutton 29 Sep 1915 Plumber

 

THE ALLIED LANDINGS AT ANZIO: 22 JANUARY-23 MAY 1944. © IWM (NA 15287)IWM Non Commercial Licence

From the sames series of photographs taken by Sgt. Radford No.2 A.F.P.U.
The commander of C Company, 1st Battalion Green Howards, briefs his officers prior to the successful breakout attack. Left to right: Captain E S Roberts, Captain O'Driscoll, Lieutenant H S Foster and Lieutenant C B H Ryrie.

The Radford photograph of a Pte. Sutton being carried by FJR pow's (NA 15295) is in the same series. Sutton was wounded on 23rd May 1944 during Operation Wolf

 

Opeartion Wolf 23rd May 1944 (The 5th British Division 1939-1945 George Aris)

 

The IWM shots are generally sequential but I have several times found photos well out of sequence, sometimes not even the same side of Italy! I also found their unit identifications needed to be taken with a pinch of salt. There was more than one shot around Cassino attributed to non-existent units, or real units who were not anywhere near there at the time.

 

I've also come across illustrations that have two different Regiments that says its a battalion or another. Longstop, April 23, 1943. One is the 8 Argyll & the other is 1 East Surreys. I think there may also be another Regiment, but I would have to check.

The following scans was sent to me from forum member David, aka dryan67. THE STORY OF THE GREEN HOWARDS 1939-1945
by CAPT. W.A.T. SYNGE. This book is not on the cheap side, if you can find one? Cheers Dave. For a change, nice to see that one or two OR'S get a mention.





Regards
Stu

 

Hello, I am quite sure all the pictures you are talking about came from Anzio Area and regarding the 1st Green Howrds just like the IWM caption tell. I live in Anzio and know that area moreover I have spent many days along with the Green Veterans enclosed Mr Trevelyan and they confirmed me the place and the men taken in the pictures. Thank you for your interesting discussion. Diego

 

On the 1939 census you will see Mornington w I h Sutton who was the one wounded at Anzio his father was Mornington wisdom Sutton also on the census who served in the royal vetinary corps in ww1, he was my g grandfather