Brian, Check, check and check! Got the book and even went to see the man himself in Rimini, very nice chap. He's got a great little grotto in his house where he does his thing and it is packed out with shelves of documents. He's almost English with his eccentricity. Actually I went to Croce just before I went digging last Saturday. As is typical of Italy it has been totally rebuilt and heavily expanded upon. There is a painting of Croce in 1945, in Amedeo's book, which I will try and match up at some point. I have indeed seen the website as it was the first site I found when I became aware of the significance of Gemmano. I didn't realise the guy had died. Shame.
Just a couple of pics for the time being. First is a few items I picked up in Morciano antiques market one Sunday a while ago. They are a piece of 'trench art' letter opener made from a shell driveband, a complete Tourniquet set and a shell fuse from a Dutch 57mm shrapnel shell, if I remember correctly. A funny side line to this is that a friend of mine(he knows nothing about WW2 or military in general) has a similar driveband letter knife and he told me about the time he took it to school to show his teacher. His teacher looked at it and said to the whole class that it looked very old and must have been made hundreds of years ago and must be of some value. I just laughed and he seemed somewhat dismayed after I explained. The second is somewhat odder and was found by a friend of mine, Matt McDermott, on a dirt road on the slope of Pt449, Gemmano. None of us can identify it but it came to my mind that it resembled the cover plate off a German tank jack. Anyone else have any ideas?
Brian, Check, check and check! Got the book and even went to see the man himself in Rimini, very nice chap. He's got a great little grotto in his house where he does his thing and it is packed out with shelves of documents. He's almost English with his eccentricity. Actually I went to Croce just before I went digging last Saturday. As is typical of Italy it has been totally rebuilt and heavily expanded upon. There is a painting of Croce in 1945, in Amedeo's book, which I will try and match up at some point. I have indeed seen the website as it was the first site I found when I became aware of the significance of Gemmano. I didn't realise the guy had died. Shame. Tommy Croce has greatly changed as you say ( as indeed has much of the entire area). However some pockets remain relatively unchanged including the walled cemetery between Croce and Ca' Menghino. Also some small pockets of ruined cottages down in the valley and up on Mont Olivo further north. Regards Brian
Thanks Brian for the input. I tried to match the painting, Sunday just gone, but from the angle it was painted at, using the church as my reference, and from what I can gather is the North West tip of the village, then non of the houses remain and all that remains are reclaimed fields/woods.
Tom: Well done - a fine follow-up from the 1943 landings. Vesuvious became active in about November 1943- we sent two trucks to help rescue people living on the hillsides of the volcano -but they just stayed until it sub-sided and refused our offer of taking them down to Naples. Maybe one time you might like to take a look at Anzion.Tommy Hawkins.
Tommy, Who'd want to go to Naples with all their problems.:p I'll look into Anzio next time I'm down that way. Cheers.
Tom: Well done - a fine follow-up from the 1943 landings. Vesuvious became active in about November 1943- we sent two trucks to help rescue people living on the hillsides of the volcano -but they just stayed until it sub-sided and refused our offer of taking them down to Naples. Maybe one time you might like to take a look at Anzion.Tommy Hawkins. Hi Tommy - are you an Anzio veteran?
Just a couple of pics for the time being. First is a few items I picked up in Morciano antiques market one Sunday a while ago. They are a piece of 'trench art' letter opener made from a shell driveband, a complete Tourniquet set and a shell fuse from a Dutch 57mm shrapnel shell, if I remember correctly. A funny side line to this is that a friend of mine(he knows nothing about WW2 or military in general) has a similar driveband letter knife and he told me about the time he took it to school to show his teacher. His teacher looked at it and said to the whole class that it looked very old and must have been made hundreds of years ago and must be of some value. I just laughed and he seemed somewhat dismayed after I explained. The second is somewhat odder and was found by a friend of mine, Matt McDermott, on a dirt road on the slope of Pt449, Gemmano. None of us can identify it but it came to my mind that it resembled the cover plate off a German tank jack. Anyone else have any ideas? Could it be a Track Grouser? Regards Tom
By Track 'Grouser', do you mean a track link puller tool i.e. a tool to draw the track links together so you can insert the link pin? Someone else suggested that elsewhere and at the moment that seems to be the best guess.
Apologies for this late entry. A Track Grouser is an extra help for the track and they were secured every few track links onto the actual track. It just provides better grip on certain types of terrain. Pictures of grousers attached to the turret of a Stuart. They also provide a tiny bit more protection, just like track pieces placed at strategic places on tanks, usually the front. Regards Tom
